2014!

My new year began with me laying on a mat in my sleeping bag in an old shoe store in a mall, surrounded by 15 little kids I had just met, and a few adults I’ve known for most of my life.
         If this is any indicator of how the rest of my year will go, I can expect to spend time with people I love, doing new and surprising things simply for the reward of the action. With the vague notion I have of what’s to come, I can imagine that that’s what this year will bring.
         The first 6th of the year is going to spent at my home of homes, in Texas. I plan to spend these months seeing family, experience some of my favorite places - like restaurants and hiking spots- in Austin, and going through every item in my room at my parents house to choose what gets packed and what gets axed (detailed on this process in a future blog). Other exciting experiences include: visiting family in Port Aransas, playing at Sky Candy circus gym in Austin, and going camping with my family at Enchanted Rock.
 Alas, just after my favorite holiday and just before my 26th Birthday, we’ll be packing whatever I decide to take along into a space that’s probably too small for everything I want to bring along, and moving to Albuquerque.
Our new job will offer all sorts of freedoms such as: a home to share without roommates, time to work on extra projects, a community to get involved in, and a new space to explore.
I think the biggest focus for this year is time. Having time to focus on myself and my fiancé and finally reflect all the experiences I’ve had in the last few years into who I want to be.
More specifically, some of my ambitions for the year include:
-Taking a photo each day to document the changes in weather, environment, etc.
-Organizing all my crap into essentials and inspiring items
-Getting more fit and losing my ‘winter coat’
-Being more conscious about what I eat. I’ve been a flexible vegan for a while (with my main exception being eggs)…ideally I don’t eat corn syrup, anything I can’t pronounce, or anything with added sugars…but I’ve made exceptions since I haven’t been buying my own groceries. Being able to stock our own fridge opens up a world of freshness.
-Being more dedicated to my journal- writing and chronicling the weather, and life events.

We’re also hoping to get a dog, or at least foster one, and spend some time in the community. Basically it looks like an exciting year, with lots of projects and new adventures. Stay tuned to see how it goes!