RECENT RECAP AND RESOLUTIONS

Have you noticed it's been a little quiet over in these parts? I got back from a lovely few days in New York visiting my sister with my parents, got back last Thursday and fell into a sickness that just wouldn't quit. I'm still feeling the effects of it, a week later, but I'm happy to report, I am no longer laying splayed out on my bed surrounded by a sea of gross tissues and I have been wearing real clothes for two days now.  Being sick means I find myself in the middle of the work day so worn out by the congestion and coughing that my brain is foggy and I know my co-workers must be thinking all sorts of vengeful thoughts against me for showing up at work (trust me! I would love to not be at work, too), but I hike up my big girl pants (technically, my pants plus my fleece lined tights), eat an orange, tell myself to thank all my lucky stars that at least I'm sitting in a warm building, and make it through one more day. I'm making it, one day at a time.

It is also worth noting that earlier this week, I couldn't even fathom the idea of opening up a laptop in order to string sentences together, but here I am! so it's a marked improvement overall.

I have lots to say about things, but I want to sum up a few things here before they fly the coop; good things. Let's categorize them as the highlights of these past few weeks.

1.  I already mentioned this, but I keep reflecting on how special that time was after my parents flew in and a bunch of us got together for a few days in a way that warmed even the coldest of my bones.

2. I got to go up to NYC with my parents for a few days. We used to do this a lot when I was younger and living in NJ, so there was a lot of reminiscing and even the road trip up with the expansive and rare car time with my parents was so sweet. 

3. I got to visit my sister and Paul and see their apartment. They had so many great corners and nooks in their place but for some reason I only took a couple of shots of their kitchen nook, which are the photos here in this post. My sister did the floors in that first photo above; aren't they gorgeous? 

4. Sloane and Ken stayed in Richmond and Ken's mom came up and stayed with them while I was gone and was much appreciated by both Sloane and Ken. I talked to Sloane on the phone everyday while I was gone and kept getting astonished at the fact that we can apparently have conversations on the phone now!

5. We had a great visit with my sister and Paul and I have lots of good things to mull over. I'll share more about our trip later.

6. My parents were able to spend another week with us back in Richmond after we returned and thank goodness because I got sick and they were of such great help and comfort.

7. The coldest winter day so far happened yesterday, and I survived!

Other things of note.

8. I read four books over the past couple of weeks. It felt so dang good to be able to carve out pockets of time to read. If you're curious, the books were:

'Wild' by Cheryl Strayed

'Me Before You' by JoJo Moyes

'Lila' by Marilynne Robinson

'First: What It Takes To Win' by Rich Froning. 

9. Albums I keep coming back to recently: Ben Howard's 'I Forgot Where We Where' and Sun Kil Moon's 'Benjj'.

10. And looking ahead, in the spirit of resolutions, things I've been thinking recently that I would like to do more of:

Read even more books. My list is long.

Attempt to be even more disciplined about writing.

Try to make a photo book. Or maybe even attempt srapbooking? 

Get real comfy and cozy with my bible. I got a new one for Christmas and I want to wear it out.

Organize. Another thing I got for Christmas is a label maker (!!) and I'm  excited about it. 

Simplify. Get more minimal with material things: quality over quantity, true necessities, etc.