Happy 2014 & My Word For the Year!

Happy New Year!!

As we say goodbye to the year that has just passed, we look forward to the New Year with excitement. Many people decide to create a few resolutions for a New Year, but I try to stay away from that. I don’t like to wait until a new year arrives before I make necessary changes, so I’ve bid farewell to resolutions a long time ago. What I have begun doing is coming up with a theme word at the beginning of each year, and that will be my driving focus both personally and professionally.

As I look back on 2013, it was a great year for this blog. Readers like you who have read and shared my posts, commented, pinned and supported what I do are what caused my traffic to more than TRIPLE in the past year. I’m so grateful for YOU! I became a better cook, traveled, pushed myself, became an ambassador for great brands and became a contributor and a columnist and surprised myself a great deal along the way. Many of these things I never would have guessed I could accomplish when I started this endeavor.

You know what? It’s been an amazing journey! For 2013 my theme word was progress, and I truly feel that my life and my journey progressed substantially. I tried to remember my theme and my word throughout the year and it was evident along the way that I was always making progress and never less than that.

My theme word for 2014 is Intention.

in·ten·tion

noun in-ˈten(t)-shən

Since the beginning of this blog, I’ve just done what has felt right for the moment. I’ve made decisions quickly and sometimes have taken on more than I could handle. I’ve just posted what felt right and somehow made it work. At this point I want to be much more intentional. I want to plan, and move forward with purpose. I want to be more organized and accountable for my thoughts and ideas that I love to share with you. I’m often procrastinating and waiting until the last moment. During the holiday season I felt it especially. There were many ideas I had and I simply ran out of time and said “at least there’s next year.” Being more intentional, and planning ahead will allow me to be a better blogger and be able to create a much better space for you! Because that’s ultimately what is important to me. I want us all to feel comfortable here, have a good time and chat about food and recipes.

Being intentional does require forethought and planning, but I will not let this inhibit my authenticity or my creativity. Everyone needs a plan if they want to be successful, correct? In addition to that, over the past year I’ve learned the importance of balance. That it’s ok to take a step back or a day off to spend uninterrupted with your family. My blog won’t implode, and everyone will be perfectly fine if I wait a day longer to post that recipe.

I have some big changes coming soon around here. I’ll be moving my blog and have a complete redesign in the works. You can still find me at the same URL for now, but there are some big plans under way. I will cover more topics than just food. I plan to share more parties – both ideas and planning, some tech reviews for items that I use in my everyday blogging life, a bit of home decor and DIY ideas, as well as some travel posts with food reviews and the transportation that’s getting me there… and of course family stuff. Ultimately the core focus will still be food and recipes, but I want to share a bit more of myself with you and the things that I love and that interest me. I hope you’re as excited for these changes as I am.