2013 recap in photos

Well, we all know what happened in my life last year. :) Here is a look back, in (too many!) pictures:

January

2014 Goals

The new year is upon us. It's amazing how it sneaks up on us this time every year, huh? I really enjoy the beginning of the year, though. Even though it's sad the holidays are over, it's nice to think about a fresh start, invigorating to think about things we can improve upon, and exciting to think about trying new things, finishing old things, and setting doable goals. Now is the time! It's hard to feel so renewed and ready to do these things come August, right?

Setting goals is a great thing to do, but it is hard to follow through on lofty, over-arching goals. This year I'm trying to set reasonable, project-oriented goals that I can actually achieve and that I look forward to accomplishing. Being a creative person, someone who literally feels better when I'm making things, I've learned that my resolutions must include creative and crafty projects. Of course, there are many other parts to life - cleaning, organizing, teaching your children, cooking, staying healthy- but I know when I set goals that are creative and exciting, the rest of these parts of life seem to fall in place.

So, here are some goals I've set for myself for 2014:

1. Finish Sienna's Christmas album, make a 2014 family album and a Pinky and Laura relationship album. I started a First Christmas album for Sienna in December. Now is the time to print all the photos and finish the album for her. This inspired me to continue to do photo albums for our family and have some hands-on memories to look at, rather than having them all stored digitally. I'm so excited about this goal and will continue to share my progress.

2. Finish my hand-lettering I class and complete the hand-lettering II class. I've shared part of my project progress from the class, The First Steps of Hand Lettering. I want to finish up my project for this class and then dive into the second class where you get tips on adding color and digitizing your piece. While I know, mostly, how to do this through my design skills it will be great to have some tips on how to get hand-drawn items to look better on the computer. I'm excited to finish these classes and have a final product to hang in our home. I hope I will continue to create hand-lettered pieces in the future.

3. Downsize! Everything. Ok, that's a big goal. But, I think if I continually think about getting rid of things, I'll be reminded more often, to, get rid of things. Genius! Ha. Specifically, I wrote down "clothes, shoes, & decor." Craft supplies should also go into that list. OH MY, the craft supplies. I want to go room by room in January and do a cleaning out. We are fairly good at giving things to Goodwill and I did have a great yarn sale in November that made me a little $ and got rid of some of the yarn stash, but I want to make this a continual focus in our house. We might be moving to a new house later this year and babies. take. a lot. of stuff. They just do. So, I can downsize a lot of our things to make life simpler. And moving simpler, for real. Any tips are highly appreciated and welcomed. I've been perusing the lifehacker tips and Pinterest lately for good organizing tips.

I'm slightly obsessed with pinning closet office space nooks. They are so cozy and fun. And genius. 

photo courtesy of: thehouseofsmiths.com

4. Speaking of organizing, that's another goal. Make a place for everything. Then, it's easier for things to stay picked up and organized. I live my life in stacks of things. Oh my. They are everywhere. I'm not super messy or a packrat, but I stack things up and leave things out so I'll remember to do them. I want to make a place for things to be put away and then make lists of what I want to do, rather than just leaving everything out in the open for me to see and possibly, someday, work on. This is a HUGE one for me that is gonna take lots of effort. Wish me luck!

Photo from: realsimple.com

5. Learn baby sign language to teach Sienna. This is a goal that needs to happen soon. She's over 7 months old and I really think at the point where she can start communicating soon through other means than crying. Ha. Yeah. It's worth a try! Plus, how cute is it to see kids who sign!? Super cute. And then she can tell me when she's hungry or not and develop that little brain :) (Hey, here's a free downloadable/printable chart!)

Those are where we start. First, I gotta get this little girl feeling better :( But, at least I can be in the planning stages while we're still on the mend here. It feels good to really think about these goals, get them written down, and start moving forward with them. Good luck with your own goals! I would love to hear about them. Happy 2014!!

New Year's Day and a Good Luck soup recipe

Happy New Year! I hope yours was lovely and relaxing. Or fun and exciting. That's what our New Year's Eves used to be, but now we are very happy with lovely and relaxing. :) We have had a sick little babe for a week now which is NO FUN at the holidays, but she's managed to keep a smile throughout most of her feeling bad, for which this mama is SO grateful. My heart breaks seeing her hurt.

So, due to the little one being under the weather, I decided we should have a day of yummy food, cozy at home. We started the day with a great brunch of delicious omelets (hubby-made), French baked donuts, bacon, and grapefruit mimosas. Mmmm. I made the donuts last year on NYD, too, so this is our new tradition!

After brunch we took down Christmas, which is always sad for me. But, it is nice that it generally spurs us on to do a little tidying up around the house. It sure is hard to keep a house clean with a little one! Ours is slightly better after yesterday.

So, back to our day of yummy food. For an early dinner I made us a New Year's Day soup. In the South, we always have black-eyed peas and ham (and sometimes greens) for good luck in the New Year. I decided to make ours into a soup, since we had lots of carrots and delicious greens from our weekly veggie delivery. I would say this is a step up from previous years where I've just heated a can of the peas and smothered them in ketchup. Ha. Don't judge. Try it. Anyhoo, here is the recipe:

New Year's Day Good Luck Soup

1/2 - 1 c. onion, diced

2 c. carrots, diced

2 TBSP oil (I used ghee- it's better for you at high heat than olive oil- you could use grass-fed butter)

1 TBSP thyme

1 TBSP sweet basil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 ham steak, pre-cooked and cubed

2 c. chicken or vegetable broth

2 c. water

2 cans black eyed peas, rinsed and drained

1 bunch of greens, washed thoroughly and chopped, stems removed

salt & pepper to taste

Melt oil/butter/ghee in a large stockpot on medium heat. Add onions and sauté until translucent. Add carrots, thyme, basil, and a few pinches of kosher salt. Sauté for a couple of minutes to add a bit of roast-yness to the carrots. Add garlic and ham and brown for another couple of minutes. Add the chicken/veggie broth and water and a couple more pinches of salt. Turn up the heat, bring to a boil, then simmer, covered, until carrots are mostly cooked (20-30 minutes). Add the black eyed peas and greens, cover, and cook for another 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add freshly ground black pepper and more salt, if needed, to taste. Serve with cornbread or crusty French bread. Enjoy your good luck for the coming year! (Approx. 6 servings.)

I hope you'll try this out. It was really easy and doesn't have to cook too long, like some soups, since the ham and black-eyed peas are already cooked. Of course, it would be best for you to buy dried beans and cook them yourself, but the mama of a little one doesn't remember to do things like that...pre-planning and soaking things the night before?! Someday.

Happy New Year to you. I will be posting some fun(ish) resolutions soon. 

xoxo