Happy 2012 y’all! Hope your holidays were merry and your new years was festive. I am back and refreshed after a very busy few months. Though I wish I could take another week off to really decompress! Alas, bills must be paid, orders shipped, syllabi written, and new projects started.
Here on the blog, I want to spend the first few weeks of 2012 reflecting on the last year, the holiday season, and my goals for 2012. But first, I think it’s important for me to share what I did over my “stay-cation.” I’m really hoping that in 2012 this blog becomes more a reflection of me as a whole and not just about what project I most recently finished or where I might be selling my wares over the weekend. So, as a start, here’s what I did last week:
~ I slept and did not use an alarm.
~ I unpacked boxes that have been sitting around since I moved in June. Sure this stuff is mostly unnecessary. But it was fun to discover things I forgot I had like this super cool bowl that used to be my grandmother’s.
~ I decorated using some of the “unnecesary stuff” I found.
~ I cleaned the house.
~ I played video games
~ I went to the library and got some business oriented books to read: Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath, Why We Buy by Paco Underhill, and Free by Chris Anderson.
~ While at the library I also got a museum pass for the MFA. I went the next day and spent most of my time in the new Art of the Americas wing. I was surprised to find inspiration in the Boston 1790-1830 room. There were three rooms (bedroom and dining room below) re-created from the Oak Hill Estate which was located in Peabody, MA (where I live!) and designed mostly by the famous local architect Samuel McIntire. Today, it’s the site of the North Shore Mall (sad). I loved the patterns and woodwork I discovered in these rooms. I am thinking about developing a line of decorative cards using these rooms as my inspiration.
~ I scoured through several issues of Vegetarian Times I had sitting around since summer. I made a few of the dishes for dinner and we are still eating some of the delicious left overs this week. Also a quick note here, I’m not veg anymore (and haven’t been for a number of years) though I try to cook this way as much as possible.
~ I got my hair cut.
~ I hung out with my brother for the first time since the summer.
~ I spent most of the day Friday cooking some more of the above veggie recipes in preparation for a New Year’s Eve party we were having.
~ We had a New Years Eve party.
~ I tried not to think about work, but it was really, really hard.
Now I’m back! And boy am I thinking about work. I’m planning and scheming and trying to figure out what my next step is. We’ll get to all of that soon. But first, I’ll reflect on 2011 in my next few blog posts.
