Saturday, December 31, 2011

A Letter To 2011

Dear 2011,


Wow! What a year you were! I can't say you were always good, in fact, some days, you were a wretched, wretched beast, but you know what? I learned something from you each and every day. How awesome is that?


You were a very moody year, 2011, especially in terms of weather. You came in like a cold, angry bitch, and dragged us through a tough winter and cold, wet spring. But then you redeemed yourself. You gave us a wonderfully hot and sunny summer, a gorgeous fall, and, well, I can't even believe that it's winter now. It was above zero on December 31, nice work.


Thank you, 2011, for the last 365 days we spent together. You brought me enormous personal growth, both emotional and spiritual. You brought me into contact with some great people, and opened my eyes to people who were already there, and I saw them in a new way.


During 2011, I started this blog, and rekindled my passion for writing. I had no clue how much I'd missed it until I started again. I discovered a passion (ok-obsession) for photography, and I wish I'd found it sooner. Or not.  Maybe I wouldn't have appreciated it if you hadn't brought it to me. Thanks, 2011!


You also taught me to trust others (and myself) enough to let out my creative side. You found opportunities to put me together with people who would help me nurture that part of me that had gone so long ignored. This has been your greatest gift to me.


I had a lot of good days while you were here. Partly by circumstance, but mostly, because I CHOSE to have good days. If there was one thing I learned this year, it was that every day is a gift, and we can create the outcome. We can wallow in all the negative stuff that life throws our way (and you did a great job at that, 2011), or we can look deep within ourselves, and our situation, to find some glimmer of hope, and something we can learn from. Life is all about growth, and never has that been so clear to me as this last year.


You went by to quickly, it seems, but I understand. You're probably tired too.  Thanks for stopping by, and farewell. It's been a great year, but I'm moving on.  Love you!


Cheers!
Tara

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

This Is Why You Should Not Let Me Name Things.

Greetings!

I've decided to start another blog.  I'm going to keep this one, but it's my personal one, and I have a lot of passions/opinions that I want to get out there.  That's great and all, but I'm not sure my personal blog is the place to do it.  I'm pretty good about saying what I need to say, but this is more or less my "happy place," and I'd kind of like to keep it that way.

They say you should write about what you know, and what you love.  To that end, I've decided that I am going to start a blog dedicated to my love of my hometown, Winnipeg. I've been thinking about it, and gathering ideas, and I'm really excited.  I've got some things I want to talk about, and ideas as to where I'd like to take the blog, but I'm not going to over-think it, because I want it to progress organically, and see what happens.

So. I have my blog idea, and I've got some design ideas, and all I need is a name.  One would think this would be a fairly simple task.  I am a creative person, this is true, but I am also a bit of a perfectionist.  I can think of ideas, then I worry that they suck. Most of the time they're pretty good, but I think I just obsess too much.

I've always been this way too.  I struggle to name everything.  My pets, my blogs, my stories.  I'm actually glad I adopted my child, because if it had been up to me to name him, I think he'd likely have a stupid name like "Breckin" or something.  This is where I apologize to all the Breckins in the world, but it really is a dumb name. 

I'm really excited about the blog to be, and I hope you will be too.  Look for it soon... if I can ever think of a name. 

Cheers!
Tara