In this post – getting organized, planning for the new year, and a long weekend at the Pebble Beach resort.
Welcome to B2B Weekend Vibes – a roundup of current goings-on From the Bay to the Beach. Here you’ll find a few of my favorite things and a peek into my life every 1st and 3rd weekend of the month. Glad to have you here!
Happy New Year!
Starting the Year Off Organized
I don’t know about you, but I always find January to be a huge relief after the excesses of the holidays. I’m feeling motivated to declutter and simplify as much as possible before the new year really gets rolling.
I love having spaces dedicated to office-type tasks. I’m really looking forward to putting the cloffice to good use when we’re back in San Diego. (You can find out more about that project in this post.) Until then, I’ll be focusing on getting our Bay Area home organized for the new year, starting with our holiday decorations.
Christmas Decor Storage
I spent extra time this week reorganizing our Christmas decorations so that I can easily pull out the tubs and put the them up next Christmas. My tip is to pack the decorations away by area. For example, I have a tub labeled “MANTEL GARLAND” and I put all of the mantel decorations in it. Another tub is labeled “KITCHEN + BAR” and has all of the kitchen and home bar decorations. You get the idea.
This also means that anything I didn’t use this year is probably being donated. Although we have a handy basement (which in California-speak means a large crawl space under the house) to store all of the decorations, it’s easier to not have to sift through stuff I’m not using anymore.
I also finally invested in some new storage for our tree, wrapping paper, wreaths and ornaments. The old plastic ornament tubs I inherited from my parents when they downsized over 20 years ago finally bit the dust. I’m looking forward to a much more organized decorating experience next Christmas!
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If you’re in the midst of packing away your holiday decor, be sure check out this free ebook for some handy tips! The download is available in this post.
More Organizing Solutions
Be sure to check out this post for some of my favorite organizing gadgets, from my favorite label maker to handy charging cord holders. Best of all they’re all under $25!
Calendaring the New Year
Now is the time when my husband and I sit down with our yearly calendar and map out any and all vacations, business trips, graduations, etc. It’s going to be another full and exciting year for our family.
We also have to plan for when we want to be in San Diego and when we want to be in the Bay Area. Our friends always ask us if we split our time 50/50 between our two places. The answer is yes- for the most part. We’ve been spending part of winter/spring and most of fall in San Diego – basically the “shoulder” seasons. We spend the summer in the Bay Area along with the fall/winter holidays.
It might seem counter-intuitive to not be in San Diego in the summer, but between the fog and the tourists, we’ve been happy to enjoy summer in the Bay until school starts and the weather improves, usually by mid-August.
Favorite Planners
I’m a visual person, so I like to have things written out on paper in front of me in order to keep myself organized. I do keep a calendar on my phone, but I also like to have a printed calendar so that I can see the big picture for the whole year. As a stationery store nerd, I look forward to buying a new planner each year. If you’re also in the market for a new yearly planner, there are a whole range of them out there, from fancy leather-bound ones to simple spiral notebooks.
Anthropologie
These pretty faux leather-bound 17-Month Monogram planners from Anthropologie are both classic and functional. Although it’s a little on the expensive side, it would look chic sitting out on a desk. It has vertical writing space in case you need more room to keep track of everything and the gold monogram is pretty.
Target
A more budget-friendly option is this colorful planner Ramon & Ruth 12 month planner from Target. It also includes a yearly overview, plus pages for a birthday tracker, goals & aspirations, and 2026 in review.
Shutterfly
For a more personalized approach you can design your own planner cover at Shutterfly. The planner is blank so you can fill it in with whatever starting date you want.
Amazon
After shopping around online, I ultimately ordered this vegan-leather bound planner from Amazon. It has color tabs and a storage pocket for all of the paper odds and ends that seem to accumulate over the year. The best part is that it’s only $15!
2026 Vegan Leather Cover Calendar Planner, 8.5″ x 11″ Agenda with Color Tabs, Inner Pocket, Spiral
Buy Now →A Long Weekend at Pebble Beach
Right after Christmas we headed down the coast to spend four nights at the Inn at Spanish Bay, which is part of the Pebble Beach Resort.
Accommodations
We had never stayed there before, but now that we know how nice the rooms are I’m sure we’ll be back. Our room faced the ocean and overlooked the 1st fairway. It was a large room with a cozy fireplace and a spacious bath with a soaking tub. We were super comfortable.
It didn’t take me long to find my favorite spot for the weekend.
The iconic Spanish Bay bagpiper played his bagpipes as he strolled right past our room at sunset each night, which was a special experience.
There are several restaurants on-site and we tried out several of them. We honestly weren’t that impressed with the food. The service throughout the resort was excellent though. On our last night we had dinner at The Pocket in nearby Carmel-by-the-Sea, which was very good.
Golf
I’m not a great golfer by any stretch, but it’s always fun to try out new courses. The views from the Spanish Bay course are amazing. The beginning and end of the round is right by the beach. It was so pretty I could almost forget how badly I played on the the last four holes. 🙂 To be fair, it’s a challenging course. They are apparently redesigning it next year, so we’ll see if it becomes a little more player-friendly.
Happy New Year!
Thanks for visiting my little corner of the internet. I hope you have a happy and healthy 2026!
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