January, for me, is always bittersweet.  The store closes on New Years Eve and we immediately switch gears and head to New York and Atlanta to work on our buy for next season.  We don’t even get a minute to catch our breath and reflect on the past season!!  Now don’t get me wrong, this trip is totally fun and I get to spend the whole time with Patty (check out the video that Caroline made of our buying trip to NYC !!), but I’m usually gone for 3 weeks!  (And this January, I also managed to sneak in a trip to Mexico for my friend Amanda’s bachelorette party!! I’ll be posting about that trip next time!)

Steve refers to January as Manuary – lots of frozen pizzas and not enough clean underwear.  But it wasn’t so bad for him this year because Miss Ivy was there to keep him company.   I end up really missing my sweet family, my little island and our community. So when it’s time to come home, I am so happy to.  This year,  silly Janus got in the way and my homecoming was delayed by one more day…but I finally made it:

The first thing I did when I got home was take that little (not so little anymore) rascal face on a walk!
Ivy loves her new Barbour coat from Patty! They always say that absence makes the heart grow fonder.  I believe it.

A little video of my day.  Yep, I need some video training.  Allison & Caroline are way better at it.