How is everyone? I fervently hope that your holiday was magical and full of those you love. Mine was different from any other Christmas as I tested positive for Covid a week before Christmas (the irony is that I picked it up at a garden club meeting of all things!). I isolated until Christmas Eve when the rest of the family also tested positive. It was such a disappointment to not be able to spend time with family on Christmas Eve and Day but it was a blessing for me to be able to be with my immediate family. Fortunately, I was mostly ready for Christmas but there were certainly things that simply didn’t get done (the mantle above being one!).

I feel like I’m limping into the New Year and hoping that I just pick up steam as the year progresses. As heavy as things feel, I have set some general goals and I thought I would share a few of them…

Create More with Flowers

I’ve noticed that the past two years I’ve done less and less “playing with flowers.” This year, I want to create at least one weekly bouquet to put in the house.

Gather with Friends

The past two years have seen much less entertaining and I miss it! I almost feel like I need to relearn as I haven’t spent time setting a beautiful table or putting a party together much at all during Covid. I’m hoping that Covid will fade away and allow us to spend more time with those we love.

Learn to keep Bees

We really, really would like to keep bees for the flowers and vegetables as well as for the honey. Honestly, I’m a bit scared of this one, but am determined to power through.

Take more photographs

I used to take a lot more photographs! While my phone is easy and convenient, I actually find that I take better photos with my Nikon camera. Unfortunately, it’s bulky and a pain to carry around but I’m going to commit to doing it more. I love documenting the beauty all around us (I don’t love editing and deleting all the photos!).

Visit More Gardens

I’m hoping this is the year to visit more gardens, both locally and further afield. I find so much inspiration from visiting gardens, and I love seeing what others are doing. The above pictures were taken at Sissinghurst and Great Dixter, on an epic garden trip with my dear friend, Gretchen.

Work on the Store

I really love my online store. I enjoy picking out what to stock, wrapping up each order and hearing how you like it! I’ve been debating and debating whether to just keep it small and easy or whether to ramp up and go for something a bit bigger! In the new year, I’d like to make the website store front easier to navigate and add more botanical related products that I love. What else would you like to see?

Work on my Blogging

I would like to work on how often, and what, I post here. As I’ve said before, I’ve struggled a bit with what content I should share. I’ve had a family blog for almost 14 years where I’ve shared much of what we’ve done as a family (vacations, fun things with the children, favorite things, etc.) and I’ve loved doing that, it’s wonderful to have it all documented, but I’ve been unsure how much or what to share in this space (just the garden, the farm, entertaining, etc?). I’d love to hear your thoughts about what you would be interested in seeing or reading about.