{photo credit: tomKphoto from our 2009 wedding}
Happy 2013! It's so prosaic to say it, but I swear 2012 really flew by. We began the year in Philadelphia and ended it in Northern Wisconsin. In July, we traveled to California for a family wedding in Fresno and then spent a fabulous week in Yosemite where D and I conquered both the Half Dome and Clouds Rest hikes. Other travels included trips to Florida and Chicago to meet up with my group of girlfriends from grad school and an unforgettable trip to Alaska courtesy of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute in early September.
This summer, after moving to Wisconsin in June, we spent much of our free time with our real estate agent searching for homes -- I think we're going to put the home search on hiatus during the winter months and finally have some time to enjoy our surroundings. Though I may not be up for ice fishing or snowmobiling, I am looking forward to giving cross-country skiing a whirl and getting back into snowshoeing, one of our favorite wintertime activities when we lived in Wyoming. Next Spring/Summer I'd love to do some hiking in the area and get back on my bike; we've heard a lot of good things about road biking in the area.
Clearly ... getting to know my surroundings better is at the top of my New Year's resolutions. Another of my resolutions is to get back into the fitness game (speaking of things that are prosaic...). Following our move, I fell off the fitness wagon; I was so spoiled with fitness-related opportunities in Philly -- what with my gym just a few blocks away, my yoga studio less than a block away, and a number of unique fitness options, including Body Cycle Studio (spinning) and Lithe Method classes just a short walk (and budget-friendly Groupon) away. This year I'd like to get back into running (prior to the holidays I was working on a simple 9-mile/week running schedule to ease myself back in to the running game) and try out some of the classes on offer at our local YMCA. I'd also like to give a couple yoga studios a whirl, both in town and just south of town in Wausau. I haven't had much luck finding a good power vinyassa class in the area ... but I don't think I can justify a 6-hr roundtrip drive to Madison just to take a class at Dragonfly Hot Yoga.
As to the blog, I think I'm going to start off the year by moving from a five posts/week schedule to a three posts/week schedule (most likely Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). It's funny ... I went to a blogging conference a couple of years ago where I attended a panel discussion about food blogging. One of the panelists mentioned that her key to success was "quantity over quality" (something the other panelists vehemently disagreed with), and I remember thinking to myself that that sounded like horrible advice. And yet, I find that over the past year, I have definitely posted for the sake of posting rather than really thinking about the quality of the post. This year, I'd like to focus more on my writing -- many of the blogs that I myself prefer to read have excellent writing, and that's something I definitely aspire to.
In terms of food-related resolutions, I would like to get back to consistent menu-planning. Over the past few months I have stepped away from planning our meals in advance, and I think that frustrates both D and myself when dinnertime rolls around and neither of us has any idea what to make, and/or we don't have the ingredients we need on hand. I also want to be better at not wasting food. I think menu-planning will help with this resolution, as will sticking to a grocery list. Finally, I have a major love for cookbooks -- I have an entire bookcase dedicated to them in our kitchen. This year I'd like to make at least one meal a week from a cookbook. I don't think I have the dedication (or desire really) to cook straight through a single cookbook; our tastes are too varied and I'm a bit picky, so I don't think it would be a useful exercise for us.
In the end, though, all I really would like for 2013 is to have a year full of good health, plenty of time with friends and family, and lots of delicious food -- and I wish the same for you.
Thanks for reading!
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