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​2021 is finally here! 2020 seriously felt like the never-ending year. As we welcome this new year, we wanted to take a look back at 2020. So much has happened! Here’s a rundown of 10 of our most popular posts. Keep reading to see what our number 1 post of 2020 was, some honorable mentions, and what you can expect from us moving forward.

Another older post, this post from 2019 was one of our most popular posts this year. It’s a tutorial for making a handy scarf for the kitchen that means you will always have a towel on hand!

This was a fun way to bring our family together virtually even though we couldn’t get together in person. Read the post to see how we did it and do it with your own family! It was fun for adults and kids alike.

If you’re a fan of tiramisu but not a fan of coffee, you’ll definitely want to try this recipe Alicia gave us! It wasn’t originally posted in 2020, but Alicia gave it a revamp and posted it again as part of our 12 Days of Christmas Recipes. Yum!

Despite being in quarantine for most of 2020, this post featuring our Adventures with Grandparents poster is one of our top posts of the year! Experience gifts like this just give over and over again, so it’s easy to see why.

Throughout quarantine, many of us took up breadmaking as a hobby with delicious results! If you’ve come to love breadmaking, you need to try out this recipe my mom made in March. It is so delicious!

Everybody has felt isolated during lockdowns and quarantine, and it has been such a tough year for so many people. In this post we detailed different ways you can serve and help ease the burden for people in your communities and families. Feel free to add your own ideas in the comments as well.

​This year my mom tried out Stitch Fix and wrote a review. Spoilers: she loves it! In fact, she’s still using it! Learn more about why she loves it and sign up to try it yourself onthis post.

If you’re looking for a fun and easy sewing project, these cute little aprons are the perfect solution! The kids in our family loved them!

Even though it was posted later in the year, Lindsey’s post about sweet baby Elodie was our number one post of the year. Truly we were so blessed to feel the love and support you have all given her family this year. I won’t say much here, but if you haven’t read it yet you can read Lindsey’s story here to learn more about this sweet angel baby and the impact her life had on us all.

​We have so many great things planned as we head into 2021. I’m so excited for you all to see! We are constantly working on new hot cocoa bomb flavors, delicious recipes, family activities, and printables to make your life better.

Thank you for all of the growing support you’ve given us in 2020. Every like, comment, and share means so much to us. Here’s to a great new year full of wonderful opportunities and love!

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​After a year like 2020, the importance of self care has become more apparent than ever. The only problem is that all too often, self care is branded as bubble baths, shopping trips, and vacations. And while these things can be helpful, I think of them more as Band-Aids than actual self care.

Really, self care is about creating sustainable habits and a lifestyle that is beneficial to you and your mental health. Towards the end of this past year, I started working on creating these habits for myself and in just a few months started experiencing the benefits, after years of struggling with depression and anxiety.

By implementing these habits of self care, I’ve been able to increase my motivation, productivity, and energy. I know I’m not the only one who can benefit from these habits, so I wanted to share them and encourage you to try them out for yourself.

​This probably sounds kinda dumb and underwhelming, but hear me out.

Oftentimes when I would go through a depressive episode, things like cleaning would fall to the wayside. Dishes would pile up, laundry wouldn’t get done, and living in a dirty place would just make me feel more depressed, creating a cycle that is difficult to break out of.

By making the bed every day, I was doing one small thing that broke the cycle. My bedroom looked better with it made and it meant that even if I did nothing else all day, I had accomplished one thing. Many times it would also encourage and motivate me to clean up the rest of the house. Eventually it just became part of my morning routine and I actually enjoy doing it now.

​This one is simple but very important. Water is essential for life, but chances are you aren’t drinking enough for your body. A good way to find out how much water your body needs is to take your body weight in pounds, divide it in 2, and drink that much in ounces.

For example, if you weigh 180 pounds, you would want to drink 90 ounces of water a day. 

If you are like me and don’t weigh yourself, you can either just approximate your weight or stick to the standard “8 glasses a day” and see how that makes you feel. Bottles like this are also great for keeping track of how much water you are drinking throughout the day!

​I’ve found that a habit like this can help keep you grounded during difficult times. It can be as simple as mindful stretching or taking a walk everyday or more extensive workouts like weightlifting or running everyday. The important thing is that during the exercise, you focus on how your body feels.

I liked to incorporate stretching into my morning and nighttime routines. It helped me to feel that connection throughout the entire day and relax before going to bed. 

No matter your age, gender, or hobbies, a skincare routine is important! If you don’t have one at all, I highly encourage you to start a simple one. At the very least you should be cleansing, moisturizing, and using sunscreen (yes, even if it isn’t sunny out).

Setting a regular skincare routine is truly doing future you a favor, and spending a couple minutes on it in the morning and evening are worth the long term benefits.

​It is so easy to focus on the negative in our lives, and I don’t want to discount how difficult life can really be for some people, especially during a global pandemic. But focusing on only the bad is detrimental to your mental health. 

I firmly believe that there is something to be grateful for every day, like little rays of sunshine that leak into our lives when it’s dark. By being intentional about finding these rays of sunshine, we leave more room for them to appear.

I started listing 5 things every day. Some days they were more extravagant than others, but eventually I became more appreciative of even the little things.

​Just a couple days ago, Alicia wrote about journaling and shared some great journal prompts you can use. Now, I’m not a spill your guts on the page kinda gal like Alicia. I usually just write a couple sentences about my day or how I’m feeling and leave it at that. But however you like to journal, just do it!

It’s a healthy emotional and mental release, as well as a great way to document your progress and experiences in life.

​This habit is so important, especially if you are still dealing with lockdowns or working from home. It’s no secret that social media can have negative effects on mental health, and staring at a screen all day is not good for your physical health either.

Find a hobby you enjoy that can give you a break from all the screens! Baking, hiking, reading, crafting, you name it. It doesn’t matter how good you are at it. Exercise your mind and give your eyes a break, even if it’s just 30 minutes a day.

​Stop overexerting yourself. Stop giving all of your time and energy to everyone else around you while neglecting yourself. Get in the habit of having time everyday that is just for you, where you aren’t working or focusing on someone else. It’s okay to spend time focusing on yourself and just relaxing! It doesn’t make you a bad parent, friend, employee, or person. 

This may take the longest to truly learn and realize, but once you do it is liberating!

I hope that you’ve found something useful here. Which of these self care habits are you going to try next year?  

• Happy New Year Hot  Cocoa Bombs
• What to Read Wednesday: Journals
• 6 Habits That Will Upgrade Your Life

With the year coming to its end, I'm in a contemplative mood reflecting on the happenings of the past year. I feel like it's a perfect time to journal.

I've been journalling my whole life (since 2nd grade). I don't do any of the cool bullet journalling, though I love to admire it. No, I'm more of a spill my guts on the page type of girl. But sometimes it can be hard for me to think of what to write. In fact, when I was 21, I had a goal to write in my journal everyday, which I accomplished but some of my entries literally said "I'm tired. Today was boring" and that's it! So I accomplished my goal but maybe without the best results. Recently, with quarantining and staying home it's seemed like days blend together and I'm not sure what I could write about each day that would be different. For this reason my journaling has, sadly, fallen behind.

To take my journalling to the next level I decided to create prompts that I can use over and over again but what I'm writing won't be the same every day. I took 4 different types of days we all have; great, bad, boring, and days when you're feeling nostalgic and I wrote 6 different prompts for each day. I put them on little cards I can keep in my journal and use as a jumping off point to help me get my writing started and have it be a bit more thoughtful and interesting. 

As I wrote the prompts I wanted to make sure they were geared to positivity but realistic in expectations of what could be written. For example, on the bad day prompts I have "Vent about your day" but I also ask "Who put a smile on your face today?" I am a big believer in looking for the good and for those who help us out. I also have prompts that may seem like they're only good for one use like "Describe the best meal you've ever had," but that could become "Describe the best dessert you've ever had," "Describe the best day you've ever had," etc. Make the prompts work best for you! To get the cards just click the button below to download them!

I love journaling​. It helps me clear my head and gain new perspectives. I also love that I can go back and read about my own life and it's easier for me to remember lessons I've learned. Sometimes reading what I wrote when I was younger makes me cringe, but it's all part of growing up and it's what has made me who I am today! 

A journal is most effective when you try to be as honest as possible. That's what I've tried to steer towards with these journal prompts and what makes me excited to use them. I like to think of my journal as a friend who only listens without judgement. This way I can gain more insight into my own life.  

Another thing that makes journaling effective is having journaling supplies you love. I found these vegan leather journals on Etsy that are amazing. I personally like using fine liner pens to write in my journal. But find the supplies that you like best. If you want more of my recommendations you can check out this post where I tell all my favorites.

If journaling is a goal you have this coming new year, I know that these prompt cards would be great to keep with your journal and help on days you're just not quite sure what to write about.

    Although some voices in the world today would have you believe otherwise, we at 3 Winks Design know that "Wise men (and women) still seek Him!"
   May His love be in your homes and hearts during this Christmas time and throughout the year. 
   We are distantly spending time together as a family for a few days, and then our postings will begin again! We look forward to having you stop by!