Hi everyone!

I hope you all had a relaxing Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Festivus/whatever you celebrate.

I’ve been having a pretty relaxing mini-vacation.  Boyfriend and I traveled home to see our families (we’re from the same hometown, which is pretty convenient).  I’ve been relaxing with family and friends, crafting, gorging on food my mom has been making, running with my dad, and taking lots of naps.

My mom and I made struffoli together, which is an Italian holiday tradition.  It’s been at least several years since I helped make it, so I had a lot of fun helping this year.

It was pre-tty yummy.

And for Christmas, Boyfriend’s Mom made me a set of owl coasters since she knows I love owls.  I think they are really pretty!  Thank you, Boyfriend’s Mom!

Now that it’s the last week of the year, I’ve been thinking about 2017 and what resolutions I want to make.  It’s always exciting to make a fresh start.  While I don’t have a list of resolutions complete just yet, I AM excited about the following little treats.

Flow Diary 2017
I discovered Flow back in 2013 and it’s one of my favorite indulgences.  It’s a quarterly magazine packed with tips on mindfulness, creativity, and embracing life’s imperfections.  Each issue is comes with little paper goodies as well.  I really attribute this magazine to helping me find a happier and more mindful path in my life.  They also have special issues, such as mindfulness workbooks, coloring books, and sketchbooks.

One of their specials is a diary for 2017.  Besides the conventional planner pages, it’s filled with prompts for each week (example – “What did you daydream about?”), notes, poems, stickers, and postcards.  The diary is designed by Lotta Jansdotter, and it’s a gorgeous little book. I’m so excited about filling in its pages.

Free Youtube Yoga Programs

I started doing yoga this year and it’s really been amazing.  I’ve been taking a little break the past several weeks to tend to stupid little injuries and to recover from a six-month daily streak that I got a little burned out from.  I’m really pumped to return to yoga during the new year with two of my favorite Youtube yogis – Yoga With Adriene and Lesley Fightmaster.  Yoga With Adriene is doing a 31-day series called “Yoga Revolution” and Lesley Fightmaster’s 30-day program is called “Hatha Yoga Happiness.”  I don’t know which I’ll do first!

Beautiful Embroidery Books

I love embroidery but I really want to step my skills.  I found this book at the Half Price Books sale today.

It’s called Painting With a Needle – Learning the Art of Silk Embroidery with Young Yang Chung. The projects are way above my skill level, but they are so beautiful and definitely something I’d like to try!

What treats are you looking forward to trying in 2017?