Wow, I blink and the months fly by! I’ve meant to drop in and post many things this past year, but my responsibilities have grown and my time has shrunk, and I’ve had to let a few things drop. I’m hoping to change that.

I love the beginning of a new year. I enjoy thinking about all the things I want to do differently in the months ahead, and I’m excited to work on them. Inevitably, my list becomes longer and longer, and truth be told, most of the items on that list are rollovers from last year. As much as I like to think I can do it all, the realistic part of me is deciding to choose one thing to focus on this year–kind of a ‘word of the year’ if you will (thanks for the nudge Cammi), and let the grocery list of everything else fall into place. So, here is my focus for 2011:

What are you planning to focus on this year?

For the past year and a half this girl has been working on a goal to practice her violin 100 consecutive days (excluding Sundays). She reached it a couple weeks ago, and to celebrate, we took her to get her ears pierced. I love that she will be reminded of her accomplishment every time she looks in the mirror for the rest of her life!

I really shouldn’t take credit for this adorable paisley penant bunting…but I will. {grin}

My sister, the photographer, came over to sew this fun splash of color for her studio under my supervision. I can’t say she didn’t break out in the rash she claims comes from anything having to do with sewing, but she did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself! (I thought it was awesome that she picked some Marabella prints all on her own, LOVE!)

This is my baby girl…she’s almost four years old now!?!

I’ve been thinking lately that I want to be more intentional in the present, to soak it up and enjoy it for what it is and not miss/waste a single second of it. Recently a friend reminded me that “how we spend our days is how we spend our lives”…so true. Baby steps grow into long journeys, so I need to worry less about the bigness of everything on my mind and just BE.

Oh, and I’m still working 24/7 on that big project I mentioned…um, how many weeks ago was it? But it’s almost finished–you can see it here. Just a few details to finish up, and I can move on to my sadly neglected pile of projects! Or at least get a few more steps down the road. {grin}

I love snowy mornings. The view from my front window feels unspoiled, quiet and calm. Have a great day!

My friend Amy Hamberlin has just launched her first fabric line–it’s so, so pretty! Go see her for a chance to win this stack of Marabella.

Yikes! Where is January going? Mine has been spent largely on family (yay!) and on a monumental work project (double yay!).

In the meantime, a couple of my posts were featured on Tip Junkie over the last few days, so “Hi” to anyone jumping over from there, so glad to have you!

Gotta get back to that project, I hope to have it wrapped up in the next week or so. Ta-ta for now!

Somehow, Christmas sneaks up on me every year. I have these visions in my head of perfect evenings snuggled around the fire with my family, doing sweet little yuletide activities…but reality is a lot more frenzied than the peaceful scenes of my imagination. There are gifts to gather, wrap, deliver, programs and parties to attend, work, church, bills to pay, dinner to make, dishes to do, music lessons and practice, homework, house entropy to stay ahead of…augh! Still, I love this holiday season, and have been making efforts to slide some meaningful traditions into the craziness of it all.

It may sound funny, but I’ve struggled with Advent activities in the past. I tried paper rings one year…and lost count somewhere in there (did I mention the days are busy?). The cute little cut-and-pasted Santa, where you glue one cotton ball to his beard each day: too much for me, I mean really– I’m expected to hunt down a cotton ball and glue every night?! Our fabulous Kindergarten teachers send the kids home with a Hershey Kiss version, but there are two problems with this: 1-not enough for every kid in the house! and 2-all chocolate is consumed within 30 minutes of arriving home–it’s an unspoken rule around here. I found a really fun advent idea I wanted to do with my cubby cabinet (it just happens to possess 24 compartments and would be awesome!), but that would require me to find, decorate, and fill 24 containers with some sort of advent treat or activity (in advance!). Maybe next year.

That said, the kids like to have some perspective on how far away the big day is, and I wanted to incorporate more Christmas Spirit into our routine, so I printed up a simple December calendar to keep in the basket of Christmas books parked under our tree and assigned a day to each child. As we gather for our nightly reading and family prayer at bedtime, the designated person chooses which Christmas book we’ll read. So far, it’s gone off without a hitch. If we have a late/busy night and miss our routine, we just read two stories the next evening. I love it!

How do you fit your holiday traditions into the whirlwind that is December?

Couldn’t resist snapping a shot of this pile of ruffles today…shh! Can’t say more!

Every holiday season for as long as I can remember, our community comes together to present a “Christmas Tree Fantasy” to benefit local charities, and I was honored to be invited to decorate a table for their first-ever Christmas Tea this year. Let me be clear here…we’re not too fancy about table settings at my house, and after several years of presence in my home, my ‘good’ dishes haven’t seen a lot of use. (I think I’m going to be changing that, though…why not enjoy them now?) Even so, we’ve managed to misplace a few pieces of flatware and nick a plate or two, and I had only eight settings to begin with. So a fancy eight-place-setting table was a bit of a challenge to conjure. The solution? Vintage, layered, and mismatched of course! Here’s how it turned out:

A candle centerpiece featured spunky vintage pixies (inspired by Wendy’s)…I love these old-fashioned-girls more every time I see them:

Mismatched dishes, glassware and flatware:

And for the favors, I attempted a new skill–soldered glass pendants…these were tricky, but a lot of fun to make!

The ‘Tea’ itself was charming–it was fun to sit down and enjoy all the prettiness in the room. Definitely worth hitting next year!

Upward and onward,
Audrey