Easing into 2019

Hello Friends,

Again it has been a considerable while since I have been here and I am both bothered and refreshed by that reality; bothered because this space has meant a lot to me over the years and I hated to neglect it, but refreshed because I needed to take a break, some time away, in order to reset and heal.

The last two years have been challenging for me health wise, and while I am still deciding whether to share the details of that or not, suffice to say that I lost hope and felt like all I was doing was surviving - somehow getting through what I needed to do, wishing and hoping for a break from the pain, and then collapsing with exhaustion at the end of the day. It was not good. That being said, I am feeling much better now, consistently better than I have in years. And you know what? This is the first new year in a long time when I have felt like I can actually set some intentions, make some plans, and have a decent chance of achieving them without the fear that I am going to get blindsided and knocked on my ass, completely and utterly derailed. Such an improvement, and such a relief.

 

So what are my intentions for 2019? I've spent the last week or so thinking about that, about what I'd like to do and achieve in this new and promising year:

• Learn to knit. 
• Crochet the flamingo from Edward's Menagerie Birds
• Read 15 books
• Adopt a consistent yoga practice
• Go for a hike at each Halton Conservation Area park 
• Grow my repertoire of vegan baking recipes 
• Pay off a portion of our mortgage
• Ice skate on the Rideau Canal in Ottawa
• Get consistent haircuts
• Create our San Francisco scrapbook

I may add some things to the list as the year goes on, as some things get checked off, but I feel like this is a good start - a good mix of fun, learning, health, self care, and productivity.  

What are your intentions for 2019?

A Spring Walk

On Saturday afternoon we headed out for a family walk. The weather was absolutely gorgeous; it was the weather we have all been waiting for and I think it is safe to say that spring has arrived, at long last.

There is a nature park not far from our house and we have gone there many times over the years to walk with the girls, even pushing them in the stroller back in the early days. I quite like that a place like this exists so close to our home. A natural playground was recently been added to the park and the girls had so much fun climbing and jumping in the glorious sunshine.

After we convinced the girls to leave the playground we stared walking, even venturing off the main path and following the unmarked footpaths through the woods. We heard the frogs croaking, watched the birds, saw snakes slithering around under a log and through the long grass, counted turtles sunning themselves on a fallen tree at the pond, felt the sun's heat in the meadow and the cool air under the tall trees...

It was so wonderful to be outside, savoring this gift of a day...

One of My Favorite Things (& Thoughts on the Blog)

My kitchen windowsill. I love it. The things that sit on it are always changing, though there are always several plants there since this seems to be the only place in the house where plants do well (in other words, grow rather than drop all their leaves and die).

I have spent a lot of time over the last while thinking about this blog of mine – what I like, what I want to change – and have come to think that perhaps “real life” is lacking from my posts. Most of my posts have been of the "show and tell" type - I make something and I want to share it with you - and that is great, I mean that is why I started this blog in the first place. But that being said, I don't want there to be a misconception in this space that I spend my days sipping coffee and crafting (I certainly wish that were true, but believe me it is not). The truth of the matter is that I spend a great deal of time doing "real life" stuff, honestly a lot more time than I spend crafting, and I want my blog to reflect that. So, moving forward into the new year, I am going to write some more "life" posts to capture and share what is happening around me everyday, what often inspires my crafting. There will still be crafty "show and tell" - I certainly wouldn't dream of stopping that - but there will be a healthy dose of everyday stuff thrown in too. Sound okay? I'm excited to see where this goes, and hope you enjoy a peek into my daily life.

Thank you for visiting and reading. Have a wonderful weekend.