Happy New Year! People still say that through the end of January, right? I hope that you had a great holiday season and your new year is off to a good start! I know I savored a lot of down time with family and friends, but now that we’re back in Amsterdam, I am enjoying our little routines again and looking forward to some exciting things coming up! Here’s an update with regards to the new year, new projects, new travel and more.

We spent our New Year’s Eve back in Texas as we wanted to avoid the fireworks situation here in Amsterdam. NYE can be crazy (IYKYK) and Lola isn’t the biggest fan of all the booms. We came home a couple days after and spent time cleaning up the Christmas decor. Our real tree actually stayed alive pretty well. It still had water in it and was only slightly crispy. We took our tree to the big pile of trees on the street where they are collected by the city. However, someone lit the pile of trees on fire a day or two later, consequently engulfing an entire car parked next to them. Needless to say the car was a total loss but thankfully no one was hurt that I know of. How’s that for a little end of the season excitement?!

Our apartment is now clean and refreshed, and I’ve moved on to putting out Valentine’s day decor. Something else I’ve moved on to are new crochet projects!! I have several projects in the pipeline that I’m pretty excited about. Since we will have cold weather for a good while longer, most of the projects are cold weather garments of some kind. But I do have my eye on some warm weather pieces that are going to steal the show this year. 

My first crochet project of 2023 is this beautiful wintery blue sweater that I started working on over Christmas. It’s called the Tulip Square Sweater and it’s designed by Wilma Westenberg of Wilmade. Wilma is a crochet designer here in The Netherlands, which is super cool. We’ve connected on Instagram and I just love seeing what she’s making. She has loads of free patterns on her site, too. I purchased the crochet kit from Lion Brand per usual, but if you made a new year’s resolution of learning a new skill, definitely check out her stuff! Her patterns are easy to follow and perfect for those just getting started with crochet.

Note: I made my Tulip Square Sweater in size small per the pattern instructions with zero alterations. Yarn used is Lion Brand Hue + Me per the pattern. I chose the color Harbor.

Watch my Reel to see more of this sweater styled in a different way!

Speaking of crochet patterns, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about possibly designing my own patterns. I have a few ideas for some simple pieces that I think I could probably work up on my own. It’s a little intimidating to think about, and I haven’t even started sketching my ideas out but I really want to attempt it this year. I will have to start small (like, suuuuuuper small) but I think I can do it. I’ll share the progress on Instagram, too.

In travel news, we have some exciting trips in the works for this year! This summer we are headed to Bonnieux in southeastern France for a couple weeks. We’ve rented a farmhouse on a vineyard with a pool and for me, it’s the trip that all my Under The Tuscan Sun and Paris Can Wait dreams are made of (two great movies – and book). We will rent a car and stuff the trunk with all the cliché provisions (wine, bread, and cheese among other things). We are of course bringing Lola. I can’t wait to see her running around outside with all the joie de vivre! She has become quite the little world traveler, having been to Ireland, The Netherlands, France, and Germany already! 

We are currently planning a smaller trip around a weekend to somewhere warm. We’ve tossed around Amalfi, Malta, Greece, Croatia, and Marrakesh. We’ve never been to Amalfi (had to cancel our 2020 trip there), nor have we been to Malta or Marrakesh. I’m excited to see what we finally decide on. Newsletter subscribers will know first – subscribe here!

What new things are you excited about this year?

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xo – Erin

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