New Blog! (Hopefully I won't forget about it...)

Welcome! After much internal debate, I have decided to start a new blog. I am approaching this endeavor with some hesitancy, because I already have two other blogs that have been completely and hopelessly abandoned. The blog I had about life in general was an unfortunate victim of life itself - I just got really busy and basically just forgot (read: I got lazy). Also, I got married and changed my name - and therefore email address - and now I never log into my old email address associated with my that blog (see... lazy!) The other blog was a recipe blog for my completely amateur baking obsession. Again, laziness just took over with that one, and it has been almost a year since I've posted anything (even though I've tried plenty of new and awesome recipes in the meantime!)

So, I am telling myself that this blog will be different and I will actually stick with it. We'll see how that works out, but thanks for joining me in the beginning stages of this new journey of self-discipline and discovery! I am hoping to combine all of my favorite things into this one place: thoughts on life, major (or minor) happenings, random opinions or stories, and some of my favorite tried-and-true recipes.

I feel this project would be doomed for failure if I did not outline some of the goals I have, so I am going to share them in the hopes of some sense accountability. My previous blog was simply a way to keep in touch with friends and family when I lived in a place with no cell phone service. (Which explains why, when I moved back into the land of telecommunication, it fell to the wayside). So, here are my goals for "Life by the Tablespoon":

1) TO WRITE. I used to write all the time - poems, stories, notes, letters, etc. Now, the only thing I find myself writing are short status updates and quick text messages. I have lost the desire to be creative with my writing, and that concerns me. Also, I have noticed that my grammar use has suffered dramatically, and I am hoping that, by writing with the intention having someone else read it, I will be more intentional with my use of language.

2) TO GO DEEP. I am currently doing an awesome Bible study that is examining the book of James. In the "homework" section, there are questions about different Biblical events and things from the context of Scripture - I love answering these questions and exploring someone else's thoughts! But then come the questions that ask me to look at my own life and apply what I've learned from the Scripture, and I find that I tend to answer these questions with only one or two words (or skip them entirely). I am losing either the ability or inclination to understand myself well, and I worry that I will cease to grow unless I examine these deeper places of myself. This is not to say that these blog posts will be anything overly insightful in and of themselves, but I am aiming for this process to help me go deeper into various thoughts and life events. (Although, let's be honest, most posts will probably be about cupcakes, nature, or babies).

3) TO SHARE JOY. Or angst. Or frustration. Or gratitude. Or whatever emotion out there (or in here) needs sharing. Good things happen all the time, and I rarely stop to share this good news or excitement with others (let's not even get into my tendency to neglect thanking the One who has given me these blessings!) I also feel it's important not to shy away from things that bring sadness or pain (although these will be shared to less of an extent).

4) TO CHRONICLE MY CHANGING LIFE. I am about to embark on quite a few major life changes. I am 20 weeks through my first pregnancy, I am leaving a job that I absolutely love to stay home with the baby when she's born, and my amazing husband is in the process of searching for full-time employment while also preparing for a major surgery scheduled for the end of the month. I feel like these are all things worth putting down - somewhere - and working through via the written word.

So, there they are. I will try to stay true to these four goals as I begin this blogging process, and will just have to see where it leads! Thanks for joining me on this new adventure and stop by again soon:-)