Happy New Year everyone.... I am trying to get back into a routine after a nice long Christmas break. I had a wonderful Christmas with so many friends and family visiting. I received lots of thoughtful gifts.  I haven't really made an New Years resolutions, I'm just trying to eat healthy and become more organised-the same as most people. I also want toy try and exercise some more. I haven't got out much over the Christmas for my walks so hopefully now that the weekend is almost here I will get out and about. Tomorrow I will take the Christmas decorations down as it is Little Christmas or Women's Christmas (Nollaig na mBan). Apparently the idea is that on this day the tradition was for the women to get together and enjoy their Christmas while the men folk stay at home and handle all the housework. However I  don't think this really happens! If you have a man in your life, see if it works for you and do let me know how you get on. I have some family visiting tomorrow night and then I plan to do lots of house work over the weekend. I have no major plans for 2017, we are very busy at work and I have to work three late nights next week. 

Hello everyone. We are all now settled into the New Year. I still haven't got use to writing 2016 though. This is the 8th year I will be blogging which is difficult to believe.... (almost a decade!!) When I first started All things nice... I wasn't sure what I was doing or what blogging even was. But here I am 8 years on and still blogging away. I never liked facebook so didn't bother with it but I have a twitter account, pinterest account and instagram account. I have connected with people from all over the world, from all walks of life and with all sorts of interests. I am grateful for this connection with so many others as it can be a bit lonely living in rural Ireland particularly during the long winter nights. For 2016 I hope to continue my blog, become more organised, keep on top of house work and keep positive. The photos below are all bright and colourful and reflect my mood as we embark on the New Year. What are your hopes for 2016?

Photos from top left; View of Central Park on Allure of the Seas (the world's largest cruise ship), a colourful handmade wooden carousel, my new floral Joules wellies and modern stained glass window in Saint Mel's Cathedral, Longford, Ireland.

Over Christmas I have spent lots of time with family and friends. It's now New Year's Eve, the years seem to be flying by... 2015 has been good to us, we spent good times with family and went on a wonderful holiday visiting Spain, France and Italy... We didn't get much sunshine or heat here in Ireland, it is almost like we skipped some of the seasons with just Spring and Autumn and no actual Summer or Winter. Lots of rain and wind... Over Christmas I have been-

Wearing;

Eating & Drinking;

Wishing you and yours a wonderful New Year's Eve and best wishes for 2016 and all it has to hold.....  Goodbye 2015

Wishing you and yours lots of peace, joy and happiness this Christmas.... Hope everyone is enjoying the evening with family and friends.... I'm keeping cosy at the fire with lots of good music and food....

Precious Memories

May this holiday season

leave you with precious memories:

A Christmas filled with love and light,

 perfect gifts, delicious foods,

 love and joy all around.

A New Year with continuing blessings—

friends, family, good work, great fun,

 and delightful surprises.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

By Joanna Fuchs

Christmas and the New Year celebrations are over now for another year. I took down most of my Christmas decorations on Saturday as the foilage was getting withered. I leave our tree up until Little Christmas on the 6th Janaury. I hope you all had a wonderful festive season with your family and friends. I had a really relaxing time. Now to a new year and lots of new plans for the future. The New Year can be a bit depressing for some people but we have to look at the bright side of life and keep positive. I have no new year resolutions, just take it as it comes and enjoy life. As my husband always says things happen for a reason. I got a lot of vouchers for Christmas this year so decided to treat myself and get a few pretty things. 

I hope you all got over Christmas ok and enjoyed the festive season. It is all over now as we embark on the New Year. Have you any New Year Resolutions? Below are just a few of the many lovely gifts I got this Christmas. Hope Santa was good to you too.

2012- What a Year it has been! We moved into our New Home on 1st January 2012 and I also got  a new job that month too, but to add to all of that, we were also arranging our wedding for February. We had our wedding on 25th February and thank goodness it didn't rain. I am blessed to have found such a wonderful husband. We did a lot of decorating in our new home and I enjoyed my afternoons on the farm- helping with the calves and getting lots of fresh air. We booked our honeymoon for September and had a great time. We even got a tan (I call it a tan,  but to most others it is probably just a lot of freckles). I wrote a review for the Irish Country Living Magazine which appeared in their Autumn edition. IKEA also asked me to take some photos of my new home to feature in their House Call Feature (they haven't used them yet which I'm thinking means that the photos aren't good enough quality). My blog got shortlisted for the Irish Blog Award which was really exciting too. I got lots of inspiration online this year and am really enjoying using pinterest! To all of my friends, followers and those who visit my blog, twitter or pinterest, thank you all so much, I really hope that my blog sprinkles some happiness into your life. . .

From top left: 1. We moved into our new home- our cottage in the country. 2. We got married, pictured above in the hotel. 3. Some daffodils I picked and put in our home, 4. Our kitchen is fully completed. 5. A trip to the seaside to my parents holiday home. 6. We booked our honeymoon to Madeira. 7. Some lovely hydrangeas my mother picked for me, 8. Long walks along the lake shore. 9. Honeymoon in Madeira. 10. Some more wedding memories. 11. A trip to the Market. 12. A view of Funchal from our hotel suite. 13. Some more flowers in my sunroom. 14. Another trip to the west coast of Ireland. 15. My spare bedroom, 16. Our Wedding Day

If you haven't already picked up Mollie Makes Magazine- you will have to put it on your shopping list for over the Christmas! It is full of so much inspiration but on top of all that you get this beautiful 12 months of Inspiration from Selina Lake in the form of a 2013 Calendar- the images are so beautiful and cheerful, it would look wonderful anywhere in the home.... Feast your eyes on the lovely images below...

Selina Lake Inspiration from Mollie Makes

Hello fellow bloggers,

It is early days yet but how is 2010 going for you so far? Did you do anything nice for the first weekend of the year? Or have you been relaxing or cleaning up after Christmas? I went to the Euro Shop this weekend and got a pack with lovely stickers and three sheets of patterned floral paper for cardmaking and I also picked up blank cards and envelopes, take a look at them below. So now I can start to make some greeting cards. It's two of my friends birthdays in February so I'll make them a handmade card and I may also attempt a Valentine's one too as I'm new to cardmaking haven't tried it myself since primary school.Weather is still very cold here in Ireland and its freezing very hard but I'm lovely and warm here at the fire. I had a few bits to finish off on my latch hook mat with the cats on it, so I finished it tonight. Now I am working on my new latch hook wall hanging. My sewing has a lot to be desired for, I made two wee hearts which aren't fully complete yet but they are very rough and ready. I will also have to do some work on my Bird ID Booklet this week too. What craft project are you working on now?

Floral paper and stickers

Close up of some of the stickers

Clear stickers

Blank cards & envelopes

To live a creative life,

we must lose our fear of being wrong

~Joseph Chilton Pearce

My Goals for 2010
Remember a goal is a dream with a deadline!

No.1 Eat healthier so instead of biscuits with mugs of tea- replace with cream crackers, replace cake and sweets with fruit

{Seasoned Fork}

No.2 Keep positive, jot down positive thoughts and ideas in my notebook

{My own photo}

No.3 Complete my plant and bird identification booklets

{My own work}

No. 4 Study for my course

{My photo}

No.5 Keep in contact with my friends reguarly

{Poster print}

No.6 Continue with my craft projects- finish off any which are unfinished, keep practicing on my new sewing machine

{My own work}

No.7 Make more handmade projects

{HobbyCraft}

No.8 Buy some blank white cards to make greeting cards

{Confetti}

No.9 Continue taking photographs of my travels and my local area at home

{My own photo}

No.10 Spend more time outdoors

{A painting at home}

No. 11 Appreciate those I love

{Molla Space}

No. 12 Start a very big project (It's top secret though so I can't share with you all yet)

No. 13 Declutter my walk in wardrobe which I was meant to do ages ago and sort out all my clothes

{Paul Foreman Mind Map Inspiration}

No. 14 Start back with my To- Do Lists as they were very helpful

{boygirlparty}

No. 15 Keep applying for jobs and try and not get down about them

No. 16 Improve my cooking skills

{Neven Maguire}

No.17 Don't worry about little things as much

{Oxfam}

No.18 Grow vegetables

{Honest to Goodness Vegetable Garden}

No. 19 Organise my time better- i.e schedule for the week ahead

{MinModMax}

No. 20 And most importantly enjoy life :)

{Karen Tribett}

 *Photograph from National Geographic

I have read a number of posts on various blogs relating to the New Year and New Year Resolutions. Do you make any New Year Resolutions?  I was just reading Laurie Anne's post from Rebel Blossom about making a list of things to accomplish in 2010 and I have decided to make a list of goals/dreams for 2010. As the saying goes

A goal is a dream with a deadline

but I have also read that a goal without a plan is just a wish, so I will plan my dreams, and I am being realistic. I am not dreaming of winning the lottery or something silly like this.
So why not set goals and reach for the moon, because if you don't make it, you'll land among the stars. Anthony Robbins said that 'setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible'.

So whether you make New Year Resolutions, make a list of things to accomplish, or a list of goals or dreams, remember that if you don't like something change it and if you can't change it, change the way you think about it! So maybe you will make some minor changes in your life for the New Year.

Oprah Winfrey once said
Cheers to a New Year and another change for us to get it right 

and we all know that the biggest room in the world is the room for improvement. So whatever your resolutions, changes, targets, goals or dreams are for the New Year I hope you all achieve what you want and have a Wonderful New Year in 2010.

And remember in the end, It's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years

                                                                    ~Abraham  Lincoln