I love spring.  I love the return of sunshine, the smell of newly blooming flowers and trees, and the perfect not-too-hot/not-too-cold temperatures.  It all makes me happy :) 

For some reason, this picture says "spring" to me.  It's just so clean and bright, plus the hydrangeas are so lovely.

I saw this picture on a blog that I read.  I absolutely love this kitchen.  It's a perfect combination of light/dark, modern/traditional, and it has awesome appliances.  Just thought I'd share :)

I don't make New Year's resolutions.  That's probably because I hate knowing that I will fail at something, so if I have that inkling about an endeavor, then I don't start whatever it is in the first place.  So, I don't make resolutions that I know will be broken most likely less than halfway through the year.

Still, I find the beginning of the year a good time to evaluate where I'm going and where I've been.  I like to look back and see if I accomplished what I thought I would in the previous year and think about where I'd like to be at the end of the next 365 days.  It also helps me put life into perspective and remember that no matter how bad the past year was, there is always a new start.

2009 was a rough year for me, and I skipped my evaluation-of-my-life time in January because of all the drama that was being carried over to '09 from the end of 2008.  In a lot of ways I felt as if my life were on hold for '09 while I was going through trying times.  However, one thing I realized this year while thinking ahead for 2010 is that I determine how good or bad life can get.  With God, I have the ability to be joyful in hard times and to walk through difficulty with hope.  So, for 2010 I decided that the one thing I want to do is to focus on the good things in my life and not wallow in the bad/hard/drama/difficult things.

One way I had determined to do that was by reading the Bible more and reminding myself of God's promises to me.  So, I was really glad when my church announced that they were launching a program for reading through the Bible together this year.  It's really cool to know that so many people in my life are reading the same scriptures each day, and I love reading their comments on what they got from those readings.  It gives an extra dimension to my own reading, like a bonus for my decision to read more and.  Plus, there's an awesome checklist to tick off each day's reading, because who doesn't love to mark off boxes on a list? :)