Bonne année.

Helloooooooo and bonne année! I hope you have all had an amazing holiday season. I disappeared from the face of the blogosphere a little unannounced, but it has been a busy few weeks around here. Lots of intentions of blogging and zero time in the end.

We celebrated Christmas eve, Christmas day and Boxing day at our place this year. Needless to say, many hours have been spent in the kitchen of late. We had three days of delicious franglais food (foie gras, oysters, turkey, mince pies, & many more naughty treats) and a fair amount of delicious wine and Champagne to go with it. If you're interested to know what our franglais traditions are all about, I did a little guest post on Diana's stylish blog Express-o last week. Pop over and take a peep if you'd like.

As Christmas has come and gone and we have now bided farewell to 2011, my head is full of hopes and plans for the coming year. Mainly, I hope it will be more stress free (see my guest post about this on my friend, Vanessa's lovely blog Coisas Minhas) and that, selfishly maybe, I will have a little more time to myself. Not easy with a toddler and a busy job. But here's to hoping: below are 12 things I would be happy to achieve in 2012.

1. Be. More. Organised - Priority #1 to lower my stress levels. 
2. Exercise - I'm embarrassed to say that I haven't done any regular exercise in almost six years. Some days, I have to run (literally) to be on time to pick up my son from the child minder and I am splattering my lungs out each time. How did I go so far in my "unfitness"? The plan is to start off slowly: yoga lessons for now and maybe later, when we are in our new flat, bikes rides on Sundays in the forest. 
3. Prints photos - Especially, make a photo book of L's first year and his second (which is almost over - blimey!).
4. Be less pragmatic - And more romantic.
5. Learn how to sew - my oh so generous brother and his girlfriend bought me a sewing machine for my 30th birthday though so far there has been zero progress (*cough* sewing machine is still in its box *cough*) but the plan is to become a regular visitor of this fabulous place.
6. Finish my knitting projects - I have two on the go: one scarf and an ear warmer. Better get knitting if I want to use these this winter!
7. Move flats - I mentioned a few months ago that we are *whoop whoop* in the process of buying an apartment but France being France, the paper work isn't yet complete so we are still waiting to become the official owners. Once we get the keys, there will be a lot of refurbishing to do, and by March we hope that we can move into our new home. Fingers crossed!
8. Get more sleep - I am terrible at going to bed. Even if I am exhausted, I will find any old excuse to stay up (movie, blogs, books, photo editing, etc.); I'm never ever in bed before midnight, if that. Trouble is, these days there's no more sleeping in at the weekend to catch up on all that lack of sleep so I need to change this bad habit. It might help with my moodiness too, ha. Two birds with one stone, eh.
9. Say goodbye to my glasses & contacts? - After speaking to several friends who have undergone the surgery themselves, I'm deciding whether or not to go ahead and have the laser eye surgery. I have been wearing contacts for almost ten years but I'm always having trouble with them and my glasses, well I've never liked wearing them. Thoughts anyone?  
10. Revamp my blog - six months ago I drafted a new blog layout but it is still sitting in my drafts. 
11. Follow these wise words (photo above) - with no limits.
12. Plan a wedding - oh, did I forget to mention last year that we are getting married? Well, we are! Just as soon as we find time to organise a wedding.

ps: thanks again to Diana from Express-o and Vanessa from Coisas Minhas for inviting me to post on their blogs. It was a great experience. x

{images: right via Justbesplendid ; left via Kenzalab}