Well hello there lovely people in blogland, how are ya? Happy 2011! I can't believe we're here, we just stepped through the door into a new year and I'm ready to rock 'n roll though I had a slow start thanks to so many late nights - my schedule is totally out of sync and though I've not traveled lately, I feel jet-lagged from running 100 miles an hour in December only to face a week of vacation where I did absolutely nothing for 7 days. I fell completely out of my normal routine. How about you? Are you fired up for a new year, getting a slow start, or?

I heard some of my friends reporting that they now need a vacation after Christmas vacation. What is with that anyway? I usually need a vacation after a vacation but a vacation after Christmas vacation, well that seems to be on the mind's of many lately because the season seems to be an awful lot of work, doesn't it? And for those of us who freelance, lots of our money comes in December so many are working day and night the entire month so when the 1st of January comes, there is this huge crash that can be seen and felt -- especially here online where most of us pool together in our communities to wax on about our crazy freelance and/or creative careers and how horrible December really was. If you are one who needs a break after the holidays, then go ahead and please, give yourself some down time now (while you can) because I think the first few weeks of January allow for a little goofing off. Give yourself a few Fridays off and you'll soon be back to your normal self. At least I hope... Which brings me to the whole theme of this post: HOPE.

What is so great about a new year anyway? Why does everyone get so excited about a new year, a clean slate, a fresh beginning? I mean, really.... All this clean slate stuff simply translates to is working our butts off for the next 12 months to fill the slate. Well my friends, it's all rooted in HOPE and that what is a drug of choice for me. Count me in, I'm a user of hope (in healthy doses) and love it.

Hope is great, addicting even, and I'll tell you why. If you have hope, you have everything. You have something to live for, things to look forward, the golden WHAT IF. You hope you will find your prince charming, you hope you will lose 10 pounds, you hope your boss will give you a promotion.... And then you set your mind on these things that you're hoping for and start to carve out ideas, plans, goals, that just might turn your hopes into a reality. For me, sometimes just that feeling of hope is enough as so often when dreams become a reality, you're not nearly as impressed or amazed as you thought you would be -- that whole hoping part actually felt better than that whole reality part.

HOPE is good stuff. The feeling of it and the looking forward to part of it along with the what if, just maybe, and quite possibly bits... All of it is magic.

Hope can mean, "To look forward to with desire and reasonable confidence." It can also be, "To feel that something desired may happen" and "A feeling of desire for something and confidence in the possibility of its fulfillment."

That is why hope is good and that is why I am inspiring you today to jump on the I HOPE bandwagon along with me for the month of January and write down what you HOPE will happen to you this year and then get your rear in gear and try to make a few of those things happen for yourself. Realize though that some of those things simply won't happen -- but hope anyway because the feeling alone can give you quite the buzz you need to press on.

I think this image from TineKHome, showing us a teaser of her upcoming Spring collection, is a hopeful image. It's clean, airy... and hopeful. It welcomes you to think about the what if. When I look at this image I hope of what Spring may bring, what Summer may feel like, how Fall may turn out and Winter, well let's not talk about winter. I'm cold enough already.

Welcome to a new year! What do you hope for this year?

(tinekhome)