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I thought I’d link up with Lindsay’s “It’s the Little Things” Linky party this week… I love things like this as it makes me reflect over the week to remember what things made me smile. I’ve been doing better at writing in my gratitude journal at night, so this is more of a weekly summary (with pictures!).

2. New Stella & Dot jewelry from the Spring Line! I just love it so much (see more here)

3. Unexpected Mail! I got this super cute card in the mail from my best friend this week. So unexpected!

4. Souvenirs from far away lands. LOL. One of my other best friends went to the Virgin Islands this past week and brought us pack these beautiful Salt & Pepper Shakers. We use to be roommates, so we had to decide who got what after I got married and moved out. She got the Island Salt & Pepper Shakers, so she bought me a pair from her trip. So sweet!

5. A hubby that drops mail off for me at the mailbox before work. No picture for this but a grateful wife!

6. Finding out that one of our health bills has finally been paid. What a relief! And we actually overpaid it so we are getting $33 back! Woohoo!

7. Finding a dollar in the washing machine. One of my Facebook friends commented on my status about it and said #moneylaundering. So funny.

8. Getting an email from an old boss checking in on me. So appreciative for that extra support during this time.

What little things have made you smile this week?

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It is a month after Christmas and yes, my Christmas tree is still standing in my living room. Yes, it’s a live tree (well, not so much anymore!). It is empty of ornaments and lights now so we are making progress. It looks a little sad and lonely at the point but it has brought me so much joy looking at it over the past month. I’m really going to miss it. I always give my husband a hard time telling him we should just decorate our late Christmas trees with Valentine’s Day hearts or something. He has yet to bite and always puts the tree away before I get to that point. Such a shame! (Yes, I had a pink Christmas tree filled with my Starbucks ornaments!)

I have been debating whether to continue this blog as a lifestyle blog or start a new one. I have gotten feedback on both sides and am still undecided. I’ve had ChicGeek Designs for two years now and it would be hard to part with it. But at the same time, maybe it’s time for a new, fresh start. What are your thoughts? While I loved doing fashion posts, with my recent new job, all I wear is black. And I really don’t want to show you all my black pictures. I don’t have that much variety with my outfits now. I’d rather just talk about what I want to talk about and I know that family and friends stop by to see what’s going on in my life and just doing fashion posts takes away from that.

I’ve been sitting in the sauna once/twice a week. Apparently it is suppose to help with my chronic fatigue as my doctor believes that the virus stays in the fat layer and by sitting in the infrared sauna, it helps flush out the fat layer. I’ve only gone twice so far so I don’t know how it’s helping. I go once more later this week. I do know this – it’s hot in there! (I know, duh. But I really don’t like the heat so it’s hard) and I get really bored sitting in there by myself for 30-45 minutes with no phone, no music, no technology, no books, etc. Just me and my thoughts. Really scary!

I love the sound of tennis balls in the background. At night I’m able to watch the Australian Open and there’s something about the sound of a tennis ball going back and forth that I just love. I’m debating trying to start playing tennis again in the spring. I’d really love to be out there again. But we’ll see how it goes.

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Speaking of TV, I am LOVING Downton Abbey on PBS. I can see why it won so many awards! Between Downton Abbey and PanAm, my Sunday night tv line-up is just perfect.

I never realized how much I missed Oreo cookies until my sweet hubby found some gluten free cookies that are almost like Oreos. Wow. Just a little piece of heaven for me. Other foods I have missed: my mom’s sugar cookies at Christmas, cheesecake, fried chicken, cheese, hamburger helper, cheesy rice, Panera bagels and cream cheese, chocolate candy bars, twizzlers…. See a theme? All unhealthy for me anyways, but oh man, to have a piece of cheesecake – divine. But I am thankful for the foods I can eat and for more companies putting out gluten-free foods.

Source: bakerella.com via Lori on Pinterest

I turned in my resignation letter to my last job this week. I know it seems weird that it’s so late but there was a chance I would go back if there was a position available and if I could work part-time. Things finally came to an end last week and we parted ways. It was definitely bitter-sweet.

So that’s all my random confessions at the moment. What are yours? Is your Christmas tree still up?

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Instead of coming up with resolutions that I won’t be able to keep through out the year, I decided to pick one word that would define on how I approach this year. So therefore, my word of 2012 is going to be:

There’s a lot of areas in my life right now that lack focus. Here are the areas that I’m going to work on focusing this year:

• Hubby – spending more quality time with him.
• Work – try to figure out what I want to do this year (and can do!). Focus on my freelance business also.
• Health – need to focus on my health and to get better each day. I also apparently need to focus on health over Work (I’m wired to think of work over health, hence putting work over health in this list!).
• Fitness – when I can I am going to work out with my bike and weights at home.
• Blog – my blog has been unfocused for so long. I just can’t seem to focus it – so I might be unfocusing it for good and writing what I love to write about – a little bit of everything. But still focusing on putting out good content.
• Spiritual – focus on quality time in the Scripture and in prayer.
• Family and friends – focus on my relationships. Strengthen the bonds and make more time for them.

I’m going to print my word of the year and this list and post it on my bulletin board so I don’t lose focus this year and can continue to work towards my goal of focusing on these things and focusing my life in a better direction. Did you pick a word this year? If so, please share!

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Once again I participated in the fun Cold Hands, Warm Heart Swap hosted by the lovely Sandy and Ilene. Here’s my post from last year. I love this swap because I get to know a new blogger and get a fun package in mail! But of course, I’m running late at posting this. I thought the linky tool was open until the 4th but I guess not! Haha. Oh, well. I still wanted to take time to introduce you to my swap partner and show you what she sent me!

My swap partner this year was Margot from Newfoundlander at Heart. I love going to her blog and looking at all her pictures from Canada and Newfoundland. In the month of December, she posted so many cookie recipes, I drooled over them all!

She sent me some gloves (of course!), a scarf, warm socks, boot beanies from her Etsy shop, Hooked Goods, and chocolate! She was so sweet to send that all to me! Thank you so much Margot!

Images: Taken by me and cannot be reused

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Hello my blog readers, which I have left lonely for the past month. For that, I am truly sorry about. December proved to be a challenging month in starting a new PT job and having to adjust my body to working again set hours. The first few weeks, I just came home exhausted and didn’t even get on the computer. And then through the holidays in there with shopping, decorating and trying to stay sane, it was just crazy. I can hardly believe it’s the beginning of 2012. When Hubs asked if we were going to write a Christmas letter to go with the Christmas cards we actually sent out, I laughed and said “What are we going to say? I’m sick, I lost my job, you’re barely walking after hip surgery …. “ Needless to say this year had a lot of lows but I am learning, without the lows, you can’t appreciate the highs as much or the little things that you used to take for granted. I am using Chris Guillebeau’s way of looking at the year 2011.

What went well this year?

Health – ironic as this will be on my “What went wrong this year?” list too. But I can celebrate the fact that my migraines have almost disappeared. I still get them occasionally but not every day like I was. I finally found a doctor that was able to diagnose the problem – allergy to gluten, dairy AND coffee. Taking those items out of my diet has helped immensely.

Writing – While my blog writing has changed some this year, I also started a freelance writing business that has done pretty well. More than I could have imagined and I’m pleased with the results and hope to grow that more in 2012.

Travel – I had the opportunity to go to two new places this year – Arizona and San Diego. Both for blogging conferences but Hubs and I went to San Diego early so we could enjoy the city for the first time together and have a little vacation. It was such a sweet time away and I fell in love with the city. We also got to spend some quality time with Anna and her boyfriend, Eddie, who I enjoy hanging out with immensely.

Family – Because I wasn’t working, I had the opportunity to spend more time with family at different times. It was especially nice to get quality time with my little niece who is growing up so quickly. Now my middle brother, S, is here staying with us for some time. My family has always been there for me and always makes me laugh when I need it.

Friends – During hard times in life, you learn more and more who your friends are and who you can lean on to help you make it through.. This year was no exception. Thank you to those friends who stood by us this year.

What went wrong this year?

Work – I started a new job at the beginning of the year and within three months, I was told I couldn’t work there anymore because of my health issues. So many hard feelings followed. I am very hard on myself and somehow still feel like I should have prevented it. I don’t know.

Finances – When you are on a two salary budget, and then suddenly have to drop to one, it is really hard. It’s been a tough year. Enough said.

Housing – We moved out last year thinking we sold our house to an apartment. At the beginning of the year we had to move back to our house. Although this ended up being a blessing in disguise as we wouldn’t be able to afford a higher house payment right now. But it’s still frustrating.

Health – I started out with it and will end with it. Getting rid of migraines was just part of it. I lost my job and position because of my health issues. I still struggle with chronic fatigue and adrenal syndrome fatigue. Blah. Also, hubs had hip surgery in November. He’s off crutches now and healing nicely.

Through a year of ups and downs, I am learning to focus on the small things. I think that has been a repetitive theme on my blog throughout the year. I’ve started writing down things I’m grateful for on a nightly basis. Admittedly, some nights it’s hard to come up with five things but it is a constant reminder that God has continually blessed me through-out the year. When I look back at 2011, it’s hard to come up with a word that describes it – I’ve narrowed it down between gratitude and growth. I’m grateful for the things I have learned this year and I’ve grown in areas that I didn’t think I could. How would you characterize your 2011?