Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread - Proverbs 30:8

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

The Blah of January



taking a moment to find joy in the little things


{pretty}
No big hikes or adventures this past week...but I did manage to find some beauty on a short outdoor stroll. I'm specifically searching for color during this otherwise dreary month...I was happy to find some red in these bushes! Most of our days have been pretty gray and blah, but I'm always searching for beauty. 






{happy}
My birthday girls - my oldest daughter and her birthday buddy in the Dominican Republic turned 11 this past week. We've sponsored Yoselin for 6 1/2 years now, and I love the connection these two girls have developed.



I'm starting off 2016 by re-reading "The Magic Art of Tidying Up" and listening to The Minimalists podcasts...plenty of inspiration to re-evaluate what gets to stay in my home. Our toaster oven broke a couple weeks ago, and we haven't replaced it. Although it sat on that little space between the oven and the doorway and there isn't much use for that little counter, I love having the open space. 



 {real}
Our furnace stopped working this past weekend. I'm so grateful for alternate heating sources...in fact, I think the house was warmer with the alternate heat than it is normally! Space heaters and gas fireplaces can put out some serious heat - and the heat felt different if that's possible. 




{funny}
As soon as the furnace was fixed, I found both girls sitting on top of heating vents and reading. They do love their "hot spots". In fact, as I type this they are sitting behind me, sharing the heat coming from the vent. 




13 comments:

  1. January may be blah, but your photos are not!
    Thank you for linking up at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2016/01/shells-on-shells.html

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  2. I read the Kon Mari book too - great ideas that I too am thinking over!

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    1. and now I'm reading Essentialism and just after reading the first chapter, I can tell this is going to really push me...

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  3. Beautiful! Ah, these images reminded me that I need to be doing a bit of tidying up myself...

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  4. Love the tidy and clean spaces! You are singing my tune! I adore these images and that church is amazing!

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  5. pretty elegant face,
    beautiful blog.

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  6. Interesting to see these snapshots of your everyday life. Love the photo of the orange flowers!
    http://passportcouture.com

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  7. I received a copy of the Tidying Up book for Christmas but was reading two other books at the time. Almost ready to start it! The picture of your girls keeping warm by the heating vents brings back a fond memory of doing the same in my grandparents house. I stayed there often and, always on the cold side, would run to the vents each time I would hear them blow.

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  8. love the first images! looks nice + cozy! <3

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  9. I love your picture of the Church in the sunshine and the leaf still trying to give off that red glow. So beautiful. It was blah here for awhile, too. But yesterday it was a nice sunny winter day to lift spirits for awhile...then the next day it snowed! Good old Mid-west.

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  10. I love open counter space. We try to keep our counter cleared all the time, but it's an ongoing battle with the daily stuff that accumulates there. We've also been using our fireplace more over that past couple of weeks. I agree, I think that heat does feel different.

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  11. Our kitchen layout does look very similar, I love having that huge counter top for lots of cooking and baking activities! :)

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  12. Our kitchen layout does look very similar, I love having that huge counter top for lots of cooking and baking activities! :)

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