Me? I think I’ll be hanging out at home. Mike and I had planned to go out (I’ve never gone out for New Years in my entire life) but he has to work early the next morning, so I think we’re going to stay in. There will be some Asti involved, though.
Could those two be any stinkin’ cuter!? For serious.
Did y’al see Leigh-Ann’s Tie Cuff tutorial!? I’m in love and now I want to go thrifting for some fun ties!
Sarah of Yes and Yes shared a few last-minute solutions for 2011′s resolutions that cracked me up.
Sarah of Sillygrrl had great advice for how to achieve your goals in 2012.
And finally, from the “I’m behind the times”-files:
This Christmas was by far the best I’ve ever celebrated in my entire adult-life. Everything was just perfect. I was able to spend time with everyone I love, and our visits were full of happiness and laughter. I really couldn’t have asked for more; for the first time in years, I really felt the Christmas spirit. (I think everyone else did too.)
As you can probably tell, Benny had a fabulous Christmas too!
I got so many amazing gifts. I can’t really list them all but a few of my favorites were a pair of Birkenstock sandals from my hunny (I’ve always wanted a pair!), a grinder attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer, homemade flannel PJs made by my mother, and an amazing Pashmina/silk scarf my future in-laws brought back from Italy! There were too many other wonderful things to name too. Even better, everyone seemed to really enjoy the gifts Mike and I picked out for them! Watching Ben’s face this Christmas was priceless too. Santa done good this year. Ha!
Hope everyone else had a fabulous holiday as well. Now I’m attempting to catch up on emails and work and generally trying to transition from vacation-mode to work-mode again. (Not easy!)
P.S. I still have sponsor slots open for January! Check out my sponsor page for more info.
2012 has a lot in store for me; I’m turning 30, launching a new business, getting married and becoming a step-mother. It is all exciting and a little overwhelming. I feel like 2011 was a year filled with growth and change, during which I really re-prioritized a lot of things in my life.
I’ve spent some time thinking about how my life has changed in the last year, and building on these things, I’ve set three main goals for the upcoming year:
I really believe in going out of your way to engage with strangers on a daily basis, and I want to make a deliberate effort to do MORE of that. (This coming from someone who’s suffered with major social anxiety in the past! — I know, right!?) Minimally, I try to have a smile for everyone I pass by. I try to hold doors or pick up dropped items, or provide whatever other assistance I can give. I’ve been doing a lot of this lately, and I guess because it’s the Christmas season people are more receptive to it; but I want to make sure it doesn’t end come January.
A few weeks ago, Mike and I were out to dinne. I pointed out a girl at the salad bar and commented to Mike about her beautiful hair. It was platinum blonde and styled in long dreadlocks that hung almost to the backs of her knees. Mike said to me, “Why don’t you tell HER that? She probably gets weird looks and criticism all the time, being that dreadlocks aren’t exactly the norm — might be nice to hear a compliment.” So I did. I got up and approached her at the salad bar and told her I thought her hair was super amazing and asked her about how she styles it. Maybe she thought I was crazy — but ya know, what does it hurt to give genuine compliments freely? Not a thing. Worst case, the stranger brushes you off and moves on, but quite possibly you could have made their whole day better by simply saying you liked their outfit or sense of style.
Further, I’ve recently observed that even as an adult, bullying takes place. You’d think that as grownups, we’d be past school yard name-calling, but it still goes on in different forms. As a matter of fact, have you ever noticed that quite often humans seem to bond with each other by ganging up on a third person?! I’ve decided that though I can’t stop what other people say or do, I CAN choose to not participate in the behavior and perpetuate the problem.
I think in general, there are a lot of lonely, unhappy people in the world and if everyone could be just a little kinder, maybe it would ease their pain.
I got myself a copy of Creative, Inc. as a little splurge the other day and started reading it. It came highly recommended and it’s a beautiful book. I started the first chapter and found myself skimming through “Traits of Successful Freelancers” and jumping ahead, thinking to myself, I know this stuff — let’s get to the stuff I don’t know.
I made myself put the book down to return to it later when I could focus more and read it all, because I realized that I don’t know it all. (Not even remotely!) Just because I feel confident in my field of work, I’m always learning and growing. The minute I STOP learning is when I’ll fail. I need to step back and remember that it’s OK to review things that I “know” because a fresh perspective is always valuable. (And let’s be honest — I probably “know” about half of what I think I know.)
One of the most amazing things Mike has taught me during our relationship is to look for the beauty in everything. For him, the focus is usually music or art, but once that sensibility is awakened, it applies to so much more.
Why drink coffee out of a paper Starbucks cup when you could enjoy it in a vintage teacup? Why keep that “cluttery” collection packed away in boxes when it could be displayed on a book shelf and enjoyed every day? Beauty doesn’t have to be expensive either: it can be thrifted or created for very little money and some investment of time.
Life is to short for every aspect to be only FUNCTIONAL. One luxury of being human is that we can also make our daily lives BEAUTIFUL. We can surround ourselves with the things that appeal to our senses so that every experience is heightened. In 2012, instead of consuming the functional, I want to savor the beautiful every minute of every day.
