1,001 - A Fresh Coat of Paint

Christopher defined it best, yesterday, when he said that I was putting a "fresh coat of paint" on my blog, so I give him credit for the title of this post.

There's something kind of exciting about starting out, again, with a new background and new fonts and new color-schemes - and even some new text in those weird margin boxes. It's kind of like getting a new desk at work - the job stays the same, but it's amazing how much good a new view can do.

With that said, while there are a lot of old habits which I don't expect to go away any time soon (not all of which I apologize for), here are two things I plan (and really *hope*) to do in the near future:

 - The 8/28 Cooking Challenge. Using the 8/28 as a jumping-off point, I'm planning to try to grab a cookbook off the shelf, turn to the 8th page of the index, go to the 2nd column, and count down to the 8th item. And then cook it. (And - fingers crossed - take pictures to post with it.) If the book is small, and doesn't have 8 pages of index, I may do something like go to the 8th column of the index and count down 28 items. I dunno. It's in flux at this point. And I totally reserve the right to go one slot up or down in the index list if the item I land on is just awful. My hope is to do this at least twice each month.

 - The Bad Quote Quotient. I've been known to share, in other forums, some of the bad writing that I have to work on. I think you might enjoy some of that, so I plan to share them here, too. (With identifying characteristics removed to protect the not-so-innocent violators of the English language.)

I also hope to post more photos when appropriate. And to try not to navel-gaze too much. And to strike that fine balance that keeps us all (yes, me included) interested in this blog from week to week.

So, as one of my favorite lines in cinema asks: "Are you ready? Here we go!"*

*Points to you if you know what that's from. Granted, the points aren't worth anything, but I'll give them to you, just the same.