New Year's Resolutions

My new year's resolutions for the new year (tomorrow! OMG I'm so not ready) are:
1. To keep writing this blog, posting at least 3 times a week
2. To be more helpful, in general
3. To finish more or the same amount of projects that I start

To that end, I'm going to borrow from another blog and list my xs wips and stash and set a goal to finish 20 of them by Tu B'Shvat (aka January 22) and to not buy any new charts or kits until I do. I'm going to make an exception for Chanukah and wedding gifts, since it's too far in advance to start planning them now. One caveat - if a project requires multiple charts, such as the Bent Creek month snappers, I'm counting them as more than 1 project. However there is no partial credit, so I'm counting them only after I've finished the whole 12 charts.

So here's my list:
1 - 12. BC month snappers (started 9/16 - 3 months done 2 in progress)
13 - 16. BC winter snapperland (in progress)
17 - 20. BC spring snapperland (in progress)
21. E&E&F Fat Cat (completed!)
22. Trilogy Spring Lineup (completed 12/02)
23. Trilogy Summer Lineup (in progress)
24. JBW French Country Pear (in progress)
25. JBW French Country Pumpkin (in progress)
26. HIH Dog sampler (in progress)
27. LK Official Snow Guide
28. BC The Lighthouse
29. BC Good Morning
30. LK Flip it November blocks
31. LK Flip it October blocks
32. LK Flip it February blocks (started 9/16)
33. BC SW peace be with you (in progress)
34. BC Happy Independance Day
35. BC Happy Thanksgiving
36. Simply Heritage Dogs Spanner
37. Something in Common Woodland Sampler
38. BC Redbird Sampler
39. Sam Sarah Inspire
40. Lavender Wings Dreamer's High
41. BC Blue Moon
42. S&BF Fall Sampler
43. BC Bee of good cheer
44. S&BF Fruit Sampler - Apple (in progress)
45. LHN Rose Sampler (completed)
46. Brittercup Touch of the Wilderness
47. SamSarah Explore
48. DKDS Challah Cover
49. Shepherd's Bush Thankful Sheep (completed twice)

I might add to that list later, because I just know that as soon as I hit post I'll remember something to add.

Edited to include status updates: 10 WIPs and 4 completed.

Falafel finds and finishing fiends

Today's adventure was trying a new restaurant for lunch. To preface this: usually I work in the HQ of my company, which is a sprawling building about 15 minutes (by car) from my home, but every so often I get very bored of my suburb and schlep into the Manhattan office. Lucky me - my boss doesn't care where I work as long as the work gets done. Today one of my coworkers happened to also be working from the NYC office, and he suggested trying this new vegetarian falafel place by Union Square. Sometimes fried foods aren't kosher-friendly since they could be friend in animal-based products, but I figured a vegetarian place wouldn't use animal products so I'd be safe. Happily when we got there, a framed Teudat Kashrut was prominently displayed beside the door. I was so happy that I could order whatever I wanted guilt free! Cheap falafel has the potential to be either amazing or terrible, but luckily this place makes delicious, and really good side salads too. So now I have my new go-to lunch spot in the city - yay!

I got a lot of stitching done over the weekend - well Sunday really - as there was a Kim Possible marathon... I'm working on Fat Cat by Ewe & Eye & Friends, and I've finished the whole top alphabet part, and now just have to finish up the cat that takes up the bottom half. I'm not sure why I got this pattern in the first place, since I'm such a dog person. Also I'm using the recommended DMC colors and in bad lighting (well the lighting I stitch under) it looks like lots of different browns - and I hate brown. One of the two bulbs in my light fixture burned out, and I've been meaning to replace them both with the new CFL bulbs I bought, so I wonder if that added light will be enough to improve the color quality. If not I'll find someone with a cat to gift it to :)

Next up will probably be Bent Creek's month snappers, I've done most of them on Aida but after seeing them stitched on one long piece of Linen at The Lazy Daisy Stitchery, my LNS, I ordered a large piece of Linen and plan to do them again. What the heck, they were quick the first time around! I figure if I switch between that and the JBW pumpkin and pear designs I'm stitching, the sense of accomplishment from the smaller finishes will keep be from giving up on the big project. Plus the JBW ones are very season appropriate, especially for Sukkot. Actually, it would be really good if I could finish the JBW by Sukkot - my grandma's coming to stay by us for the first days of the holiday, and she's seen me stitching the pear over the summer so she'd probably enjoy seeing me finish it finally.