Welcoming 2015

Strawberry Red Bean Mochi - The first dessert I made in 2015.

There was no all night partying, no special outfit, no new years eve feast.  The year 2014 ended like most other nights last year, except maybe a lot of thanks to be given for a year that had it's lows but also for amazing highs with my newly formed family.

For most people, the Christmas holidays are a very joyful time and people are often in a festive spirit but there are those that this season brings tears and unhappiness.  I have experienced both.  But every new year brings hope that it will be better than the last, that if it was a bad year previously, the changing of the year somehow signifies a changing of the winds hopefully.

We get a little older and hopefully see ourselves a little more clearly.  It's taken me a while to write this first post of 2015 as I don't usually make new years resolutions but this year I decided to make a few goals, goals that drive me to be better...

1.  Bake regularly, once a week at minimum (or can be substituted with making a dessert that does not require baking, such as the mochi pictured above).

2.  Read regularly.  In the last year I've read more (non-fiction) than I've read in the last few years and it's been quite satisfying.  I feel like my brain is working again.  Sometimes I read things that I'd love to share or chat with others about so that is often why I'll blog about certain books.  I'll also add reading the news and reading in Chinese are sub-goals as I often find myself going weeks at a time without knowing what's happening in the world or the city (which is a little sad) and because I don't want to lose the little Chinese reading skills I have.

3.  Be on time.  I'm always late.  Unless it's a very important appointment where I absolutely can not be late, I'm always late.  My picture should be beside the word "late" in the dictionary, lol!  It's a combination of lack of appropriately estimating how long something is going to take, sometimes squeezing in one last thing to do, and never accounting for traffic.  Being late is really a bad character trait and although my friends and family forgive me, I really want to be better.  Everyone's time is valuable and me being late doesn't show that I care.  There! I've said it...let's see if I can make it happen!

4.  Be a better mom (and be better to my mom).  This one is the toughest since it's very subjective but I'm putting it down anyway...this will also be the only year I'm putting it down because I feel like this is something I need to reflect upon every single year, but this is the first.

Wishing my family and friends (and readers) good health and happiness, may 2015 be better than 2014!!