Strange photo-reflections aside, it’s probably time for a proper update since the month of December was mostly taken up by reflective end of year posts and I’ve been almost silent here since we took off for Christmas holidays.

I’m back at work today and feeling the strangeness of that after two weeks of being away from my desk – sick, and on holidays simultaneously. Pretty much the day I was off for the break I got a nasty cold (the one that starts with a sore throat and turns into a cough) which has lasted me right up until today as I sit here hacking out the last of the phelgm from my sinuses and lungs. Which is always awesome you know – family visiting and flu symptoms go so well together. But on the plus side, I wasn’t really expected to do much except be places, so I didn’t feel overextended like I did when I got sick during my collective bargaining roadshow in the fall.

Despite the cold and the fact that both B and I were feeling a bit dragged out from a really busy autumn – we did manage to have a Christmas Eve party that rocked, and good visits with friends and family in Victoria between Christmas Day and the 30th. Which left me wanting to go into hibernation when we did return home and resulted in B and I ushering in the New Year without anyone else – naked in our hot tub (which now has a perfect gazebo overtop of it) as the fireworks went off ten blocks away at the Hastings Park. Pretty awesome.

On top of that, I purchased a new sewing machine (a Pfaff Expression 2.0) which was pretty frackin’ exciting and since returning to Vancouver I have spent at least some of the time sewing each day (I have made three living room pillows and two baby quilts for friends since Friday – photos of all can be seen on my Flickr set “Things I’ve Made“). I’ve got one more pieced top to actually quilt (also a gift) which I’m hoping to get on later this week or on the weekend.Turns out there really is a difference between a cheap machine and a more expensive one which I am very pleased to discover since the quilting process involves a lot less swearing on this machine than on my old one.

So that was a pretty nice way to spend the first few days of 2011, plus getting some of the house cleared out, making big pots of soup for the freezer, inventorying my seeds to prepare my order for spring, and spending time with B.

On the down side, I’ve been a little worried about a friend who lost his apartment in the Frances Street fire last week – and am interested in hearing about any cheap-ish bachelor suites for rent in East Van that aren’t too skiddy or sketchy – so please email if you know of any.

I’m really hoping that 2011 brings the following for me:

• acceptance into the Master’s program I’m applying for;
• more connection with friends who I haven’t been the best about keeping in touch with;
• a great garden, some cool sewing, and lots more cooking and canning;
• more impromptu road trips with B., including our planned trip to Death Valley;
• increased creative output in the form of music and writing;
• greater fitness and less stress.

Which I think are all reasonable hopes given my resolution to give up some of my union work for the next little while (not the shop stewarding part, but all the other stuff). We’ll see. So far the year has started gently and I’m hoping that it continues that way.