2014: in review

This time of year always seems to speed up; the days between Christmas and New Years' disappear! It is a quiet, cold, grey morning - quite seasonable and fitting - the kind to make you feel glad to be sipping a warm coffee underneath a blanket by the window. I am ogling at these photos, reminiscing - partially with nostalgia, but mostly thinking about how very blessed I am that I got to do all that I did. Just a glimpse at this good year.

a shrimp feast in hermosa beach.

bold pops.

summer indulgences...

my 'best dressed' outfit at mini golf.

sweet springtime sbux pit stops..

new finds

one of my favorite views of the year

october campfires

many coffee diaries were added to the books :)

breakfast in Redondo Beach

the most beautiful coating of white.

winter trip to the cabin

i'll take one of each please :)

late summer beach nights

best choice of the year: getting back into yoga

the winter looked a lot like this..

homemade pasta on christmas day

 I guess it is something that we can all agree with as we get older: the year goes by quick.  Once we take the moment to look back and reflect, though, we see that it was a year of small metamorphoses that really do make up who we are in the present. I am perplexed at the idea of the present, but it is something that I think yoga has helped me wrap my head around...it is refreshing to 'zoom out,' not overthink.

2014 was awesome. I think halfway through the year, in the summer, I hit my stride. Health wise, I began running and that was a huge accomplishment in my books - I have since stopped slowed down in that regard but it set such a good tone for the remainder of the year. Big changes happened. S moved to California, we went to LBI, I made a visit to the West Coast, but - to me - some of those best moments are the quiet weekends. S's big departure has definitely changed a lot of things, and I miss him terribly, but it has also opened new avenues for travel. I have never had a reason to go to SoCal before - and now it's probably my #1 destination! I've already got another trip booked!

This year we kept a memory jar to be opened only on New Years' Eve. I am SO excited to open these little notes. We seem to have collected dozens. Funny moments - like the time a mouse lived in the trunk of my mom's car...poignant moments - driving S to the airport for the first time...those kinds of things, even the ones that feel forever ago, I can't wait to revisit.

Thank you for reading along in 2014. I hope to continue with the 'adventures' in 2015 - I always say my best years end in odd numbers. Bring it on :)

ciao, xo - and Happy New Year!

scenes from christmas

I think these photos really do quite a nice job of summing up the past two nights. Christmas this year was lovely. Long and quiet, cozy and warm. Maybe a little too warm (we ended up turning off the heat during our party - with the fire going, people buzzing and everything is got so hot inside). As I write this, it is the afternoon of the 25th and  I am about halfway through #2 viewing of A Christmas Story on TBS (yes!!!). We're relaxing after a productive morning. My mom and I made about 8 lbs of homemade spaghetti- then another 2lbs of fettuccine - and we are going to enjoy it immensely tonight! I love this very Italian tradition; it makes you appreciate the amount of work put into it. Everyone is home, the tree is the focal point of the room, and the kitchen smells great. I am really so lucky to be spending it this way!

Part of me can't even believe it actually is Christmas - and a year will have to go by before we have it here again. Even though that feels so long, the wait is worth it - and there is so much to look forward to. I have to admit, even though I love my hot summers, you can't replicate the feeling of a cold winters' night with hot chocolate, a roaring fire, sweaters, and enjoying the company of family around you.

How was your Christmas?

ciao, xo