20 days. It’s been 20 days since I last posted to my blog. What were your last 20 days like? Were they full of celebration, fun, and time with your family? I sure hope they were! I have a few posts lined up for 2015 that I hope will make up for my 20 day hiatus (scroll to the bottom to see pictures)!

My desire for the last 20 days was to do lots of cooking, baking, crafting, creating and eating. I also hoped to catch up with friends and family. Unfortunately, the last 20 days did not consist of much of that at all. I spent a lot of that time on my couch… sleeping and in a lot of pain. I had 17 days off from work and of those 17 days, I was sick for 10 of them.

During the time I spent alone and resting I was reminded of 4 things:

1. Cherish the time you get to spend with family and friends: I realized that I appreciate and cherish the time I get to spend with my family and those closest to me. I wasn’t able to spend as much time with my family as I hoped to because a week went by without me knowing what was wrong. So many of my friends who live out of town were in Atlanta, but I missed getting to connect with them. Now that the holidays are over and everyone is back in the swing of work, life, and school, it’s going to be a while before I get to see some of those “far away friends” again.
2. Spend time doing what makes you happy: I find so much joy in cooking and creating. There were so many new recipes I wanted to try out and so many new crafts I planned on doing but unfortunately during the holidays I didn’t do much cooking or crafting. I managed to cook dinner on New Year’s day but that’s about it. We ordered a lot of takeout… which made me even more thankful for knowing how to cook. My pile of craft supplies went untouched and my creative expression was stifled. The time I get to spend doing what I love is what keeps me happy and gets me through tough days. I’m so glad that I’ve been able to find joy in my blog, my food, and my creating and I’m so thankful that I’m (normally) healthy enough to spending time doing what I love.
3. Learn to be thankful and content: Like I said before, I spent a lot of time on my couch and an entire week confined to my 1 bedroom apartment (minus an urgent care and doctor visit). My husband works a lot during the holidays so my days were spent in silence. I had time to think about all the things I’m really thankful for. William and I are blessed with two great jobs and we are so thankful our parents taught us the importance of making wise life and financial decisions. It’s so easy for me to become “jealous” of what others have —  Sometimes I think “They have a nicer place than us” or “I wish we had newer cars” or “I wish I made more money” but the reality is that we have been richly blessed and have SOOO much. We’ve never had to worry about how we’re going to pay our bills, or if we will have a meal on the table, or if we will have enough gas in our cars. I’m so thankful that God has blessed us and allowed us to be stewards of the money and things he has trusted us with. Through my time alone I started to understand the importance of thankfulness and contentment. 
4. Don’t take advantage of your health: After over a week of being sick, I finally found out why I wasn’t feeling so great. I had a case of Mononucleosis. Most people know, mono is a pretty awful virus, but it’s nothing that any person really needs to worry about. It causes a few weeks of pain, exhaustion and discomfort, but it’s nothing that has lasting side effects. I’ve never been sick for more than a few days, so almost two weeks of being “laid out” caused me a lot of anxiety and stress. Before these past few weeks, I never had a clue what those who are admitted to a hospital feel like… although I wasn’t in a hospital, there wasn’t much that I was able to do. I couldn’t go anywhere, I couldn’t eat solid food, I couldn’t walk up a flight of stairs without being exhausted, and I couldn’t even swallow without feeling like someone was stabbing me in throat. My pain what nowhere near that of someone who recently had surgery, has cancer, or is suffering from a car accident… but I did get a taste of what life could be like if I did not have my health. My heart aches for those who are dealing with health struggles.

I am so happy that I am finally feeling a lot better. I’m still really tired, and I take a lot of naps, but I’m thankful that I have have my strength back and I can look forward to getting back to my cooking and crafting. As you begin this new year and commit to a hectic and busy life don’t forget to take a step back and remember to be thankful for the things you’ve been blessed with.

I’m looking forward to the next few months of cooking, graduate school, baking, crafting, eating, and (hopefully) traveling!

Here are a few pictures giving you a sneak peek of what’s coming soon for 2015!