As you're reading this, I'm giving final instructions to our house/pet sitter and am shoving my toothbrush into my suitcase before heading to the airport. Michael and I are heading off on our first international adventure together! We'll be spending the next several days in Paris with the rest of my immediate family. My sister has been living there since January, and I'm beyond ready to see her little flat in person, meet the people she's been working with, volunteer at the homeless shelter that's brought her so much joy, and sip some French hot chocolate.

This feels (and perhaps is) like a once in a lifetime trip, and I'm ready to soak it all up with a gluten free waffle. ;) I'm not sure if any posts will be going up around here over the next couple weeks. (It all depends on what I end up having time to write in advance after I finish this post.) 

I wrote in my journal after my last visit to Paris that, "I didn't fall in love in Paris, but I fell in love with Paris." I'm ready to return to my favorite city in the world.

January seemed to start off at such a great pace, despite our super random snow day, but towards the end of the month things really started to get going. I launched my Etsy shop, made my first 2 Etsy sales, hosted Michael's siblings for a wonderful 21st birthday party bash, and executed a few events. February is looking fairly similar to how January flowed - a nice leisurely start that rolls into a very busy March. I'm planning to hunker down and tackle a lot of back end items so that when March arrives I don't lose my mind.

How do you handle prepping for a busy season?

Last year I wrote a review about how much I loved these soy, essential oil scented candles from Element Candles. (A local to Charleston candle company.) Since that review I have burned through many of these candles as I've enjoyed their scents around my home, and have gotten my friends addicted to the scent of them, as well. A few months ago their packaging changed (still sleek and chic like before!), and I knew I needed to test them out and see if anything else had changed as well.

Taking Christmas photos every year with our tripod and a self timer (or camera remote) has been one of my favorite traditions.  We have photos from our first married Christmas all the way through to this past year, and it's fun to see how much we've changed yet stayed the same. Adding Khaleesi to the crew this year definitely upped the challenge level of getting a good photo of all of us...we settled for a realistic one.