Each year I pick a word that will set the tone for the year ahead. In 2015 it was BUILD, in 2016 it was BRAVE. Learn more about One Little Word.

I think Brave was a really good word for last year. We took a lot of chances and tried a lot of new things. We learned, we grew and we gained. All good stuff over here.

The past year has brought us to Italy, gave us a roommate, got both chuck and I new jobs, brought us new experiences, made us new friends, and gave us a huge gift. We put on our big boy and girl pants and we took it all like champs, sure there were ups, downs and lots of surprises but it couldn’t have been better. I am thankful every day for the experiences that I had in this year.

For 2017 the word I chose was OPEN. I want to be open to all of what life has to toss at me. In case you missed this week’s announcement, this year is going to be life changing. I can’t think of a better way to honor the ensuing changes than to be as open as I possibly can to them all.

This might be the first year in history for me that I don’t have any other real goals. Survive this year is just about all I can come up with. It seems suitable, right?

For the blog, I do have a few specific goals, but they are small, and hopefully manageable, but again, I’m not beating myself up if things do go according to plan because Chuck and I have never done this thing before and I have no idea what to expect.

I do have to make a promise to you all to not make this a mommy blog, while there will definitely be some baby mixed in (there has to be because this blog is all about me after all), there will mostly be food, gardens, and the usual stuff around here.

Unfortunately, there is not much else to say at this point. I hope you guys are as excited to start the new year as I am.