What's that? You don't remember me writing about my goals for 2013?

Well, you'd be correct. Although I thought about them an awful lot, I neglected to post about them. I chose to write about one of them today One of my goals is to organize this craphole of a closet entrance area. It's needed it for quite some time and I have blissfully ignored it for two years. Well, this is the year to clean it up.

before

I would apologize for the poor quality cell phone camera pic, but, I think the poor quality will highlight just how fabulous my clean-up/organization is in the end. I have completed phase I this week.

after phase I

It's a little less messy. My next phases aim to de-clutter and organize those piles of paper on the floor.

How are your 2013 goals going?

I rearranged some of my shop items tonight for the upcoming Valentine's Day. I also finished creating my latest embroidery hoop. I love how the XO pops off the background with the stitching detail. You can check the listing out here on my Etsy shop.

Friday night kicked off with craft night with a couple of friends. All of us worked on our own crafts while we ate snacks and drank wine. It was nice. I worked on my loom knitting (the only kind of knitting I can do!) while others worked on origami and felting. Here's little Nessie playing the piano and the beginning of my circle scarf.

I like how fast the loom knitting works up. I'm almost done now and I can't wait to show you guys the results. Saturday morning, I went to yoga class. It's one of my New Year's resolutions to do yoga at least once per week. I have been enjoying it, even though having a male instructor is a little strange. After yoga, I met up with a friend for lunch. I met this cute little girl (below) Saturday evening when I went to a housewarming party for a couple of friends. I came baring an antler for her (Copley) and we soon became fast friends. Have any of you played Cards Against Humanity? I'm one to hate card games and this one rocks. Highly recommended!
After early afternoon on Sunday was taken up by going to the dog park and dog snoozing, I headed to Cambridge to enjoy some vegan diner eats before a coupon expired. (Yeah, I love a good deal!) It was amazing and left me so full that I ended up taking the majority of it home for lunch the next day.


Doesn't that look amazing? The Kendall Square Burger (aka arugula with a mushroom and chickpea patty and onion rings), an arugula sandwich, potato salad and baked mac n cheese. All vegan. Om nom nom! I also wanted to show off a new pair of pants that I purchased on Thursday from a local shop. Aren't they awesome! I wore them today to work (since it's the first time in over a week that we haven't had subzero temps) and they are so comfortable. It's like having a bit of Spring in Winter.

Now that it's Monday, I actually feel pretty good. It was nice to have a weekend full of friends and different activities. Although it doesn't substitute for Ryan being gone, it was still a nice weekend to have.

photo by ryan

It's been a cold one here this week. We have had a couple of days in the negative digits and are expected to have at least one more day of it. Although this photo was taken over winter break with Ryan, it pretty much summarizes me how I am now: wearing gloves, drinking a hot beverage. Bundled up. Brrrrrrr. Anyone else experiencing some intensely cold weather this week?

photo by ryan

 Here we are, the happy couple at the end of the day in Boston. We drove in with Tater and walked around, ate, and had a drink to end the day.

beacon hill

market

cemetary

ryan, setting up his shot

It's nice to get out into a bigger city once in a while. Besides it being my birthday this week, I had a couple of other exciting things happen as well. A review about one of my tea towels went up on Lotus Be Barefoot. Brandi's blog includes other product reviews, as well as a bit about her life with her child. Check out her blog if you get the chance. Another was being featured in a beautiful treasury. I know, I know...treasuries happen a lot. This one really stuck out to me as a beautiful one, though. Perhaps I needed some brightness during the dark winter months? I loved the collection of items together and had to share it with you.

curator:moranalhalel

What a great collection! I also have a fourth bit of exciting news, but I will need to wait to share it! It will be hard to wait, but so worth it!

Starting the dye process: red.

at the end: purple

drying

All packaged up.

Newest addition to the shop. At only 3 inches, it's so cute!

My free gift from Sephora. Hard to choose between this and Benefit.

Finished this Christmas gift

I have been pleasantly surprised by all of the year in review and goals for 2013 posts. The theme this year seems to be positivity--be it looking forward to new adventures of the year or changing ones own attitude. I can go along with that. I didn't realize how cranky I was getting before my weeklong vacation. I came back to work Monday with a bright outlook and a sense of accomplishment. Although that's likely to dim somewhat as the week goes on, I would like to carry more of a sense of it with me. Here are a few photos that have made me happy the past couple weeks:

After driving through a bunch of this white stuff, it was just nice to walk around and enjoy the look of it.

This sweet little place opened up while we were away. Can't wait to check it out!

Loved the way the sunlight fell through the trees and snow crystals.

Here's to more positivity!