Looking Back at January

January was a pretty uneventful month!  We took down Christmas, Luke went back to school, we went back to our routines, tried to make some new ones, kept trying to make every day life a little easier and a little happier.  It was cold but not super cold, I think Luke had one 2 hour delay the whole month.  We've managed to stay relatively healthy, we were social a few times, but mostly spend a lot of time at home.  I always find January so refreshing after December.

Looking back:
1 year ago: {18} Winter Picture Books
2 years ago: Front Room Shelves
3 years ago: Basement Pantry - Organized
4 years ago: Who Doesn't Love Getting Mail?
5 years ago: Photography Part 2 - Do Something With Your Pictures
6 years ago: Office Renovations (very little has changed here in 6 years!)
7 years ago: It is a New Year, a New Beginning
9 years ago: The Carpet has Landed!

1) One last evening reading in front of the Christmas tree!  I am always sad to see it leave but also love how much emptier and cleaner the house is without Christmas everywhere.
2) I have a picture of Luke drinking out of his cereal bowl, sitting in the same chair, drinking the milk out of his cereal bowl just like this.
3) I used to think a lot about what I wanted my Christmas decorating style to be and then it seems to have defaulted to "all the Christmas trees".  I have nearly 3 dozen: wood, bottle brush, ceramic (two varieties), disco ball, and fuzzy.  I never remember how many I have until I am getting ready to put them away.
4) Sam "helping" take down ornaments but really just pointing out a couple of his favorites.
5) I was honored to be included, for the second year, in a LookBook for our region (they said I was the only Instagrammer they included two years in a row!).  This is my picture in the book (you can see the whole thing here!).
6) Sam likes to play with these Incredible 2 guys and Luke likes to set them up in our register return to look like they are being held hostage.  I have opened the register cover SO MANY TIMES this year.
7) A beautiful sunrise on our way to school.  On our rare non-cloudy days, it's exciting to see hints of sun before 8am!
8) Luke's class is doing a Flat Stanley project and Luke made his church clothes into a Flat Stanley.
9) Matt and I got in date #1 of the year at a new bistro that opened in our neighborhood which made for a delightful lunch date with these drinks and lots of talk about how we plan to spend a lot of money (for starters - a vehicle that will hold all 4 of us plus the baby we are listed for).
10) Snow!  A little bit of snow in the backyard!
11) I always point out to my sisters how few eggs I use since we, literally, never eat just eggs at home (no scrambled, no hard boiled, no dippy eggs).  But I do like to bake and needed eggs so bought a dozen from my sister.  We'll see if we get through them before they go bad!
12) Matt's work has a non-Christmas party in January (which I SO appreciate - December is so busy) and the last few years it's been a Casino night with fake money.  I'm feeling REALLY confident in my 3 card Poker skills right now because I turned (fake) $500 into over (fake) $11,000.  And we still didn't win a door prize with all my tickets.

Books finished:14!  Off to a good start!
Miles ran: 0, I hope to get at least one run in February - I usually have in the past!
Currently watching: When I work from home, I'm watching Valentine's episodes and keeping current on Grey's.  Matt and I just finished The Good Place and are looking forward to Brooklyn Nine-Nine coming back soon!
Most read post this month: Quick Lit - January
Luke's current favorite song: He's at school but if I asked him, I feel like he'd say "Old Town Road" which he sings parts of ALL. THE. TIME. even though I don't think he's ever heard the actual song, just kids singing it at school.  I've never heard the song either but now I feel like I know the whole thing.

February brings Valentine's Day, maybe some snow, maybe some projects, and I'm not sure what else!