On the radio the other day, the DJs were discussing how everyone feels a subtle obligation to make resolutions each New Years. I personally find it refreshing to make resolutions. It’s one of the only times of the year that I set solid goals for myself (perhaps a shortcoming) and so I’m totally willing to take advantage of this time of year! When we were kids and would all gather round for FHE, we would have to make at least one goal for 3 different categories: School, Physical and Spiritual. Obviously I’m not in school anymore but I am going to try to keep the balance and replace School with Home.

Home:
  1. Make the bed daily! I usually do make the bed but I have my times that I don’t. So the bed must be made by noon and I’ll do that either after I shower or when I get up. (PS I don’t sleep until noon, it’s just nice to have a deadline that I know I can make!)
  2. Vanquish clutter! I ordered the Martha Stewart Living magazine, so that should help. I’m going to put away my clothes when I take them off, do general tidies, and make sure the apartment is presentable before I go to bed.

Physical:
  1. Drink more water! Yes! I’m dehydrated most of the time. I’m going to have a cup of water always chilling on the counter when I’m home and if I leave home I’ll take my water bottle with me.
  2. Take vitamins daily! I don’t know how I’m going to accomplish this one, I just know I should.

Spiritual:
  1. Follow along with Sunday School and Relief Society! Every week I’ll read the Sunday School lesson ahead of time (for my daily scripture study/read) and I’ll follow along with the “Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith” (aren’t we so lucky to have TWO years of Joseph Smith!?) and I’ll read the conference lesson when I know what the talk is.
  2. Have more meaningful fasts! Generally I do pretty good at fasting but I’d like to be more consistent and really use that form of communication with my Heavenly Father. Basically I want to take better advantage of fasting!

And my last goal, I guess my Family goal, is to get pregnant in 2008. I’m pretty resolved that this is the year to begin my journey to Motherhood.

What are some of your New Years resolutions? Please share! It’s always nice to know what someone else is doing, not so we can “check-up” on them or judge them, but so we can support them and perhaps get the wheels turning on what we can be more resolved to do!

I finally finished appliquéing some bodysuits! Woo hoo! For those who aren’t aware, I’ll be opening up a shop at Etsy really soon. It’s the perfect way to feed my love of fabric and sewing.

Stayed tuned. In my next post, I’m going to share some of my 2008 resolutions.

Conor and I got away to Manitou Springs yesterday and stayed overnight at a B&B. We had such a wonderful time! Our room wasn’t heated, but it was equipped with a pot belly stove and firewood. Conor had a great time keeping the fire going and we stayed nice and toasty! We just relaxed for the evening and enjoyed being together! Today we toured the “Cave of the Winds,” which was so cool! I really liked that. It was interesting, educational and just pretty! I enjoyed seeing more of God’s creations. Here are some photos from what will surely be remembered as one of our favourite vacations!

I hope everyone had a happy new years! What were the highlights of your new years??

Yesterday, we had quite the feast and invited our friends, the Jensens, to join us. On the menu was ham, mashed potatoes, squash, salad, crabapple juice, homemade Ciabatta bread and for dessert, brownies and homemade ice cream! It was delicious and we all ate until we could eat no more!

The Ciabatta bread was fun to make, although it took A LOT of time and I didn’t even allow full rising times (thank goodness for high altitude!). It didn’t turn out quite as holey, but that’s definitely due to me racing the clock! In this month’s issue of Martha Stewart Living, there is a ton of bread recipes, which lead Conor and I to promptly purchase a baking stone for our oven! It works great. I really enjoyed making this bread because it was all by hand, no kitchenaid mixer involved. Hooray for me! Conor and I are quite excited to make sandwiches out of the second loaf. Yum!

This week’s CK is flaunting a homemade dress! I made this dress about a year ago. It’s a very small wale of a corduroy fabric. I chose it for today because I wanted to wear something comfortable and simple since I was a speaker in sacrament meeting. It’s just a quick button up dress with a belt and jeweled up with earrings. It’s a McCall’s pattern, number 4769, a fairly easy pattern to whip up. I’m thinking about making a spring/summer dress out of the pattern.

Oh, and I just wanted to mention that I’m fairly impressed that I haven’t had to do a repeat CK. I wear my black pencil skirt a lot but it’s always something different. This non-repeat madness will come to a dead end though at some point!