Is it weird that I’m sort of glad the holidays are over? I love Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s, but they are also exhausting…and expensive.

I’m always very very glad when they arrive, but also ready to see them go.

Just as December makes me think of lights, music, baking, visitors, laughter, gifts, and of course, Christmas…January makes me think of blankets of snow, quiet nights, frozen surroundings, and roaring fireplaces. If December is candy canes and carolers, January is slow simmering soup and the sound of falling snow. …I’m ready for my slow simmering January.

January is off to a nice start for us. We spent our quiet Monday planning travel for the year. K will be one year old soon. Old enough for overnight stays with his grandparents, (all of whom would love to see him more anyway). And we’re not ready to add to our crew any time soon…so it feels like a good time to travel! J and I are going to an all inclusive resort!!! It is also my side’s turn for a family trip, so we’ll be taking the whole crazy crew somewhere. J and I are also contemplating a trip to NYC. J has never been, and I would LOVE to see Wicked on Broadway. And since we’ll be in bathing suits in public for the first time in a while (yikes!) we of course have the cliché plans to get in shape. I’m not going to kid myself. I don’t plan to look like a model, or weigh what I weighed in college. I’d just like to feel a little slimmer, a little toner, and hopefully gain some energy.

Other than that, we are not resolution people. I can’t even commit to finishing a loaf of bread before it molds much less any grand year long plan. I do have a few things I’d like to accomplish some time…so in no particular order here’s what is in store for 2012:

· I turn 30. WHAT!

· We’ll celebrate our 5th anniversary!

· K turns one! Most of the supplies for his party are ordered, and I’ve been “pinning” ideas since fall. STOKED about this.

· Do more crafts! K will soon be interested in such things, beyond hand prints…so I hope to come up with some cute ideas.

· Speaking of K crafts, we’ll need somewhere to display them. I bought a wall decal and have plans for an “art wall”. Step one (buying the decal) took me two months, so we’re not off to a speedy start. Nonetheless…I think this will be a cool project.

· The Giving Book. I got this idea from a blogger I started following. I have pics from his first Christmas project, but need to decide on how to put the book together and then get the 2011 entry made.

· Travel! Plans in place for three trips already!

· Find ways to be and do more. I feel like I spend lots of time treading water. Some evenings by the time we get groceries, dinner, dishes, laundry, bathtime, bedtime…it feels like I’ve worked hard but haven’t gotten anywhere. I want to make time to get out of the pool and do a cannonball in to the deep end from time to time! Less existing, and more exploring. Less being and more becoming. If that means we run out of clean jeans because the three of us were busy building a fort or catching fireflies…then so be it! What about YOU? Anything exciting in store for 2012? Reply to: