Focus On....

(I am still in my holiday haze, with no fabulous inspiration for a blog topic, so if it's all right with you, I'm just going to ramble a bit...)

Happy New Year everyone! The holidays were great!  My father, as usual, proclaimed  the cassata needed more rum.  "But Dad, I used 2 1/2 cups!"  Mom took one whiff and said "Too much rum!"  But as I listened to my father's sigh's of contentment, I knew the cassata was just right!

My version of Cassata

Rum soaked cake, custard and ricotta, with a sprinkling of chocolate chips and cherries....yum!

So now the gifts have been unwrapped and visits are over.  The last of the holiday decorations have been put away and a new season is upon us - the season of resolutions and good intentions.  I have good intentions to keep my resolutions! (as do we all at this time of year).  Of course there is the usual "I will lose 10 lbs", "I will exercise more"...Those are the same resolutions I always think I want to start the year with.  However, the 10 lbs have been with me for about 8 years now and unless the temperature is in the 70's, my exercise consists of walking up a flight of stairs to go to bed.  I could try to become more organized like my friend Yvonne at  www.designvignettes.blogspot.com   But, like my mother, I adhere to the old adage "When in doubt, throw it out."  (or in my case - reuse, repurpose or recycle).  So my clutter is minimal (except for my desk, but we won't go there...).

So what do I really want for my life this year?  I want to FOCUS.  My home clutter is minimal, but the clutter in my head deserves its own episode of  Hoarders.  Last year I found myself going in too many directions.  Instead of one full time job, I have five part time jobs, each with its own set of  time consuming priorities.  On several, I was pulled away from my love of design for the sake of a paycheck.  Ok, paying the mortgage is a priority....eating - I like to do that also...shoes and pocketbooks - as necessary as oxygen.  So while the paycheck was taking care of my obligations, it wasn't doing much  to feed my passion for design.

This year, if all the planets align, I will be starting a new venture that involves design AND a paycheck!  One job...one location....Stay tuned for more info on that one!

Once I get re-focused on my career,   I resolve to paint my basement,  design a larger and more varied vegetable garden,  redesign my dining room, spend more time with my husband, travel, buy more shoes (oops! Old habits are hard to kick...), find some interesting topics to blog about, take more pictures, organize my attic,  clean my desk... yadda, yadda, yadda.....

And of course, I also want to lose ten pounds and exercise more...

"Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right."  ~Oprah Winfrey