New Year's Calling

Now that I've thoroughly run off all my new readers with my *tasteful* infertility cartoons, I thought it was high time to deliver on my promise to offer resolutions this year. I have a lot of hope for the year ahead, but it's gotten off to a bit of a rocky start. We're trying to put our faith in front of us and let it lead the way in the months to come. Without further ado, here are this blog's New Year's resolutions for 2015:

1. Things will be pretty!

Anyone notice that I recently learned how to make circular buttons on this page? Circles have no right to make me this happy...but they do. They are just so much prettier than rectangles, aren't they?! I love learning how to make things prettier. I will keep investing time in 2015 to learn how to make this blog pretty. Not for the skill of it, per se. My effort in 2015 will have no other purpose than just to make things pretty for their own sake. Photos. Cartoons. Design changes (as I learn them). I spent too many years not indulging in my love of pretty things. Now I have a blog. I can do whatever I want for no reason at all. If you blog, doesn't it kindasorta feel like the grown-up version of playing make-pretend with dolls?

2. Things will be simple!

This is not a business venture. It is just a personal blog. I'm not writing because I want you buy something or because I care who clicks on things. I'm writing because it is helping me process this journey. For an introvert, this IS out loud! I will occasionally offer advice where I might have life experience to offer it, but I will not preach at you or tell you how and where to buy things. This is not going to be a monetized, affiliated, or sponsored blog. That said, keep an eye out for some downloadable awesomeness coming your way in February! 

3. Things will be mixed up a bit!

I keep saying I'm going to branch out and post other things. I even write the posts, y'all. But then I never publish them. "People didn't come here to read that" I tell myself. Pish posh. 2015 is the year to stop second guessing myself. I hope to post more about exploring my faith through the lens of IF. Maybe a little more creative writing (...I was shocked at how well Castaway was received from all the thoughtful private messages I received on my contact form!...also how is that ranked NINTH on G.oogle when you type in Castaway?!) I'm also working on a series of different places and ways to conceive hope around the house and in life... we'll see how that turns out. I just don't want this to be exclusively an outlet for IF sadness and I feel sometimes I have made it that. Maybe that's all I had at the time? That and lots of terrible pictures of uteri...  BUT YOU LOVE THOSE!! :P

4. There will be guest posting!

I spent several years just silently reading blogs all over the internet and never commenting. I followed mom blogs and IF blogs and Catholic blogs of all kinds. But I never joined in the conversation. Not once! That's a thing of the past now. Not only am I putting more effort into interacting with others online, but I will also be guest posting (and perhaps sponsoring a guest poster or two??) this year. Keep your eyes peeled for both! I'll make sure to update face.book, pin.terest, and g.oogle+ with links, so follow along there too.

5. There will be lists!

I have started to realize just how much information has been digested over the past couple years. It's hard to remember what you didn't know...isn't it? And it was even harder to manage the steep learning curve of taking it all in! We're nowhere near done learning, but I want to start writing down what we've figured over the past couple years. Medically. Spiritually. Emotionally. All of it. But in easily absorbable chunks. You shouldn't have to figure this out on your own. Yes, some of it will really be to catalog it for ourselves, but honestly....the blogs I came across where people had done the same thing... those were tremendously helpful. I want to offer more to the blogosphere that can be helpful. We're going to start by making a list for ourselves of all the things we wish we had known at the beginning of this journey...and will likely use that as our guide for future posts this year. If you have any recommendations - let us know in the comments or on the contact form. It can be a past struggle, something you are currently wrestling with, or something you have no idea how to tackle. Catholicism. Marriage. Faith. IF. Finding hope in everyday things. Something else entirely. We're up for any of it.

So there it is. Five things we resolve to do in 2015. Notice how none of them revolved around having children, medical treatment, or any of the rest of what 2014 was all about? My intention is to come back to this post in the months ahead and tag anything we accomplished. Any bets on how well that will go? Do you have any resolutions this year?