Happy New Year

I slept hard after last night's eat-a-thon, and waking up was painful, until I realized it was New Year's Day and all I had to do to today was putter about the kitchen and maybe finish some knitting. I really love days off!

Nxtdrguy and I celebrated New Year's Eve in the usual way - dinner at Black Angus. It felt different this year, though. The place was pretty quiet and it was way too easy to get a parking spot. If this is not a sign the economy is in the dumps, I don't know what is. What I do know is that this is the first time I haven't felt a twinge of sadness at the passing of a year. 2008 was really a shitter of a year, and I hope 2009 will be a vast improvement on it.

Speaking of vast improvements, I've been using the time off work to get things done around the place, and am finally getting my crafting mess a bit more organized. Me + organization results in more mess, but it's coming together, albeit slowly!

The big project was building an Expedit bookcase from IKEA to hold my mags, dolls and the fabric I want to sew now (much more stored elsewhere!). Yarn is stored in the closet (sorry no photos, though maybe I will flash the stash this year).

Here's a photo of the first round of organizing the Expedit (it's likely to change at some point, but will do for now):



All my magazines fit across the bottom row - I'm ever so proud of that! They look so much neater there, and have freed up a bunch of space elsewhere. The Blythes and other dolls fit in the top two shelves, and that cleared two smaller bookcases, which I think will go in the dining area to hold cook books and other displayable items, like Pyrex, etc. See? Already making plans on how to whip my place into shape...

Ah, and speaking of plans... It is New Year's Day after all, and tradition dictates one should make resolutions. I think I'll make mine a list of things I'd like to accomplish this year, so I can refer back to it periodically and make sure I'm on track.

1) exercise more: I have started hiking on weekends with a friend of a friend, so will continue that. In addition, I am to exercising two times a week after work with a co-worker.

2) knit more: I already have dedicated time for knitting on Saturdays, and do a little during the work week, too. I'd like to knit through at least ten miles of stash yarn, and I think the best way to do it is to make a list of what I should work on per month. I intend to follow that up by posting picks of FOs here (yeah, right - haha!)

3) stay in touch more: I tend to get so into work that I feel like I never come up for air, and it promises to be even more challening in the next few months, so I will set aside time to hang with friends. If nothing else, I'll update the blog so everyone will know why they never hear from me!

4) write more: yup, it's time. Will do that by blogging more, and finally getting my laptop out so I can work on my stalled novel. Really.

5) keep my place neat: I can't say organized, because my sense of organization is quite different than anyone else's! But, stuff put away and not on every surface might be a good start. I would also like to purge some things this year, which I think will help.

6) do fun things: I'd really like to finally learn to play guitar and chess! I know, so weird that my idea of fun is learning new things. I blame the IHP. XD

That should cover most of it. I'd add travel more, but I've not been in love with travel for while - it seems like more of a chore for some reason. But, if I do, it would be to visit friends in Italy.