Goodbye 2019, bonjour 2020!

At last, 2019 is over.
​In my first blog post of 2019, I remember writing about how excited I was for a fresh new year. Well, guess what? About a month and a half in, I exclaimed ‘phew, what a year, I’m done with it!’ 
I guess this is why I set myself goals rather than resolutions. I know that evidently some of the goals will extend longer than a year and I will not feel the pressure of having them absolutely achieved by 31st December.

So, rather than focusing on what went wrong last year, let me tell you about goals that did work. Because it was not all that bad, 2019 did have a good ending after all.

I mentioned it vaguely in my previous post and those of you following my instagram account @cremedecitron might already know: I recently moved to the city of Belfast in Northern Ireland.
When I say recently, it has actually been about three months already. Which is a good amount of time to get acquainted with my new surroundings and sort out a whole lot of paperwork. This is why I had to take a small break from blogging, because life priorities as important as these demand some attention.

Bonjour and happy Saturday!
There has been a lot of working, photographing and testing a delicious recipe this week. I think it is officially time for a very relaxing weekend but not before I share a few interesting things with you:

Bonjour and happy Saturday!
I finally sat down and wrote down my goals for 2019. It took some time but I now have a better idea of how I would like this new year to unfold. What about you, is this something you like doing?
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Other than goals writing, I am dreaming of cosy weekends as Winter days are on the colder side of things. Comfort food, good books, fluffy and warm blankets, things to watch on Netflix and walks in the fresh air (believe me, it makes it even better coming back to a cosy home).
​What are you up to for the weekend? Here are a few links to get you started this Saturday:

​For the past few years now, I have been wanting to learn a specific skill: how to make pottery. I kept delaying it to focus on other things and then eventually, I decided to add it to my goals list. Putting it down on paper made it more concrete to me. 

The only thing about learning new skills such as pottery, which requires someone teaching and the appropriate equipment, I really was not sure where to start or where to go that would suit me. Then I heard about Arran Street East and their beautifully designed homewares. While admiring the various products on the website, I noticed there are workshops you can attend at the studio. I dutifully added it to my list as a place that would be perfect to learn pottery and started saving up for it. 
And then, I just let a lot of time go by until a few months ago, a friend mentioned she was going to attend a three-day workshop at the Arran Street East studio. It was most certainly the motivation I needed so I went online and signed up too.

Hello 2019 and happy new year to you all!
I am back here after a bit of a break so I could make most of the time I had with family and friends over the holidays. 
I also used that time to look over what 2018 has been. And while I am grateful to the people who helped make parts of it lovely (and better in some cases), I am really glad to say au revoir to it. I am welcoming 2019 with wide open arms, bring it on, let’s see what it is made of!

And like every year, I also looked at how my goals went. As I have mentioned here over the past two years, I am all about goals rather than resolutions. While a resolution to me has a sense of having to be absolutely done or else it is a big fail, a goal that you set feels more reachable. If it is not achieved by the 31st December, it is not the end of the world because it is a work in progress.

To be honest, in terms of not achieving goals by the end of the year, 2018 has been pretty much that for me.