I have this little thing I do every year.  I think I talked about it once, maybe in a previous blog incarnation, in fact.

Every year, on my birthday, I sit down and write out what I think the next year’s going to look like.  It’s not a to-do list or strategic planning or any kind of productivity maneuver.  It’s visceral.  Visual.  I tend to paste in pictures and write for pages about what I want the next year to be like, taken from the perspective of an average day, in great detail.

There were a couple years here lately where I didn’t have a clue.  Too many things in the air, too much going on, too many roads open up ahead, and I couldn’t really commit to just one of them.  (To be fair, when I did pick one, often I’d talk myself OUT of that option, and find the other fork in the road was the better choice, so it’s not all bad.)

This year, not so much.  It’s easier.  Brighter.

And apparently, includes more skirts.

(Picture, above — flea market find skirt, $3.  Happy birthday to meeee!)

It also includes chickens, and possibly learning enfleurage with herbs I’ve grown myself.  Which is just kinda awesome, really.  (For the uninitiated:  “enfleurage” is one of the three ways you get oils out of botanicals.  Distillation, pressing, and enfleurage.  I just like the way the word enfleurage feels on my tongue.  I do want to learn all three types eventually.)

Hello, brand new year.  Welcome.