Lately...

making: painting, printmaking, sewing, crocheting, decorating/curating. Up next- knitting (one of my unfinished/unrealized goals from 2014!)

My latest, "With What I Have"- using the leather strap from an old purse on the new one that I made.

Skinny scarf- making with the yarn purchased at PurlSoHo in New York over the summer. When I took this photo, I realized that I must be channeling the color choices of my grandma, who made this blanket (top, left corner of this photo) for me sometime in the 80's, using the same blue, gray and cream color scheme.

New sewing/stitching project in the works.

And doing a little "staging" with our new bar set and our old wine-themed wall art and wine crates. To me, the careful arrangement of things in your home is one of the best creative activities.

eating: homemade chicken noodle soup and bisquits, plain greek yogurt with a little stevia and unsweetened coconut (so good!), pistachios, Sasha's chopped veggie salad, lots of oven baked buffalo wings

drinking: martinis (lemon drop, dirty and classic- although not all in one sitting!) and this wine I bought for M. for his birthday- Hugo, Australian Shiraz - The vines were planted the year he was born and this vintage was from the year we were married. (Not how I usually pick out wine, but I couldn't resist.) The wine was very good, by the way :)

watching: The Accountant (on Vudu), The Minimalists (Netflix) , Jackie (at the Hi-Pointe Theatre) and How He Fell in Love (Netflix)

reading: getting ready to delve into these:

listening to: music from the movie How He Fell in Love by Gambles, A Beautiful Morning by the Rascals (thanks for the suggestion, Colb!) 

thinking about: my word for 2017: Truth  and how this Facebook/Instagram post only confirmed my choice, at just the right time. "THE TRUTH WILL ALWAYS REVEAL ITSELF". Yes, it will.

laughing at: but, also absolutely loving, old photos of M., like this one. A huge thank you to my step-kids and their mom, for sharing this with me :)

This has become one of my favorite photos. Love it!

loving: the fact that my favorite birthday gifts this year were the sentiments shared and not the actual gifts. You have no idea how much these words mean to me, especially this year.

spreading joy: So, my way of spreading joy for the next few posts will be to continue "Sharing" (from my last post) some of the many Bloggers, Instagrammers and Facebookers that have brought me so much insight, calm and reassurance over the last few months. This time, I'm sharing "The Brave Girls' Club". I highly recommend signing up for their daily "A Little Bird Told Me" messages via Facebook and/or Instagram. Just the right words at the right times, it seems. Here are a few that really resonated with me recently, in addition to the one mentioned above:

Let it go. Let if fall. Let it be.

Fly above it.

Also, I want to share this post by Colbey of All Good Things in Life. We had a change in traditions this Christmas, so we decided to go out and spread some joy, which, I'm hoping, will become a new tradition.

Have a great week!  Juli