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The week after Christmas is always bitter sweet. We were coming off a high of friends, family, food and festivities. Lots of late nights laughing with my sisters, traveling coast to coast, presents to give and receive. It’s a hard month to top.

But I also enjoy the transition into the new year. It’s a chance to start fresh, make resolutions and clean up a bit. All the ornaments get wrapped back up til next season. It’s sad to put them away, but also exciting to look forward to the other great things up ahead.

I’m not sure what I’m looking forward to most this year. It’s only the middle of January, but I’m already excited for the fun things we have planned for the summer and fall. We’ve got about four or five trips already planned and that definitely makes me happy.

Tonight, Irving and I went for a long walk after dinner. Hand in hand we discussed how lucky we are to have each other to share our life adventures with. We were bouncing ideas off each other. Where will the next big trip be? We have lots to think about, but we’re leaning towards Eastern Europe. Contiki has a great tour that goes to Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Slovakia and Poland. Sign me up! We’re still in the discussion phase now, but I was practically skipping down the street just thinking about it tonight.

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In other news, I made a killer Beef Stew tonight. It was my first time using my crock pot, and it was a learning experience.

Lesson #1: Not all crockpots are the same size! I used this old crockpot cookbook, and I started chopping away… until I realized that it wasn’t all going to fit!

I guess mine is smaller than a traditional size?  So I will be making Beef Stew #2 on Sunday to use up the meat and extra veggies!

Live and learn. It came out fantastic though. We served it with a hunk of french bread. Life doesn’t get any better than that.

Hopefully 2011 brings me a year full of new and easy recipes. Got any good crockpot ones?