Beauty Forever

We celebrated my mother in law's 70th birthday last week and as I sat there on Friday night, admiring her almost flawless skin with nary a wrinkle, I thought to myself "damn, I need to step up my game."  And so I did what any modern woman in her mid 30's does, I created a Pinterest board dedicated solely to skincare.

(from In the Gloss - disclaimer, while extremely knowledgeable you may want to reach through your computer screen and punch the writer in the face when she says "I'm in my mid twenties now and my skin just isn't what it used to be."  Wait another ten years sister)

My skin has always been on the drier side, which usually means less blemishes in those awkward teen years, it also usually leads to more wrinkles.  The crows feet I've pretty much had since high school are getting more pronounced and are appearing in every picture now, not just the bad ones.  I'm not planning anything expensive or dramatic, but after some reading, it appears that my routine may be lacking some oil.  I dug around in my skincare samples I recently received and I found this Midnight Recovery Oil from Kiehl's.  I'll let you know in the morning if I look ten years younger. 

If you've got any advice to give, please share because I'm about as stuck in a skincare rut as one can get.  I posed the question on my Facebook wall Saturday and Shelly jokingly suggested botox.  While that seems like an easy immediate fix, I would really like to take better care of my skin.  I use a Clarisonic but that's about as advanced as I get.  I apply Eucerin SPF moisturizer every day but it doesn't really seem to seep in anymore, rather leaves a layer it seems on top of my skin.  Does this mean I need to scrub more?   I don't know, I'm clueless here.

While skincare is on the top of my list of personal goals to work on in 2012, it got me wondering if any of you have created goals that help take care of you?  I never gave it much thought before, but this year especially I'm feeling that aside for the goals I've created for my family and home, its important for me to do something for myself.  Since you know I read a lot of style sites, especially sites dedicated to real women, I thought I'd share some links I've enjoyed reading lately dedicated to refreshing your personal style:

• Angie is writing a whole Style Renewal series and I thought this post was especially true.  Before attempting any style renewal she suggests doing 3 things first: Get a professional bra fitting, assess your hairstyle and assess your eyewear.  I get fitted every year ever since working at Victoria's Secret and I've found that especially after having kids and big changes like starting/stopping nursing, your bra sizes do change and fit differently.  I was shocked when at my last fitting I found I had grown a cup size, even though I felt like I had actually gotten smaller.  Turns out that the other side effect of aging is boob spreadage (yes, that's a technical term).  Even though it appeared I may have gotten "smaller", the ladies had just kind of spread out over a larger surface area.  Awesome.   

I would suggest adding one more thing to that list, and that's assess your makeup situation.  Many of us, myself included get in a makeup rut and wear the same eyeshadow and lipstick day after day, or no makeup at all.  You can have on the most fabulous outfit, but if you're makeup lacks any zeal, you will feel it.  A change in makeup routine, even just a new shade of gloss, is the quickest and most affordable way to update your look.  While digging around my makeup samples last night I found a shade of fuschia pink so vibrant it stopped Art dead in his tracks when he found me trying it on at 10 o'clock last night.  Like Garance, I'm not so sure hot pink lips look as good on brunettes as it does on blondes.  We'll see how adventurous I get.  Oh and since we're talking hair and makeup, may I suggest always wearing makeup when going to get your hair cut?  You'll love your cut so much more when a done up face is staring back at you in the mirror.

• One more thing on the makeup front, again last night as I was digging around old samples I was reminded of this great post Delighted Momma recently wrote When Does Makeup Expire.  It reminded me of a time I visited my Aunt Tula up in Stockton when I was 9 or 10 and snooped around her makeup drawer.   I discovered makeup so old it had to have been from the vaudeville days.  I didn't know much back then but even my stupid nosey self could tell that stuff was toxic.  I never use old mascara but if I come across a lipstick that's a few years old but still has some moisture and color to it, I'll use it.  But seriously ladies, if you've gotta dig in the tube with a Q-tip to get the last little bits of color out, time to say goodbye and get a new tube.  Oh, and Lindsay also just wrote a post on DIY glitter polish.              

Once you've got your hair and makeup situation under control and recharged, and your ladies have been treated right, Hayley wrote an e-book titled The No Brainer Wardrobe.  I got a sneak peek at it and it holds a lot of practical tips to help you get dressed with less fuss.  I really like what Hayley has to say about style: "It really is about realizing that looking perfect everyday isn't the aim. Looking good and put together, feeling proud and confident -- now that is what it's about."  Danielle is giving away a couple copies of Hayley's book today. 

And so that's what I've been reading these past few days.  Oh, I also posted a new series yesterday: 366 Days of Style.  I'd love for you to check it out.  What about you guys?  How was your weekend?  Seen any good TV lately?  Seems there's nothing really on right now except Grey's, which premiered with the most depressing episode I've ever seen, and Parenthood.  I miss Dexter and Walking Dead already. 

366 Days of Style

It's hard to believe that it's been two months since Camp Mighty, but it has.  I mentioned in one of my recap posts how inspired I was with ideas, and this my friends was one of them.  The idea of a daily year long photo challenge was not a new concept to me, but it was the way Lisa Congdon spoke about hers that clicked with me.  An avid collector, Lisa decided to begin a photo collection of all her collections.  It was so brilliant that it was later turned into a book titled A Collection a Day.  (Lisa also started a new challenge this year - 365 Days of Hand Lettering). 

It was this idea of shooting a specific subject, or category, that struck a chord with me.  See, the idea of taking a photo a day had always appealed to me, but to just take a photo, any photo seemed too overwhelming a task to have to choose.  But to narrow it down to a specific category, that I could accomplish.

And so of course my subject, or category of subjects would naturally be my closet, and maybe even closets of others.  I have always been intrigued by women's style choices, especially when they're things that I may have personally passed on, but when I see them on other women I fall in love with them.  It's seeing style through each women's own lens of uniqueness and creativity that always inspires and excites me.

So for my personal photo challenge I will be taking pictures of many of the items within my own closet; shoes, accessories, pants, jackets, shirts, and talk a little bit about each of them.  Why I chose them, why I love them, even why I hate them and regret making the purchase.  I originally intended to keep this project for my style blog back when I thought it would be launched by January 1st.  When that didn't happen I almost scrapped the idea, but I kept coming back to it and my excitement for the actual project didn't wane, so I'm continuing with it.  When the style blog does launch, I will transfer each entry over there and resume the challenge on the style site only.  In the mean time I'll post weekly recaps here.  I hope you enjoy this fun new project as much as I do.  The first week was fun to hunt through my closet and pick things to shoot.

Day 1 - Carolee Faceted Jet 72 inch necklace - purchased 5 years ago from Nordstrom, this is the best jewelry purchase I've ever made and it's a reminder to not be so cheap when it comes to classic statement pieces.  Last seen here.

Day 2 - St. John cropped boucle 3/4 sleeve jacket - I sold most of my old St. John clothes to consignment but I kept a few pieces including this one.  I remember all the girls in the office had it after Angelina Jolie wore it in an ad.  I think I need to work it back into my wardrobe soon.

Day 3 - Best purchase of the year, hands down.  Last seen here.

Day 4 - My favorite jacket.  Soft leather, beautiful coloring, basic enough to remain a classic, yet updated enough with gold zippers and quilting to still look very current.  Last seen here. 

Day 5 - If there were a competition this year to see who scored the best vintage deal at an estate sale, I would win in a landslide.  Now if only it would rain some more.

Day 6 - Given to me by the Blog Sugar speakers, this scarf quickly became my favorite go-to accessory for many looks, last spotted in the Grand Canyon.

Day 7 - My only regretful purchase of the year.  Things were going swell with me and my Old Navy red jeans until I forgot to not put them in the dryer and BAM!  They retaliated on me and shrunk six ways to Sunday, making me feel like a Vienna sausage trying to squeeze into them, and then once they were on, they made me look like I was waiting for a flood.  In 2012 I vow to not be so cheap and wait till I can buy the pair I want.  They sure were cute while they lasted though...   

The Southwest Recap

I thought this recap post was going to be easy to spin through and plop onto this here blog, but I'm tired and not feeling well and feeling like my blahness will come across as lack of zeal for this trip and the things we did.  But as I said in my last post, it was the best trip we ever did take as a family.  So because of said tiredness and just blahness, I'm going to very matter of factly just give the details of where we stayed/what we did and forgive me if it lacks the flair of a travel journalist.  Basically, I'm just going to tell you the nitty gritty. 

Wednesday we departed Southern California and 8 hours and 1 stop later we arrived at the Grand Canyon (my kids by the way pee twice a day, which can be frustrating as a mother who worries about the inevitable UTI that will result from pee holding, but can be glorious for road tripping and errand running.  Honestly it is the most convenient character trait my kids possess).  There was a bit of a wait at the gate to get in but once we entered the park, it was a short trip to arrive at Grand Canyon village in the South Rim (the North Rim is closed during the winter months but I've heard that it is quite beautiful as well, of course, and a lot less crowded).  We arrived just at sunset and because of my blahness today, I'm afraid my words will fail me and I won't be able to properly tell you just how glorious of a sight the Grand Canyon is when seeing it from adult eyes, but please, please believe me that it was magnificent.   

Seventeen years had passed since I had seen the Grand Canyon and seeing from my 35 year old eyes last week was one thousand times more incredible and awe inspiring than seeing it as a teen.  It was truly glorious and spectacular and I swear it brought tears to my eyes.  Simply said, in a gasp, it literally took my breath away.  The kids of course looked around and were like "cool, let's go look for rocks now."  It didn't bother me, I just went with it because it would be silly of me to think 4 and 6 year olds could appreciate such a sight. If you are thinking of going, please go.  You won't regret it.

(El Tovar)

As far as lodging goes, you have quite a few options; camping of course is an option, that is if you are INSANE!  But really, camp if you'd like, but there are plenty of very nice indoor/queen size bed/warm places to spend the night, all booked through  Xanterra.. the company Fred Harvey founded over a hundred years ago.  We stayed at the Thunderbird Lodge which was right on the rim and although a little dated, it was perfectly comfortable, clean and affordable.

You can check out the other lodges available (we would love to stay at the El Tovar next time!), but some you can't book online, so give them a call.  Don't be put off by this, as giving them a call was very easy and helpful.  The rep spent about 25 minutes on the phone with me and answered all sorts of questions I had.  He also booked our tour for us, which leads me to what we did...

 We took a 2 hour tour Thursday morning that went as far as Hermits Rest and turned around.  We were able to stop along the way to take pictures and look around and we had a guide that gave us some history and answered questions.  Cost for this tour was $26 per adult and free for kids under 12.  There were also 1.5 hour tours and 3 hour tours.  Xanterra can book all of these for you.  There are of course the famous donkey tours and hiking tours, but I was nervous enough having the kids running around so close to the edge I wasn't tempting fate.

Dining in Yosemite Village was surprisingly very nice.  We ate dinner our first night at a place called the Arizona Room and then lunch at El Tovar (tip on dining at El Tovar - call way in advance for dinner reservations, and for lunch get there before the 11:40 train arrives in the village and the place becomes swarmed with day trippers).  Breakfast was picked up on the run at a easy little coffee shop. 

I'd say 24 hours in Grand Canyon was the perfect amount of time for our young family.  As they get older I could imagine doing some hiking and more exploring, but at this age it was just too scary to embark on that type of adventure.  After lunch on Thursday we walked around a bit and let the kids pick out some souvenirs and then we were off onto our next adventure, Sedona.

 (downtown Sedona)

 (Tlaquepaque)

 You'll drive about 2 hours to Sedona, famous for its huge beautiful red rocks, many of which resemble gorillas and famous cartoon characters like Snoopy.  Now let me say that Sedona definitely gets by with its good looks and charm because the restaurants pretty much suck and the coffee is way over priced ($5.25 for a medium latte WHAT?!).  We did manage to scout a couple of decent eats, both being at Tlaquepaque - El Rincon and The Secret Garden.  They were good but not amazing.  We would have loved to eat at Elote Cafe but it was a 2 hour wait and they don't take reservations.  Tip - get there before they open at 5 to get a table.  The menu did look pretty incredible.  Overall Sedona could take a tip from its neighbor Scottsdale and build a couple of more good eats. 

Since I know vacations aren't only about eating, but also doing, let me share a couple of the highlights that you should consider taking in -

 (enjoying the jeep tour)

Jeep Tours have popped up as the main tourist attraction it seems since we last visited 10 years ago.  At first I was a bit skeptical and saw it as a tourist trap, but after some consideration we decided to just have Art take the kids and you know what?  It was worth every penny!  They all had an incredible time on the 2 hour 4x4 ride.  Art took video footage of most of it and we've had fun playing it over and over for some of our family and just each other.  There are a lot of companies in town but we went with A Day In the West because they were family owned, more reasonably priced than other tours and they offered a true 4x4 adventure (they did the 2 hour Lil Rattler tour and through our hotel we got 10% off).  FYI, Pink Jeep Tours is a big one about town but they are very expensive and not family owned, so that was just a bit of a sticking point with me.  Nina was their tour guide and she was amazing, really knowing how to make it fun for the kids (in the video footage she engages with them a lot and stops a few times to show them different sites, including some animal carcasses which the kids LOVED and told them ancient Native American folk tales).

 (Chapel of the Holy Cross)

Other site seeing options include Chapel Of the Holy Cross, which is a chapel built right into the side of the hill and offers a pretty incredible view.  Rock seeing is fun too, especially for the kids.  Shapes like bears, Snoopy and gorillas can be spotted in the rock formations, or you can let the kids have their own imagination and identify what they see.  Traveling with kids your options are obviously a little more limited because there are beautiful hiking trails to explore and spas and art galleries galore.  But considering our travel companions and our time constraints, this is what we managed to do and felt fulfilled enough with our short trip to Sedona.

 (gorilla rock)

 (Snoopy rock)

 (view from Chapel of the Holy Cross)

I forgot to share where we stayed while there.  We stayed at the Orchards Inn right in downtown Sedona.  It was clean and comfortable but in the future I'd probably stay somewhere a little more tucked away.  Don't get me wrong, Sedona shuts down at 6 or 7 pm so we didn't have loud noise to contend with, but our room was right over a restaurant.  The Hyatt was just up the street and was about $25 more per night than the Orchard Inn and a better location.  Friends have stayed at the L'Auberge and loved it, but more for a romantic getaway.        

If you follow me on Twitter you'll know that after leaving Sedona we traveled to Scottsdale and spent a couple of days wieth my best friend and her new baby.  I wont' share that part of our trip because we don't ever do much there but visit and eat :)

The last thing I'll mention before ending this very long post is that the timing of our trip was pretty much perfect.  The Grand Canyon was busy, but not overly crowded like summer and spring can be.  It was cold, mainly at night, but definitely bearable.  We planned late and booked our hotel just 2 days before but if you plan a bit more in advance you'd have more prime options for lodging.  The weather overall during our trip was pretty much perfection.  Crisp air and blue skies with just a bit of snow in the Grand Canyon and on our drive into Sedona.  Overall I can't recommend December enough as the time to take this sort of trip.

I hope this wasn't too boring?  It took me for some reason a very long time to recap this info, so please if you made it through to the end leave a note saying hi so I know all my work wasn't in vain :)  And this will be the last you will ever hear about our trip.  Even I'm tired of talking about it now :)

Road Tripping Part Uno - The Video

For the next two days I'm going to be posting about our 5 day road trip through the Southwest, so if you have no interest in reading about the Grand Canyon or Sedona and Scottsdale, then I guess I'll see you back in a couple of days.  But of course I do hope you'll stick around.  When our friends heard we were planning this trip, many of them asked me to share as much info about lodging, sightseeing and other tips as I could, so hopefully these posts will be both informative and picturesque.

I can easily say that this was the best trip we've taken together as a family.  It's not that the trip was perfect or "amazing" in any particular way, it's just that it was simply simple.  Besides the fact that travel, especially road tripping, with kids gets easier as they get older, our destinations were truly special.  Plainly said, there's a reason why a whole genre of film was inspired by the Southwest territory; the region is just magical.  Steeped with legend, eerie mysticism and breathtaking scenery, and of course graced with one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World, there's no other place like it.  We as a family were happy, peaceful, content on this trip, more than we ever have been on a vacation.  I will never forget it.     

I thought I'd start with a video montage of some of my favorite pictures, so as not to load down each post with 60 photos.  The video is set to the song of our trip, Young Blood by The Naked and Famous.  Since I can remember, Art and I have always chosen a song to go along with each trip we take.  It always happens organically after our trip, when we look back and think about what song for one reason or another stuck out in our mind the most.  For some reason this one just did; I played it over and over.  I guess I find it kind of soothing.  Also on our playlist were songs by Bibio, M83, Cake, College, Young the Giant.  After the video I'll show you a snippet of our road trip playlist, just in case you're a music nut and are into that sort of thing.  I find that we always end up bringing all these songs with us but end up only listening to about 20% of them.  I guess this is our 20% here.  Do you guys create playlists for trips too, and what are some of your favorite road trip songs?

So anyhow, here's the video...it makes me tear up each time I watch it.  It really does.  I'm such a crazy sap.  There's something so cool that I've always loved about road trips and having the people you love the most locked in a car with you for hours at a time.  It's like I have them all to myself.  Okay that sounds really weird doesn't it?  Like I'm some psycho that wants to lock up my husband and kids and stare at them all day.  Sorry, it's late and before I creep out anymore readers I better go.  Night night.

I'll be back tomorrow with more travel specifics; where we stayed, where we ate, what we did, etc.  See you then!  Oh, and I'm linking up with Heather for Hello: I Love You!

Playgrounds & Lollipops - Style Shift

{sweater - Madewell; chambray shirt - Kohl's; cafe capris - J. Crew; pearls - vintage; chain necklace - diy by me; 

watch - Michael Kors; handbag - Kate Spade; leopard flats - Boden} 

I've noticed a shift in my style in the past couple of months.  I'm gravitating towards the following: 

layered looks
pearls and other bauble necklaces
classic bottoms, like these capris
interesting flats

Because I've been going with more simplified looks lately, like here and here, I'm finding the need to make them a little more interesting by layering more, or using more accessories.  It's always fun to go through a little shift in personal style.  I turn 36 this year (wow) and as I continue to grow into this skin of a woman in her "mid 30's" I'm finding that I don't have much time, or room in my closet for items that are anything but timeless, classic, comfortable.  We'll see how long this stage lasts...  

p.s. I think my new year's resolution for this blog should be to plan outfit shots better and no longer take them in the parking lot of my husband's office building. It seems we've switched from the front of my house to here.

Linking up with Monday Mingle at Glamamom and Lindsey for WIWW 

Style Inspiration - Sorbet & Macaroon

{Alice & Olivia images via Style.Com, Polaroid borders created by me using Pugly Pixel extras}

In between editing images last night from our trip, I browsed around Style.com and began to get inspired by Spring 2012!  It's just around the corner, and the temps here in southern California this week tell me so; high 70's all week baby.  Of course we'll hit our usual cold spell come February, but until then I'm really enjoying these images from Alice & Olivia and J.Crew's spring 2012 collections.  Still lots of color, but more muted, softer, paler shades of sherbet, pistachio and lemon.  They remind me of pretty macaroons or ice cream flavors.  And I'm in love with all the capris and midi skirts.  I can't wait to use these images to inspire some of my own style posts in a couple of months.   

And I'm not sure what's come over me, but I've suddenly been hit with a bit of blogging inspiration myself and brainstormed some fun posts for the coming weeks; posts that are both helpful and interesting (I hope - maybe I shouldn't over promise anything).  At any rate, it's the new year and I'm feeling refreshed!  Helping to get me a little more motivated to have fun here are the Pugly Pixel extras I recently signed up for.  For $5 you get 30 day unlimited access to her fantastic Photoshop gadgets, like the tinsel brush I used to create the Happy New Year lettering in this post, and the Polaroid borders for this post.  Go check her out if you're interested in some top-notch, fun and quirky extras.  Have a great Tuesday folks!  Off to do a little Meals On Wheels delivering and then to finally return some things at the mall.  

{J. Crew images via Style.Com, Polaroid borders created by me using Pugly Pixel extras}

Goals - Not Resolutions & Realizing Your Weaknesses

Have I ever told you that I once had a line of baby clothes called Baby Taylored?  Well I did, and boxes of  inventory still sit in my garage, waiting for I don't know what.  As my maternity leave after giving birth to Taylor came to an end, I was forced to make the decision of going back to work at St. John as an Account Executive, working long hours during quarterly market appointments, or take a risk and stay at home.  I went back to work for a week, and the pull of my first born child was so strong that I walked into my bosses office, broke down in tears and told her I couldn't do it, and so I resigned.

With the help of Art and his knowledge of Photoshop, and the artistic skills of my sister in law Carrie, I started a line of graphic tees and onesies called Baby Taylored in hopes of generating a nice little side income, and to keep me busy.  This was almost 7 years ago now so it was right on the cusp of the graphic tee craze; at the time only high-end baby boutiques carried cute, hip onesies emblazoned with catchy sayings and artistic images.  Old Navy and Target hadn't yet caught on with this trend, but later would of course usurp the small companies selling their onesies for $28-$32 a pop, offering theirs for the ridiculous price of $5 each.

Anyhow, we took images like drum sets and turn tables (remember my love of DJ'ing?), fire trucks and old Santa Fe trains and made them cooler by morphing them in Photoshop, and then having them screen printed on onesies and tees.  I focused on having everything made locally, sourcing my tees and onesies from American Apparel and then having the garment dyed right here in Downtown LA by the same dye house who at the time was responsible for dyeing the millions of Juicy Couture velour sweat suits that would clothe housewives like myself from coast to coast.  The focus was on quality and craftsmanship and I was really targeting boy's wear since my sister and brother had both recently had boys and the market for hip baby boy clothes was null and void.  I of course produced some cute girly tees; graphic images of lotus flowers and cool paisleys in colors other than standard girly pink came out beautiful.

Once I had a full line of clothes, I literally packed my bag up and shopped it around the Fashion Mart in downtown LA.  At the time floor 4 housed all the children's ware showrooms so I walked in one by one and introduced myself, asking to speak to the person who ran the showrooms.  I still can't believe I did that sometimes when I think about it.  Talk about ballsy.  I was turned down about 10 times before I came to Nicole's Showroom, owned by a French woman who mainly carried high end European brands, her largest line being Catimini.  Made entirely in the USA and a bit edgier than what she had in her showroom, she felt my line of tees filled a niche that she hadn't yet captured, and since her clients were used to selling higher price points, $28 per tee would be no problem at all.  We were officially in business.

During the first market I was picked up by 11 different boutiques in several different states.  Within 2 weeks of shipping, I had reorder requests for some of the most popular styles from at least 5 different boutiques.  I was thrilled, but as I got ready to work on the next season of tees, I did something some would later call stupid and crazy; I called up my old boss and asked if there were any openings.  While I had managed to keep myself busy with this new business venture, I also deeply missed the human connection and camaraderie that comes from working in an office with a group of people you admire and respect.  And to be honest, working for yourself is hard, and sometimes depressing and lonely.  There's no one to fall back on when you fail, no one else to blame.  It's all you.  And that scared the crap out of me.  Those 10 rejections I initially received when trying to shop my line around were enough rejection to let me know that I may be too sensitive to be a business owner.  Yes, Baby Taylored was off to a good start, but what if the inspiration well ran dry and shops no longer picked up my styles?  What if I got dropped from the showroom?  What if it all just failed?

And so I quit before I ever really gave it a chance to begin, too afraid of the possibility of failure.  When Taylor turned 1 years old, just 6 months into my business venture I went back to work full time as the West Coast Regional of Stores.

When I ended up leaving St. John for good 3 years later, this time I started another line of kid's clothing, but focused on handmade items sewn by me under the name Four Flights of Fancy, and I went the route of Etsy and local craft fairs.  Again, it got off to a fair start but I quickly discovered that I much more enjoy sewing for fun than for profit.  Just 3 months after opening my Etsy shop I went back to work full time at James Perse, closing down my Etsy shop indefinitely.

And now here we are, 8 months after leaving James Perse I've managed to stop the pattern of quitting jobs and starting clothing lines.  But still, I feel the need to have "something" of my own.  And by something, I mean something that not only keeps me busy but also generates income.  (These are my own hang-ups by the way, none created by a husband demanding me to pull my weight or else).  The natural choice was of course this blog.  And so I've gone the route of a redesign, done my best to generate quality content, and racked my brain day and night trying to figure out the winning combination that will help shoot my blog to some sort of marginal success.

What I've learned is that I put way too much pressure on myself, and when things don't hit the rate of success that I expect, I get very disheartened.  Not the best trait to have when trying to be an entrepreneur of sorts.  What I've learned about blogging is that sometimes it's luck, sometimes it's timing, and sometimes it's a combination of content and networking that help catapult you to success.  Content can always be improved and I can commit to working on that, but it's the online networking part that scares me at times.  I love being social, but sometimes I grow resentful of having to be strapped to a computer to do it.  I'll go days when I tweet up a storm and then get so burnt out I take a 3 day detox where I stay silent.  I guess I just haven't built up my social networking stamina to the appropriate degree it needs to be.

So while last year at this time I made a large commitment to a blog project that I had a hard time following through with online, although did follow through with in real life which is most important, this year I make no commitments or goals for this blog other than to stay true to myself.  What that means is to stop trying so hard to find that "winning combination", just relax and be me, and blog about what's important and interests me.  With that being said though, the one other thing I know about blogging is that it doesn't just happen in a vacuum and I have to give to get.  I make a goal to become a more active member of the blogging community and cultivate relationships online that are not just goal oriented in purpose, but are also meaningful.   

I've never been one to make resolutions each year, but in the spirit of the new year, and since I created a goal for my blog, I thought I better create a few goals for myself and my family, and so in no particular order my goals are:

• Personal goal - worry less - about everything.
• Relationship goal - don't be so hard on people, friends and husband included; no one is perfect.
• Health goal - be a source of encouragement for Art to adopt a fitness routine and be supportive of him sticking with it. 
• Spiritual goal - pray more - during times of worry ask Him to help ease my fears, and in time of joy, thank Him for my blessings.
• House goal - create a working space that is organized and will help to inspire creativity.
• Motherly goal - be more patient 
• Financial goal - create a plan!
• Misc. side goals - be on time and write more handwritten notes.   

Do you make resolutions or goals?

It's good to be home from our 5 day road trip adventure and I'm looking forward to a week of cleaning and organizing, and also downloading the over 800 pictures we took on our trip.  We had a wonderful time and I look forward to sharing our trip with you.  It's the new year and while it doesn't' necessarily feel different, the air is somehow charged with the excitement of new beginnings, fresh starts and open paths to adventure.  I pray that this year most of all, I will be open enough to take advantage of all of them.

I don't think I say it enough, but thank you so much for reading.  Happy New Year friends!