Somehow, I have lost a year...

How has this year just disappeared?

This time last year I was helping my daughter plan to elope to New York City, line up a Junior's Cheesecake for their wedding cake in Brooklyn, and I was booking Broadway and Yankees tickets, all while virtual shopping with her via cell phone for wedding dresses. Through some of my beautiful friends, I  found a photographer friend to meet them at City Hall to take their pictures on the Brooklyn Bridge.  Meanwhile, my husband and I were in the middle of a move from Orlando to Richmond. Whew!

That made me tired writing it, no wonder I haven't blogged in such a long time.

Shortly thereafter, we welcomed the tiniest new member of our family, Miss Mallie, into our family and I became the Yaya/ mother-in-law in residence for about two weeks.  I look back on that time with my daughter and granddaughter and am forever thankful that I had the opportunity to go be with them and rock that sweet, precious, newborn girl as well loving on my Henley Boo.

Shortly after we moved to Richmond, my husband's part of the project he was working on was cancelled.  Within two months, I had planned a wedding in NYC, Christmas, moved us from Orlando to Richmond and then from Richmond back to our home in Birmingham.  It was a hell of a year!  I got to Birmingham and hit the ground running with a new job designing kitchens while my husband's industry took a turn for the worst. He once again was sent to Kentucky for two months and then that project was delayed. It has been a difficult year for him.

I have landed at an incredible company, where I work with people that I feel like I have known my entire life.  I love each one of them like family- I truly do.  I am very grateful and thankful for the opportunities that have presented themselves to me this year, but they have kept me very busy.  I am doing everything I ever wanted to do in the design field, and know that this was a Divine placement because I saw three cardinals the first day I began there- God's sign to let me know everything is going to be okay.

Since we've been home, we've reclaimed bricks from a demo site, we've torn down our back yard, and are in the process of finishing our masterpiece designed by the incredible Rebecca Kinney, landscape designer.   Hopefully soon, we will be having a backyard warming where we will literally have a fire to warm up the yard and have some fun with our friends and neighbors.

To say that I have been too busy to write is a cop-out.  Sometimes when things aren't going like we want, the last thing we want to do is share them with the world.  I just shut down; I quit writing.  I gave up on my dream for a while, because I didn't take the time for myself to do what I love.  I didn't go to Yale this summer for YWC, and I ended up working through the Archer Storytelling Conference, which I was invited to attend this year.  Hoping 2017 will give me an opportunity to re-visit some of these things.

The part of my brain that tells stories and blogs is like a muscle that hasn't been to the gym in a while. The anxiety of sitting in front of the computer right now is overwhelming, yet I know that I have to put something down on this screen- anything. Stella has got to get her groove back!  If you are reading this drivel, thank you.  I promise to bring more interesting content once I get over the fear of hitting publish on this blog post.

Love y'all,
Holly