Goals for 2015

Gosh, I can't believe we're more than 2 weeks into 2015 already!  Each year I usually set myself some goals (okay, they're really resolutions but we all know resolutions get broken!)  I've spent some time mulling over where I want to take myself this year and what goals to set to get there.  So without further ado...

 1. Blog more often                                                                                                                                                  
I undertook a lot of effort to rename, rebrand, and refresh my blog... and then didn't do much with it.  More blogging this year! 

2. Make more food from scratch                                                                                                                          
I've been trying to make more foods from scratch over the last year or so, in part to challenge myself in the kitchen and in part to eat more nutritious, whole foods and fewer additives and preservatives.  I already make soups from scratch, and I recently learned how to make hummus.  (For the hummus I've been working from this recipe - so much deliciousness!)

Now I want to expand my horizons and make more foods from scratch.  Definitely bread, since we go through a couple loaves a month.  I'd also like to try my hand at applesauce and pesto.  Do you guys have any other ideas on foods to make homemade - maybe something you'd like to see me blog about making?


3. Read at least 30 books                                                                                                                                        
Last year I set a goal for myself of reading 30 books.  I didn't meet it, but that's okay.  I really enjoyed setting aside more time on the weekends and evenings to just read.  I want to encourage myself to keep doing that, so I'm setting myself the same goal for this year.  I'm once again participating in the Goodreads Reading Challenge as I have in previous years - which is an easy way for keeping track of what I read and seeing how "on track" I am for meeting my goal as the year progresses.

4. Stretch and do yoga more often                                                                                                                       
I may have mentioned in here in the past that I have fibromyalgia.  For me, stretching and gentle yoga are by far the best types of exercise for managing my symptoms.  But I've been very lax in getting my movement on and I can feel the consequences of worsened pain, stiffness, and weakness the last few years.  So even if it's just 5 minutes a night or 1 good session a week, I need to do more.

5. Work on my Book of Lore & Craft                                                                                                                     
I bought a new Book of Lore & Craft (what most people call their Book of Shadows) early last year, and after it sat unused for many months I finally cleansed, blessed, and dedicated it at Samhain.  Right now it just has the dedication written in it, but I intend to add much more to it this year.

6. Get married!                                                                                                                                                          
Jack and I have been engaged since Yule 2013.  It's going to happen this year!  We're going to have a private courthouse ceremony soon, once we get our plans finalized.  I'll be sure to share photos and such in here once we finally tie the knot :)

Le poisson, le poisson, how I LOVE le poisson!

This was an actual conversation between Jack and I earlier this evening, after I was rather passionately explaining my feelings on the gender duality in Wicca:

Me:  What?  I feel very passionate about this topic.
Jack:  You feel like a fish?
Me:  Um... what??
Jack:  I'm sorry.  Every time I hear the word "passion" I think of "poisson," the French word for fish.
Me:  And here I just think of passion fruit.

Every time I hear the word "poisson" I think of The Little Mermaid.

...And now every time you think of the word passion, you'll think of fish, and then you'll start singing "Les Poissons."  You're welcome.

He denies the similarity, but sometimes I swear it's like Jack and I are channeling The Bloggess and her husband Victor.  And of course because we're both a bit weird (okay, really weird), we take turns being the one talking about bizarre things like the Unicorn Success Club or giant metal chickens.

ANYWAY.

Today was the last day of Sacred Space.  The classes I attended yesterday were not all that life-altering, but they were interesting and thought-provoking.  Lyratah Barrett's class on the Authentic Self gave me some ideas for finding a path - mundanely and spiritually - that holds true to who I authentically am. There was also a side discussion in this class about whether pain is something a soul chooses to experience as part of their human experience.  I don't think I can accept that, but Lyratah did say to me that because fibromyalgia is an oversensitivity of the nervous system, that oversensitivity might be present in other areas (emotional, stress, etc.) and trigger the fibro.  I could accept that a soul would choose to be in a highly sensitive body, or that the soul's level of development in a current incarnation could lead to that oversensitivity.

Debbie Chapnick led a fascinating series of journeys to meet the fae, and in one I was met by a fae named "Grelznik" who had a very stylized appearance to him (her?) - big, long, bushy white hair and a VERY long nose like an elephant's trunk.  I got the impression that he was Germanic, and was probably messing with me in a good-natured way in terms of the appearance and name.  In the other journey, the fae borrowed from my personal pop culture references and appeared mostly as creatures from Mononoke-hime.

I was going to stay for the party later that evening, but I was severely exhausted from the Conjure Dance the previous evening and a poor night's sleep, so I headed home for a nap.  When I woke up I decided I really wasn't feeling very social, so I opted instead to snuggle with Jack for the rest of the night.  Turns out that was exactly what I needed!

This morning, I set my alarm for 8:15, but for some strange reason it decided it was smarter than me and changed the alarm time to 9:15 because of daylight savings time.  Grrr, I say.  So I missed the morning class due to oversleeping, again.  I got to attend Katrina Messenger's class on Time, Eternity, and the Elements, and the closing ritual.  Katrina's class was exactly the kind of class I needed this weekend, and was a stimulating end to the conference - it had both science and spirituality, good discussion, and a few mind-blowing revelations about the nature of time.

Some days are easier than others

Like when I work from home and get hugs and kisses from my boyfriend when he gets home, and my roommate does most of the cooking for dinner.

And some days there's a giant frikkin staircase in my way.

From A Beautiful Revolution:
http://www.abeautifulrevolution.com/blog/2011/08/postcards-i-may-send-dont-give-up.html

Have you ever tried to walk up a giant frikkin staircase with bad arthritis in your knees? It hurts like hell. And sometimes you have to stop and rest a few times along the way, and then find the strength to keep on climbing those damn stairs.

Metaphor - I made one ;)