Can you believe it? Seriously??? Can you believe that it’s 2011?

I just had to get that out there. It’s been 10 years since I moved out of home and went to college. It’s the first year in the second decade of the 21st century. It’s the year of… I don’t know. It just seems insane that it’s already 2011. You would never know it by looking at my “most played” music playlist this year, though. According to that it’s still 1993. Does anyone else out there still listen to “Heart-Shaped Box” (and other fabulous grunge music) as much as I do? I ramble.

Because it’s 2011, and because I’ll be 28 this year, I feel like I need to start setting goals (some might call them resolutions – but whenever I call something a resolution I never seem to keep it). So here goes. This post is a list of things I want to accomplish this year. I want to hold myself to some standards that I can keep. I want to be ambitious, but realistic. I’ve been able to do this in my business/professional life, but for some reason when it comes to my personal life (i.e. all of the things I feel most passionate about) I just sort of float around, with no real direction.

So this, in many ways, is a public declaration of intent (these are in no particular order):

1. I will write at least once a week.
2. I will learn how to make the following: Madeleines, Macarons, and Panettone
3. I will be more social.
4. I will host more dinner parties (see #3 above)
5. I will keep the apartment organized (and therefore keep clutter to a minimum – between the two of us, I definitely have more of the pack rat mentality).
6. I will actually read through the cookbooks I already own (and make some of the recipes in them!).
7. I will take a course at the French Pastry School.
8. I will call my grandma more often.
9. I will seek out some volunteer opportunities in my community.
10. I will make a concerted effort to get better at photography.
11. I will never forget to have fun and eat cannolis (I wanted to keep my list at 10, but what can I say? I sometimes need to be reminded to enjoy life. I don’t need to be reminded to eat cannolis).

Does anyone else notice how insanely huge that spoon is? It was wonderful.

So yes. That’s it. I think this seems realistic.

Happy 2011! Best of luck with your goals, plans, and statements of intent 🙂