Happy Birthday, Blog

Today is my blog's first birthday! I just decided to have a party for it. To celebrate, we are going to have treats and cook something yummy for dinner. We are about to walk up to Quebrada Bakery and choose an appropriate sweet for the occasion. I'm not sure if my blog would prefer chocolate or vanilla? Cake or cupcakes? But, I guess that doesn't matter because let's be honest, the celebration is really for me.
Each year in January, my friend Elizabeth puts together a book, a combination journal and scrapbook of sorts, that captures many of the events and memories from her past year. It includes pictures, things she has written, emails and letters that remind her of things she has done and interactions that took place. She has it professionally bound and has them lined up on a bookshelf - each year of her life in review. It reminds me of those LIFE magazine year in review books that used to be published, but focused on one person. I love that she does this.
This year, Elizabeth sent me a note as she was putting together her journal. I had sent her an email at the beginning of last year telling her about my life and my aspirations for the year ahead. I had decided to: focus on exploring my relationship with Todd, instead of heading to the Nutritional Therapy Institute in Denver like I had originally been planning at the time I met him; get better at cycling; and start writing a blog. I did all those things. Todd and I have had a great time getting to know one another and interweaving our lives. We even decided to share a living space and moved in together last summer. For cycling, things took an interesting turn when I started to race. This came about when I took the NEBC spring clinic last year and was inspired by the women racers I met. I have since tried road and 'cross racing with close to 20 races under my belt, and took on a coach. Also, as you can witness here, I have kept a blog consistently for a year, and had a lot of fun with it.
I was thankful to Elizabeth for reminding me of these things, and that despite having a particularly lousy year at work, I had managed to keep things in my personal life on track and fulfilling. One recent highlight was that someone I didn't even know and wasn't related to me not only read my blog, but commented on it! She was even from another country - Australia! Anyway, I am inspired to keep on cooking, and writing.
This year, my focus will mostly be a continuation of last year. I would like to actually fully unpack our apartment, and make it a cozy nice place so we can have our friends to dinner without having to eat at TV tables. I will continue with racing and see if I can make improvements and have more fun with it. Last year I considered it an exploratory mission. This year I'd like to make some progress with my performance, but remember to keep some fun, epic, social rides in the mix as well. I will also make some changes on the career front so I can enjoy myself and learn some new skills. In addition, I'm turning 40 this year, and haven't quite decided what to do to mark that milestone. A big trip? A significant ride or hike? A party with friends and family? I'm not yet sure.
So, happy birthday, blog, and I look forward to 2009 with you.