Happiest 2008, everyone!

I love how a new year begins, with hopes and promises and expectations and dreams. A hope to lose weight, a promise to stop smoking, an expectation of a better year than last or a dream to learn something new. It's sad when this all dies down within a few weeks or months, but there are always some things that hold true and carry throughout the next 365 days.

A new year is an excuse for a fresh start. Now, it's true, you can really have a fresh start at any time, any day you want. But when the new year begins, it's a socially accepted time to start over or start again. And I think there's a better chance to succeed. For some reason, the whole notion of a New Year's resolution is more important to people than, say, a decision any other time.

I've never made a New Year's resolution, largely, I think, due to the fact that I didn't think I would carry through. But this year I decided to try. There's a lot I thought about. I do want to lose weight. I do want to be healthier. I do want to be a better writer and editor. I want to volunteer more and be, in general, more productive. But, to really stick with a resolution, I figured it should be something that makes me happier. Something that I won't stress about keeping up with. And what better, I decided, than crafting?

So my New Year's resolution is to craft at least once a week. I'm hoping to do more, but I also want to be realistic. I'm giving myself two weeks to get all of my craft supplies organized, and then I will be crafting up a storm! A slightly silly resolution, yes. But I think I can manage it and, in the long run, it will make me happier and certainly less stressed. And in my busy life, I so need something like that.

Wish me luck, readers. And I hope all of your hopes are achieved, you stay true to your promises, your expectations are fulfilled and your dreams become realities.

Happy New Year!

I'm so, so stupid.

I deleted my blog.

All of it.

A year and four months worth of posting. Posts on day trips and vacations. Posts that were rants and posts that sang praises. I deleted the entry with my dog, Neely, just after she died. I deleted the entry with my new puppy, Piper, after her first swim in the ocean. I deleted my posts about Harry Potter, about work, about friends and about family. I deleted my thoughts on favorite authors and novels. There are no more pictures from the Blueberry Festival or the the Bahamas. There are no more silly posts about wasted time with my boyfriend or lazy days at the beach.

I deleted everything. And now I totally regret it.

It doesn't actually matter at this point that it is deleted. It's gone and I can't get it back. (I tried, believe me.) All I can do is start again. But it's pretty sad starting from scratch when I had managed to build up so much. I grew to love blogging and was proud that I had started posting regularly.

So, here it is again. A Mercurial Nature. The same blog, but not really the same. (For one thing, it's quite a bit uglier. I'm going to have to work on the design and color schemes to try to bring back the old look.)

I'm so annoyed with myself at the moment. Part of me wants to scrap this blog altogether, start fresh with something new on another server. But, I don't think I'm going to. I think I'll stick with this one. Even though there's no proof now, it's where I started. It's where I want to be.