The ‘January’ page from the beautiful letterpress calendar I got from Green Chair Press

I know, late again.  But I had a birthday party to organise.

Even though I didn’t do particularly well with last year’s, (I failed in all of them except the last one) here are my resolutions for this year since writing things down is supposed to make them happen (I may have to get this book).

Get thin – last year I resolved to lose 2 stone (28lbs).  I didn’t manage to do that but am thrilled to have lost 11lbs so far since starting WeightWatchers in November.  Finally something seems to be working and I’m actually finding it comparatively do-able, so now there’s no excuse.

Get dancing – I made that resolution last year too, but had to give up salsa dancing after two sessions because my left foot was in agonizing pain.  Lots of chiropractic over the past year has done a lot to sort out my foot and back problems (though spraining my ankle badly in the summer didn’t help). I’ve also just started a course of ten Rolfing sessions, which, although fairly excruciating while it’s happening, could turn out to be the best thing I’ve ever done. So ballroom dancing classes here I come!

Get organised – now that the Minx is going to school for one extra day a week I’ve got a bit more time to do all that deep-seated organisational stuff instead of chasing my tail all the time. I might even get round to unpacking all the stuff we brought from England. We even went to Ikea this weekend to buy storage and organisational things.  The first project is my workspace in our bedroom.

Get making – I’ve recently realised that I live round the corner from one of the most incredible bead shops I’ve ever come across and they run jewellery-making classes.  So I’ve signed up for Beginners’ Beading and Beginners’ Wire Wrapping.

Get going on the house – all the house remodelling stuff rather ground to a halt last year but now I’m full of ideas and raring to go now.  First up I’ve lined up a consultation with this lady (who comes highly recommended by Daily Candy -Seattle).  I’m hoping she will be able to help me cut through all the design overwhelm that is bogging me down at the moment and also help me source stuff in Seattle and the US in general. I need to tidy before she comes though.

Get photographing- this year I want to take my photography to a whole new level, both with my new table-top studio and also in general.  Maybe even open a little Etsy shop to sell prints and postcards of my work.  We’ll see.

Get blogging – Now I’ve got more time, I  also want to take this blog to another level.  Not a design blog per se, but include lots more design inspiration, lots more house stuff and lots more photography.

Get rich – last year I resolved to double mirrormirror’s revenues.  That didn’t happen, though when we do the annual accounts this year, I’m hoping that we’ll see it became a lot more profitable after ditching the PR company. But I feel like it’s in a great place currently.  I’m loving working with my friend Diane back in the UK, so hopefully things will be staying as they are for the foreseeable future, which gives us a fab platform to work off. And if I now have 50% more time to dedicate to the business then revenues must go up by at least 50%, no?

I have no idea how the Minx managed to turn three without me noticing.  Surely she was still my baby only last week?

So on Saturday we hosted an Elmo party – dress code ‘red’ – for more than twenty toddlers and attendant parents.  Thanks to the lovely people at Urban Monkeys (a beautiful light and bright ‘loft’ style venue in South Lake Union with enough room for a play gym and bouncy castle) we all had a wonderful time and I’ve never seen a happier or more excited Minx.

You will see that her taste in cakes hasn’t changed that much from last year.

I have come to the conclusion that having a child in mid-January really is monumentally bad planning. There’s absolutely no chance to recover from Christmas and trips to England – you just have to keep going with the planning and organising and baking.

Now that we’ve finally got Christmas and birthdays out of the way, MY year can finally begin. Yippee!!!

The mirrormirror sale is now online, with lots of bargains to be had.

There are only one or two examples left of many of the items, so when they’re gone that’s it – we won’t be getting these things in again.

So now’s the time to treat yourselves to a gorgeous beaded silk evening bag by hot Australian designer Megan Park. These are utterly stunning, made of the softest silk and gently padded with exquisite jewel-like hand beading. 

Or embroidered and beaded silk cushion covers by Dishya. The workmanship that has gone into these is unbelievable.

Or treat yourself to a delicately beaded sterling silver necklace or earrings.  The designer of these is no longer making jewellery since having a baby, so when these are gone, they’re really, REALLY gone.

We also have one beautiful soft nubuck leather photo album left in pale lavender, which would be absolutely perfect for wedding photos.

It was good to start the New Year with a nice bit of coverage of the piggy bank in Grand Designs magazine – that TV show is one of the things I miss most about the UK. 

I just love Poppy Norton’s styling here, that perfect purple background really brings out the simple orange, red and white colour scheme and the strong shapes, which are emphasized by the deep shadows the photographer has created.

The bad news is that we’re completely out of piggies and designer Pamela Barsky has decided not to produce them any more, which is rather a shame since I never quite managed to nab one for myself.

I was thrilled to discover one of these in my Christmas stocking this year and one of my resolutions for this year is to do a lot more tabletop studio photography.

I was not the not the only person who had my camera out this Christmas.

Here I am in a (surprisingly good – most of her other photos are of people’s groins or elbows) photo taken by the Minx with her new camera.  I fear resolutions must be made.

Additional photo-editing (and quite possibly the photo itself now I think about it) courtesy of Nell Robins, using the camera’s sophisticated inbuilt software.

Christmas is a time to feast with friends

take arty pics of the Christmas pud

Have a post lunch nap

by an open fire

while waiting for Santa 

Picture courtesy of Ben Robins

to bring the most enormous trainset

Picture courtesy of Ben Robins

For taking arty photos of chandeliers

and winter trees

And strolling along the South Bank on a glorious sunny day

 

and seeing old friends

And looking extremely grown up in one’s Christmas cape

and going up in a big wheel

and taking more arty pics of it from below

   

for tweaking your BFF’s nose

and pulling faces on a carousel

 

and watching the New Year’s Eve fireworks through the trees.

We had the most wonderful time in England.

Bear with me while I unpack, recover from the Minx’s jetlag (have been awake since 4.15 am) and do a ton of mirrormirror admin. Happy New Year!