Looking Ahead

I love the feeling that washes over me at the beginning of a new year. I'm not one to make New Year's Resolutions, but I still feel such a strong sense of new beginnings and motivation seems to abound. A fresh burst of energy seems to naturally come with the first days of a new year; and I mean to take full advantage of it!

Personally I don't make New Year's Resolutions, but I DO make goals and plans for the year. And this year I am especially itching to create my list and hop to it. This year looks to be a quiet one for us; yes we are welcoming a new baby at the end of February but other than that we really have no big changes or events lined up . . . no vacations, no weddings, no big purchases planned. And I am really looking forward to it.

In 2012 we had a very eventful year. We began in a rough place . . . we moved to a new house (moving not only your house, but also your business is incredibly stressful!) and lost a pregnancy all in the same weekend, just before Christmas. Our spirits were pretty low as we started the year. It didn't get much better with some unpleasant surprises like our kitchen pipes bursting and both our vehicles needing repairs at the same time. I felt like we were just limping along for the first half of the year. Things turned around in the summer after we took our very first real family vacation; we must have needed a reset. The fall and winter were much better, but overall 2012 was full of rollercoaster ups and downs and a lot of big events and just generally being so busy I felt two steps behind at all times.

Looking ahead to a year that seems to be shaping up to be quiet and uneventful is just what this family needs. I am excited to be able to just enjoy our growing family, catch up on "life", and have the funds to complete some projects around the house. It's going to be a good year! A quiet year. Oh please, be a quiet year!



With all that said, I am eager to set some goals and begin working toward them for 2013!

-Finish decorating the nursery. We're almost there!

-Build two small raised garden beds and grow my own veggies this summer

-Expand my back flowerbed, plant a few new bushes and shrubs. 

-Makeover our amazing, but very blue, covered deck and spend lots of time enjoying it

-Continue to save money toward our future kitchen renovation

-Finally purchase window treatments for the main living areas of the house

And the last two I guess are more like a traditional resolution rather than a goal, but I am including them anyway

-Complete the Couch to 5K program

-Spend a lot less time on the couch and more time living life

I hope to finish a lot of work on this big ugly house of ours this year. So many rooms still need a coat of paint, and we are tossing around the idea of starting our bathroom renovation, or at least the first phase of it. I am so eager to make this house our home!