Hello 2014.

And hello blog! It has been awhile (an understatement). I sometimes keep up with other mom blogs and I often wonder how in the world they post so frequently. Time seems to evaporate over here in our home...

Anyway. It's 2014! Hey, how did that happen? The month of December flew by in a wonderful, twinkly Christmas haze and now here we are. It feels so long ago now, but I can still talk about it, right? :) It really was such a great Christmas. Earlier in the month of December, I was craving New York City Christmas magic, and so missing my friends and things like crisp, evening walks past the Christmas tree stands and the Christmas market at Columbus Circle. I even (very seriously) contemplated booking a ticket and trying to last minute crash our friends' Christmas party. But then temperatures actually dropped a bit here in Florida, making it less tropical and more "winter"-ish, we got into the Christmas spirit and bam. Now it's January. It was nice to stay put for once. We are usually the ones flying around the country trying to see everyone in our families, but this year we decided to stay home and do our own thing and I'm glad we did. It was quiet (well, quiet is all relative when you're in the presence of a two year old) and simple and happy. The holidays can be hard, a reminder of what's missing in life. But this year I felt content and just really happy in the moment.

palm tree + Christmas tree = Florida

christmas eve

Christmas morning (ohhh that little face) sporting his new buckle backpack

The day after Christmas we traveled to the beach and spent a few days at one of the most magical places I've ever been. I called it the magical beach cottage. It was a tiny 1920s bungalow that sat right on the sand, surrounded by other little cottages, all of them strung with twinkle lights. Pictures on their website did not do this place justice, and it was the happiest surprise walking up to our cozy, little house. I kept telling Dan it felt like something out of a movie, or something you read about in a book. See?! 

Needless to say, it was a dreamy three days. It was too cold to go in the water, and it rained part of the time that we were there, but we didn't even care. Even Miles was happy and chilled out for the most part, so it wasn't one of those vacations that left us even more ragged and exhausted than before we left. We could eat our meals staring out the large windows facing the water, and at night, after Miles went to bed, Dan and I would sit outside on beach chairs, listening to the sound of the waves, or play a game of scrabble. It was the best.

And now here we are. Middle of January. One of my New Year goals was to blog more. Clearly I have fallen short so far...but...well, I am going to try :) There are other super exciting things going on as well that will be keeping me quite busy this year. One of my surprise Christmas gifts from Dan was the unveiling of a Kickstarter that he started for me to get back in the studio and record an album this year! Guys, this is a BIG deal. For many, many reasons. First, it's been 10(!) years since I recorded an album and now I have a pile of written but unrecorded material and years of excuses as to why I kept putting it off (some of them quite legit). And then there's the confidence issue. I've kept quiet about this, but after my surgery I struggled some with my speech. The tumor was located near the speech center in my brain and while I could certainly communicate post surgery, there was a lot of stumbling and fumbling and it was difficult to get through a string of sentences without tripping over all of myself. It was incredibly frustrating and disheartening. I remember thinking that my music career was maybe over because of this. My speech has come a long way since then, and it is barely noticeable now, only when I am extremely tired. I still trip up some words while singing through even my own songs on occasion, but I am starting to believe more and more that I can do this. With enough work and practice I can get back to where I was. Dan "committing" me to this, in front of all of our friends and families, well it scares me a little, but it has also instilled this confidence in me too. There's no turning back now. I can do this! (ps: what a husband, huh? that was a pretty special gift)

Here is the Kickstarter link if you want to take a look and get involved in operation 'Get Katie Back in the Studio'! There are still 5 days left to pledge! 

That's all for now. I'll end with this face. :) Goodnight!   

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