GF Sweet Potatoes Au Gratin

Real Simple: 2011

Last year, my friend Danielle bought me the most amazing gift I could ever ask for.  She bought me a year subscription to REAL Simple magazine.  I love this magazine.  There are tons of tips for making your life, well, REAL SIMPLE!  And it's especially special whenever the magazine arrives to think of Danielle and how much she loves me.

I decided to start sharing some of my favorite Real Simple articles with you this year because their tips have blessed me in the past six months.

 I think my favorite part of the real simple website is the Plan for 2011.  It gives you a monthly calendar with one goal to complete each day.  AWESOME.  Check it out!

:::2011:::

"so this is the new year.
and i don't feel any different.
the clanking of crystal
explosions off in the distance.

so this is the new year
and I have no resolutions
for self assigned penance
for problems with easy solutions"

The New Year by Death Cab For Cutie

Leah's Baptism with Godparents, Greg and Teresa Kent, 1983

We rang in the new year making a little cash with a NYE babysitting / kids party extravaganza.  It was a nice evening.  The kids had lots of fun and we paid our bills! (most of them)

Anymore, the new year just seems stupid.  I have a bad attitude.  January and I have a love hate relationship.  Both my boys celebrate their birthdays in January.  But before we get to the fun, I have to relive one of the worst days of my life.  I am realizing more and more how much that day has changed me.  My uncle, Gregory Alan Kent died on January 4th, 2007.  It was and still is very hard.  I hate thinking about it but the new year makes me.  He was a very good person.  The kind you hope your kids are; the kind you hope you are.  He was proud of me.  He loved me for who I am.  And there are many other people who also love me like that- but he made you feel that love every time you saw him.  I miss seeing him.  I miss feeling that love.

I say all of this to say God is working in me this new year.  I already feel the uncomfortable feeling of growth.  That terribly good feeling where you know things are going to be hard and painful but when you make it through you'll be a better wife, mother, person.  Thus, my journey with 2011 begins.  OH, how this year will change me . . .