PINE

Where to start on this post… so many thoughts, reflections and excuses to share. I suppose the best place to start is addressing my hiatus, my last post was 6 MONTHS AGO!
       
Eeeeek! indeed. The crazier thing is to think about how much has happened in those 6 months. I’ll attribute my hiatus from PINE to 2 main things (neither of which is laziness though if I were to be 100% honest that’s probably sprinkled in there too)

1) I got married (yay!!)
More on this later…it was epic. Outdoor wedding the day of Hurricane Irene - need I say more? Yes - yes I need to say more! But for now here’s a little teaser.
 


2) I discovered pinterest.
Pinterest is a beautiful and ugly thing all at once. I have to admit it has been the source of MANY fantastic meals & baked treats, tons of inspiration and even a few “DIY” projects. But it can indeed be a time suck and it sometimes feels like nothing is an original idea anymore… However I don’t think this is Pinterest’s fault, I just need some boundaries and to carve out space for the creative. Like this!


Ok enough excuses, moving on to the topic at hand —> 2012
2012 completely snuck up on me. I mean clearly - here I am on January 31st writing a “New Year’s” post that’s been mulling around in my head, literally since New Year’s Day!
Here’s how it went, I had an incredible 2011, so I suppose the fact that on the eve of 2012 I was a little sad to see 2011 go wasn’t all that surprising. However the trepidacious feelings I was having towards 2012 were a little surprising. The sheer fact that I got married and we threw a kick-ass wedding made it pretty obvious that 2011 was a special year to remember, but I was actually feeling nervous for 2012 which led to me having a hard time letting go of 2011.

Recently I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about my life path, career options, both long-term & short-term, and how they will get me to achieve my/our life goals and importantly, will I be happy along the way. Some of the more immediate decisions will come to a-head in the near months and frankly it was freaking me out. At any rate I found myself on New Year’s Eve pretty overwhelmed by all of these thoughts and actually not looking forward to 2012.

But then the first full week in January happened, on the first Thursday of 2012 I sat down in a coffee shop and wrote these words (*gasp* with a pen in a notebook!). I took a look back on the first week of my dubious 2012 and realized some great things had happened in only a few short days - without me even realizing it or trying to make them happen.

• I cooked two new recipes in one week, and not only that I cooked them mid-week! Sure we may not have eaten until 9:00pm, but nonetheless they were de-licious (chicken rollatini& asian flat iron steak)
• I got back to the gym - even twice in one day: lunchtime yoga followed by a hard sweat after work. At said yoga class I got into eka pada koundinyasana on my second try!
• I painted my nails OPI Lincoln Park After Dark…and liked it (bold and daring for those that don’t know me in person).
• I hadn’t watched TV in days - not even the “news” on the Today Show during the morning rush.
• I went to a coffee shop before work and ordered a latte for here! Allow me to repeat: Coffee shop. Before work. For here.
• I worked on my knitting project 3 out of 3 days in a row.
• I was asked to guest-post on a new fabulous blog The Loud and Clear.
• Oh yeah and I discovered Instagram* (oops!)

*This is actually a link to my gramfeed page since Instagram doesn’t have an online viewing platform.

These may not seem like major things, but they were just the shot in the arm that I needed to have faith in 2012.

Here’s the deal: ultimately you can’t completely control what’s coming tomorrow, next week or next month. I’m not letting myself off the hook and laying everything down in the hands of fate, but commit to take a pause and appreciate the great things that are happening around you everyday. Appreciating the little things that put a smile on your face today make the bigger things you have anxiety over for tomorrow a little more tolerable.

In short:

Clearly this original DIY was during the holiday season, but how fab is this for any time of year?? Congrats… happy day… bon voyage… you’re old… love… the word choices are endless! Simple materials and seemingly simple instructions.

       

       

Check out the full DIY over at Hant + Hunt amongst many other party planning pretties!

I  know I said I was gone for the holidays, but I couldn’t help sharing this one more clever idea.

Karen, from the Art of Doing Stuff, does it again - seriously if you don’t read her blog subscribe TODAY! She shares brilliantly creative ideas and is hysterical while doing so.

So without further ado, the man bow:

         

I bet you didn’t know your life would be better with 5 days of felt…but let me tell you it will!

Twig & Thistle is having 5 days of felt and oh boy do they have some DIY great projects! They are geared towards the holidays, but you could certainly take a none-holiday twist on the colors and use them for any ol’ occassion.

Check out the days below (click on the picture for the full article):

             

             

             

             

             

I mean come on - is this not the cutest thing you’ve ever seen! love, love, love.

          

(Via: Not Martha)

      

Thanks Roost for these great printable gift tags.! Formatted to fit standard Avery labels, or print them out on cardstock and make a cute tag!

                                   

Ok fine maybe they are elves, but I see this little line up and I think “rolling with my gnomies.”.. Right moving on. I’ve had my eye on these little guys for a while, love them! And what a playful impact a little bunch of them makes. (Source: CB2)