Hello, 2014.

One of the perfect little gifts I received this Christmas

Hello, everyone.

I have been on a "bloggy break" apparently. It didn't happen on purpose, though.

Do you ever feel so motivated and productive with all of the things you are trying to accomplish? Does that motivation suddenly take a nose dive when you feel like you are trying to do way too much?

I have been trying for about a month now to really refocus and tune into what I need to do for myself and what God wants me to do. 

Nursing school is exhausting. It really is. When I finished classes this semester (with a 3.91 GPA, thank God) I didn't give myself much down time. I nose dived right into creating a bunch of homemade gifts for loved ones before Christmas. I now know how Santa's elves feel when they are in crunch time before the big holiday. I spent so much time on all of my Christmas DIYs and making gifts that I felt completely burnt out on the crafting front. This included blogging. 

So, I took a little break and spent a few days in my pajamas reading and drinking tea.  I may have even sewn for fun (which I thought I was doing when making gifts, but anything you feel forced to do loses it's joy) and taken a bubble bath. It was a good few days. 

I finished quilting this Christmas quilt top and finished the quilt just so I could cuddle up and read in it. I have been meaning to finish this quilt since last Christmas! 

I have also been very moody the past few days because I find it hard to just be sitting still and relaxing when I have so much I want to do. I try to pray through this and focus on letting myself just be content in stillness, but, this is a daily challenge. 

Here are some of the things I have been trying to do all at once:

keep my apartment clean

get Etsy orders made and shipped

do yoga daily

do bible study/ journaling daily

work a few days a week

read

blog

This may seem like a list of pleasures, which it usually is. But, when you are trying to balance everything at once you hit a wall somewhere...and end up on your butt all day long refusing to do the dishes until tomorrow. 

And this is okay.

Enough of the ranting.

Here were my resolutions Resolutions for 2013:

I. Get down to my goal weight and stay there.

 What is my goal weight again? I think I am about 5-10 pounds above it. Numbers are just numbers. Isn't this everyone's goal every year? The reason so many people can't stand resolutions?

II. Make exercise part of my daily routine, especially Yoga.

FAIL. Like I said, Nursing school kicked my butt. This year I am really, genuinely trying to fit activity into my schedule. I have a brand new bike, the desire to climb some mountains and encouragement. I can do this.

III. Strengthen my relationship with Alec. 

Three years, baby! Cheers to another year!

IV. Strengthen my relationship with God.

Check! Every day He brings me a little closer to Him and I love every minute of it.

Resolutions for 2014:

I. Get closer to God and closer to who He wants me to become.

II. Do Yoga 5 times a week

III. Eat healthy foods to nourish my body.

IV. Continue to strengthen my relationship with Alec

I'm not very into "New Year's Resolutions" and I have been working on these goals for longer than two days, but this is a good time of year to write it down and share it with your support system (mine is you guys!). 

I am trying to cut out one "unhealthy vice" a week and slowly change my diet. So far, I have switched from eating whole wheat bread to whole grain sandwich skinnies, cut out sugary snacks/foods , and kicked my coffee addiction down from 5 cups a day to 1. We got a new smoothie blender and juice for Christmas (well, Alec did) so I've been loving making healthy drinks with it.
 The smoothie pictured above contains: 1 banana, frozen mixed berries, almond milk, low-fat plain vanilla yogurt and apple juice. Yum!

Did I mention the snow? This is how much snow we had a 2pm today and it hasn't stopped snowing since.

What are your new years resolutions?