2016...New Years Resolutions...To Thrive

New Years Eve Table Setting

Table cloth :TJ Maxx    Place Mats :At Home    Photo Props :Michaels (I added the glitter)  
Gold Rimmed Wine Glasses:At Home      Cheers Coasters: Pier 1     

Every holiday or beginning of a new season, I put together a table setting and we have a big dinner to celebrate being blessed enough to experience the joy each holiday/new season brings. I usually go overboard with the decorating, food and desserts, but it just brings me so much joy.  Going overboard is kind of my thing. Not because I need to have a perfect home, not because it makes for a really cute picture (I mean, look at that pic), but because I love to make friends and family feel special by doing it. I love seeing the faces of the people I love, just light up because they came over for brunch to find hand painted and cut paper flowers, or their favorite desserts piled to the sky on dozens of adorable cake plates. It makes me so happy to see other people happy. It's such a small thing to do it through decorations, but it's something I can do for others and I love it.

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For me, every new season is an opportunity to reevaluate my life, my outlook, my daily habits. The ending of a year and the beginning of a new one is the perfect opportunity to do that too. I have always tried to avoid the whole "new year, new me" thing that the world seems to do but this year I'm not. For the past year, I have really been thinking about the direction of my life as I move later into my 20's. A lot of big things have happen in the past couple years. I moved to Tulsa after living in Chicago for over 4 years. Moving here came with a series of ups and downs. Seemed like a lot more downs than anything. This year, I am making a promise to myself to do what I need to in order to make my life meaningful, to make myself happy. It's not enough to go to work and merely exist. I want to live. So in 2016 I'm going to do more of what I love, I'm going to push myself to do things that scare me. I'm going to challenge myself to do things when I would rather sit in the house and just watch a movie. I won't let my life just pass me by.  I've already started thinking of what my next move will be. Maybe I'll move to Dallas, maybe I'll buy a home and redo it. I don't know what's next but I promise that I'll keep dreaming and I'll do more to make those dreams become a reality.