Since I’m still on a start-new-stuff-it’s-a-new-year kick, I thought I’d share this neat site where you can learn a new language by helping someone else learn English.

My sister-in-law discovered LiveMocha and has been using it since the start of the new year. When she raved about it, I knew I had to share it with you.

LiveMocha is a collaborative site where you learn a language of your choice, and your work is corrected by a native speaker. In the world of LiveMocha, you earn credits to use the services by correcting someone else’s work in your native language.  The more credits you earn, the more different courses you can use to learn your language. I think it’s such a clever idea!

Once you get learning (my sister-in-law is re-learning her high school and college Spanish), you have the option to start conversing via chat or video chat with a native speaker. I would be terrified to speak to a real human, but it sounds so neat! Wouldn’t it be cool if you made a friend by teaching each other a new language?

I studied Spanish in high school and college as well, but I think I’m ready to try a new language. French, maybe?

Oui from here.

I was looking for these photos a few months ago when I did the series on what it’s like to move to Ireland. My mother in law took them at the airport on the morning I arrived in 2008, and she found them last week and sent them over.

I thought they were especially appropriate this week since we’ve been having wild and windy weather again. In all honesty, it’s been driving me nuts – running has been fantastic in one direction and miserable in the other, and every time I take the recycling out to the bin it blows halfway down the street!

{look at my hair standing straight up! It was so short back then!}

But looking at these photos of me in the wild wind made me smile. I look so young! Michael doesn’t look so different. I’ll have to ask him what his secret is. What I love the most is how excited we both are to see each other for the first time since getting married two months earlier. And I look excited to be starting my new adventure in Ireland.

I think I’ll try to remember that excitement next time the wind nearly blows me over!

Remember when I went to Paris? Sheesh, that feels like a million years ago. Here’s just a bit more – thanks for indulging my inner Parisienne!

Whenever we travel, Michael and I try to stay in an apartment so we can make at least breakfast and lunch for ourselves. It saves us a little money, and allows us a lot of flexibility – when we can make lunch in the morning and bring it with us wherever we go, we don’t have to worry about where to stop or when.

It does mean, however, that we need to find grocery store as soon as we arrive so we can stock up on the basics.

On this trip to Paris, we stayed in the Saint Germain area – our apartment was lovely, cozy and stylish. And the neighborhood? Seriously swit-swoo, as they say in Dublin. At the end of our block, the Yves Saint Laurent store. Two blocks away? Dior. Yeesh, a bit rich for our wallets!

The local grocery store, Monoprix, was a little swanky as well. Between the entrance and the food section (where we picked up clementines, baguettes, salami and lots of yummy French cheese) was a section full of the sweetest French baby clothes. Every time we walked in, I couldn’t help but browse a little.

The color palette was exactly how I want to dress my kids (when we get to that – this is not a hint, Mom!), with no tacky words or cartoons on any of the clothes. Lots of knits, muted colors, and pretty patterns for boys and girls alike. And you can buy online! Filing away for a few years from now!

{All clothes found here}

This typeface chart made me chuckle. Can you find the way to Comic Sans? Ha!

Click here for larger.

{inspiration from here}

Hello, 2012! Are you ready for this one? I am oddly, happily ready.

And are you already totally inundated with resolution lists? Uh oh, spoiler alert – mine’s below!

I happen to be the annoyingly cheerful type who loves a new year. I love that it’s a fresh start. It’s the perfect time to make lists, which I do many times a day anyway. To get ready for 2012, I’ve made lists of big goals, little goals, projects, and traits I want to focus on.

Last year, I made three big-ish goals and I loved thinking about them all year as a guide for moving forward. They were to stop swearing completely, to finish the book I was writing, and to write 52 letters. I totally aced the first one, and made a bunch of progress on the second one. I didn’t write many letters, but I wrote a lot of postcards!

All in all, I feel good about 2011’s goals. Not perfect, but progress. In 2011, I know I grew, changed, adapted and was *mostly* calm and relaxed about new and unplanned things that came down the track.

So for 2012, I’m ready to keep improving. Here are the big (and totally do-able) goals I have for 2012.

1. Commit to one day a week without technology and screens. We’ve picked Tuesdays and we’re affectionately calling it Turn Off Tuesday. And by we, I mean me. Michael’s going along with it because he knows what’s good for him!

2. Learn to use my DSLR. I took photography in college, but apparently most of the basics evaporated out of my brain in the last six years. So, back to square one. I am bound and determined to take better photos this year and not totally rely on luck like I did last year!

3. Compost more. I love that in Dublin, we have a compost bin that gets collected every few weeks. Since we moved into our current apartment, we haven’t had a good solution for getting the compost from the kitchen to the bin outside (down the hallway, through the front room and out two sets of doors – oh, and a big reach over a huge motorcycle to open the bin!) without making a mess. We brainstormed a few ideas and hopefully we’ll find a system that works.

4. Eliminate pre-made sauces. This may sound like a totally odd goal, but it occurred to me that I am well able to make the few pre-made sauces I use from scratch. Bring on homemade spaghetti sauce and lots of fresh curries. I’ll share recipes as I go.

5. Document each day with a photo and a paragraph. I’ve never been a chick with a diary, but I want to remember the little things and the big things this year. I opened a private online journal using Penzu, and it lets you add a photo to each entry. I’m going to start with a photo and a paragraph for all of January, and see how I like it.

Are you making any resolutions or lists? I’d love to hear what you’re hoping for 2012! If you’re looking for inspiration, I really liked this list and this one. And this article made me want to change the world. Full stop.

I completely forgot! I’m taking a break until after New Year’s. I have a week and a half before I start my new job, so I’m using the time to finish a bunch of projects that have been on the list for a while. You’ll see some of them very soon!

I’ll be back to a normal schedule on Monday. Until then, I hope you’re resting, relaxing, and still eating lots of yummy food!

{In our Christmas outfits – my mother sent Michael this vest and it was the hit of the day!}