It's a blustery, snowy afternoon in February, just the way I like it. I'm able to curl up on my couch with a cup of hot tea, VPR Classical playing through the "radio" (an app on my phone), and cancel all of my routine evening commitments on account of the weather. However, now that I have nothing else to do today, I sheepishly slink to my laptop, open it, and begin writing this blog post after many, many months of writing absolutely nothing. When I had started this blog back in September/October, my goal was to write about once a week. That felt reasonable. Once November hit I became busy/lazy/preoccupied and neglected to write, although often I would catch myself thinking about something, and then think,"that would be a really good entry for my blog," and then do absolutely nothing. In this entry, I will recap some of the things I have wanted to write about. It's a new year! The "restart" button has been hit, so let's start fresh by summarizing post ideas I had last year.
1. When November rolls around, Thanksgiving is on everyone's mind, and gratitude is the name of the game. Recipes are traded, relatives are visited, flights get cancelled and there may be crying. Personally, I love the ritual of this holiday. In November, I had wanted to do a food blog entry in which I documented my forays into baking a pumpkin pie using an actual pumpkin, like the kind one may decide to carve a face into on Halloween (only smaller for baking). Speaking of Halloween, this is a picture of the pumpkin I carved:
Cute right? I put a tea light in it and burned it on my coffee table to provide romantic lighting a few days after Halloween when I cooked myself to a delicious homemade meal. I had plans Halloween night and I didn't want the responsibility of leaving a flaming gourd on my porch with the possibility of starting a fire. (Since the building next door to my house actually did burn down a few weeks ago, I can say in hindsight that I definitely made the right decision). Anyway, the pumpkin pie I made turned out great! I brought it to my parents' house for Thanksgiving along with some Vermont artisan cheese platters. Check it out, I did it myself:
The cheese was a big hit, and someday, mark my words, I will talk about about Vermont cheese in this blog. We've got a lot of really amazing cheese makers in this state, so it may actually have to be a series. For my Thanksgiving entry I may have also wanted to reflect upon the people and circumstances of my life which I am thankful for, but at the moment, that reflection will take more time and effort than I'm willing to commit right now.
2. Holiday Alternative Giving!!!
The moment Thanksgiving ends, thousands, perhaps millions of Americans take part in that crazy shopping season that always makes me feel a little emotionally and morally nauseous. So, I decided to compile a list of "alternative" gifts one can give to friends and family. Now that I think about it, this list shouldn't be limited to the holiday season, so go crazy year round with meaningful and thoughtful gifts for the people you care about. Here are my suggestions:
3. NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS (NYR)!!
What's my resolution? I have given the matter very little thought. I spent New Year's Eve and the subsequent 5 days pretty darn sick, and 100 percent miserable, so I didn't get to do my usual timely reflection on the past year, and efforts I could take to make my life better in 2015. As always, I guess I resolve to take steps to move my life forward in positive ways. My "life" consists of a lot of different parts, my professional life, which involves my career(s), education, and possibly even a vocation. There's the vast pit of hobbies and interests I have, and there's the personal relationships I share with lots of different people, most notably my friends and family. I know for a fact that my "life" is not always properly balanced, sometimes I work too much, I may let some relationships slide, or in turn focus so much on certain relationships that I neglect the hobbies and activities that bring me joy. So here are a few very specific things I will attempt to integrate into my life this year to reach my NYR:
1. When November rolls around, Thanksgiving is on everyone's mind, and gratitude is the name of the game. Recipes are traded, relatives are visited, flights get cancelled and there may be crying. Personally, I love the ritual of this holiday. In November, I had wanted to do a food blog entry in which I documented my forays into baking a pumpkin pie using an actual pumpkin, like the kind one may decide to carve a face into on Halloween (only smaller for baking). Speaking of Halloween, this is a picture of the pumpkin I carved:
The cheese was a big hit, and someday, mark my words, I will talk about about Vermont cheese in this blog. We've got a lot of really amazing cheese makers in this state, so it may actually have to be a series. For my Thanksgiving entry I may have also wanted to reflect upon the people and circumstances of my life which I am thankful for, but at the moment, that reflection will take more time and effort than I'm willing to commit right now.
2. Holiday Alternative Giving!!!
The moment Thanksgiving ends, thousands, perhaps millions of Americans take part in that crazy shopping season that always makes me feel a little emotionally and morally nauseous. So, I decided to compile a list of "alternative" gifts one can give to friends and family. Now that I think about it, this list shouldn't be limited to the holiday season, so go crazy year round with meaningful and thoughtful gifts for the people you care about. Here are my suggestions:
- Buy Fair Trade or support Local Artisans and Producers: Consumers who choose to shop for local or fairly/directly traded goods are returning capital to their own communities and in communities that have been oppressed, marginalized, and otherwise excluded or prevented from earning a decent living for themselves, their communities and families. Maybe you'd like to make some homemade cookies using fair trade sugar, fair trade chocolate, and locally produced flour. Perhaps you'd like to give your new baby niece a warm sweater that was knit by a woman in Uttar Pradesh, India. You can find locally produced and Fair/Direct Trade food items in most grocery stores and coops around Vermont and Burlington maintains an indoor Farmer's Market throughout the winter, which makes those sorts of products much more physically accessible to those of us who live in the area. Burlington has two stores, the Peace & Justice Store, and Ten Thousand Villages which offer a variety of Fair Trade and local crafts from over 60 vendors from all parts of the globe.
- Make a Donation in someone's name to a non-profit! Instead of physical gifts, you can choose to make a meaningful donation to a variety of non-profit organizations undertaking many important missions right here in Vermont or in other parts of the country or the world. Below are a smattering of some suggested non-profit organizations (many of them are in the Vermont or Burlington area, but some do operate at a national or global level).
3. NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS (NYR)!!
What's my resolution? I have given the matter very little thought. I spent New Year's Eve and the subsequent 5 days pretty darn sick, and 100 percent miserable, so I didn't get to do my usual timely reflection on the past year, and efforts I could take to make my life better in 2015. As always, I guess I resolve to take steps to move my life forward in positive ways. My "life" consists of a lot of different parts, my professional life, which involves my career(s), education, and possibly even a vocation. There's the vast pit of hobbies and interests I have, and there's the personal relationships I share with lots of different people, most notably my friends and family. I know for a fact that my "life" is not always properly balanced, sometimes I work too much, I may let some relationships slide, or in turn focus so much on certain relationships that I neglect the hobbies and activities that bring me joy. So here are a few very specific things I will attempt to integrate into my life this year to reach my NYR:
- Practice thinking like David Foster Wallace urges us to do in his commencement speech to Kenyon College in 2005, entitled "This is Water." This video is only an excerpt, but it really does a good job highlighting the key points he makes. It makes me happy.
- Practice Nonviolent Communication: It's a new (read: Better) way of communicating! Much like the above video, nonviolent communication facilitates better, more empathetic connections with the people you talk to, which allows you to resolve conflicts and differences is a more productive way.
- Take healthy risks: I already tried going to a Body Pump class last week at the gym, and you know what? It wasn't as scary as I thought, in fact I rather enjoyed it, so here's to a year of high intensity weight training!! :-) I can take other healthy risks besides one's related to my personal health, I can apply for the hypothetical "dream job," sing karaoke in front of everyone, etc. I think you get the picture.
- Check off titles on my reading list. I think that's pretty clear, don't you?
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