When I'm working from home, I often lose track of time. When I look up I'm surprised to find myself sitting in the dark, squinting into the light of my computer screen. Thats how I feel about January. I lost track of time somewhere in between the frustrations, disappointments and busyness of the month. All of a sudden, I'm squinting at the calendar, not believing it's already February.
I had high expectations for January. I was ready for a new year. And while I made progress on my goals and in my business, I can't help but feel like January kicked my butt. Setting new disciplines and routines isn't easy. Developing consistency (one of my key words for the year) is a painful process. I felt like I was "going through the motions" and wasn't very inspired. But I'm developing new habits and hopefully preparing myself for the rest of the year.
January's Progress
I posted my goals for the year. Here's a quick recap.
Knitting / Crafting Goals
I'm in the process of creating a new baby blanket with Afghan / Tunisian Crochet stitches. I hope to have it finished by the end of February.
I felt fairly uninspired by this pattern (even though I love the stitch) for most of the month. But I finally finished the first skein of brown and started adding color and now it's much more exciting. I have a few different colors of yarn that I'm going to use to create stripes. I don't have the stripe pattern figured out, but I think I'll experiment as I go.
Now that I'm faster with Tunisian crochet, I expect to make more progress on this in the coming month.
Cooking
I managed to try 3 new recipes this month.
What did I make?
Everyday Chocolate Cake(read the blog post for my review)
Broiled Grapefruit I had great expectations for this, but didn't like it. I love grapefruit, but cooking it took out the tart taste I love. It also didn't help that the sugar boiled over and burned in the pan.
Chicken Spinach Goat Cheese QuesadillasDrop what you're doing right now and make these. They're delicious. They're easy. They make great leftovers. I loved this recipe and will be adding it to my regulars.
Photography
My photography this month has been terrible. This is one of those areas that has been very hard for me to practice on a routine basis. I forget to bring my camera around with me. I wait until 11PM when the light is terrible. I can't find anything to take a picture of during the day.
I snapped a few good pictures this month, but not many. Last time I did the 365 project, I started off very strong and finished with a weak effort. Maybe this year is going to be the opposite?
If you're interested in keeping up with my 365 project, circle me on Google+ or check out the album over there.
Reading
I read 6 books this month. Not too bad...but I'm not sure the Hunger Games trilogy should count as 3 separate books. Was anyone else disappointed with the final book? I loved the first one, but they got progressively worse from there.
Adios January. I have my fingers crossed that next month will be better.
How was your month?