To plan, to pledge, to promise...

...because New Year's Resolution - is an over-used term.

And frequently I think it's works are under-used.

I have been sitting in silence here for large portions of the last few days, waiting for this post to come to me. Wanting to share with you some of my hopes and expectations of this new year, six days in, and well on it's timely way.

My eye {and then my iPhone} caught this image in my Mother-In-Law's house the other day and I just loved the way it made me feel. For love of old things, made new. Of green tinged glass, and red Jarrah wood, of peach coloured roses... But more importantly, of the homeyness of a home. And the soulfulness, of the souls who placed those things there.

So on to plans, and pledges, and promises;

This year I plan to paint. Using oils. I have not painted since I was in my last year of school, but it tugs on my heart every time I see a fabulous, thickly layered abstract work, so I plan to loosen the strings and unleash the painter in moi!

I pledge to walk more often, up hills, along trails, in the rain, and through wild winds, with my husband, for long, and talk about everything even more, or just with Campbell, or my Emma, skipping with Tara, or singing with Sean!

I pledge to eat a little less, and exercise a little more this year, to keep the balance of healthiness of body and of spirit.

I promise, to stay here with you. And share the precious aspects of this life I'm in. I promise to keep my heart soft and focussed on God. And to be someone who has love to give every minute. The glass shall remain always at least half full - even in the throws of fear or doubt.

I promise to, as a dear friend said in her blog so well, "send my artwork out into the world, over and over (without the slightest worry) forever."

So here is some considerable piece of my heart for the new year to take; and throw into the wind! I shall go with it, and keep going! Ever growing, and writing music, making art, participating in collaborative creative endeavors, (and to re-quote) "without the slightest worry, forever."

Shell xx