I like to say I'm not into resolutions and such, but who am I kidding, I love setting goals.  Luckily as a teacher I feel I have two times in a year that I get to reflect and reassess: January 1st and the end of August.  For me, that's two chances to make new plans (and two chances to sometimes not accomplish anything and wallow in self-pity.)

January, however, is my favourite goal setting month as we tend to spend so much time indoors.  You would too when the wind chill is -40 degrees.  This always gives me ample time to get stuff done.  Last year I only did one project because it was a quite a substantial one, the media room.  You can see it here.
In other years, my projects have been food related.  There was the year I tried to not buy a loaf of bread and make it instead...I got as far as March. You can read the posts here.

This year I have a couple challenges lined up for winter.

#1 is food related.  I have many cookbooks and have challenged myself to cook every.single.recipe out of my Barefoot Contessa books.  I picked two for this series: her Home and her in Paris.  I'll start posting my recaps and reviews on Fridays on my blog starting this week, you can read my intro to the series here.

#2 is DIY crafty.  I have an ongoing project in Lucia's room where, at the end of each year, I pick my top 1 or 2 pictures of the year, blow it up to an 8x10, mod podge it to a canvas and hang it on her wall.  I have yet to do her pictures from 2015.  This is what I have so far:


#3 is more of a to-do list.  I have been realizing more and more that I am very fortunate to live somewhere where we have so much space, so few people and so much beauty to grasp.  Yet, I haven't even experienced half of the awesome that can be done in Saskatchewan in the winter.  My sister suggested that I make a 101 in 1001 list, she's great for idea generating.  And chocolate cake making. And child minding.  So I have been inspired to make a list of 101 things I want to experience in my surroundings in the next 1001 days.   You read more about the movement here


I think it is important that we challenge ourselves and set realistic goals that motivate us learn and to grow and to become the best version of ourselves that we can be.  What are you pushing yourself to do this year?

Deena blogs at Shoes to Shiraz and is a regular contributor for The Blended Blog.  Her passions include pretty shoes, big glasses of wine, reading books and playing ball.  She lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on an acreage with her husband and two kids.