Just sitting down to write this, I’ve overwhelmingly proud of myself for doing this before the middle of the month. Patting myself on the back and celebrating the small wins ;)

December: Much less crazy than the December before! I was on top of work, and spent a lot of time just catching up with the year and getting ready for Christmas. I really need to start getting back to doing these monthly, as December has been lost on my at this point. One of the most fun things was heading to Ft. Lauderdale to visit with Todd’s family! We went out on the boat, ate some of the best sushi I’ve ever had, and had such a nice time relaxing and getting to know each other. Straight from Florida I went to Pennsylvania to celebrate the holidays with my family. We also spent a lot of time relaxing and having fun in our hometown. I went back to Cleveland for a week of work during the quietest time. Most of the building takes the two weeks off for Christmas and New Years, so it was nice to get back into the flow of work and work on a few fun projects for the department while deadlines were a few weeks away.

January: This month was super productive. While I didn’t set goals, I felt this urge to kind of tighten up some things that has been had been a little willy nilly last year. I took the Be Free Lance course over the last few weeks, and it was great to learn about tools and practices to integrate into this part of my life. I’m so happy where I am right now with my career, but I knew that I had a lot of room to grow when it came to running this side business of mine. I’ve never been to business school, and I’ve been mostly just learning as I go. Having this course, as well as a facebook group of other creatives who are all over the spectrum as far as creative goals go has been amazing to glean information from. I knew I was on the right track with certain things, but sometimes it’s learning how to properly write that contract, or finding out about that app to help with bookkeeping that will help me run this facet of my life a little more smoothly. Other than that, I’ve been trying to soak in this winter life as much as possible. A bunch of us went tobogganing one Saturday, and I’ve been trying to fit in as many winter wonderland walks as Eaton can take. All in all, January was a month of refinement and learning to live life a little more presently than before. I’m really hoping for a similar February as I jump into Life With Intention Online.

As a fun little note: Eaton was photographed at work about a week or two after she came home with me. She ended up making it onto a Valentine’s day card!! Cue the hugest stage-mom moment ever. If you’re up for it, you can find the card above at any store that carries American Greetings products that isn’t a Target or Walmart (check Rite Aid, CVS, or your local grocery store).

Cheers to an awesome February friends!