Happy New Year...a little late....

Blew right through Christmas and New Years....and here we are, firmly into 2014.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. Ours was quiet, peaceful and wonderful. I didn't do as much decorating this year simply because of time and once I convinced myself that was okay - I began to just enjoy the Christmas season.

Here are a few pictures of my decorating - I only had two decorated trees this year, but I loved both of them.

So here we are - it's the 13th of January.  I love January because it's a month where I feel motivated to change things up. I like to clean out closets, rearrange rooms, paint, etc...just get a fresh start for the new year. It's also a time I like to reflect on the previous year and think about what went right, what went wrong, and what I'd like to change in the coming year.

Once thing I did not get enough time to do last year was create art and scrapbook. That is a HUGE part of who I am and this year - once a month I will find a few hours to hide away and get creative again. I'm working on an art planner as I type. Paint and ink are drying and I'm excited to be able to carry around a piece of art every day!

And as usual - I pick a word that I want to apply to my life in the coming  year. I struggled this year with a word - and finally came up with Gusto! I want to live my life with Gusto! I want to serve God with Gusto! I want to have an excitement and enthusiasm for life - because we never know how long we have and I want to live it and I don't want to spend it being grumpy and wishing I had done something fun and exciting. Every day we are alive is an opportunity to live life to it's fullest. I guess that message really hit home today - as a friend I know through scrapbooking lost her daughter yesterday. Mara was only 18 and had one heart transplant that failed and while they were looking for a replacement, God decided she needed an entire new body.  I've been praying for Mara to get a new heart for weeks and God didn't answer the prayer the way I wanted or the way her family wanted - but He decided she needed a new body with wings.  Mara - fly high sweet angel girl.  Hugs and prayers to Heather and the family during this terribly sad time.

So...don't wait until tomorrow - none of us are promised tomorrow.