Goodbye January!

My Day

We have arrived at the end of the first month of 2025. I have a lot to look back on for this year already! And I have officially documented it all right here in my blog. For the very first time, I wrote in this journal everyday for a month! Plus, I've featured a photo everyday. I didn't have a goal to write everyday. But I did set a goal to have a least 1 picture to represent each day. It wasn't a resolution. Just a goal...hehehe So far so good...LOL

I'm also doing really well with all of my resolutions so far. With God's strength, I'll continuing strong in those areas as well. In those cases, I am resolute to keep to them...hehehe

I know a lot of folks whose year isn't starting off well. I've noticed since 2020, the years haven't started off great. This may have happened before that year. But that's at least when I started to notice...LOL And that's what inspired me to do Vitamin G in January 2021. Yep, I've been doing those for 4 years now...hehehe

For the third year in a row, my own years have been starting off well. I think the prayer and fasting has been a major factor with that. 2023, 2024, and now 2025 have been good Januarys for me. I'm glad because that gives me more love to pour out on those whose years haven't been starting off so well. This isn't to say that my life has been prefect. Bad things have happened to me in January. I just have some tools to help me handle it all better than I did in the past.

My heart aches for those who are feeling January. I wish I could give them all a real warm hug...hehehe But I still love to give my virtual warm hugs as best I can. I can't take away their pain. But I can give them a listening ear, give encouragement, and just be there for them. I hope they feel like they aren't alone. That's a horrible feeling that I know all too well myself.

I'll be going to Disney again tomorrow...hehehe This time, my sister is going with me. We made plans to hang out. I asked if Disney was an option. So, that's what we'll be doing...LOL I'm going to dress 50s retro this time. I wanted to do a dapper Olaf bound. But I don't have the perfect hat for what is in my head. I'll have to hunt for that hat...hehehe I didn't want to wear my boater's hat again. I wore that for the Holiday Outing Dapper Day at Hollywood Studios in December with my dapper Olaf bound for that day. And then I wore it again on Christmas with my Dapper Dan look. I'll wear it again, of course. But I didn't want to with this new dapper Olaf I have spinning around in my mind...hehehe

I'll be wearing my Mickey ears again with this retro look. I'm pretty excited for it. I'll share photos. I may try to record videos for a journal again. But hanging out with my sister is the primary purpose of the day. I can still capture moments, though. When I did it the other day, I was able to do it without it taking anything away from the day. I wasn't doing it for social media. I was just capturing things that were important to me in the moment. That's how it should be...hehehe

I'm going to rewrite some of the creative work I did the other day. Having written what I wrote, and thinking about it since I wrote it, I've come up with a new angle that I'd like to explore. I'll keep what I've written already. I'll just write something new and see which I like better.

I'm hoping to work on one of my paintings next week. I'll not put too much pressure on it. But the spark is there! I'm learning to let my creativity flow at its own pace. What comes of that is far better both in what is created and how I feel about it. Again, that's how it should be...hehehe

I wore my argyle socks today. I only have the one pair. I love argyle. I always have. But I've never owned anything argyle...LOL I bought them last year to go with one of my dapper outfits. I want to explore more things argyle. Definitely more socks. But I could also do sweaters and ties. I love shapes in general...hehehe Some of my new retro shirts have shapes. One of them reminds me of argyle. But I'm not sure it qualifies as it. There are crossing diamonds. But not quite argyle...hehehe

Anyway, my socks made me happy today. I was so happy to see them show up in my rotation. I used to chase after so many things to make me happy. Now, socks make me happy...LOL It isn't that I'm super easy to please. It's that I am finally appreciating the simple things.

I sometimes wondered if I was a toxic positivity person. Nope...I'm not...LOL I'm grounded in reality. I acknowledge that not everything is going great and that bad things are always happening. What I do is, I appreciate the good and use that energy to make it through the bad...hehehe For example, this week at work has actually been a bit stressful. But my socks and today's sunrise really boosted my mood. I carried that energy through this final day of the work week. In my last conversation with my boss, he thanked me for all my hard work this week. All the bad stuff didn't weigh me down because I found some good things to grab onto to float on the water...keeping my head above the water ❤️

That's how stress hasn't been bothering me so much. It's there...I acknowledge it...I ask it if it wants a piece of toast when I make my breakfast...LOL jk I can't fight the stress. And I don't want to join it in a pity party. Nope...I'll just invite it to take a look at my argyle socks...HAHAHA

January, you were a bit rough on my people. I forgive you. Also...goodbye! HAHAHA Hello February! Can you be a bit...or a lot...nicer than January was, please ❤️

Photo of the Day

For a few mornings this month, I've tried to capture the sunrise over the mall across from the apartment complex and over the fitness center we have. I do it from my patio. I like the view from there. Today's photo finally made the cut...hehehe

I love how this one looks like a cross. I wasn't intentionally going for that. I was just capturing the sun and its reflection off the pool. And then it just sort of happened. I think the screen on my patio helps give it that star sun glare through the tiny square holes. But I'm not sure.

It was great seeing this view just before I started work today. It helped set the tone for the day...hehehe