Happy New Year, dear friends! May 2015 bring you, your family, and your
friends many blessings and much happiness.
I hope you all had a lovely Christmas
season and that the joy and blessings are continuing to linger on as this New
Year spreads its wings.
That being said… Woo-hoo for my first
post the year 2015!! *^_^* I like to think that my blog has had a pretty
productive 2014. I’m proud of myself for
keeping up with it as often as I did… ya’ll know that I have the attention span
of a Labrador retriever puppy and I get bored of things so easily and also that
oftentimes, I’m just plain lazy.
What a miracle that I managed to mostly keep up with at least the
Monthly Favorites posts.
Now that I’ve been able to find the
time to look back and reflect on 2014, I can say that I have indeed had a very “good”
year in general. I’ve been going through
diaries, photos, writings, and drawings that I did throughout the year. So many beautiful memories made! So many inspirations which sparked great
ideas that very well may become future successes! I could spend hours typing up thoughts on
these experiences.
As far as resolutions go, I’m pleased
to say that I did fairly well! I’ve been
attending Mass and other sacred ceremonies much more often, kept my blog updated,
wrote more letters, started drawing realism and painting with watercolor, and
if I may say so, I’ve nearly exhausted my supply of charity. Ha ha!
In all seriousness, though, I was involved with countless projects for
church and school, parish and beyond, family and friends. I admit that, with work and uni, things got
quite stressful at times, but Our Lord and His Blessed Mother have helped me
every step of the way. There is no doubt
of that.
Helping others is always a rewarding
experience, and this has certainly proved to be true in my experiences this
past year. Out of all of the resolutions
that I set for 2014, exercising charity is my greatest victory and one that I
know God is very pleased with. I hope
that I can continue to be of service to anyone in my community who needs me.
Among my best memories from this is
past year are the Klamath Falls trip, counseling at the Girls’ Summer Camp in
California, and of course, everything about December and Christmas. I’ve made new friendships that I hope will
stay with me until the end of my days, and the ones I already had are stronger
than ever. As I grow older and I’m finally
starting to venture out a bit and test the waters, I’ve spent so much time with
my friends, more than ever, and they’ve become family to me.
Speaking of family, my relationships
with my parents and all of my siblings have been going strong, too. They are at the crux of my heart and the
foundation under my feet and I would be very lost without them.
My greatest difficulty, as many of you
already know, has been my psoriasis.
This is the fourth and worst occurrence I’ve had of this miserable
immune system disorder that unfortunately manifests itself in red, itchy plagues
of death all over the skin. I’ve
learned how to deal with it, however. I’ve
found the skincare and makeup products that work for me, and I’m sticking to
them until I can completely flush this out of my system. From the inside out, instead of relying on
topical prescriptions to only remove the visible signs of the disease. Nope.
I’m going to root this problem out from the core.
Honestly, despite all difficulties, I’ve
had a wonderful year.
…So, what about 2015? What are my intentions for this New Year that
is overflowing with hope and possibility?
My resolutions this year are rather broad
and simplistic.
v Spiritual
betterment is always my first and primary
resolution. This year particularly in
regards to more frequent prayer, “little” sacrifices, and spiritual reading.
v I’m just going to throw this out there: I ate a lot of crap this past year. Lots of sugar and chips. LOL.
Let’s not repeat that, Ashley.
Also, I think at least 15 minutes of exercise per day would be very beneficial. This will also help with the healing of my
psoriasis.
v Finish university
strong.
I just began my last term with SLU, and I’m hoping for a 95 or higher in
these courses, as all of them deal with subject matter that I enjoy and am
comfortable with.
v Focus more on
creative hobbies.
I feel that despite small successes like self-teaching myself new art
genres and being published in literary magazines, my art and writing really
suffered this past year because I missed so many opportunities for no good
reason.
v This goes with the preceding resolution: publish a book.
v Driver’s license. I think I’ve put
this one off for long enough!
v Get a summer
job. I’ve
been a teacher since I graduated from high school. I think it would be good for me to try
something different for a few months or so and see how it goes.
And there you have it. My resolutions for the New Year 2015. Feel free to share your ideas in the comments
below, I’d love to hear from you.
That’s about it for this post… Again,
there is so much that I could say. That
I want to say. But there is a time for
everything and my time for today is spent.
As stated by a wise character in one of my recently revived writing
projects, “The difference between giving
up and giving in is the difference between hate and love; stubbornness and
patience.”
I would like to mention that ever since
I spent New Year’s Eve doing a Holy Hour in the chapel, I’ve had this gut
feeling that 2015 is going to be an absolutely beautiful year—the best year
yet. I’m not sure if this is just a
consolation from God or something that my optimistic mind has conjured up all
on its own, but I’m going to dare to believe it.
This is going to be the best year yet.
P.S. December Favorites post on the
way!
