Remember when Lar and I wrote out our four simple goals in November here and here? Well, here’s how we did.

Cath’s Goals:

1. Make something pretty and fun for the home:
Done! I made a fall wreath for my front door. I created a bunch of felt flowers and glued them to a plain grapevine wreath I found on sale at Michael’s. It ended up being incredibly lopsided, but I was still pleased with the outcome. I also made a lot of my Christmas gifts this year, which I think kind of counts towards this goal.

2. Don’t shop for myself when I’m shopping for gifts this season:
Pretty much achieved. In past years I would almost always buy myself a little something for myself when I was shopping for others. The only time I did that this year was when I was bought Lar’s presents at Sephora. I bought her two Josie Maran make-up gift sets and then ended up buying myself the Argan Beautiful Eyes eyeshadow compact. That’s it. I swear! I did get some clothes (see #3) during the holidays, but they were in no way related to holiday gifts and all but one item was purchased with a gift card.

3. Streamline my style:
In progress. I definitely worked on this during the holiday season. I went through my closet in November and gave away items that are no longer my style. I purchased a few items of clothing on Shopbop.com (Funktional sweatshirt, Jeffrey Campbell boots, Madewell pants) and a sweater at COS in Glasgow and they all go along with the simplified style I’m working towards.

4. Make oatmeal or green juice every morning:
Slight fail. I probably achieved this about 30% of the time. December got so hectic with finals, work, and gift shopping that grocery shopping didn’t really happen – and you have to do a lot of food shopping if you’re juicing on a consistent basis! So, this is one of my goals that I’m bringing over into 2014.

Lar’s Goals:

1. Random acts of kindness:
Argh! Nooo. I actually forgot this one. But I think in some ways it was the most important. Harumph. I’m not gonna feel guilty, but I do want to make a concerted effort to do as many random acts of kindness that I can this year.

2. Stay calm and centered during the holidays:
Yes! I felt fairly calm and that has never happened before. Perhaps it was the fact that Matt and I flew home on Christmas day so maybe we missed the inevitable holiday hullabaloo. Highly recommend making this goal every year.

3. Move mah body!
I did actually do this! Maybe it was just three times and it happened in the space of the last week and half. But that’s a step in the right direction, right? Right?

4. Draw/Sketch:
Shucks. Nope. Did diddly.

5. (Bonus round) Don’t feel guilty about not doing all the goals.
I actually kind of stuck with this one. I’d really like to do more random acts of kindness, but I’m not wasting the energy kicking myself for not doing them — I’ll put that energy into planning some good kindness tidbits for the near future.

In conclusion, we’re not perfect, dagnabbit! But in all seriousness, I really loved this experience. Working towards four achievable goals even during the craziness of the holidays helped keep me focused and sane. Thank you to MichelleK, Mia, Diane, and Christina for sharing your goals! How did ya’ll do?

Also, Mia pointed out the 4 Simple Goals concept is very similar to the “Every Damn Day” list from Yes and Yes. I love this idea and am thinking of starting it this month. Have you tried it?

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We hope you are as excited as us to ring in the new year. With Lar’s hospitalization and surgery in August, 2013 wasn’t an easy year. We’re looking forward to a healthier, happier year – woohoo! But 2013 wasn’t all bad. Check out some of our highlights:

• Lar got a job!

• We got our own AsianCajuns nail polish color.

• I spent Valentine’s Day with Obama.

• Lar and Matt visited friends in Munich.

• On the same weekend, Lar went to Bordeaux and I went to Denver.

• I won a freakin’ Phillip Lim Bag from Keep.com!

• Lar and Matt became members of the Scottish Malt Whisky Society.

• I got to attend a Southern Blog Society brunch, meet some fabulous bloggers, and felt like a million bucks in my Rent the Runway Opening Ceremony dress.

• Lar attended a vintage car rally – so British!

• I showed off my “Dirty Ego” in a photography exhibit and got to work with the talented Leah Roth and Corey Bertrand.

• Lar and Matt rented a Scottish cottage for a long, cozy weekend.

• Toyota gave me a Corolla for an amazing weekend trip in Blue Ridge, GA

• Lar and I spent Thanksgiving together at a beautiful Scottish manor house with a group of wonderful friends.

We’ll be back to regular blogging early next week. Thank you, dear readers, for another wonderful year of AsianCajuns.com!

Dear Readers,

I hope you’re having a wonderful day! As I write this (A Christmas Story is playing in the background), Lar is flying over the Atlantic. I’ll be picking her and Matt up at the airport tonight and it’ll be the best Christmas present ever!

See you next week!

xoxo, Cath

As much as I love looking at holiday gift guides I sometimes get overwhelmed by so much stuff. So I figured it was about time for a non-gift gift guide. Instead of buying more stuff, here are some of ideas of things to do this holiday season:

Photo credits: beer & cheese / Christmas movie night / Crafternoon / Mark Morris’ nutcracker / reindeer cookies / Christmas market / Stovetop potpourri / cocktail

Go to (or host) a beer & cheese tasting. Troy and I recently went to a Belgian Christmas beer and cheese tasting at The Brick Store a few weeks ago with our friends. It was so much fun trying beers and cheeses we wouldn’t normally eat. Check out this page if you’re interested in hosting your own tasting.

Host a Christmas movie night. For the past two years Troy and I have gotten our friends together to watch Home Alone and eat mac and cheese. If we’re feeling really crazy, we’ll watch A Christmas Story afterwards. Elf, White Christmas, Scrooged, Die Hard, and Love Actually are also great options.

Have a holiday crafternoon. Get some friends together to make your (last minute) gifts. This year, my friend and I made 15 t-shirt scarves for our co-workers. We watched movies, munched on snacks, and spent an afternoon and an evening crafting.

Go see a live performance. The Nutcracker, Handel’s Messiah, A Christmas Carol are all great options. My family and I love going to see A Christmas Carol at the Shakespeare Tavern in downtown Atlanta. It’s a great performance and you can eat shepherd’s pie and drink Sam Smith beer while watching it.

Bake! I’m not much of a baker, but I always want to make cookies around the holidays. A lot of my friends have done cookie exchanges this year, which sound like a lot of fun. Since Lar isn’t eating much sugar these days I’m planning on making these vegan cookie dough bites and these gluten-free chocolate chunk cookies when she comes into town.

Visit a Christmas Market. This one is a little easier in Europe where almost every major city has a huge month-long Christmas market. Nevertheless, there are some great pop-up, weekend-long markets stateside.

Make your house smell Christmas-y. This weekend I plan on making this stovetop potpourri and I’m going to make a batch to bring over to my parents’ house on Christmas day.

Make a holiday cocktail. As I’m writing this post, I’m sipping on a glass of eggnog that Troy just made me. It’s delicious! I used to never like eggnog because I’d only ever tried the store bought stuff. If homemade eggnog is not your thing, here are a few other holiday cocktail ideas from Martha.

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Dearest Lar,

Have you ever made vegan cookie dough bites before? They actually sound yummy!

We’ll have to do a couple of Christmas movie nights when you get into town.

I can’t believe we’ll get to be together in five days – woohoo!

xoxo, Cath