1. New Beginnings

The First Year Project was born out of my insane need to feel productive. You see, this past year has been a bit of a whirlwind. Separation, impending divorce, my father's heart attack, a big move, career changes. Everything that could have happened, did happen in the last 12 months. And I admit it...I became distracted...depressed...idle. And not in the mood to be sharing cups of tea, bon-bons and a chat with the world. But then, in January, I began journaling again after a long time away from personal writing. Since then, I've been adding snippets of lots of different things--story ideas, rants about people I wish I could shoot to the moon, things I'm grateful to have in my life and, surprisingly, the bones of what has become The First Year Project. In one entry, I wrote, "Wouldn't it be great if we could all just press the refresh button on our lives and begin again?" We've all had those days when we think things can't get much worse...and then they do. Or those moments when we want to curl into a ball and disappear or pack up and move to France. But c'est la vie, this is not usually possible. What if, instead, we could make small, easily incorporated changes into our lives that would have maximum impact? What if we could, in essence, begin again by changing our outlook on life, trying new things and being a bit more brave? What if we could create our very own first-year-of-the-rest-of-our-lives?

This blog is meant to be a sort of starting fresh, clean slate, New Year's Resolution list that you can start on any day of the year, at any time. It's a place to come for inspirational ideas, beautiful images and words to make you smile. It should be a bright spot in your day. My plan is to share 365 little gems--things you can do, places you can go, ideas to work from. Sometimes the entries will simply be my musings. But I hope that you will join in conversation with me so I'm not merely talking to myself. Although I've taken to doing that a lot lately, friends would be a welcome addition.

And so, here we go! Welcome to The First Year Project.