A new challenge every week – Bring it on 2012

I blame this on my friend Keryn, former grad school classmate, super mom and travel blogger extraordinaire, (Check out her site here) for my new blog, Another 52 Weeks.

She has been encouraging me to write ever since I ditched Florida, moved to Switzerland and become a stay at home mom to this little bean.

Sophie is my light, but I must admit that at times the world felt a little gray sitting in my apartment in a foreign land with a sleep-challenged infant on my lap. There were no friends who could pop over for tea, no family to visit, no “job” to tend to. Ugly Betty and Rory Gilmore piped in on British TV were my companions.

Life would be great for a while. Then I’d get antsy and think: “I need to be more than this.” “This” being diaper changer, infant nap pillow and couch warmer. I’d whine to Keryn (because that’s what we do for each other) and she’d say: “write about it.” Na. I didn’t have anything to say.

Then one day I got tired of hearing myself whine and decided to do something about it. I wrote down my New Year’s resolution for 2012. It went something like this —

• lose the last 5 pounds of baby weight
• get back to running 3 times a week
• do more yoga
• practice German
• try new recipes
• take Sophie out of the house more often
• explore my new city of Bern
• visit nearby European cities
• check out museums, galleries, parks
• invite new friends over for tea
• untie my tennis shoes before I kicked them off

WHOA~ too big, too many wants and no idea how to accomplish everything all at once, especially the tennis shoe thing. Seriously. Ever hold a crying baby coming through the door? She’s demanding, quite loudly, that she MUST eat NOW and I’m sporting muddy sneakers trying to reach the nearest couch to begin said meal. There really is no time to mess with knots.

But someone once told me to “imagine your goals like a giant sausage. You can’t imagine eating the whole thing at once. But tackle it slice by slice and you can accomplish anything.”

So here we are, at the start of another 52 weeks. My plan is this: Each week will bring a new challenge. The blog will be my mini-boss, the angel telling me to get busy when the devil reminds me that I’m too tired.

I have absolutely no idea what will come of this. But I guess that’s the point. In the end I hope to keep searching for inspiration, opportunities and experiences that will enrich my life, make me a better partner and mom (wow, 5 months in and that’s still weird to say) and maybe along the way encourage others to get up and do those things they’ve always wanted to do. At the very least, my mom can keep tabs on me.

Happy 2012.

Tune in next week as I attempt to …

Start a blog*