Welcome to 2017, or rather welcome to my blog in 2017, I haven’t been named official ambassador for the year or anything. 

After a beautifully peaceful and food filled festive season in Germany I’m actually looking forward to the year ahead. It’s true that you can start your ‘year’ at any time. Make a fresh start whenever you want or need it (last year mine were around April and again in September) but this year, as the temperature outside took a nosedive and fireworks boomed outside the windows, I wiped my metaphorical slate clean.

And set myself a To Do list for the coming year.

Read 50 books. I read barely 25 books last year, for me that’s not many at all and I really want to get back into reading regularly.

Be sociable. My friend circle is disappearing, again, damn you expat cycle, so I’m on the lookout for a new tribe, volunteers apply below.

Connect with old friends. Christmas cards once a year are all well and good but the years are slipping away and my friends are the greatest, I need to tell them this more often.

Join a Verein. I’ve been a pseudo-member for years but this year I’ll sign up for myself and pay my dues like the rest.

Make clothes and wear them. So far I’ve got pretty good at pyjamas and jersey skirts, but my wardrobe needs more, and since Father Christmas bought patterns it would be rude not to use them.

Blog more. The drafts are piling up and I’m too indecisive to hit publish, no more will that be my way of blogging.

Master the Uke. MrC and I are already signed up for an intermediate course which starts in February. I’m quite over excited about this, but we have been waiting almost a year for it to go ahead, it was cancelled last time due to a chronic lack of hipsters 😉

Join a dog school. KP is not a bad dog, he’s an utterly adorable and good dog…most of the time. We all need to put in some work and give him a chance to run around with other furry friends occasionally too.

Get a library card. And by extension use the local library more, even though it’s open for about 6 hours a week I really should use it more.

Explore Germany. I confess that whenever I’ve looked at holiday destinations Germany is not first on the list, but after a staycation in Baden-Württemberg last November and a KP to consider I’ve definitely come round to the idea of a country where dogs are welcome and I already speak the language.

Speaking of language, yes I will be striving to continue improving my German. I’ve been so lazy on this front, I feel like I’m going backwards. Time to refocus.

I also picked a word for the year. One which I want to live by and I think will help me be the person I want to this year. It is a word interconnected with some of my to dos. I’m a naturally shy, cautious and introspective person, none of which I think are ‘bad’ traits by any means but I want to (oh lordy this sounds so awfully navel gazingly twee) challenge myself to wander outside my comfort zone and approach life with a more positive mind. 

My word is brave.

Any help, support or recommendations for any of the above, please let me know, have you got a To Do list for this year?