It feels good to be slowly settling back into regular routines including blogging after a nice, long holiday break. Over the last month, it’s been a little chaotic around these parts with half of our downstairs feeling like a disaster zone as Joey rebuilds our entire bathroom from bare bones to a subway-tiled masterpiece. He’s been doing all the plumbing, electrical and construction himself and I’m amazed watching it all come together. Progress shots are coming soon!

The new year flew in at full blast. I’ve been tucked away in my office all week, taking a nonstop stream of client calls and sending out proposals. I can already sense that this is going to be a very busy year for Branch.

When it comes to Christmas, I always think the best gifts are things that feel a little too special and luxurious to splurge on for yourself. Gala knows me well and sent me this amazing Jonathan Adler bowl emblazoned with lips. It’s the perfect addition to my collection of white ceramic body parts!

Half the fun of putting together my gift for Gala was picking out all the little pieces.

One of my resolutions for 2014 was to read more. I do read (on the internet!) but it’s never anything that meaty and I’m longing to dig into new business and design books. I picked up a stack of new titles and can’t wait to review them for the Look Book column.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone. I’ll be off wrapping up the design of the new Blogcademy site (you can see a sneak peek here) which will be going live later this Spring. I hope you’re feeling semi-rested and ready to take on 2014!