Wednesday Hodgepodge.....

It's time for Wednesday Hodgepodge with Joyce, who blogs at From This Side of The Pond.  Each week she'll pose some questions for us to answer. What a great way to journal life.

1. Did you set any goals for the new year this time last year? I very loosely set goals. I have never cared for resolutions. I tend to choose a word of the year.  Did you meet them or miss the mark? I'll answer this in regards to my word of the year...I'd say that in many ways I met the challenge of my word, but also wish I would have been more intentional with it. Tell us more if you're comfortable sharing. My WOTY was "Unfold(ing)". Here's my post on that choice. I do feel like in many ways I leaned into that word, I did some things that typically aren't comfortable for me, I tried to really be true to myself. In other ways, I know I set the word and the intentions to lean in to it off to the side many times. But I'm not too worried about it, because I can carry those intentions into each new year. That's how I look at WOTY's...they're meant to shape who we are and carry with us through life.

2. What are three words that might describe the kind of person you were this past year or describe in some way how your life looked? I feel like I was more thoughtful and reflective, more vocal to speak for myself, more grounded.

3. What's something new you ate, saw, heard, or experienced in 2022? The biggest thing was our anniversary trip to the NE states. We ate new things, saw and experienced that part of the United States. What did you think? We tried blueberry soda, shepherds pie croquettes, coffee milk and much more. We saw amazing history in the buildings and the gorgeous fall colors. It was an amazing trip and I would totally do it again but for longer. I'm working on posts from the trip and am just finishing up our day 4 trip. If you're interested, you can search the blog for New England trip or look in my trips tab at the top of the blog and find the first 3 posts there.

4.  Oxford Dictionary has announced it's word of the year for 2022, and it's this-goblin mode. Huh? Have you ever heard this phrase? Never heard of it. Used this phrase? Nope never used it. It's defined as "a type of behavior which is unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly, or greedy, typically in a way that rejects social norms or expectations." This is probably why I've not heard of it. 

This year they allowed the public to choose amongst three finalists. You can read more about that here. 

If you were in charge, what word would you declare word of the year for 2022? Hmmm..I'm not sure but probably along the lines of loving people or something that promotes community and not division.

5. Any special plans for an end of year celebration in your house or town? Our town doesn't do anything. We are going to lunch at my inlaws but then will probably just be home for the evening. My hubby will probably go to bed early, my youngest daughter will be with friends. I'll probably stay up, eat popcorn, work on a puzzle while watching one of the shows. 

The travel channel says the world's best New Year's Eve celebrations will happen in Copacabana Beach-Rio de Janerio, the Orlando theme parks in Florida,  London, Sydney, New York's Time Square, Edinburgh Scotland, and Paris. If you could attend any one of these which would you choose? Oh man..I think Sydney. Tell us why? I've always wanted to go to Australia so I would make a trip of it. I follow several bloggers who live there so I'd love to meet up with them. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. We had a really nice Christmas and I hope you did too. We had an ice storm last Thursday night through Saturday afternoon which kept us housebound, but my inlaws were still able to make it up our hill Saturday evening for clam chowder. Clam chowder almost didn't happen though. Earlier in the week I had thought I got all the ingredients, but the morning of the 24th I realized that I had forgotten to buy the liquid ingredients and I needed to pick up 4 bread bowls still at the store. Thankfully my father in law happened to be at the store and he saved the day. The main roads were mostly clear but our private road and hill were still icy. 

Christmas morning was nice with everyone here for cinnamon rolls and opening presents, then down to my inlaws for more food and gifts. When we are at our house it's just our immediate family, our in laws and then a couple friends joined us. At my in laws house it's us, them, my nephews and then there's always a few extras..this year we had 4 extras this year because they couldn't be with family due to flight delays so we invited them to be a part of our day. That's usually how it goes. We rarely have a holiday where it's just family. The day ended with playing a card game. The grandkids were so much fun

I felt like the weekend was slow and I savored it. It wasn't without it's irritating moments but I just felt good about it. Not really stressed or rushed which was nice. 

I was off on Monday, worked yesterday and am off today. This coming weekend we have a few get togethers planned and then I'm off again next Monday. 

One goal I have this week is to choose my Word of The Year for 2023. I don't have a list I look at, I just usually pay attention to thoughts or often a theme that I'm seeing on social media or in a book I'm reading that jumps out at me. I'm not in a hurry to choose because I really want it to be meaningful. 

I met my Goodreads goal and I was so excited. I was behind several books and was worried I wouldn't make it. I think I'll up my goal by a few books this year. Has anyone read the Mitford Series? I picked up book 2 a few weeks before Christmas and just started it. 

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin