January 2021 Coffee Time

January 2021 Coffee Time - It’s Coffee Time and time for our monthly, life update check-in post.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

January 2021 Coffee Time

Hi Everyone, Happy New Year! It's the dawn of a new day, it's January 2021, and time to turn the page on 2020.

I usually start every year pretty hopeful and reflective 🙂

Did you see our last Coffee Time post?

Update 1/11/2021: I realize when I published this post, in the URL I wrote 2020 instead of 2021, oh well! I updated the post but the URL still has the old date. Sorry! It's just been "one of those months" already.

What have you been thinking about and planning for in the New Year?

For me, it's a time of cleaning and clearing out, getting organized for tax time, and making sure things are finished up.

For example, I am eyeing up cleaning out my kitchen cabinet drawers, rethinking the kiddos toy and book storage situations and contemplating our upstairs renovation again (a huge project we had planned on doing pre-pandemic which didn't happen).

Now that our normal is full-remote (for the time being) school for our 1st grader, I'm contemplating more yard projects to entertain the kiddos since we spend so much more time around the house and I anticipate for it to be like that for the long-term.

One thing that I know for sure, I am spending more time (daylight hours) than usual in my pajamas but not so much time that I want to stop or at least not in the near future.

CSA Box Share

If you are looking for a CSA Box Share subscription and are local to NJ and PA, I recommend the Roots to River Farm box share. It runs from June to October and you can choose different sizes and customize your box share. I've been getting their CSA share for food for blog recipes for years now and I love their produce!

New Calendar

I am waiting for my new Passion Planner that I have ordered for years now. which helps keep me organized and on track throughout the year.

I also ordered their desk calendar to try out too.

I do have a unique Passion Planner rewards referral link, in case you are interested, Here. (Terms of the referral link: "Give your friends $5 off their first purchase of $15 or more and get $5 in points for each successful referral")

Refocus

I had a conversation with another blogger friend recently, and they wondered how I had the time to do all that I do, the truth is, a lot of my projects have been tabled as I've had to address other things during the new, strange time.

It "feels" like I drop a lot of the balls I am trying to juggle. This is really a time to refocus goals and expectations.

A lot of my time, like many other parents during this time, is taken up by, having to be my kid's teacher (well, "like" a teacher, I don't do everything that the amazing teachers she has do!) part of the day and it's really a balancing act. My heart goes out to any mother or parent who is going through this because I know...I KNOW.

I will add, even though it's hard, I find myself constantly digging deeper to find abilities that I didn't know I had as a parent and my family has bonded so much during this time, from ping-ponging from online video call to online video call to making meals around the clock, to really living in our house like never before...it sure is interesting and there's a lot of good that can come out of this too.

I've also taken on other projects and focused more on what I'm passionate about.

This time feels like, "the journey inward" and that's a positive thing to come out of this.

Even if I am having any issues, I know that it pales in comparison to someone else who might be sick during this time and the frontline and healthcare workers face every day. I understand this because I know people and have family who is sick with the virus, I know people and have family who has died of the virus, and people and family who are healthcare workers (what they do is amazing).

We can't be careful enough - that's what I have learned through observation and experience. Let's be kind and take care of each other.

What's New

I started (I mean, just started) making Google Web Stories for the blog.

For the purposes of this blog, they are like little teasers for posts (they exist on their own like posts on the blog under a different URL) that give you a quick snapshot of a post, what to expect, and will link to the corresponding blog or recipe post.

They are in a card format where you can page through them, like an Instagram (I am most active here for IG stories, you can follow my Instagram, Here) or Facebook story.

They are very new at this point and I am sure there will be a lot that will change with them but I am excited about them, the possibilities for the future.

What's Next?

It is January now, so expect to see healthier recipes as I like to do #healthyjanuary posts every year.

Don't be surprised to see some sweet recipes sprinkled in there because it is Winter now and Valentine's Day is next month, after all. 🙂

I am posting many recipes that I batched before I had my daughter this past June, some of which I shot a couple of years ago, just in case I needed them or found myself not having much time to photograph recipes (which may or may not involve a set, backgrounds, lighting, etc. that takes more time to do).

I went through a period of time where I really took the time to photograph all the food that I would make that I thought would be good for the blog, in some way.

Some of the recipes that I am posting right now may not have my more recent photography style but I am brushing aside my perfectionism because whenever I've trusted my gut on sharing a recipe on here, even if it wasn't perfect, it usually is what people were looking for when they land here, so I will keep that in mind and share away, anyway.

Latest Posts

• Instant Pot Black Eyed Peas
• Sand Tart Cookie Recipe
• Slow Cooker Crock-Pot Butter Corn
• Homemade Coffee Creamer
• Maple Cinnamon Butter

Stay in Touch

In case you don't already, make sure to sign up for my email list that I send regularly out weekly or bi-weekly; You can sign up for the email list on the "Home" page or any page on this blog.

Stay safe everyone, thank you for your support of this blog, thank you for making my recipes and reading and following along!

See All Our Coffee Time Posts

• November 2020 Coffee Time
• October 2020 Coffee Time
• September 2020 Coffee Time

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