Happy New Year. A bit late.

New year, new goals. Resolutions are made, only to be broken within hours of the turning of the year. Seems like a new year ought to be a good time for a fresh start, no matter what your goals, but it's understandably difficult in the middle of winter, which is where most of us are at this present moment. Nothing says "wrap up in a blanket and watch Netflix" like cold and snow. But I digress.

Have you made a list of goals for 2015? Is it actually doable? Lists are great, but if they aren't actually achievable, then you'd probably be better off without a list. I have generally made a list of goals that ends up being on the unattainable side, so this year I'm taking a bit of a different approach. I do have a few year-long goals, but I also intend to assess separate goals for each month. This breaks the year down, and also I think it'll be easier to have season-specific goals listed during that season. Writing about summer plans and/or goals in the dead of winter is just not how I roll. I appreciate each season for what it is, and besides I actually like winter.

That being said, here are my January goals/plans, in no particular order.

• Conquer clutter and put away Christmas decorations.
• Bake a cranberry pie.
• Learn a new piano piece.
• Watch all ten seasons of Friends. (I'm on season 4, so this really is plausible haha.)
• Sew a tree skirt (to use next year and beyond) from leftover wedding dress fabric.

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As for my year-long goals, here are a couple.

• Read at least 25 books. (I know I can read more than that, but more about my reading plans will be on my book blog soon.)
• Train to be able to run a 5K. (I was doing this last year but stress fractures ruin things.)
• BLOG BLOG BLOG
• Sew at least one project a month on my new sewing machine.

geekery and not limiting oneself

As I post on Facebook about a Hayao Miyazaki tribute on the latest episode of The Simpsons, listen to the soundtrack for The Little Mermaid, watch PBS all night (Downton Abbey and Unlocking Sherlock), complain about various oddities in Doctor Who, and read William Shakespeare's Star Wars, I have come to the realisation that my life is mostly geekery. Not that I wasn't aware of this fact before. But I think for a short while I lost sight of my identity. It was clear in my various blogging attempts that I couldn't figure out what direction I was going. This could easily have everything to do with so much in my life changing since going to university, but that's no excuse. I have to remember who I am and not try to be someone I am not.

Yes, I wanted to start a homemaking/marriage/cooking/etc. blog. I even did for a short while (the link is on my page). But though my heart is firmly rooted in all those things, that's not my passion when it comes to writing and blogging. Well, except for that last one. Sharing recipes I intend to try and ones I have already tried is just plain fun. It was all too difficult to attempt to write about aspects of homemaking and marriage when I mostly want to keep things like that private or between close friends and family. Don't take this the wrong way. I find nothing wrong with homemaking bloggers or marriage bloggers. That just isn't me.

I refuse to label and limit myself in blogging simply because I felt that is what I should do as a young married Christian woman. All my life I have longed to write a sci-fi or fantasy novel. And that's never going to happen if I don't let myself revel in my geekery and remember that this is who I am. Somehow I feel as if I were pushing away that part of myself. And this is all hard to write, actually. But it's a sort of affirmation, too. God made me exactly how He was supposed to, and that is a blessed fact. So basically I am here to declare that this blog does not have one particular purpose, but that it will finally fully reflect me.

Book reviews, film reviews, music reviews, various sundry items from around the internet, personal writings, poetry, cooking, natural living/homesteading (because I'm rather a geek in that way, too, haha), amateur photography, etc. will all have their place here. I'm sure it'll end up being mostly book reviews for a time. I know I am good at those. Then again, like my chaotic and creative mind, I don't know what may come up. But, as I've said recently, I'm sticking with it!

end of the year and all that

Since getting a job back in April, all my plans/ideas/personal life kind of went haywire. It took a long time for me to acclimate, as it generally does when something is new. Seems like I'm on track now, though, and I'm definitely enjoying what I do. (Mostly because I have a few very good friends there now. That's always helpful. And fun!) Of course the holiday season tends to throw a wrench into everything because though it's the most wonderful time of the year, it's also the busiest and craziest. Plus, it's not over yet -- New Year's and Epiphany are yet to come. I hope to do something small to celebrate Epiphany.

Anywho -- it is nearly a new year. What a crazy thought. I have a hard time believing 2013 has mere hours left to live. That's not a bad thing. A new year always prompts resolutions/goals/long lists, whatever you call them. And those lists are always a good thing. Following through on them is a different story. I am long guilty of writing resolutions and then not following through on any of them. Sound familiar?

Well, I turned 25 a month ago, and it's long past time for me to progress on some of my resolutions and goals further than a few steps. Getting started is the easy part; staying on the path is way more difficult. Besides, there is so much that life has to offer, and (as I have said before), I thrive on new experiences. It's hard not to, honestly.

I'm not going to post any of my goals and resolutions just yet -- that gives me a topic for another blog post. Okay, just kidding, I already mentioned one...blogging regularly. I can't let things get in the way anymore. I'm a writer, darn it! And I can't always be writing in private, though there is nothing wrong with that. But seriously, how am I going to get the courage to even attempt publishing a novel if I can't keep up with writing a blog??

So, creativity is definitely coming into play in 2014, that much I will tell you.
And please, my dear readers, keep me accountable.
Let me know that you do in fact enjoy my posts, and want to see more. :)

friends

the song says "you find out who your friends are" and really, that's true. people drift apart as they grow. sometimes this is good, sometimes this is bad. untruths and lies are spewed from wagging tongues. but if there's anything we all would do well to remember, it's that people change, and not always for the better. but God places people in our lives for a reason, and when they leave, there's often someone else already there. and beyond all human relationships, both real and fake, there is the greatest friendship of all, the one we have with our Saviour, Jesus Christ. the Lord is not our lover, but He is our friend. He will always be there for us, forgive us, and protect us.

this world is cruel, and we're all woefully sinful.
perhaps more people would do well to remember that.
perfection in a friend is unattainable.
perfection in this life is unattainable.
but we are perfect and whole in the grace of Jesus Christ.
He's the greatest friend any of us will ever, ever have.

addicted to life

Hi, my name is Beth and I am addicted to life.
And books, Doctor Who, and geek/nerd culture...)

But seriously.

New experiences.
I eat them up.
Sometimes quite literally, as new experiences often come in the form of food.

This week I have been in the process of creating a goal list for my life. There are so many skills I wish to learn, so many places I wish to see (i.e. the entire world), so many foods I wish to taste and/or make. And when there are only 24 hours in a day, at least a few of which I ought to spend sleeping, I become easily frustrated with myself.

But then I remember that I can always begin my goal list closer to home. I have a kitchen; cooking new foods isn't an unattainable goal! Actually, I cook new foods with regularity, interspersed with old favourites to keep Nate happy. Though he has liked everything I make. (I think that's a win for my cooking skills as a wife. ^_^)

Plus, there is so much to explore in this corner of Wisconsin. Granted, at this point in time, it's difficult and occasionally impossible to make plans for us. Nate works a lot and his schedule is erratic at best. All a part of the job. And now that I have gotten a part-time position at one of the local grocery stores, our schedules may conflict. I'm praying hard that this doesn't happen since we see little enough of each other as it is.

Anyway, I digress.

Life. I've heard it said that life is what we make it. And I suppose that rings true.

In the meantime, I shall continue to write my goal list and dream.
And, you know, clean the house so that it's not in shambles when I start work next week.

google +

On this rainy (what?? it's not snowing? I think this is a miracle...) morning, I finally gave in and joined Google +. I figured this made sense, since the Google Reader is apparently shutting down in July or thereabouts. So I've been enjoying myself and exploring the various communities. It's cool, finding so many people who are interested in some of the same things that I am.

I apologize for the lack of posts on all my blogs. I'm sort of trying to consolidate them into one blog, which could get interesting. And this week our internet has been cutting out a lot during the day. Makes it really hard to keep up with my social media!! But I got a lot of other things done, despite having a horrid cold.

Easter was wonderful, as always. Nate actually had the entire weekend off, which never happens. We both were at all four of the Easter services at our church, since I'm in choir and he played his trombone. We were exhausted by the end of it, but what a glorious celebration of the resurrection of our Savior!

This week I joined a "boot camp" at the gym, which was probably the worst week for me to join, since I got a cold and then my body was uber weak...yeah, not a good recipe for intense workouts. Ah well, it's actually kinda fun. I like challenging myself! I've always kept my mind in shape, but not really my body, so now's the time to do that. Besides, warmer weather is coming, and hiking days are just around the corner! I hope....

Umm, what else...nothing really has been happening in my life. I applied for a job at Target, so we'll see how that turns out! Since I prefer shopping there to shopping at Wal-Mart (honestly, who doesn't?), it'd be nice to have a discount.

So I guess I didn't win the camera in the giveaway that I entered. Sadly. I usually have good luck with giveaways, but not this time. :( But that's okay. Sort of.

sunshine, please come back soon.

I'm at the point now where I have to continually remind myself that I love snow and winter. The problem isn't the cold and the fluffy white stuff, though. It's the fact that the sunshine has disappeared and won't show its warm face. I love bright and cold winter days, when the sun is shining down from the clear blue sky onto a brilliant blanket of snow. But these gloomy not-quite-cold-enough days just drag me down.

To keep my spirits up, I'm writing my spring cleaning list (to be begun as soon as the windows can be opened), looking up places to go snowshoeing, planning my garden, and drinking floral teas. Specifically, Berryblossom White by Tazo Tea. SO GOOD. I have my amazing friend Becca to thank for introducing me to this tea, way back when we were still in college. Okay, that wasn't way back, but I graduated almost two years ago, so....

And I just remembered that I have homemade dandelion wine to try! I'm nervous...it's probably terrible. But I hope it tastes decent. And that it tastes like summer, even though I'm not a huge fan of the summer temperatures.

Of course, Valentine's Day is just around the corner, too. I've never been a huge advocate of the Hallmark holiday, but hopefully Nate and I can do something fun. At the very least, I'm going to cook us a fun dinner. I found a recipe for red wine pasta which looks and sounds delicious. I also plan on making some heart-shaped doughnuts for breakfast. Though those might have to wait until the weekend when Nate doesn't have to get up at 3:30 am.

How are you keeping back the weather blues? And what are your Valentine's Day plans?

blogging is hard

Sharing my life with people has never been the easiest thing. Oh, I can talk just as well as anyone, and carry on a conversation. If someone asks me what I've been doing lately, that's easy enough. But when I blog, the deeper nature of my mind tends to come out. I find meaning in everything. And sometimes I blog about something that I don't feel like anyone I know personally could possibly understand. My previous post on vegetarianism is one such topic. Not nearly as deep or thought-provoking as a few of the posts I wrote on relationships last year, but still.

Blogging is hard, both the reading other blogs and the writing of your own, because it forces you to discover things about yourself that you never knew. I'm serious about this. When I begin a blog post, I have a general idea of where I want to go with it, but I rarely know exactly where I'll end up. Sometimes what I write is almost a complete surprise.

And then there's the simple fact that if you share the link to your own blog on Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media site, people you know personally are going to read it. This is where I may be different than most people. For whatever reason, I would rather have people I don't know reading my random thoughts and adventures. It's kind of a place to hide, I suppose.

Sharing these posts with my friends and family on Facebook is hard for me to do. I don't need affirmation for what I'm doing and/or saying, but the possibility of someone I know hating what I write just eats away at me. At least it used to; my blogging confidence is much stronger now. Not sure why.

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Why am I writing about this on a dreary Monday morning? I just want to make clear that this is my blog and whether I write about my love for my husband, the DIY stuff around the house, compassion for animals or the adventures I hope to have someday, these are all thoughts from the deepest portion of my heart.

ch-ch-changes (for the blog)

Seeing as it's a new year, I have a few things in mind for my blog. I would really like this to become a regular thing. Granted, I'll probably never be as awesome as many of the other blogs that I follow, but with a little tweaking it might look pretty.

• a new name (not 100% positive about what it will be)
• a new layout
• more links
• more pictures (which will only happen once I have a camera, though occasionally there might be bad quality iPod photos like the one above)

There are a few other things playing around at the back of my mind. It is, after all, the time of year to think "new and inspired" and I wish to carry that all the year through.

musings no. 7 [in other news, my legs are killing me]

 I sat down at my computer and was about to write a "Motivational Monday" post when I realized something.
It's not Monday.
Oops.

Well, I'm totally okay with that.
Mondays aren't usually the best day in the week for most people.
Yesterday I spent the morning baking and the afternoon reading and the evening watching Star Wars with my husband, so overall it was a pretty good Monday.
That certainly doesn't happen every week, though!

Last week, I wrote a post on taking walks.
I'm here now to tell you that I took my own post seriously!
I wrote that post last Thursday, and by that point I had walked roughly four miles, two on Monday afternoon with Nate, and two on Wednesday morning alone.
On Friday, though, I hiked/walked a total of almost nine miles.
Friday morning I hiked a 3.5 mile trail by myself, while listening to the soundtrack for Fellowship of the Ring; it was an awesome hike.
Friday afternoon, Nate and I hiked a 3.1 mile trail, at which point my legs were screaming at me, but I still felt pretty good overall.
Friday night, we went to the Cheese Capital Jazz Crawl in Plymouth and that was roughly two miles of walking in the four hours we hung out there.

Honestly, at that point, I was totally beat.
But it was good for me!
I'm not bragging or anything, though I suppose I could since this isn't something I do all the time.
My stamina isn't really that great, but after last week I think I'm well on my way to building up some more strength.

I'm taking it easy this week because my leg muscles are still a little sore, and I have a couple of lovely looking blisters on my feet.

Annnnd since I just spent an entire post talking about myself...I guess I'll just shut up now.

The Big Wave

A quick detour from my reading list: a childhood favorite.  
The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck is one of those books that my parents had somehow obtained two copies of and I read it at a very young age. It's only about 80 pages long, and an easy reading level, which means that I read it numerous times when I was a child.

Seriously.
If memory serves me correctly, I read it at least a dozen, if not twenty, times.
When I thought about it recently, I asked if Mom could send me one of the copies that my family had.
She did so and I finally got around to reading it again.
I decided I would review it along with the rest of the books I have been reading.
(The book shown here is not the edition I have.)

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Kino and Jiya are young friends that live in Japan. Kino lives up on the mountainside with his family and they farm; Jiya lives on the beach in a tiny fishing village. When they are not working with their fathers, they can usually be found swimming in the ocean. Jiya is afraid of the ocean, because at any moment it can grow angry; at first, Kino doesn't understand his friend's fear. For the most part, the ocean stays calm. But when the nearby volcano begins to smoke and the land begins to shake, the ocean too grows angry.
The Old Gentleman who lives in a castle on the mountainside raises a flag and rings a bell to tell the people in the fishing village that they should come take refuge in his home. Some of them send their children, some go themselves. Most stay behind. Kino and his father are watching, and Kino becomes afraid for his friend Jiya. He waves down the hill to Jiya, who is sent up to the castle by his family but sees Kino and goes there instead.
Then they see the big wave. It crashes over the beach, taking the entire fishing village and its residents with it out to sea. And then all is over. Jiya is alone, though he is with Kino and his father.

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The rest of the story is about Jiya and Kino learning how to live in the face of death (the volcano and the ocean) and learning that one cannot live in constant fear. Kino's father is always telling his son that Jiya will learn to remember his family with joy and that he will again live.

Like I said, it's not a long story, but it is a good one. Pearl Buck writes in a simple, easy to understand style. Actually, I really like how she wrote this book because it reads as if someone were telling it, like a bard or a storyteller. The word choices and certain stylistic choices make it a good reading experience, even though it's for kids.

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Because I've read this book so many times over, and because it has some good lessons in it, I give it five stars. I'm not sure how many people will like it in the same way that I do, but if you can get your hands on a copy, give it a try. It won't take long and I hope you won't be disappointed.