The new year is always a great excuse to start up the regular blogging again. After being MIA through the holidays, the new year brings an easy no-think idea for a first post to get back on the blogging horse as I like to say. The new year always seems like such a fresh start but I’ve realized my resolutions often stay the same year after year, meaning I either haven’t accomplished them the previous year or am still working on them slowly but surely. My “travel internationally” resolution still remains front and center as well as the yearly “write more.” One clichéd resolution that I’ve actually been sticking to from last year is the committment to working out more. I began running regularly this past summer and once the cold weather hit in November I joined a gym and actually go (gasp!). It’s funny, when I lived in NYC and had a comped membership to a fancy gym 21 blocks from my apartment with every amenity I could imagine, I rarely went but now that I belong to a local YMCA going seems a lot easier. Go figure…
I tried to find my last few years of New Years Resolution posts but as it turns out I’ve been more inspired to share my goals every year around my birthday than New Years. One thing I wanted out of post-30 life was to find a new hobby. While I’m not sure it’s the most glamorous one, I’ve become quite the chef recently and enjoy cooking up new recipes (mostly tweaked from Pinterest or food blogs and given a little zog twist!). I’m thinking of beginning a section on here to share them so stay tuned.
In 2013, assuming I actually stay in one state for a full year, I’d like to get immersed in the New England/RI lifestyle and become as much as a localvore as I can. (Sorry that I just used such a hipster word…) I want to re-learn snowboarding because really, how can you live in New England and not have a snow-sport hobby? Judging by my end of summer yearnings to learn to sail last August, I suspect that might be a possible summer ambition?
As small as RI is, I realized even though I’ve lived here off and on for the better part of 8 years now, I only really know small pockets of the state well (Newport, Narragansett, Kingston/Wakefield) and there are prized areas that remain unexplored. Providence has recently won all kinds of awards for its restaurants and culinary delights yet shamefully my knowledge of the area doesn’t extend far beyond the Providence Place mall, Thayer Street and one recent trip to Federal Hill. A few friends lived there after college and I remember visiting there cute apartments and getting coffee at a place called Zog’s Cafe or something similarly named after me (speaking of which, is that place still there??) but beyond that I think we sadly only frequented lame college bars, clubs, The Cheesecake Factory and not much else.
A new year, a new state, a focus on living local, living each day to the fullest, living out my dreams and living well. Here’s hoping 2013 is my year and your’s too!
The Allie Zog Blog 