Welcome 2012!

Well, here we are ... at the start of a new year.  A clean slate.  Full of promise.  Full of hope.  Full of resolutions.

Well, not so much.  Because this is the year I decided to NOT make a single resolution.  A resolution that I would keep for about 12 hours.  Sadly, I kid you not.

So, take joy in the fact that this will not be the year I promise you a picture a day only to make it to day 21.  And, I am aware that saying I actually made it to day 21 is a stretch.  In my head I can at least pretend I made it to day 21, can't I?

This also won't be the year I keep my closet clean.  Because where would be the fun in that?  I know how much you enjoy the three times a year I clean the closet, post amazing pictures, swear it will absolutely stay that way ... only to do it again in the next 4 months.

I will also not resolve to lose the weight of a kindergartner.  It could happen, but I am not going to promise it.

This will be the year Torrey turns 16.  And gets her driver's license.  Weirdly the getting of the driver's license will also be the day I enter the looney bin.  Who knew?

This will also be the year Dean and I celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary.  Wow.  We have lived a lot of life together.  Good and bad.  Easy and hard.  And I wouldn't have wanted to have lived it with anyone else.

We are trying to not eat out for the month of January.  It is day 1 and so far so good.  I got new pots for Christmas and am channeling my inner Ina Garten ... funny how the cooking shows don't show someone cleaning up the messy kitchen after!

I have spent much of 2011 reading and re-reading and re-reading One Thousand Gifts.  So amazingly good.  I have been trying to complain less and be grateful more.  I made that decision in the summer.  The summer where it was 110 degrees at 6:00 in the morning.  For something like 45 days in a row.  Just as a suggestion, always check the 10 day weather forecast before attempting to complain less.

Anywho ... this is my year to be intentional about seeing those things around me that God has given me and truly be thankful for those things.  It is my year to make my own list of one thousand gifts.  I pray that next New Year's Eve my list will be well over one thousand and will have turned into a habit where gratitude comes as easily as breathing.

Uno numero on my list?  Two of my favorite people who bring out the best in me, love me on my best days and love me even more on my worst days, laugh with me, cry with me and are my greatest blessings.  

Happy 2012 from the Townsends!