A Crafty Traveler | Family and Travel Adventures

It’s New Year’s Eve and I’m still suffering from the effects of jet lag caused by making the rookie mistake of napping for too long yesterday when we got home from Canada. I sure do wish I was one of those lucky people who are able to sleep on planes!

We had a wonderful trip home and were treated to a beautifully white Christmas and enough food to feed a small army. Because I’m only home once or twice a year I try to fit all of my favourite restaurants into every visit and they are all exceedingly unhealthy! The two that are always included are So Good, an amazing little Asian restaurant in China Town with the most delicious vegetables in peanut sauce that they call Wu See vegetables, and K S Pizza, a south end institution that has some of the best pizza in the city. My father was at one time an electrician and did the wiring in their original location so we were always warmly welcomed there by the lovely owners when we visited with my dad as kids. Add to that all of the indulging inherent to Christmas and you come home no longer fitting in your pants! It’s all worth it though and I happily stuffed myself full of my grandmother’s Christmas baking, my favourites being her Midnight Mint squares and her shortbread cookies.

My Grammy's delicious Christmas cookies!

Leaving Ottawa and coming back home is always bittersweet; I miss my family and friends when I’m away but I also love my life over here in England. There are pros and cons to both places but we’re happy here for now.

The List

As it is New Year’s Eve it just wouldn’t be right not to have the inevitable resolution list and I most certainly don’t want to disappoint! I’m not generally a resolution maker, as it always seems to just end up in failure and disappointment, but I’m going to give a few a go this year and maybe the public declaration will make them easier to keep!

1. Stay focussed on school—I’m a champion procrastinator and get distracted easily so staying on track with my school work can be a struggle. I should be able to finish my masters this year though and I really want to make sure that I do as well on it as I can and watching re-runs of M*A*S*H really isn’t the way to do it.
2. Get more exercise—It’s a cliché I know but I’d just be lying if I didn’t have it on here. A few years ago I was exercising much more regularly and felt much better physically and mentally for it. This is another thing that is often substituted with sitcom re-runs and that’s really just pathetic! I blame Alan Alda and his charming and amusing antics.
3. Stay creative—The past couple of years have been quite good creatively for me, I feel like I’ve gotten much more comfortable and confident with my skills and have learned how to apply old skills to new projects. I’ve also learned to not be scared and to just jump in, what’s the worst that can happen really-just a lot of stitch ripping and/or repainting of canvasses, there’s worse fates than that! This year I want to make sure that any time that isn’t spent on school or work is spent learning or doing something creative. I got a whole bunch of great books and supplies for my birthday and Christmas so there is not excuse!

I’m only going to give myself three concrete resolutions because anymore is just silly and will only result in the aforementioned failure and disappointment. There are a number of other things that I will be keeping in mind, like continuing to explore and travel, keep learning, stay healthy, don’t make excuses, work hard, stay tidy, and keep organized to name just a few. I’m really not asking much of myself am I?! All one can do is try though really, so I’ll give it a fair crack and hopefully it will not have all gone out the window by next week!

I hope that you and yours have a lovely New Year’s Eve celebration and may your 2012 be filled with love and happiness. With all this resolution making and talk of personal betterment I just want to remind everyone to not be to hard on themselves-all you can do is try your best and smile!

Happy New Year!