metal rabbit

 The start of 2011 was pretty anti-climatic for me, but since I'm not a believer that the way you bring in the new year is any indication of how the rest of the year will go, I am not disappointed.  Beginnings are always exciting, because there's so much that's unknown, but also because there's so much to look forward to.

Here's what I'm looking forward to in 2011.

01. For this winter to be over!  Winter is my least favorite season, and this blizzard sure kicked it off with a bang and I'm sick of cold and snow already.

02. Making soba noodles this summer.  There is nothing like cold soba noodles on a hot summer day.  It's filling, refreshing, and so yummy I could eat it all day every day for the whole summer.

03. Cooking more often.  I was never big on cooking, but maybe that was because I never gave it a fair chance.  It turns out I positively enjoy cooking, and although I'm no master chef, I am certainly getting better the more I cook.  I love planning out meals and figuring out how to best use the groceries left in the fridge and cupboards.  There's a bunch of random groceries left in the kitchen and I want to use them up so the fridge will be empty when I clean it.  This is forcing me to learn new ways to use different ingredients and I am absolutely delighted when I make something that both I and my boyfriend think is delicious!

04.  Learn more about photography and take more pictures.  I've always been more into describing things with words than with pictures, but photography definitely has its merits.  For starters, it is generally faster than writing down memories.  Unfortunately, I broke my old digital point and shoot, but my boyfriend hasn't used his old Canon G9 in a while.  Since he's not using it, I might as well make use of it.  It's a good camera for me to start out with, too.  My old point and shoot wasn't that bad, but it definitely had its limitations.  This camera is much better than my old point and shoot, so I'll have much more to learn and I'll have to fiddle with it quite a bit in order to capture beautiful pictures.

05.  Catching up on the Wheel of Time series.  I only ever read up to book 10, and I read these books with so much time in between that when I moved on to the next one I had forgotten what happened in the previous one.  The 14th and final book of this series is due to release early 2012, so I definitely need to reread the first 10 and catch up this year!

Here's to a wonderful 2011.  Cheers!