January Thoughts

Hey! I am so glad you stopped by to check out my recent bakes. My name is Kelsey. I love baking all things but especially pies and pastries.

I took a break during the month of December and some of January, it was really nice to just hang out with our families and reset for the new year. 2023 started off with a bang. Our family dog, Teddy, had to be put down, I pulled a muscle in my back which put me out of commission for about a week, and several other personal struggles. It has been an emotionally difficult first few weeks of the new year which has really pushed us to fully rely on God.

December thoughts… December was honestly a whirlwind, it always is but for some reason it always surprises me. It is also an emotionally difficult month, as much as I love hanging out with family a lot of energy and emotions come with that. Overall, we loved Christmas and had so much fun!

Christmas gifts… We had a great Christmas with out families, Jared received some clothes for work and a few tools for our new home. I received some baking books, a planner for 2023 and an espresso machine!!! I have used my espresso machine every single day since I got it on Christmas Day and I think I have almost mastered the iced latte… Some days I’m like what was that, ew. I’m getting there though!

New Year resolutions… I didn’t come up with any specific resolutions this year. I would really like to focus on my health this year, making healthy meals, moving my body every day, and reading the Bible all the way through.

Things I want to try this year… I want to try doing my first garden! I would also like to start flipping furniture for some extra money. This year I really want to try and declutter my home, especially my wardrobe. I feel that a lot of my clothing is not my style anymore so I really want to focus on clearing out what I don’t absolutely love.

Blog Plan… This year I will be baking along with the holidays and seasons. January I will review what I did for my 2022 Christmas Cookie Tins. February will be fun valentines baking options. March will focus on bread. April will be spring baking, so lots of citrus and fruit to lead us into a new season. In May, I will try my hand at tarts. In June, I will be giving fun ideas for July 4th. July will be all cold desserts, maybe we will try to make our own ice cream! August will be focused on peaches and tropical produce. September is when we will break out the fall baking and fall spices! In October, we will come up with fun Halloween baking ideas. November will be Thanksgiving baking. December will be cookie tins of course!

Currently reading… Queen of Shadows, book 4 in the Throne of Glass series. I am obsessed with this series, I cannot read them fast enough!! I am also reading the Hercule Poirot books by Agatha Christie, I finished the first one this month – The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

Currently watching… The Marvel Cinematic Universe! Jared and I started to watch them in MCU timeline order a few months back but in January we have watched probably 2 of them a week! We are almost caught up now. This is the timeline we followed.

Bible reading plan… I am doing two plans right now, the first is The Life of Jesus with She Reads Truth. I am doing this one by myself and it is 35 days long. The second plan I am doing is reading through the whole Bible chronologically with my husband, we are following this plan on YouVersion. It is a full year long and to be honest, we are already behind haha! We are trying to catch up though.

Things I want… I have been looking at these little boots. They would be perfect outside shoes for gardening and landscaping this spring! Amazon has some of the cutest home decor, I’ve linked what is on my wish list below. Specifically, there is this kitchen rack that dries quickly, great for the hand soap and brush by the sink.

January Amazon Purchases… since I got a bunch of coffee supplies for Christmas, I bought a cute little shelf to hold all of my coffee stuff. We recently set up our office in the second bedroom of our home, so I bought two small lamps for our desks. Lastly, I have been reading the Throne of Glass series (until 1-2am, whoops!) so I bought a little book light! Before I just had my bedside lamp on, which probably wasn’t great for my husband haha!

What’s on my mind… GARDENING!!!! I cannot wait, I know it’s only January but I can’t wait to get my hands in the soil and grow my own veggies. I have always helped my mom with her garden but this will be the first year of having my own garden. I am so excited, you wouldn’t even believe it. My plans are below, I will have two raised beds in the back yard that are 16×3 feet and a raised bed on our deck that is much smaller for herbs. I am debating on whether to plant strawberries or not, if I do I will make another small raised bed for the backyard and use starts from my mom’s strawberry bed.