Surely this isn't a novel idea. But I wanted to come up with 12 things to do this year. Resolutions? Goals? Whatever you call it, we're doing it. Kraig and I are always trying to improve our lifestyle and just live with more intention. We never document it though, and maybe recording it will help us to stay accountable.
Here we go.
1. Go to Hawaii. We really want to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary in Hawaii with our two boys. This means 3 airplane tickets, a whole lot of research and planning, and- you guessed it- a lot of cash. So we're saving our pennies in order to make this happen.
2. Eat healthier. We had a "family meeting" just a week ago about this. We got really lax in 2011 since I was prego (crazy cravings, diabetes diet, etc.) and we need to really tighten up our eating. I specifically want to start making some things here at home to reduce our intake of processed foods. Ice cream and faux meat (ie seitan, etc.) will all be homemade from now on. Also- bake all our bread.
3. Meal Plan. This will help with #2, and also slipped in 2011 for the same reasons as #2. I want to cook 5 meals a week (I usually do this anyway) and try to utilize my pantry more so that we have less food waste. I want to make meals I've never tried before (I usually just cook from the hip, so to speak, and always make my "usuals".)
4. Be more positive. Kraig and I are generally snarky, sarcastic, and cynical people. Oh, you noticed? Yeah, it's true. We don't mean for it to be mean, but sometimes it comes across that way. The only way to fix that is to stop it! We're really positive, sweet people but I don't think that is the vibe we give off, and that makes me sad. So instead of trying to be funny (sarcasm and snark are not the right way to do that) we need to just be genuine.
5. Organize my computer and keep it that way. My photos are a wreck, my documents are not at all organized. I need my computer to be efficient because it's such a time-suck right now.
6. Take more photos. I'd like to take pictures for no reason- not just when we're doing something worthwhile. I might do a "day in the life" series and just document one day a month- random shots throughout the day, not staged or prepped. Just keep the camera ready and get some photos of our day-to-day....
7. Love more intentionally. We juggle a lot of things and also take on too much. Rather than doing more, we need to focus on doing less with more intention.
8. Pay down debt. We're seriously going to take care of a lot of debt this year. For real. We always use our tax return to do this, so hopefully by next month this will be taken care of.
9. Get fit. I am done having kids, so it's time to really get my body back in shape. I am at my normal weight, I'm just "squishy". Time to take care of that. I think I can get Kraig on board with this, too. We've plateaued at our body's ideal weights, yet we're not at all in shape. Biking, getting out with the boys, going on family walks.... we can do this.
10. Get more "me" time. I am a better mom and wife when I am not stressed to the max. I need to give myself breaks so I can come back refreshed. Kraig needs to help me do this. We also need to go on more dates. We have wonderful sitters at our disposal, right next door! We need to take advantage of that instead of going on a measly 2 dates a year (no exaggeration).
11. Save some money. I hope that while we pay down debt and save for our trip(s) that we are also able to just SAVE. Kraig will be getting another promotion and pay raise soon, so that should help. We also need to reign in our spending.
12. Purge, purge, purge. We have WAY too much stuff. A lot of it is necessary (we are a family of 4 + dog) but we have way more than we NEED. We will make it a point to purge regularly this year. Seasonally? Monthly? Who knows, but we're doing it. There is no reason why our kids' toys should be taking over the entire house.
I am going to set reminders for myself in iCal and hopefully post with updates on our progress. Cheers to a new year! I think posting a list around the house would be helpful as well.
02 January 2012
New Year's 2012
We had a wonderful New Year's celebration here in the Buesch house. It's nice being on pacific time- we can watch the ball drop in NY at 9pm our time!
We didn't even do that this year, though- we decided to watch an old youtube video of it so that we could get Owen to bed around 8pm.
We had a nice dinner followed by a sparkling apple cider toast.
On New Year's Day we had hoppin' john, steamed kale, and tempeh. It was so good if I do say so myself.
More sparkling cider, and the beginning of a special tradition- New Year's fondue! I made vanilla biscotti to go with it, and we had some fruit.... bananas and out-of-season and appropriately unripe strawberries.
Since New Year's marks the last of the holiday season, let me just mention here that it is both fun and intimidating to be in charge of framing our children's schematics and ideas surrounding holiday celebrations. This was the first year that we could discuss, plan, and implement with Owen's help. He was excited about the holidays and we certainly wanted to deliver an awesome experience on each special day. We wanted great memories, wonderful traditions, and a sense of something extraordinary and special. Having a baby on Thanksgiving kind of threw a kink in it but I don't think Owen noticed- I think it was just my hypersensitivity about it. I may not have been able to do all the things I wanted to do but he still had a memorable and sweet holiday season. We're looking forward to making many more memories in the years to come. Holidays sure become more meaningful and wonderful when there are little ones in the home.
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