beginning-of-the-year musings

Hot tea + cozy pants have been essentials around here lately.

The first several days back from our trip were extremely lazy-- we had nothing to do, nowhere we needed to go, which was great because it was also too cold to really want to even get out of the house for much of anything. We did go out and play in the snow some, we also watched some movies, ate popcorn, played with friends, and just spent time together as a family enjoying the freedom of not having any outside schedule to adhere to.

Then Monday the first day of school was canceled due to ice on the roads, and I started feeling the first inklings of cabin fever, and by Tuesday morning while I was a bit nervous watching Zach and the boys drive away on roads that still looked awfully icy in my not-at-all-used-to-real-winters-wussy-southerner/westcoaster's opinion, I was also quite grateful for some peace and quiet and having more than 5 minutes to myself to think or do anything.

We had an incredibly calm New Years Eve, in that we were all asleep at midnight because we're boring. But 2014 is now in full swing, and I'm suddenly finding myself juggling a whole lot of stuff-- I'm still sorting through the 2,000+ pictures I took while in Texas; planning Donovan's 6th birthday, coming up in a few weeks; and fulfilling my matron-of-honor duties including throwing a bridal shower in Austin next month and trying to help plan out wedding details for later this spring. Somehow, I'm managing to keep things under control and not freak out about any of it too much... I don't really know how, but it seems copious to-do lists are part of the key.

A lot of last year I felt so scattered, like I couldn't get my thoughts together, couldn't get my shit together, couldn't focus on much of anything, I kept feeling like was passing me by and I couldn't catch up to it. Which is why it feels so amazing to be juggling all these obligations right now and somehow not feel so bogged down by them. I know the changing of the year is just a date of a calendar, but I don't know maybe there really is something to starting fresh, starting over, the new year feeling different. Or maybe our trip provided the right kind of break. Whatever the cause, it would be nice to be able to hold on to this sense for a while.