I have posted my New Year’s resolutions on the web since 2005, believing that if I post them in a public forum and revisit them at the end of the year, I am more likely to follow through. I’ve never accomplished every single one, but I believe I’ve completed more of them as a result.

Before I launch into a review of last year’s resolutions and provide the new list for 2010, I have to say that 2009 was the most difficult in my quarter century of existence, with months of unemployment and fighting to find freelance work taking its toll. I felt crippled creatively, devoting all of my energy to job hunting and stressing about finances, but cooking and this blog provided a welcome relief.  When I put on my headphones and entered the kitchen to cook dinner or bake, everything else fell away.

Despite its hardships, I ended 2009 in a good place (particularly with the holidays). I’m employed full time and doing work that I enjoy, my love life is back on track, and I also love where I live. Things can only go up from here.

2009 Resolution Review:
1. Find a job in this lovely financial meltdown: Done. Both freelance work and my current full time employment.
2. Post on Apartment Dining once every two days, post on my personal blog once a week: Well, I posted here three times a week for a good stretch, but definitely not on my personal blog. I wrote four posts there all year.
3. Finally send out some work to publications. I really have no excuse at this point: Submitted to a handful of publications, but nothing was accepted.
4. Be more conscious of spending and increase balance in my savings account: I was very conscious of spending, but didn’t have much left over to put in my savings account.
5. Once finances stabilize, take another writing class and make sure it’s an actual workshop, not reading work aloud once a week: Finances didn’t stabilize (and still haven’t completely).
6. Related to #5: take a cooking class: Again, no stable finances.
7. Increase overall creative output: Done.
8. Read more, both fiction and food writing: Done.
9. Explore more of Brooklyn: Well, I moved to another part of Brooklyn, so mission accomplished.
10. If finances improve, take a real vacation: Again with the finances. I was so optimistic last January.

Resolutions for 2010
1. Continue to increase creative output, and if enough suitable work is ready, submit to at least two publications per month.
2. Maintain a daily journal.
3. Increase the balance in my savings account.
4. Take care of myself, both physically and mentally. This means regular check-ups at the doctor and maintaining a healthy work/life balance.
5. Attend more cultural events in New York.
6. Go on a culinary adventure at least once a month.
7. Cook dinner or have leftovers four days a week. Related: Bring lunch to work four days a week.
8. Post here at least twice a week, ideally three times a week.
9. Redesign my personal website.
10. Go on weekend adventures. Montreal? Jersey? Boston? Anything’s game.

To help ring in the New Year, I’ve posted a few of my favorite photos from the holidays after the jump. You can see the full album in my Flickr set.

The roommates at our holiday party:

Erin’s Spritz cookies:

The morning after the party/blizzard:

My mother’s baklava cookies:

The Christmas Eve table at my mother’s in the Adirondacks:

The toppings of the Peppermint Stick Roll from Friendly’s are precious:

My sister on Christmas morning:

Cake at my Aunt Pam’s on Christmas:

The Christmas dinner table at Aunt Pam’s:

The Cahill cousins (plus two significant others, but I bet you can’t pick them out of this line-up):

An ornament on Alison and Nick’s tree on New Years Eve:

A deer on their side table:

Ramsey and I:

Alison counting it down: