I have a history of knitting a pair of socks where the other one is two sizes bigger than the other. I’ve thankfully upgraded my knitting skills since then and have been interested in crochet for quite a while.

Do I need another time-consuming hobby? Absolutely not. However, I might have popped into the yarn store after work the other day and purchased my first crochet hook and some yarn… Girl I just want to know how to make those cute animal pals!!

On the right, you can see my first attempt at a coaster. It was supposed to be an even square, so I have some ways to go…

During my time in the military, I prided myself on my ability to do push-ups even when my fitness was otherwise quite shit. After nine years of barely doing any push-ups, imagine my surprise when I found out I couldn’t do them anymore! Well, I can, but only a few of the ones with your knees on the ground.

10 push-ups of the knees in the air kind might be an overly ambitious goal, but it won’t hurt to try.

This right here is my public apology to anyone who’s ever had to take a longer car ride with me. I’m one of those people who can’t be silent if a song I know comes on. And to everyone’s delight, I can memorize lyrics like nothing else. Singing has been a source of joy and comfort and I’ve had both shower concerts and real-life concerts with choirs and school bands.

I realized I had stopped singing around the same time I finally got diagnosed with depression. Having spent years not singing, my voice is not what it used to be and I’d like to get some professional help to make sure I don’t damage anything in the process of re-learning to sing again. Also who doesn’t want to sound like Celine Dion?

There’s something fascinating about 30-day challenges. It seems like such an achievable time, but also long enough that seeing it through will have some effect. Not all 30-day challenges are created equal, however. Some of them can even lean into dangerous and toxic. (Looking at you, weight loss and fitness.)

I did Yoga with Adrianne’s 30-day yoga challenge for the first time this year and absolutely fell in love with how it made me feel. Maybe I’ll use that one as my challenge entry or maybe I’ll find some other inspiring thing.

Oh wow, where do I even begin with this one? As you know, I work in the restaurant industry. That means I work when other people have time off. It hasn’t bothered me that much, until quite recently.

I have a lot of anxiety and sadness surrounding Christmas and most of it has to do with being away from my family. I’m not ashamed to admit that I miss them and being surrounded by the joy of my partner’s family around every holiday makes it somehow even harder. So one of these years, I’m going to go home.

Finding a new job is obviously about so much more than one holiday, but I thought this would make a good example of why I need a new job.

I had the joy of working with some amazing photographers when I was a dancer. Seeing myself look good was pretty damn nice. My body has changed quite a lot in recent years and I’ve developed quite a negative relationship to myself in pictures. I feel like a professional would be able to snap me out of that, at least somewhat.

A photo shoot as a couple would also be amazing, to record us and our relationship as it is at this moment in time. That would be a new experience for both of us.

Books and reading are an integral part of who I am. I could not tell you where or who I would be without the stories I’ve read in my life. This year my reading pace slowed down significantly because of my master’s thesis; I could not stomach written text any more than I had to for the writing and research process.

My goal is to get back into a reading groove, and approximately 40 books a year is something I can do relatively comfortably. I also want to branch out from my comfort genre and read a wide variety of different types of books.