New Year

Happy New Year!  I always get excited when a new year begins.  This year was a little bittersweet though, since 2011 was absolutely the greatest year of my life so far and I was a little sad to see it end.  In reading the news, Facebook statuses, and eavesdropping on cell phone conversations in line at the grocery store, however, it seems like many people do not share my opinion of this last year and are glad to see it over.  Every time a new year starts my mind immediately jumps ahead 5 months or so.  I start dreaming about sunny days, warm weather, and cookouts.  I try to decorate with as much color as possible to keep the winter blahs at bay.  Even though it's only techinically been winter for about 2 weeks, I'm over it.  Once Christmas passes, the snow and cold can kindly follow suit.  Unfortunately this does not happen, especially in Cleveland where January thru April are not just "Winter" and "Spring" but, more accurately, "gray", "dirty" and "so cold you want to scream but can't because your mouth won't move."

Another thing I do every year at this time is fantasize about taking a vacation to somewhere tropical and gorgeous.  This is my current destination of choice:

9 Beaches, Bermuda.  Photo by Annie Schlechter.

Sigh. 

New Years + ick weather also inspire me to want to redecorate and change (everything) around in my home.  Someday I want to have a designated studio for sewing, crafting, etc.  Kind of like this:

Courtesy of bhg.com

In the meantime, I wonder if I could make something like this for the small space I'm currently using:

Courtesy of bhg.com

This would solve many of my storage problems:  a home for my sewing machine, a place for patterns and fabric scraps, and a designated area for sewing, cutting, and pinning.  This will be my mission for the winter!

Today the rest of the Christmas decorations are coming down and my house is returning to normal.  Also, my baby girl is 7 months old today.  I can't believe it!  How did this:

turn into this:

so quickly??  Double sigh.  It simultaneously makes me want to cry and immediately have another baby.  I will do neither of those, at least not today...but then I think about this new year and all of the things Charlotte will do, this year and for all the years to come.  And with that thought, I forget about the weather, the winter doldrums, and the resolutions to lose the baby weight that I know will probably be derailed by the end of the week, and I get really excited.  Having this little lady around means I can relive all the great things about being a kid (which is pretty much everything) and revisit the world thru her eyes.  2012, we're going to do some great things!

~Stacy