scout.

Auld Lang Syne.

Well. That was exhausting. December, I mean. Lovely. But exhausting.

I hope your holidays were marvelous. I am still over at Habit for the next few days, but I couldn't let the New Year slide by without popping in here to say hello. In fact, I have gotten so used to the Habit routine, that suddenly my internal alarms are going off about having already typed more than thirty words. Brevity might be the soul of wit, but it is SERIOUSLY not my strong suit. Which could be the primary reason why that space is so dear to me. A sentence and an image. Sometimes that's all it takes to convey a month's worth of mayhem and joy. I really will miss it.

It is snowing. Our first snow this year. I knew I would be writing here tonight as soon as I saw the first flakes fall. I will never forget last year, and writing to you while snowed in. (Here and here.) We were on the cusp of so many things without even knowing it. I look back on my New Year's Resolution List and can't decide if I want to laugh or cry. Two things I know for sure: 1. I may have failed miserably, but 2. With all that has happened in the last 365 days, I am amazed to still be laughing and loving each day, a little worse for wear, worn out and dusty, but nonetheless whole. And moving forward. That is the important thing. Exciting things are around the corner.

I hate to disappoint, but I won't be making a list this year. Instead, I will finish the unfinished and start something new, whatever that might be. No, I never learned to play the accordion, but I did play the piano. I am more than a few weeks behind on 52 Weeks of Photos thanks to some health issues that robbed me of a few months worth of peace of mind, and a whole lot of willpower. But I will be damned if I let that project go unfinished. I didn't make a purse or a dress, but I made the cutest little doll for my favorite small person, and that felt better than anything I could have made for myself. 

I loved too many new bands to count. We hopped in the car and left the city like it was going out of style. The attic and studio feel like home now, and while that doesn't always mean finished, it means that things are as they should be. There was dancing barefoot in the kitchen, and a lot of it, because dancing is always free and always a good idea. I didn't order soup. I didn't walk across the Broadway Bridge. But I gave a dog, and then another, a home, and they are transformed, and so am I.  

I will be back here in this space after the party over at Habit comes to a close. Until then, I would ask you what your resolutions are, friends, but in the spirit of things, I will ask you instead, what one thing will you let yourself off the hook for this year. (Because it's that kind of year, and I am just going to roll with it.) 

All love and a Happy New Year,
*Andrea

Feeling the awesome.

 Well. It's December. That joyous time of year when most of the questions I receive in an 10 hour workday will go something like, "I'm looking for a book. I don't know what it's called or who the author is or what it's about, but I think it was maybe ::::motions with hands::::  this big," and I have to forcibly restrain myself from responding with, "Well, let me just get out my handy book-size-ometer and pull that up for you right away!" as the ten other people in line shift uncomfortably and resign themselves to wait even longer. (It should be noted that this, precisely, is the reason I started working with children. Because children do not ask inane questions like this. If you are shopping with a child and these words exit your mouth, chances are they are rolling their eyes and exchanging knowing glances with me. Sure they have a whole other series of bizarre ways of describing what they so desperately long for: highly detailed scenes from a single page of a large and obscure book, cover art, which animals talk and which do not, etc.-- but they are nothing if not specific, and I seem to have a knack for knowing they they mean.) 

I can't bring myself to complain about anything else. Retail in December is retail in December. And it really doesn't matter, because oh my gosh you guys I LOVE DECEMBER. When I asked our neighborhood Christmas tree guy for 16 feet of garland to adorn our 9 foot mantle, Aaron may have been alarmed, but not surprised. These things I have learned about myself in regards to the Christmas holidays: I will want to buy a shiny new dress every year for a hypothetical Christmas party that does not exist anywhere but in my brain. I will talk big about making all of my Christmas presents with scrap fabric and in the end will make NONE presents. I will run out of Christmas cards. I will opt for baked goods as gifts but will put the baking off until the last minute. I will run around making no sense for three weeks, but will be surprisingly cheerful. 

This is all to say that I probably need another December obligation like a fish needs a bicycle (Hello 52 Weeks? at this rate, it will take me 85 weeks to complete.), but I couldn't help but make an exception. Molly and Emily, the amazing women behind Habit, have asked all of their guests from the past year to to join in posting for the month of December.  So much has changed in these here parts since I was a guest-poster in February of last year, and I truly cannot wait to see how it will unfold. Magic, I am thinking. If you ever dreamed of attending a holiday party with all of your best internet friends that lasted for an entire month, this is your opportunity. You should visit. It will be off the hook. Maybe I should buy a shiny new dress?

All love,
*Andrea