Happy New Year folks.

I used to wish life came with a detailed instruction manual. (Really, who am I kidding, though? Even if it did, I probably wouldn’t read it. Ask anyone who has ever seen me as I try to make something.) 2013, if nothing else, taught me that life doesn’t come with perfect formulas where input of a certain thing always equals output of a certain thing.

This year has definitely come with its valleys, but someone once told me that you can’t teach experience. Those words would have fallen on deaf ears a year ago. My need to have a perfect roadmap of how my future would look has caused me to miss some beautiful scenery on my journey up until this point, but 2013 has taught me to slow down and look around rather than always looking ahead. Life can get messy when you engage with the present instead of always living in the future, but I kind of like that. Messy is not always bad. There are definitely some pieces of this year and decisions I’ve made that make me wrinkle my nose and think, “should have had a V8, Kate,” but in hindsight, I would not change one bit.

Each and every person, circumstance, thing etc. that is in each of our lives can be viewed as a gift if we choose to see it as such, even the ones that are wrapped in ugly paper with a crumply bow.

The events of the past year have felt like a big thaw out for me. Sometimes it takes a little fire to realize how frozen you are in your ways. Its kind of like a car that has been buried in snow, you have to melt the ice somehow - even if it takes some stupid kids shooting bottle rockets and roman candles at your car. What good would it do to sit around and be angry? Get in the car and be thankful you can finally get back on the road. In hindsight, what matters is that you aren’t stuck anymore.

I send my best wishes for a great 2014!

-Kathleen