My Resolution

2010!

If You Feel So Inclined...

I'll admit that New Year's Eve is usually a bit anti-climactic in my house.  I never seem to have any glamorous parties to attend or fancy cocktail dresses to wear or exciting places to go.  In fact, the last several years it has just been a struggle to stay up to watch the ball drop (I know--at 28-years-old that is just lame...).  

It is unlikely that this year will be any different than those passed, but if I were to throw a party or attend a bash, I would hope that it would include the same ambience that inspired these Martha Stewart New Year's ideas.  

Of course, if you feel so inclined, you can craft your own Martha-like party decorations with gilded mobiles and handmade paper horns.  In fact, why not go the extra mile and create some of your own confetti? 

I, unfortunately, do not feel so inclined, but I do feel a little inspired, so instead I'll probably make some "gilded" throw pillows to mark the occasion.  (more on that later...).

Happy New Year to you all--and please enjoy a glamorous party so I can live vicariously through you!

How un-New-Year-ish...

As you all know, the new year is just around the corner.  Now, normally I do tend to be a "resolution" type of person.  I like when a new season starts, and I especially like to get out my journal and write down some goals and wonder in general what the year will bring.

This year, however, I decided to reset my calendar a bit and choose the start of Fall as my "resolution time."  It just seemed like a better time of year to be focused, rather than the cold and dark and windy month of January.  And so the coming holiday doesn't quite have the same "starting fresh" luster as before.  Rather than plunging ambitiously ahead, armed with to-do's and lists, I actually feel more like nestling in with my books and my blankets and my knitting needles.

This feeling is what is inspiring me to start a new series here called "Nesting."  After a long Fall and a busy holiday season, I just want to spend the next two months dwelling on coziness and home.  Altruistic it certainly is not--I guess I'll have to save my altruism for sunnier days.  For now, my plan is to get my "nest" in comfortable order, and do what the animals do: hunker down and enjoy the warmth until Spring arrives.  I plan to bake bread and cook hearty meals and drink lots of tea.  I plan to bury myself in design projects, like making quilted throws and pillows and engraved bud bases to hold the first flowers of spring.  Yes...I'll probably do some organizing and revisit my "backwards budget," but all in the name of "securing my nest," of course.

I know that this "nesting" list is decidedly un-New-Year-ish, but I tend to deviate from the norm, so that's to be expected.  Besides, wouldn't you rather snuggle down than adopt harsh dieting rules or a serious exercise regime?  

Of course, I will inaugurate this new season with one traditional New Year's gesture: champagne (I love the bubbly--so sparkly and pretty).  Won't you join me in toasting to Nesting this winter?