Friday, February 8, 2013

New Year's Resolution Tree

Hello, friends. This week has been a blur, but we made it to Friday again! Cheers! (And I don't even have to work this Saturday. I have a real weekend. Yeah!) I do hope you'll forgive me for the short break I took from blogging this week. I'm in my second semester of graduate school and this week held for me an especially ugly agenda with a group paper and presentation due. You'll be happy to know I made it through in one piece!

Going back to school and pursuing my master's degree was one of my New Year's resolutions for 2012. To really solidify my goals for last year, I made a New Year's resolution "tree". 

For the tree, I used faux tree branches, pine cones, and sprays of gold and silver to fill a clear vase. My husband and I used little cards strung with ribbon to write our resolutions on. Afterwards, we hung the resolutions from the tree.


Here's our tree on New Year's Eve, 2012. We had a sip of champagne to toast our tree before we headed out for the evening. 


Thomas wanted to take a picture of me all dazzled up by our tree. :) 

I posted this picture on Facebook and it was picked up by a local newspaper editor and friend at The New Citizens Press


Our new tradition was fun and really put action behind setting goals. 

When one of my resolutions was realized in August of last year, my wonderful and supportive husband had this surprise waiting for me at home when I returned from my first evening of class. The picture shows the inside of a gift bag with a card in it. My "go back to school" resolution card from our tree hung from the handle of the gift bag.  Of course, I got emotional. (What girl wouldn't?!?) 


Inside my gift bag was a sweet, beautiful card and this swag to display I was now a Central Michigan University graduate student.


Fast forwarding to New Year's 2013, I bought a new tree. I actually bought the new tree for our dining room table at  Christmas. Little red diamond-shaped ornaments hung from it. It was so beautiful and luxe and when New Year's came around, I just couldn't find it in me to take it down. So, I used it as our new resolution tree! 

Once again, I gathered our cards and strung them with ribbon. I was running low on ribbon, so I had to cut each piece of ribbon in half. As a result, the ribbon had a frayed look (we'll call it "distressed", darlings) that was rustic, beautiful and totally unintended.


Here's a little peek at one of my goals.  (Just started reading Bethenny Frankel's "A Place of Yes".)


 A fun aerial view of our tree.


 Rustic elegance is in the details.

  

And there she is in all her resolution glory--our tree!


What resolutions did you set? Are you meeting any of them? Revisit them often if you're motivated to reach them! 

Cheers,
Samara








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