I’m on a quest to make 2023 great in my world. I’d love for you to join me for the adventure!

I know.

It’s been a while – A LONG while, actually!

Before I ghosted all of you, I mean all 3 of you, I announced I had accepted a full-time accounting job with a company I worked for 20 years ago.

In some sick twisted place in my mind, I was convinced that working remotely would provide me with all this extra time and freedom I didn’t have while on the in-home organizing circuit.

I couldn’t have been more wrong!

Working full-time remotely has been an all-consuming venture.

Add the house-building process.

Plus club soccer.

Plus a senior in high school deep in the pit of choosing a college.

Plus a puppy.

Plus…..

You get the point!

In the midst of all of this life, the overwhelm was real and debilitating.

At the end of 2022, I decided I wouldn’t continue living in the pit of my despair.

2023 would be the year I quit making excuses for my bad attitude and self-loathing.

That sounds extreme, I know.

So here I am – attempting yet another comeback to the blog!

“You only fail when you quit trying.”

Isn’t that how the saying goes?

If not, that’s how I’m using it today!

I’ve taken the past few months to ease into the new year.

How I’ll Make 2023 Great

Exactly how am I planning to make 2023 great, you ask?

1. Develop better habits.
2. Being kind to my body.
3. Dive into creative outlets.

Over time, I’ll dive into these more, but just penning these words on this page is a big step for me in working on number 3.

At the beginning of 2022, I was reading a devotional one morning and the main point of that day’s reading was about telling our story.

I felt compelled then that I should be telling my story – not because I’m super special or have a great word to share with anyone.

I felt compelled because we live in a time when we’re surrounded by people telling us all the ways we should be doing things

• how skinny we should be
• how much we need to be working our side hustles
• how incredible and elaborate our social lives should be
• how perfectly ROYGBIV’d our pantries, closets, and refrigerators should be

I could go on and on…

I want to be that place where we can feel safe being ourselves – our boring, bargain-hunting, plain jane fashionista selves.

I’m not ever going to imply that I’m a fashionista!

The world needs more of us who are willing to talk about our real lives.

A few years ago, when I was blogging on my old site, Wades’ World, I made a comment once about how we as women want to know and be known.

Let me tell you, and I’m positive I’m not alone in this, but the past 3 years have been hard and strange and weird and isolating.

Anyone else feel that way?

We need a safe place and safe people who get our struggles and don’t try to minimize who we are, what we look like, how we feel, etc.

I want Yellow Cottage Living to be that safe place.

I want to write for people who live in the real world, with real budgets, and real kids who make us question our sanity.

If you’re here for that, stick around!

If not, Instagram is full of filters and influencers who will gladly sell you some magic potion that will shrink your belly and butt while you sleep and make you bitter that your husband wasn’t born with the Chip Gaines gene!

Let’s make 2023 great – what’s left of it – and beyond!

Before we go, though, let’s look back at some of the adventures we’ve had in the past.

Remember when we created Memory Boxes for the kids?

And when I created my very favorite home office in our house – 2 houses ago?

Or when I used old frames to make these two large calendars?

Want More Yellow Cottage Living?

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