Don't call it a comeback.

Happy new year!

On Monday, during our regular Family Home Evening, we each made three different goals for the new year.

Now, I know some people take issue with new year's resolutions, because, "Shouldn't you be trying to improve yourself all year?" and blah, blah, blahhdy-frickin'-blah. I happen to have no qualms with the concept of starting afresh and resetting my priorities at the beginning of a calendar year. Sorry/not sorry if you do.

So.

We made some goals last night. One related to physical fitness, one spiritually-focused, and one which would improve our life at home or at work. Carson says he will learn multiplication, try a rainbow roll (iffy, but I fully support him), and say his prayers every night; Audrey wants to be able to ride her bike to her friend's house, learn how to do math with positives AND negatives, and finish the Book of Mormon. Dillon is giving up sweets at work, exercising, also finishing the Book of Mormon, and he's planning to take me on 12 dates (oooh fun!).

As for me, it's important I share with you my third goal, since you will all need to hold me accountable. It is thus:

"Blog at least once a week."

See, when it comes to my work, I have a thriving piano/vocal studio, but I've basically neglected this here poor blog. And I've known for a while I needed to do something about that.

A few months ago, I considered just quitting the blog altogether. Thoughts of, "It's not branded right, I have no direction, I'm not consistent, I'm losing passion for it" played through my mind. I then thought long and hard about communication and writing, and how vital I believe they are to any happy life. I reflected on why I started this blog in the first place. Through all that introspection, I realized I need not to abandon my blog, but to revive it. And not by churning out trite fluff just to appease people, but by writing sincerely, from all four chambers of my heart.

So, pedal to the medal, no holds barred -- I'm back to blogging, folks. And this year, I'm not going to tip-toe around what I want to say. I'm not going to write a bunch of serious posts only to save them as drafts to be published ... never. Nope, in 2016, they're going up.

(I'm also going try using the Oxford comma, which was forbidden during college and my internship. I find that it adds clarity, makes phrases more readable, and is generally pretty awesome. See what I did there?)
I'm through with worrying about what other people think of me and my beliefs. I believe there is room in this world for dissonance and the expression of differing opinions. In fact, I believe it's a human right. I'm not here to placate people. I'm here to say what I need to say. You're free to come and go as you please, but I hope you'll stick around. After all is said and done, we can hug it out.

Alright, friends. Let's do this thing.