Welcome To A Bright New Year!

Welcome lucky '13! I just wanted to wish each of you a bright, beautiful new year that I pray is full of blessings and opportunities.

Personally, I feel absolutely renewed and ready to tackle whatever comes. The holiday season was just perfect—lots of time with family, quiet reflection, celebrations, singing, eating, and opportunities to share my gratitude. The world has so much of tumult, sadness and uncertainty, but it also has hope and peace and friendship, and those are the things I choose to focus on. I hope you will, too!

To mark our new year, David and I spent New Year's Eve at home as empty nesters. This is a first for us, since typically we are party central for all our family. We watched TV, ate, read, and talked. And although it was quiet, it was great! David and I truly enjoy being together, just the two of us—this might sound simple and obvious, but it's a pretty great realization. So many couples get in the thick of raising families that it's a question whether they'll actually have meaningful connection when the kids are raised and the hubbub dies down. What a blessing to know that your companion is also your soul mate; it gives me joy and excitement for our future years together!

We had an easy meal of leftovers reheated and rolled into pitas, set to 1940s jazz music which we both love. A perfect romantic meal! Then, we sat down to watch "Downton Abbey." I've been a fan of the show since it debuted, but David hadn't seen a minute of the show. I knew he'd love it, and he had given me the first two seasons on DVD for Christmas, so off we went with the Crawley family in the last hours of the year. (I was right: he thought it was great and we watched show after show after show! I haven't yet seen the season three finale, but I hear it's a doozy—no spoilers, please!)

We took a brief break at 11:45 to celebrate a fizzy toast with our sparkling apple juice. We bundled up and headed outside to our porch—we have a nice view of the town and so many people were shooting off fireworks, it was like the display was just for us. We might have shared a New Year's Eve kiss (or two), then we scurried back inside, flushed and chilly, to cozy up for a few more episodes of DA. It was a quiet celebration, but one that thrilled my heart.

As I said, I'm just so happy for this new year and the new beginnings it brings. I feel GREAT, and I'm excited to be more visible on my blog this year after being rather quiet in 2012. I'm looking forward to sharing with you more happenings in my personal life, more ideas and doings at Close To My Heart, and even more insights into the people who mean so much to me, including family, friends, and dear Consultants. I just have so much to share (and so much to do!), I can't wait to get started on all my 2013 goals. Wishing you a wonderful start to a terrific year!