January Updates

Hi!

First, this is new.  I won't pretend to be a writer or grammatically correct. So to be clear:  I make pretty things, not perfectly executed communications. Now that expectations are set accordingly, I'll get to the part you may or may not be interested in - life updates.  

Let's take a moment to rewind to the end of last year.  We as a family had an emotional second half of the year as we lost some very special people in our family.  For privacy sakes, I'm only going to share specifically, my Granny.  I want to take a moment to celebrate the life lived and legacy she left as one of the most God-fearing and loving women I've ever known.  We miss her dearly, and I still go to pick up the phone to call and chat with her some days.  We all know and celebrate the fact that she is in heaven with her Heavenly Father though. If you get my newsletter, Art Tea with Tracie, I referenced Christmas being different this year. This is why. We were celebrating Jesus' birth without the Matriarch of my Mom's side of the family, and it would've been hard to do that in my hometown.  So, my parents and my sister's family came to Tupelo for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Y'all, I don't know how much you know about creative minds, but typically, we're not Type A.  I'm more along the lines of Type C or D, unless I'm planning travel, and that's where a miraculous Type A emerges.  So, let's just call it a win that the additional 5 humans in our home were fed and that everyone had clean sheets to sleep on.  It was a sweet time though having them here with us, and I do so hope they enjoyed it enough to come back for future Christmases! Christmas morning, after the kids enjoyed seeing what Santa brought, they "found" an extra gift from Daniel and me which took them on a scavenger hunt around the house to eventually find their packed backpacks saying we were leaving that day to go to LegoLand!  We had a blast, and 10/10 recommend surprising with a trip on Christmas Day!

Now, I'm scooting the attention back to current year here in January of 2025. My goals this year are to really be intentional with time of strengthening our family as individuals and a unit, both physically and spiritually.  One of the things that I'm trying to do along these lines is cook more dinners at home.  We eat out entirely too much out of convenience.  So to be more convenient as well as exposing ourselves to more flavors and meal options, I've been trying various meal prep/grocery delivery services.  So far I've tried Hungry Rood and Home Chef, each for a week.  Hungry Root is my favorite thus far because the serving portions are almost perfect with little leftovers to waste.  The only actual tedious prep work was chopping an onion or pepper, everything else came ready to dump into the pan or pot.  And the real big bonus is the prep and cook time were actually all 30 minutes or less, which is gold.  GOLD! If you have any recommendations for these type box subscriptions, please let me know.  I'm determined to find the very best for our family to help us spend more time around our own table eating better foods.  

Professionally, I'm aiming to be intentional really deepening the roots we've placed with my art business and practice and not over schedule myself, thus causing operational strain on our family. Sometimes as a small business, January can bring the energetic and exciting lofty goals and ideas.  And while those are wonderful and serve their purpose, this is not the time or place in my life for those.  We are focusing on growing and blooming right where we're currently planted to set the stage for those big dreams in future years. I hope you enjoy following along as I paint on Instagram and that you enjoy the peak into our family life behind the art. Until next blog post.. I hope your day is full of joy, and that your joy sparks joy in those you come in contact with!

Tracie