the new year

it's that time of year when lots of people are talking about goals, resolutions, and fresh starts. the thought of resolutions makes me weary - just the word itself i think. goals feel too formal. fresh starts is a better phrase, more hopeful maybe. if you are a scrapbooker, you may have heard of Ali Edwards and her one little word project . she encourages people to choose a word to focus on throughout the year. it's a totally awesome idea, and very low stress. one of my favorite challenge blogs is a spin off of Ali's idea, and it's appropriately named one little word. their first prompt of the new year is start. here's mine:

 

it says start as you mean to go on. i had fun making the edges look like they were sooty and old.

so my word for this year is listen. here's what it looks like to me right now :

the circles are really old poker chips, they feel like they are made of thick chipboard. the rub-ons are from Jenni Bowlin Studio, and they spell out listen.

prior to the new year, we had fun with our friends on Christmas Eve. we ate ourselves silly, decorated Aunt Chick's Christmas Cookies, opened presents from Santa, and played chicken foot with dominoes til the wee morning hours.  i had to get a photo of the ebola virus cookie!

then on the 28th we had a birthday lunch because someone has decided that it is now a tradition. we chose the weekend so the whole family could come. they did, but the only problem is that it is hard to get 17 seats all together at the same time in a small diner! the hamburg inn is a small slice of history with the best food! the staff is awesome too.

yep, i really saved all those letters from other projects! it was fun to make a randomly lettered title.

so have you chosen a word for your year?leave me a comment and let me know!