saying goodbye; moving forward

Saying goodbye is never easy, especially when it comes to my parents and sisters.  Ah  yes, how I will miss them these upcoming days, weeks, months, until we meet again.  I did, however, enjoy every single moment with them.  The laughs, the memories.  Every.single.moment.  It had been too long since we got to spend Christmas with my side of the family and even though I see them at least once a year, for one reason or another we had not been able to do so.  This year we did and how grateful I am for that.  For the new traditions this introduced my children to (like the Posadas) and the new memories they (and I and hubby) have now created with my family.  I am happy and I am sad all together.  But the happiness of all those beautiful memories created always wins over the sadness of having to say goodbye.  Until we meet again.

 San Antonio is beautiful. 

photo of our silliness (my sisters and I) taken with my iPhone by the shop clerk.

We walked through Riverwalk, met with some old friends, visited a quaint little German town called Gruene, where we had a family photoshoot (yey!) and visited local shops.  All with the company of my loved ones.  Bliss.

all the cousins having fun during the photo shoot in Gruene.

Moving forward.

A new year is here and now it is time to move forward.  To think of my goals for the future, to write them down and to start accomplishing them one step at a time. 

Some of those are:
* to continue living a simpler life.
* re-organizing my craft room. (With the recent addition of a serger, I surely need to do this.)
* set a schedule (as much as I hate them) for homeschooling my sweet nena.
* go on date nights regularly with my handsome hubby.
* clean out and donate, giveaway, and/or toss things that I do not need (that includes fabric. Ouch!  That one hurts.)
* organize time for blogging, crafting, and listing on my shop.
* finish reading The Happiness Project. (I highly recommend it.)
* make time for "ME!"
* finish unfinished crafting projects.
* go to sleep earlier, wake earlier (that will totally help me with the schedule setting.)
* exercise!
* start training for a 5k in the spring.
* start once again, using a journal to keep all my ideas, thoughts and goals organized.
* take more nature walks with my family.

This are just some of my goals for this year.  I have many.  How about you?

All photos I took with my new iPhone using Instagram.  I am totally in love with this app! (For sneak peeks follow my user name lisarenata.)