beginnings + endings.

I've always thought the week between Christmas and New Year's is sort of an awkward week. While I am thoroughly enjoying the days off from school and trying to be productive at home, I do find December 26-31 sort of a weird "limbo" between the old and the new. I'm finding that a good use of this week is to plan. It's a great time to reflect on the past year, be thankful for blessings, move on from the disappointments, and decide what you want to accomplish during the next year.

Patrick and I had a very interesting, and overall amazing year in 2011. Patrick got a new job in March (praise the Lord!!), we bought our townhouse in July, and we took some awesome trips with friends and family. I made it through yet another year of pharmacy school. We had a wonderful Christmas, and feel blessed we were able to celebrate with both families on Christmas Day :)

The last few days, we've been trying to set some goals for 2012. Of course, we need to get in shape. Our hectic schedules have not encouraged an active lifestyle, so we're planning to join a gym ASAP. We have also set some financial goals, which are challenging but encouraging at the same time. And finally, probably the most daunting goal of all: to get organized.

Now, don't get me wrong. We are not complete slobs. We're both fairly tidy people, and given the right circumstances can be quite clean and neat. I think once we set up some organizational systems, we'll be able to maintain them pretty easily. The hard part is going to be getting everything organized initially, and figuring out a system that works for us. One nice thing is that we're sort of starting from scratch, since we've only been living in this house for about 5 months, and we're still not "settled". I expect this to be an ongoing process, but I really hope that by this time next year, we will have made significant progress.

I've decided to start with organizing Christmas. This may sound silly, since it's over for this year, but I thought while everything is fresh in my mind and we're going to be putting all the Christmas stuff in storage next week, it's actually a great time to get everything ready for next year.

My mom bought me this book awhile ago, and I'm finally understanding how helpful it is. It's a binder that walks you through the Christmas season - when to buy gifts, organizing your Christmas recipes, putting your decorations in storage, and planning events. It will be so nice to get this out in early November next year, and already have my Christmas season mostly planned out! 

Speaking of a week in limbo, all of our projects seem to be that way, too. Lots of things have been started, but are nowhere close to being finished. 

I'm working on creating my own craft space in the basement. It's going to make our dining room much less cluttered, since I've been using the dining room table as my workspace. The "craft room", as I've been calling it, is a serious mess right now. I'm sort of embarrassed by it. But I'll show you anyway. It's a work in progress. 

Also, we've decided to go ahead and tackle the kitchen island project. We placed our order at Lowe's a couple of days ago, and should have our island by the end of January. We have our old kitchen table sitting about where the island will be so that we can get used to the space. Once we have the island, the table will be moved to my craft space. 

The bad news is, we're going to have to paint everything. Since we couldn't match the cabinets exactly, and they are dingy and need to be repainted anyway, we ordered the island unfinished and we're painting it and the cabinets a pretty, clean white. I think the walls are going to be light brown. Fun times ahead. 

One last thing. Here's a craft I made as a Christmas present :)

I made this for my brother-in-law's girlfriend, Rachel. She's a creative and crafty person herself, so I thought she would enjoy it.

Here it is!

To make it, I painted a canvas a dark charcoal color, then glued leaves I had cut out from scrapbook paper onto it. I painted a center for the flower with gold craft paint, then used Mod-Podge to cover the whole thing. That's it!

Yay! Rachel really liked it :) I like the way it turned out too, and may even make something similar for my own house.

Not yet, though...I've got a few things to finish before I start yet another project!