Goodbye 2011, Welcome 2012

Here we are at the beginning of a brand new year! Crazy how very very fast the time is going.
 What a wild year 2011 was.
It would take me such a long time to go through all that happened last year- if I could even remember it all, which I don't think I could. It was amazing, and  God saw us through it all; that's what I know.

This next year? I don't know. It's going to be a new journey, and I'm looking forward to it. Around this time, I hear and read a lot about New Years Resolutions, and goals for the year.  I confess I have spent less time thinking about things like that this time around then ever before. I really don't have any goals or resolutions. I'm already working on whatever I would have goaled or resolved.

Weight loss? Doing it- and so far successfully, thanks to a drastic diet change and help from my naturopath- as it turns out a lot of my weight problems were a result of health issues- not bad eating or lack of exercise.

Exercise? Doing it- it's part of the weight loss, and it feels great.

Make over? Sort of doing it, and it seems to be working nicely.
About 4 weeks ago I got The Curly Girl Handbook from my library. I read skimmed through it, and started trying it out. This is the before picture:

And this is 2 weeks into it:

I think it is going quite nicely. I would say my hair is a little curlier now than this last pic, but not by much. Joel likes how it's looking too. Although I think that may just be because I leave my hair down more often now and he likes that. I confess it's difficult for me. I'm pretty busy, and having hair in my face and on my neck is a frustration when I'm in the middle of a lot of stuff- but for the most part its really working out quite nicely and I'm pleased. I'm impressed with the difference in my hair- but mostly I'm stoked because I no longer have issues with itchy scalp or dandruff. Pretty great.

Knitting? Well, I'm already doing that too. I still have a book contract I am working to finish, and I expect that to take the whole year. I'm cooking right along on the current design, and have things mostly lined out for the rest. Yarn support is already dealt with except for maybe one or 2 things that I don't have to worry about until after June- so really the knitting thing is kinda taking care of itself this year. I'm also still teaching knitting classes at Andersen Fiber Works on Thursday evenings, so that aspect of the knitting thing is also already going.

Other goals? Well, I want to read more intelligent books this year and actually learn more rather than escaping into fiction consistently.  But that's another one I've already started on, and so far it's going great and I'm loving it. I just finished Forgotten God by Francis Chan- and I highly recommend it. Totally impressed. I got it from the library, but I think I'm gonna have to buy it and read it again with a highlighter and a pen for notes. My current intelligent read? A God-Entranced Vision of All Things. I'm starting it today and looking forward to it. I'm loving exercising my mind along with my body- and I'm learning so much! It's great.

So really, whatever goals I may have made or resolutions I may have wanted to follow- I feel like I'm already doing it. I'm really looking forward to seeing what this year brings us.

Roo is looking forward to the coming year too- in fact you might say he's jumping right into it: