2012, originally uploaded by framboise.

We had a busy start to 2012 with family and friends, which is just how we like it! So we’ve started the year exhausted, but in a good way.

Both P and I gave up on making New Year’s resolutions many moons ago. But if we still made any, our aims for 2012 would be alone these lines:

1. Host more parties! We aren’t party animals, nor do we have elegant dinner parties. But we enjoy comfortable shindigs with our friends, where we can just hang out, chow down on good food and drink, and chat about anything under the sun. Having a BBQ on the first day of the year signals our intent. We have started as we mean to carry on.

2. Keep a reasonably tidy home. I’m somewhat more of a neat-freak than P (our different lab benches are evidence of that!), and now that we’ve thrown Mr Destruction (aka Fin) into the mix, mild chaos ensues with books and toys scattered about the place. I sometimes wonder if Fin just likes emptying shelves and boxes, or if he’s trying to tell us that he’d like to live with more minimal decor, and that we should get rid of our crap…

3. Travel! It was tricky to adapt to travelling with a dog 3 years ago, or making arrangements for Kirin to be looked after when we went to non-doggy places. And having Fin didn’t stop us from going places and doing things in 2012, and I hope the same will be true for his second year. It was relatively easy bundling him up and just taking off (along with his bags and bags of stuff) for his first 11 months. But having a moving toddler-to-be may make long-distance air travel a little trickier. Nevertheless, I hope Fin continues to enjoy our adventures.

There are many more grown-up things we’ll have to tackle in 2012, and some of them will be a lot more difficult than our usual style of coasting from day to day. My hope is that these three general aims will keep us sane through the trickier times.

Here’s to 2012 and all that it brings!