In the year 2020 . . .

Happy New Year!  New Decade! 2020

I have joined a community  of writers on Fb, who are journaling every day. I have never been successful at journaling, and believe me, I have tried, and tried.I have already broken the first rule of the community of making a comment on a post made by my cousin Lauren,who is a poet, writer, and quiltmaker extraordinaire.

The first prompt by writer Saundra Goldman is to write for 10-20 minutes on: Where I am.

I have a new journal, and so I began. I think this will be a part of my mindfulness practice.  I have already tapped into a website https://www.mindful.org/meditation/mindfulness-getting-started/

I like the six steps meditation. I have been enjoying the articles, too. Some of the mindful practices are things that I already do, not knowing that they are "mindful."  So, it was a pleasant surprise,finding out the benefits of such practices.

Since December 15, 2019,  I have been writing, reading (mostly recipes) where I end up being the sous chef for my husband, who reads recipes all the time and has become a foodie over the past 5 years. It's been interesting "working" together in the kitchen, that is his domain.

Two days ago, on the eve of New Year's Eve, we made wild caught clams and this fabulous homemade pasta (not linguini).  Here is the link to the recipe:

https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/linguini-with-clams.html

I really like Once Upon a Chef website. Instructions and visuals=  mealtime success.

On New Year Day, I always pick my favorite things to do, as a guarantee that I will do them all year long.  I was busy: revising, sending out manuscripts, eating healthy food choices; drinking 6-9 glasses of water per day;  received my first rejection; but, also 4  of my new 100 word stories were accepted; reading; watching a few TV shows, which will fall to the wayside as soon as the semester begins.  But Flirty Dancing was fun to watch.  Although, I did feel badly for the dance partners that didn't get picked for a second date; and happened upon another show called Almost Family.  It's complicated; while watching nearly finished the scarf I have been knitting, using all leftover yarns from previous made scarves.  It's fun and very warm, and I may keep it for myself. I did dishes and put things away, and took a warm shower. Tried to go see Little Women but the theater was sold out. I really want to see this film.  Maybe today, or tomorrow.

Hope all of you are off to a good start.  Sun is shining and it's unusually warm (40 degrees) in western NY. I am going to enjoy this weather break.  Winter will be back in no time.