read.

I'm not much for new years resolutions. I've always figured that if there is something you want to do, some way you want to change your life it's something you can decide to do anytime. Not just starting January 1st. I guess this year January 1st just happens to be when I have decided to set a goal. To make a change. What you might ask is my goal, my resolution?


To read.

It's simple. I want to read more. As a kid I read, a lot. I was the one that got in trouble for reading under the covers with a flashlight for hours after I should have been asleep. For some reason as I grew up I read in spurts. Absorbing many, many books in a short spirt then not reading for a while again. In a way It's turned into a vicious cycle. One that I am going to attempt to stop here and now!

This year I want to try to read a little more consistently. I've got no real goals on number of books to read, or even any specific books. I just want to be able to say that I am reading a book.

For Christmas my parents gave me a Kobo Touch. I'm in love with it. It's so nice to have multiple books at my finger tips and all I have to carry is 6.5 oz ereader. It's great. With about 360 books already loaded on my Kobo I'm all set to read, a lot.

So that is my goal, to read. I'm going to try to blog about some of the books after I finish. Hopefully it will be a good year, full of lots of page turners!

dear 2011

What a year it has been. It is not one that I would rank particularly high on the scale of the years I have lived. It has not been particularly kind to me, but I have survived. The past 365 days have not been a total waste. In them I have learned about myself. In a way the year has allowed me to learn a lot in a short amount of time. Likes, dislikes, dreams, hopes, in a way they are more for front in my mind then I could have imagined them to be a year ago.

My dear year, you come full circle. It started with me on the ground. There was so little for me to hang on to. So little that I dared wish or hope for. Now, the circle has been completed, but I think the year may have outdone itself on completing the circle and gone past where you should have left me. Either way I have been stripped of the last in order to be built up from the ashes.

In my brain nothing really makes sense. How I could be so broken, yet so willing to accept all that has happened to me. A year of pain, and lost hopes is nothing to be ashamed of, and I feel no shame. For me 2011 was a year I wish I could erase, yet, if erased I would not know all that I know of myself. For it was a year of internal growth. On the outside I may be broken, but I think that was the plan all along. I do wish the beginning of the year could have warned me of what was to come. But maybe the way 2011 started was a pre-curser for what was to come, one that I refused to believe.

I'm sure this year was amazing for many people. A year that many wish they could relive and cherish moments that fleeted to fast. To feel the joy of the days as they pass. I am glad that people have had a good year. I may have a slight tinge of jealousy wishing that I too had had a year worth ranking high.

For me there were many days of bliss and moments of happiness, ones I wish I could relive. The year can be counted a successes, I have survived. Maybe a little worse for ware, but still striving forward. What has been built might have fallen, but from the ashes I will rise upon the wings and soar. Because what more is there for me to do?

My dear year, you have completed your course, you have run your race. The world has successfully traveled around the sun. The year has run its corse and is now ready to be over.  I have no pity for you 2011, you have lived each day to its fullest. It's an inspiration to everyone. You have felt all the pain, fear, hopes, love and dreams of the world. The year has carried us on it's shoulder and is now ready to pass us all onto 2012.

2012 is a year full of hope. The slate is unmarked. The path untrodden. It is a year ready to yield its self to us all. O my dear 2011 I have no hard feelings for you. You have carried out the task and brought many happy days, painful days, joyace days, days of grief and days of sun. 2011, you have heard our dreams, some you have fulfilled, some have been rejected. Hope will carry the worlds unfulfilled dreams them onto the future.

The future is what I am longing for. So as the clock ticks it's last few hours of 2011, Father Time is preparing to welcome 2012, a new Baby New Year into life.

Fair well 2011.
Please know you have a friend in me.

Love,
Christi.

P.S. 2012, be kind. Please.

cookie takedown

Who would have thought I'd find roses still in bloom in Brooklyn in the middle of December. 

Also, who would have thought I would come across two vintage mini-coopers. Right in a row. They were so small and cute. 

 Then we got to the Cookie Takedown.The Takedown was at The Bell House. The chandlers were so beautiful.

There were so many amazing cookies and every one was different. Everyone put so much work into their cookies.  Susan did a great job on her Apple Burger cookies.

The prizes that the various winners received were spectacular. Baking sheets and mixing bowls, spatchulas and wooden spoons. Everyone received something, just for participating. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty jealous. But everyone earned what they received. It was a great experience.