Sunday, January 1, 2012

Happy New Year!

We have started this first day of 2012 out well.  We woke up at 9:30 feeling great, and made some of the best tea in the world that we got as a favour at our friends' summer wedding.  Our buddy Matt knows his tea, and this stuff was great.  We are on our 6th or 7th infusion at the moment.  


Breakfast was a bowl of chocolate, banana, coconut macadamia oats, featuring 1/2 a packet of macadamia nut butter sent to me by the kind people at Artisana.


Yesterday, on New Years Eve, we had a fabulous day with friends.  It was also my sister's 25th birthday!  Happy Birthday Leah!  We had breakfast at our friends' house, and enjoyed some of the best coffee in the world, Jamaican Blue Mountain.

 

After breakfast we came home and finished preparing for dinner.  We had 2 couples over for a vegetarian New Years Eve dinner; some friends in town from California, and our friends Emma and Dalton who own the best vegetarian restaurant restaurant in the city (which happens to be vegetarian).

 

We started with a homemade hummus and things to dip in it, and brie stuffed mushrooms.


I made savoury cream puffs which I stuffed with a beet, goat cheese and balsamic mixture.


We also enjoyed cauliflower soup and homemade Irish oatmeal bread.


The main course was lentil, mushroom mousakka, kale salad, tomato salad, and a delicious quinoa.

 
 

Dessert included coconut red velvet donuts, and chocolate fondue (un-pictured):

 

After dinner I sipped on sparkling water and we visited until just after midnight before calling it a night.  
It was a wonderful new years eve.

11 Goals for 2011 - How did I do?

1) Finish 4 more grad classes - I did 5, finishing all course work for my degree - PASS
2) Decide on the thesis topic and begin thesis research - Done and done, and I have been writing too - PASS
3) Make one new recipe per week (most weeks) - I made 78 new recipes this year - PASS
4) Read books for me (not just for school) - I didn't have time to do a lot of this - FAIL
5) Take a class just for me (not school related) - Nope, couldn't find anything in my city - FAIL
6) Host some new types of parties/meals - Hosted a shower & Stagette, but not a luncheon or tea party like I had wanted to - 50%
7) Give running one last fair shot - Epic Fail
8) Be productive this summer - I took a July class and worked on my sister's wedding - PASS
9) Go on two out of country trips - NY and Las Vegas - PASS
10) Do some home renovations - New front door, basement windows in, touched up paint, but didn't replace carpet in rooms like I had wanted to - 75%
11) Make sure that the hubby's 30th, Dad's 70th and sister's wedding are memorable - PASS!!

6 Goals for 2012 

For the last couple of years I have made a number of goals based on the year (i.e. 10 in 2010, 11 in 2011).  2011 was an insanely busy year, and I had a lot on the go.  I had to learn to say "no", which I am not very good at, and also had to stop trying to "do it all."  It felt good.  I plan on putting less pressure on myself this year.  No lofty plans... I am just going to hang out and see where life takes me.  I have come up with 6 fun and achievable goals that I look forward to achieving :-)

1) Finish my thesis and convocate with my 3rd degree before I turn 30
2) Read a bunch of books just for pleasure
3) Host a luncheon and tea party
4) Travel out of North America
5) Drink more water
6) Have an epic 30th birthday party!


What is something fun that you want to do in 2012?

15 comments:

Lisa said...

Happy New Year! What an amazing vegetarian feast. I think that might be a goal for 2012, create a vegetarian menu that doesn't focus on pasta!

Lisa from Lisa's Yarns said...

Holy yum! What an amazing meal - and a true testament to the fact that vegetarian meals rock. :)

Your list of goals are great. I can't wait to see what you do for your 30th birthday party!

DessertForTwo said...

3 degrees before 30?! You rockstar!! Love a smart lady that can cook, too!

Happy New Year, dollface! :)

Yelena said...

Happy New Year, Jolene! It sounds like 2011 was a fantastic year and 2012 will be awesome! I've been meaning to read more books for pleasure as well.

I've got a lot going on for 2012. I would like to have our house ready (as much as we can), concentrate on living in the moment, and of course, grow and have a healthy human :)

Allysia said...

Out of curiosity, what restaurant do your friends own? I was thinking probably 13th ave? And I'm pretty sure it's not Green Spot, since that's definitely a family operation. :) And those are some admirable goals for 2012, especially the travel out of the country one!

Madeline- Greens and Jeans said...

3 degrees before 30? You are amazing!

Anonymous said...

Pink doughnuts - cute!
I'm hoping to continue on my sense of self happiness and health this year. Getting over anxiety is really important to me!

sophia said...

Haha, I love your honesty, Jolene. I'm not as readily able to admit my "fails" for my 2011 resolutions. But it looks like you still did a really awesome job at them!

Um, those donuts. SO pretty. I want!

Anonymous said...

Hope that 2012 will be slightly less hectic for you! Good luck with the 30th party plans ;)

Kris | iheartwellness.com said...

Happy New Year Gorgeous!!! What a wonderful way to spend New Years...you are truly blessed :)

I love me some good coffee and I would have died eating all this good food for dinner...I'm coming over next time!

xxoo

Anonymous said...

i want to go to europe so bad in 2012..but glenn works so much that I doubt we would have time off together

Kacy said...

Those are great goals! I want a red velvet donut!

Anonymous said...

Happy New Year! I'm still working on my goals for the new year!

Rach said...

I definitely did not read a single book for myself in all my years of undergraduate or graduate work, haha! That is one of my favorite things about not being in school anymore, haha! Good luck with your goals for this year!

Unknown said...

Great Goals! I need to do up my goals for this year....I'm going to have fewer goals than last year too....life it too busy!