There's no better reason to celebrate with your friends and family!

Wunderlist is an awesome to-do list application that I have recently discovered. Things were getting sort of ridiculous at work because I was juggling 12 different projects and needed to know where they each were. On top of that, I routinely work with a programmer to develop tools and need to make lists of things for him to do (so I can come up with a long list of really nit-picky things and then give it to him). Wunderlist is perfect for this because IT'S FREE and it allows for sharing of lists with others. FOR FREE. When you a share a list, it's completely dynamic--when the person you share with wants to mark something off as done, they can. If they want to add a task, they can! It also has a really sleek, clean, and simple interface which I really like.

I don't know that other people need something like this for work but it would also be great for shopping lists or gift lists for people. There's an iPhone/Android app in addition to the web browser and desktop version. Can't ask for more than that!

A lot of people contend that red velvet cake (or anything else) is really just chocolate with red food coloring. They are VERY misguided, however--the red velvet flavor is very a very complex blend of cocoa, vanilla, and the very essence of "red." I love everything about the red velvet flavor profile and cannot seem to get enough of it in any form I possibly can. There are the more conventional uses of it in cake and cupcakes, but there are also new, unexpected ways of using it like brownies, ice cream, cookies, pancakes, cheesecake, fudge, whoopie pies and even souffles. Any way you make it, I'll love it (especially the ice cream!).

I know a lot of people and a lot of blogs are very busy talking about the new year and resolutions to lose weight, keep your house clean or generally simplify your life. That's not really why I like new years, though--I just generally enjoy a transition to something new and clean and fresh. My love of "clean slates" has prompted a lot of my random summer adventures (which you can follow here, here, and here). I look for a new place, new friends, and a new identity. New years are kind of like that. I like the feeling of something being not quite the same as it was, a new frontier full of who-knows-what. No one has been here before and we're making progress, if only because this year is older than the last. How thrilling!