Happy New Year! (and the Teaser Reveal)

Alright, so it's a bit late. BUT, there's so much to be grateful for in the upcoming year and I wanted to put my New Year's Resolutions to proverbial paper...and give you the goods I teased about last night...so here's to getting it done before the year is 1/12 over!

First of all last year. One of my 2010 New Year's Resolution was to learn how to create pretty cupcakes. 12 months later, my cupcake making supply has multiplied exponentially, I understand cupcake lingo (word to yo' momma's grandson) and I can, indeed, frost a mean cupcake. (You should have seen the 'Sprinkle Madness' cupcakes my fabulous friend Timi and I created today! Sprinkle and sparkle explosion!)


My most important 2010 New Year's Resolution of truly understanding and feasting upon the New Testament is turning out to be a 2 year resolution; not for lack of work, but simply because I'm still learning so much. I love the history, the majesty and grace of this book. There are so many chapters I've felt desperate to reread because I want a greater understanding. I'm looking forward to reporting later on that. This is my Spiritual New Year Goal.

Now for the Nutritional Health New Year Goal. Around Halloween an epiphany hit me over the head like a bag of bricks. I strongly suspect that several of my children have a reaction to artificial food coloring. Food reactions are not new to our family. For example, one of our kids has been dealing with eczema highly suspected of being food related. SOOOOO, with the coerced and forced cooperation of my family, we are trying to avoid artificial food coloring as much as possible. Are we gonna be perfect?

Absolutely not.

But I figure if once or twice a month I let them have a treat, say like at a Boy Scout Court of Honor where EVERY stinkin' dessert has massive amounts of fake, fluorescence in it, I can still be safely in the 'Nice Mom' category AND collect enough raw (and sometimes ugly) data to determine if my suspicions are right.

Ooooooo! Easter's gonna be fun.

I'll be labeled a tyrant by Halloween.

As for my Physical Health, I have many lofty dreams of running in several races this year. First, I plan to run the Gate River here in Jax. Then this summer, I'll be revisiting the relay again with a team of 11 other illustrious runners (including He-Man...if he ever picks up his running shoes. YES! I'm talking to you!) and going the distance again. After that, if the Chicago Urbanathon has a woman's division, I'd like to run it while meeting The Flash there in the fall.

This goal is off to a rather shaky start considering I seem to have the knees of an eighty year old with a double knee replacement(...dang those hard core knee thwacking cheerleading moves!)

Now for the Giving to Others Resolution. I've decided to do all that I can to randomly bestow others with gifts to brighten their lives. Who doesn't love getting a random package in the mail or a surprise gift on their doorstep? How can you know feel loved by the world when someone anonymously leaves a fruit cake on your doorstep? I commit to doing this more, sans fruitcake...even if it's ridiculously random and terribly silly. And since YOU, old blogging buddy of mine, are so awesome, my goal is to have a monthly blog drawing since YOU are so FANTASTIC!

Then, here's the big one. It's the Big-Bang Resolution. Many of you are aware of my love for writing and my past ambition to submit my work...someday. For years I've been writing stories here and there, and even had a paid gig with He-Man's grad-school paper. I've always felt that someday, I would be able to have extra time to devote to this love. Someday often never happens. I've decided that time is NOW! I can not wait for that perfect time when nothing else is going on.

So, for the past few months I have been working on a project that is very near and dear to my heart. As I've researched, compiled my thoughts and created an outline, I have fallen absolutely in love with a story and it's characters. I have begun the writing process and my goal is to be done with my novel by the end of June.

He-Man committed to get the story published IF I get my sorry bum in gear and write it! So, whether we find a publisher or go the route of self publication, we'll begin the process when it's done. Now the job is to write, write some more and then some more.

Here's where my teaser from last night comes in. In the month of June, I will have a blog drawing to share a sample of my novel with a blogging buddy who is willing to give me honest feedback and input. I'm still working on what form that sample will take but it will be a good, solid sample. I'm so eager to share it.

Now for the fun January Drawing!

What you see before you are one of the fun things I have acquired during my cupcake making endeavor: flavor oils. You can find a few flavors at several local stores, but these flavors aren't as easy to find and were ordered straight from the company.

5 of my Blogging Buddies will be receiving 4 flavors from my January Drawing. There's a catch though. Those who want to be entered in the drawing must agree to emailing me or posting on their own blog or Facebook what they did with one of the flavor oils. Whether it's making hard candy, chocolate, frosting, or painting your fingernails with it, I wanna know! Pictures are great and I would love to post them on my blog.

All you have to do is let me know if you want to be in the drawing here or on facebook. Any comment between now and February 2nd will be considered an entry.

These little babies are so fun! I can't wait to share them!