Happy New Year!

Where to begin? This may be a little long :)
I enjoyed having a pretty nice blog break. I'm always a little tired of blogging by the end of the year.
But I'm back and ready to talk...scrapbooking, organization, simplifying, house renovation, family life, healthy living and more in no particular order!

So here is one thing that happened from each area just to get started.

1. Scrapbooking and Organization - Not too much actual creating went on except a few cards for family and teachers. Otherwise, a big no. But I did find a fun and simple way to organize and store all those little bulky packs for ephemera that come with a lot of collections.

I found these Avery Elle stamp & die storage envelopes and they are perfect for this...

I put one or two packages in there and cut off the back of the package to use as a reference. Usually they list all of the contents on the back. Then I store them in this basket...

on my counter. They are so much flatter this way so I have tons more room now.

2. Simplifying - four large bags filled with stuff we no longer need went to the Salvation Army last week. It feels good to let go of things we don't use that take up space. But I still have a ways to go really.

3. House Renovation - we have lived in this old house thirteen years and it feels as if the projects never end, but they are worth it! I've shared photos of the family room we created in the basement and now Mike is working on the bathroom. He put in a lot of man hours over the break when he could to work on the shower. Here is a before photo the weekend before the holiday...

and here it is as of tonight when I snapped a few quick photos with my phone camera to give you an idea how much work he did...

It is pretty much completely tiled except a few pieces on floor need to be added and some more trim. All the plumbing is in, electrical done, shelves and bench added. In fact, there is also a recessed tiled shelf on the inside of that little wall.

We are really going for a spa feel and I don't feel the pictures do it justice. It's hard to take good phone photos at night. :)

Another little shelf there. It will also have a rain head shower which will be nice.
And for now I am leaning toward a paint color like this for the walls that won't have the stone accents like the wall in our family room.

It's hard to tell but that coppery green color is similar to a color in the accent border piece in the shower and the stone for the wall. You can see the color a little better on Pinterest *here* I think. I am so looking forward to this bathroom being done. We have been working on this basement since 2010! Or I should say Mike has. :)

4. Family Life - As far as the holiday, Christmas was great!

The kids were happy with their presents. And we were able to spend lots of time with family and friends!
One of the highlights of our time with family was a little tradition I started with my niece and goddaughter. She comes to spend the night with us and then the girls (her, Erin and I) go shopping together. This year I took them to Build a Bear...

for her belated birthday gift and a "reward" for Erin.

We kept New Year's Eve low key. Had a play date during the day with good friends and then a movie night with some other good friends later that evening. The kids were in bed by 10:30 but Mike and I managed to stay up until midnight just barely to wish each other a happy 2015. :)

Today was the last day of our holiday break and we spent part of it ice skating at Steinberg ice skating rink in Forest Park. It was sooooo cold, but fun.

Mike snapped a photo of the two of us quickly and managed to not get the crowd in the background. I couldn't believe how many people were out there skating around in the 20 degree weather like us! :)
And now tomorrow, back to routine ;)

5. Healthy Living - well that is going to be a whole other post probably sometime this week. I have a bit to say on this one as I do my "One Little Word" for the year. Ali Edwards basically introduced the concept of focusing on a word for the year, and I always try to pick one. I was leaning towards "healthy" for my word, but that is something I have been working on the past two years anyway. And then another word occurred to me, but I will be doing a post on that as well coming up soon.

So there you have it! A little recap of what I have been up to and what is to come. I'm looking forward to catching up on my blog reading and hope to do that soon!
Happy New Year!