Thrive

Let's face it January sucks!  The holidays are over, the cold has set in, there just seems to be nothing to look forward to except a long stretch of winter.  This is the month I usually struggle the most.  It's been brutal in the past.  Long days of very little energy and depression so oppressive that it's all I can do to get out of bed. 

But for some reason a switch has flipped inside me this year. I have hope and lots of it.
There is a grittiness I feel inside...a resolve.  I have goals and projects to work on and I feel strangely happy:)


My theme words in the past have been "be" and "bloom". I went through a phase of trying so hard to be something that I was losing who I was entirely. Then this past Fall I felt God telling me there was a bloom a comin'. And I believe with all that's in me that I have bloomed. I had so much I wanted to achieve and birth forth and those things are coming to pass. Which is incredible.

When I think of what I want with this new year it is without hesitation...to thrive. I want to be healthy and at my best. I'll admit I'm a goal setter. Every year I make lists and vow to do this or that. They seem silly to most, but for me a goal is THE only way I achieve anything. If I'm not focused it does not happen.

I have goals to get more organized, take better care of myself, balance my time better, get on a routine, learn my camera...gain a little control. The only way to achieve any of those things is to stay focused and work at making new habits.  These cold dark days are a perfect time to regroup...to put one foot in front of the other and see those lists become a reality.

So my question is...what do you want your word to be?  What hope can spring forth in this often difficult month??

Let's make a decision to beat January and decide to flourish, grow and THRIVE together!

Have a blessed day.

Shimmer and a WINNER!!

Hi Ladies hope you've been enjoying the in-between holiday week.  Honey took this week off, so we've been busy running here and there.  We got some fun house projects done.  You know I can't wait to share:)  It's just been a really nice break.  Makes me wish my peeps could be home with me more. 

Woke up to this winter wonderland this week.  What a treat!  I didn't have time to get out and explore much up close, but the errand run to the post office and Home Depot was beautiful.  I just love it when the snow and ice collect on every little twig and blade of grass.  If you could only see it in person.  The snow looks like millions of glittering diamonds...the air was filled with silver glittery snow flakes.   It was really magical.  Makes me almost like winter;)  Now if I could just figure out how to photograph the shimmer...that would make me really happy.  Anyone know how to do that??

{Does this house look familiar??  Merry Christmas mom and dad:)}

And finally...thank you girls soooo much for the amazing cuff ideas.  I wish I could make each one of you a home painting.  I hope you know that.  I got so many great sayings.  It would take me forever to use them all:)  But I have some really good stuff, so I promise to get busy and list some soon. 

NOW

for

the

winner...

Carissa @ lowercase letters wrote:

happy 2 whole years!!! this the best giveaway. i adore your amazing artwork. i want to win bad. the saying i love that keeps my mind focused and my heart in check is: "run to the Cross." i'd so want my cuff to remind me!!

Congrats Carissa!  For those of you who are interested in a house painting, there will be free shipping for the month of January.  Valentine's Day is coming up...maybe you can put a bug in your Honey's ear;)

Have a blessed day.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!!  For us the festivities began today.  We are home this year...alone.  We kind of prefer it this way.  We'll have our big dinner tonight...complete with Christmas punch and candlelight.  Then we'll go to church for our candlelit service.  Tomorrow will be gifts and play and lots of nothing.  Just the way it should be:)

This was our snowy morning:)  Kind of cozy and dark.

We made our annual donut run in our jammies:)

Enjoyed all the sweetness the doughy sugary stuff could offer. 

Now it's on to embracing our littles.

Cuddling in... 

and celebrating all this holiday means.  Happy Birthday Jesus!!!  Merry Christmas everyone.  Hope you enjoy every second.  I'll be back on the 29th to announce the home painting winner.  See you then:)

Have a blessed day.

SNOWmaggedon

Good morning friends.  For all of you who wish you had snow...this is for you.  I wish I could scoop it all up and send it to you this morning.  We have more than enough to go around.  The news people here are calling it SNOWmaggedon.  Isn't that hilarious??  We had around 20" and with super low temperatures...it's the time I really have to put into practice that "suck it up" mentality my momma told me to have. 

This is our neighbor Chris.  Can't tell you how awful it is to be out there shoveling in this kind of weather.  It was extremely windy and so all your efforts are futile.  You shovel and then it's drifted over in no time at all.  A few years back we had a bad storm and it finally made us bite the bullet and we bought a snow blower.  Best purchase ever!  I remember crying and cursing and spitting while shoveling during that storm.

We were lucky that it fell during the weekend.  The kids had friends over.  They played most of the day in their pj's:)

And now it's over and the next few days are going to be brutal, 15-20 below wind chill.  Kind of sad that all that snow is going to waste.  Too cold for the kids to even play in it.  So if you are basking in some sun somewhere...please think of us;)

We'll be working on a puzzle...staying inside all cozy and warm.

OR not!  Poor things...

Have a blessed day.

My winter porch

This was my porch all harvesty and fallish.  Every year we do mums and pumpkins.  We never carve them so they usually last until Thanksgiving.  But this year I'm all gungho for Christmas for some reason and I thought I'd show you how it looks now.

My friend Kristine...really inspired me by taking me to this florist wholesale place.  Talk about overwhelming.  Aisles and aisles of greenery, little berries, branches, ribbon etc...  It was awesome.

When I left I had all kinds of goodies to fill up my wooden baskets.  These baskets are really special to us and never leave our front porch.  Honey's dad made them and they look so good with greenery in them.  Who knew?  I've never decorated the outside for winter.  Just lazy I guess...or TOO COLD!  Anyway I got 4 greenery bundles, 2 berry bundles, a blueish white bundle, a snowy branch with pine cones and a willowy tree thing to fill each one in.  I think I got all of it for around $80 at that wholesale place, and it will last me years.  So yay!


Kristine came over and we just ripped out my poor old mums and shoved the bundles right down into the dirt.  Easy peasy.  Seriously took us all of 10 minutes to decorate the front porch.

She helped me wrap some pretty red and white ribbon on my old wreath and my little goose.  We threw some IKEA pillows on the chairs and voila!  Instant makeover.  I don't know why I never did this before.  It's so cheery & happy.  May just be the ticket to enjoying winter a little more.

How about you?  Do you fancy up your outside for winter??

Have a blessed day.

SNOW & Shutterfly's special offer

Hi girlies hope you're having a great weekend so far.  We got SNOW! Lots and lots of snow:)  And it's really inspired me to get going on all things Christmas.

(Sorry about picture quality...Picnik wasn't working all weekend for me.  Anyone else??)

Which is kind of out of the norm for me, but since we are going to be really busy Thanksgiving we got a jump start and got our stuff out now.  Yeah you heard me right...we got ALL our Christmas stuff out now.  Bring it:)  I'm trying to embrace winter...remember!!

I'm thinking it was a good plan that we got our Christmas card pic LAST weekend.  This was the same spot last night.  No one's going tromping through that!

Anyway thank you so much for helping me decide on a pose for our card this year.  It was between the sunflare one or the laughing cow and I of course chose the laughing cow.  Big Chick looked a little spacey in the other one and I thought our expressions were all natural in the cow pic.  And I just adored that cow...we bonded:)


So now I need to order the cards and I usually go with Kodak,  but I've seen all over blogland Shutterfly's special offer for bloggers.  If you link to them and write a little somethin' somethin' they give you 50 FREE cards.  You know I was all over that.  So here are my favorites so far...

This one is called Hip Hop Berry Christmas.  I like it because the picture is the focus and it says peace.  Peace is good:)

This one is super cute too.  It's called Holly Frame Christmas.  I really like it because it's says Merry Christmas.  I know this sounds goofy, but 90% of them say Happy Holidays or Season's Greetings and I'm just partial to good old Merry Christmas:)

This one is Oh What Fun.  Love all the COLOR of course!  And it says Merry Christmas...yay:)  So there you have it my top 3 picks.  Which one do you love??  Now go sign up, blog about it and get some free stuff!!  It's officially time.

Have a blessed day.