Yep – it’s that time of year again. 2012 has arrived and it’s time to plot out the culi­nary (and per­sonal) goals for the new year.

I have to say, 2011 was quite the year and, while I did accom­plish some of my 2011 culi­nary goals, many had to be put on the back burner due to the Sous Pug‘s ill­ness, surg­eries and sub­se­quent care that pretty much were the focus for the last 8 months. Thank­fully, he’s on the mend and has many happy years ahead of him but I decided to be a bit more cau­tious when plan­ning for 2012.

I’m a firm believer in “putting it out there” and I have to be more aware of how my atti­tude affects the out­come of what I’m doing. 2011 has had quite a few ups and downs but I’m choos­ing to focus on the pos­i­tive and, for the neg­a­tive issues that keep crop­ping up, well – I’ll just let the pow­ers that be deal with them because, quite frankly, this gal is T.I.R.E.D. A friend told me that I have “cham­pagne prob­lems” mean­ing that when I’m doing some­thing right – cer­tain peo­ple will try to ham­per what I’m doing because they either are a) uno­rig­i­nal; b) want what I’ve worked hard to do or c) because they have noth­ing more con­struc­tive to do with their days and that’s THEIR issue. This goes not only for things that I have done here on Cook­ing in Stilet­tos but also in the day to day. I refuse to let that sully 2012. There are WAY more impor­tant things to focus on.

So, to recap the pos­i­tive in 2011, I got to meet some fab­u­lous blog­gers that I’d be lost with­out, con­nect with new peo­ple via The SITS Girls aka The Secret Is In The Sauce, get to know some fab­u­lous Philly blog­gers through the great mee­tups that La Phemme Phoodie orga­nizes and I’m look­ing for­ward to meet­ing more blog­gers near and far. Also, in 2011, Cook­ing in Stilet­tos grew in leaps and bounds and also moved from a .org to a .com – not too shabby, right? Also, while I didn’t talk about it much (and I really need to recap), I got to visit Food Net­work with Jen of One Curly Fry to watch Sunny Ander­son tape an ep of “Cook­ing For Real”, I taped an episode of Emeril’s Table and got to learn from the best about all things tamales, tres leche and tequila and, finally, had a brief excur­sion to NYC to watch Nate Berkus tape an episode of The Nate Show where the chef was one of my faves, Aida Mol­lenkamp. Pretty decent year, no?

So, with that, let’s look for­ward shall we? For 2012 some of the goals are:

I have said this for both 2010 and 2011: take a culi­nary class. Well – in 2012, I would like to take a few cook­ing classes includ­ing that elu­sive pasta class, per­haps a refresher knife skills class, a canning/preservation class and one more. I would love to check out either the Restau­rant School or Audrey Claire Cook and, of course, Sur La Table’s cook­ing classes.

While I would love to travel, I think this will be the year of the con­fer­ence instead of trav­el­ing for food fes­ti­vals. Don’t get me wrong, I adore both the South Beach Wine & Food Fes­ti­val and the New York City Wine and Food Fes­ti­val, but I’d love to attend a blog con­fer­ence or two this year. I know I’m def­i­nitely plan­ning on attend­ing SITS Bloggy Boot Camp in Philly in May but also would love to check out a food blog­ger con­fer­ence as well such as IFBC, BlogHer Food, Food Blog Forum (if they EVER come up north), etc.

While we’re on the sub­ject of blog­ging, I plan on grow­ing both Cook­ing In Stilet­tos and my other blog, Fash­ion­ista+. With the issues of the “cham­pagne prob­lems”, I tended to let that get to me and, frankly, I need to just learn to roll my eyes and let that mess be. That’s what lawyers are for, right?

Cook­ing is one of my major stress reliev­ers.  With the Sous Pug issues, I found myself cook­ing more for him and less for myself and that needs to change.  I have a host of new recipes in store and can’t wait to share them all with you.  There are tried and trues, epic fails and I’m going to doc­u­ment it here.  Expect 2 to 3 recipes a week, more fab inter­views and fea­tures and great spot­lights for your read­ing pleasure.

Also, with writ­ing, I have a cou­ple projects that are in the works and I really am look­ing for­ward to expand­ing on that more. Writ­ing is one of the things that makes me happy and I need to let my inspi­ra­tion guide me over that writer’s block that has plagued me through 2011.  I also have a few other web projects that I’m work­ing on and hope­fully I’ll be able to dis­close more as they move forward.

As y’all know, I love work­ing with the Dancin’ on Air and Dance Party USA Alumni and I’m look­ing for­ward to see what 2012 holds. As evi­denced from our first major event, our “party with a pur­pose” has been excel­lent and there are some great things on tap for the com­ing year. For the naysay­ers that tend to bring us down, well – karma will deal with them and I refuse to let those gnats get in the way.  Also, in Philly, Chan­nel 17 has been re-airing some clas­sic episodes that have not only taken us down mem­ory lane, but have received such a warm wel­come from the city.

On a per­sonal note, I am not one to hold my tongue and I have found myself cen­sor­ing myself through­out 2011. Why, I don’t know but I am cut­ting the neg­a­tive peo­ple and sit­u­a­tions in my life loose and, with that, I’m speak­ing my mind. So, for those that have decided to take advan­tage are going to get a rude awak­en­ing – their loss, not mine.

So, while 2011 has been quite the adven­ture, I am thank­ful that 2012 brings plenty of new oppor­tu­ni­ties for all of us and I’m excited to kick the door shut on 2011 and put my best stiletto for­ward in 2012.

What are some of your goals for 2012?

[Fea­tured Photo cour­tesy of Pos­i­tive Psy­chol­ogy News Daily]