Some thoughts on entering the new year of 2024.
Last night was the first night Krystal and I were invited out to spend New Year’s Eve partying with friends who were not also family members. And so we braved the traffic downtown to see what the night held in store for us. Now, I know our local traffic is literally nothing compared to a medium or large city, but anything more than what one is accustomed to can be frustrating. However, Krystal found a prime parking spot centrally located to all of the downtown festivities.
We found ourselves going from place to place with an ever-increasing group. Sometimes we went in to an establishment and walked right back out because it just wasn’t worth the crowded mass of humanity.
I received many more compliments on my top/outfit from complete strangers than I anticipated. For the record, I didn’t expect any, but at least three times I was stopped briefly by someone who wanted to gush about how amazing they thought I looked, and that made me happy.
We eventually ended up back where we started, spending the last hour and a half of 2023 playing UNO on an unheated, outside patio discussing the various good luck traditions we were all familiar with – in particular one about eating grapes at the stroke of midnight.
This was one of the nonalcoholic drinks being served. It’s called a “Free Spirit” and is made from an amethyst blueberry ginger mint nonalcoholic spirit, blueberries, lavender simple syrup, and club soda.
A few minutes before the calendar changed, we discovered that folks were gathering inside so that space had opened up. With five minutes to go, our group claimed a table and toasted the new year together before quickly heading to our cars, hoping to beat the worst of the midnight madness.
I would say that Krystal and I were successful in that regard.
These were tiny shots of champagne passed out gratis just before midnight. I think this particular glass belonged to the person eating grapes under the table; it was so tiny and cute I had to take a picture.
This morning I woke up and remembered that since it’s January 1, I shouldn’t do things like clean the house, wash my hair, or wash/buy clothes. Instead I started my first simmer pot of 2024 to get the house smelling nice and comfy:
Then I gathered up my Yule pinecones, and as I was instructed when I was given them, burned them.
I did this safely outside in a cast iron pot, but in retrospect it was not the best option and if I do this again next year I may need to make arrangements with someone who has a fire pit or similar.
This year I am once again choosing to take care of myself as my resolution, but I do have a few goals I’d like to achieve:
Take at least one photograph a month with Krystal. We looked through all the photos we each had from the year and counted less than five of just the two of us.
Write more – both here and for personal enjoyment.
Last year I made forty blog posts; this year I’m aiming for at least one post a week. Remember the year I posted every single day? Pepperidge Farms remembers . . .
I think posting once a week is a reasonable goal. I’ll admit sometimes I wonder if keeping this blog open is worth it – like last May when I had to go up a tier because – after a decade – I’d finally used all the space my WordPress plan allowed. And then I get this from one of my dearest, closest friends (the kind that is so close they’re family):
I also want to write more for myself in the form of journaling. Sure I make posts here and I write things for the TTRPG campaigns I’m in, but I also have several notebooks that I’ve been afraid to write in for fear of messing them up, and there’s something to be said about doing something for oneself that isn’t necessarily for public consumption – know what I mean?
Exercise – One thing that’s fallen off my radar completely is physical exercise. I used to run all the time, and now I barely do anything. I know it’s got to be hurting my health; it’s definitely affected my waist size. I don’t know about signing up for any races, but I’ve got to do something . . . I find this ironic considering the history of this blog.
Read at least as many books in 2024 as I did in 2023. According to Goodreads, that number is 19. I think I can do 19 again.
Cook one new recipe a month. I think that one is self-explanatory, and will give some good photo opportunities – as well as something to write about here.
Do you have any goals for the 2024? It’s okay if you don’t; you shouldn’t feel pressured to do anything just based on what I’m doing.
If you have a cat, please give them a gentle pat from me (or whatever form of affection they prefer). Really, you can do this with any animal you may have as a companion, but I’ve a soft spot for the kitties.
Until next time, dear reader, I leave you with this randomly-generated text and image:
Running In My Head 
so very glad that you are still pottering away at the blog when I decided to come back to WP. Sad to see so many I followed (stalked) are gone now, both to their final rewards and to other blog sites. You definitely look fantastic in that awesome shirt!
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