It’s here! It’s here! My favorite holiday of the year! I know people get all grumpy about New Year’s Eve because it usually involves an overly expensive dinner or a crowded bar, but that’s why I decided a long time ago to throw my own New Years bash and give all my friends the perfect plan for sending out the year in style and kicking off the new one just right. Call me a sap, but I love the idea of starting the new year with my best friends, doing what I love most: entertaining. It’s also one of my favorite holidays because it involves all things glitter and sparkle and confetti-filled. So if you’re hosting your own soiree this year, or need to add a little pop of celebration to a night in watching the ball drop, I’ve got a few last minute DIY ideas you can craft up. I worked on these with Julie of Posh and Prep who lent her expert calligraphy skills to make them a little extra special! 
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I thought I’d share a few snaps of our New Years Eve party before heading off for the weekend. I will be honest, I was a little frazzled getting ready for our annual party this year, I was nursing a cold, my balloons were deflating from the super-cold weather, and I forgot to bake a few of my appetizers! So when I realized guests would be arriving in just a few minutes, I zoomed around and snapped a few quick phone pictures and called it a day. But I don’t think anyone seemed to notice, we popped champagne, ate lots of snacks (I made homemade soft pretzels that were a hit), and even danced to a little Ke$ha in the living room after the ball dropped — a success in my book! Hope you had a fabulous New Year, can’t wait to see what 2014 has in store! 
I snapped a few pictures on my phone on before guests arrived on New Years Eve. It was a fun-filled night with good friends and bubbly drinks. I’m still working on my resolutions for this year; I need a few days to recover from celebrating first!
One of our favorite family traditions is our annual camping trip (ahem, glamping trip) to Huttopia! This was our fifth year staying at a Huttopia campsite, and our third trip staying at the Southern Maine location. I last wrote about our New England glamping adventures after our first trip (Jane was just a baby!) and figured it was time for an update on our experience and favorite parts of this family friendly New England glamping weekend! 
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We have been reaping the benefits of our newly built vegetable garden for the last few weeks, spending weekends digging in the dirt, planting seeds, and even enjoying a happy hour or two in the space. I am over the moon about how it turned out, and was even more excited when the response from my instagram community was the same. Holy moly I got lot of questions about how we designed and built it, so I thought I’d answer all of the questions in one place with a big garden FAQ post. Get all your garden questions answered below: 
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New Year’s has always been a big holiday at our house. I have always loved the fresh start, clean-slate feelings that the new year brings, and we always host a big party to celebrate. Over the years the party has evolved – from a big, boozy, countdown bash on New Year’s Eve to an open-house style, kid-friendly New Year’s Day brunch. This year we won’t have our big party in person (but I’m trying to go virtual with a zoom countdown with friends!), but I still plan to give the holiday a festive treatment at home – a small but mighty ringing in of the new year. Especially since on a recent trip to my favorite Christmas Tree Shops andThat! I found a sparkly selection of disco balls that gave me some major New Year’s inspiration for a festive bar cart!
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One of my biggest resolutions for this year is to put sustainability more in focus on this blog. It’s a topic that I’m really passionate about, but haven’t shared much of on the site because I wasn’t quite sure how it fit in. I’ve come to realize though that where it fits in is everywhere; it’s something we need to be thinking about in every aspect of our life. One site that I continue to be inspired by and look to for practical, simple advice about making impactful changes is on TheEcoMamas. Continuing my week of posts here on the blog about New Year’s Resolutions, I’m so grateful to be sharing this interview with Colleen and Gillian from TheEcoMamas with their thoughts on sustainable choices we can make in 2020! (See my other posts in the series here about getting organized and eating healthy).
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Is it even New Year’s if we’re not talking about healthy eating resolutions? Indulgent eating at the holidays coupled with picking up bad habits while I was crunched for time during a very busy work season has left me craving a reset on my health goals for the year ahead. My best healthy eating successes comes when I have a good plan in place — which means meal-prepping, brainstorming easy recipes, and filling my fridge with healthy ingredients! I love following Lara from Plan & Plate It because of her super accessible, family-friendly approach to planning meals that fill us up with the good stuff, and wastes less in the process. Continuing my week of posts here on the blog about New Year’s Resolutions, I’m interviewing Lara from Plan & Plate It to share some of her best hacks for kicking the year off with healthy-choices! (See my other posts in the series here about getting organized and going green). 
I am a full-fledged, 100% extreme, organizational nerd. But! Even I can use some help in this area and love following Corinne at Grid + Glam on instagram for all of her expert tips and frameworks for getting things organized. I started to adopt her Sunday reset method to set me up for success when I’m feeling overwhelmed with a busy schedule. And during my own week-long New Year’s house organization overhaul, I’ve loved leaning on the advice she shared with her followers about setting up systems that work long-term. To kick off a week of posts here on the blog about New Year’s Resolutions and starting 2020 off on the right foot, I’m so excited to share this interview with Corrine from Grid + Glam! (See my other resolutions posts in the series here about eating healthy and going green). 
I have not jumped into 2018 with the fervor and energy of years past. Is it the weather perhaps? I’m typing this while huddled underneath a big blanket with a piping hot cup of coffee nearby, and yet it’s still freezing. The first big snowstorm of the season is barreling down, and while I wish I had bounding energy to write down goals and plans for the new year, I kind of just want to snuggle up with a good book instead. Sometimes though, a good book is just the motivation I need to get started. I thought it would be fun to round up a few of my favorite reads over the past few years that have inspired me, helped me make changes and resolutions, and a few that are on my reading list right now to tackle this month!
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