Friday, January 4, 2013

Welcome 2013!

I love January.  I love the clean slate.  I love having the hustle and bustle of the Holiday season behind me.  I love taking inventory.  I love planning for the new year.  And since I also love making lists, here are several things that I resolve to focus on in the year 2013:

1.  Make eye contact and smile more:  I'm socially awkward.  I don't know why, but I am.  In just the last few days I've discovered how uplifting it can be to make more eye contact, smile more and exchange pleasantries with friends, with family and with complete strangers at Target (which is my second home).

2. Host more gatherings: Our house doesn't have to be perfect or 'finished' to have people over on a regular basis.  Let's face it, my house will never be finished, and the quirky unfinished parts are okay, and what make our home ours.  Also, people are really important.  Is there anything more important, really?  And connecting with others in our home on a more regular basis is going to be a blast this year!

3. Maintain a Positive Outlook: This year, I want to remember that in every negative, unexpected, disappointing and upsetting situation, there can be positive, exciting, uplifting and blessed opportunities. Sometimes, you just have to work a bit to find them, but they are always there. I want to keep my eyes open to the positive opportunities in all aspects of my life.

4.  Meal Plan:  This one is fairly self explanatory.  We don't have a great meal plan.  I want at least a six week meal plan that gives great variety and includes kid friendly options, so we aren't making two meals every night or eating the same exact thing every fifth day.  This project is a big one, and will require a good amount of trial and error.

5. Organize: This one comes quite naturally to me.  I love organizing cupboards, closets and rooms.  What I really want to organize this year, however, are two daunting areas: our music and our digital photos. 

Music:
We have a huge box full of cd sleeves from our life before kids when we actually bought cd's and attended live shows.  I love my music collection.  I seriously love it, but I haven't listened to it in eons.  We have a computer.  We have an ipod.  It's time to get these CDs into the 21st century and onto user friendly playlists.  2013 will be the year of music in this house. 

Pictures:
As for our photos, I have to come up with a system to keep family and blog pictures separate, and to organize the huge quantities of pictures we already have.  I picture myself sitting in front of a computer for hours working on this...I'm thinking good music would help the process go faster:)!

6. Simplify.  We constantly fight a battle against 'stuff', and although we're doing better on this front than this time last year, we can do better.  I already have a third of our sun porch aka 'winter refrigerator' filled with garage sale items.  Our annual spring garage sale is perfectly timed for a winter purge fest.  After the holidays, I have a good 4-5 months to set aside things that we've outgrown or no longer use.  It always feels so great too get this unused stuff out of our house.

7.  Find balance: For the past 5 years almost all of my focus has been on being a Mom.  In fact, if you asked me, "Who are you?"  The one response that comes to mind is, "I'm a Mom."  But the truth is, I'm more than that.  I'm a sports loving, organizationally talented, sappy movie watching, deal shopping, creative soul and I think its time for me to pursue my interests more.  I'm just trying to figure out what that might mean for me.  My eyes are wide open for opportunities that might present, and I'm giddy thinking about the possibilities!

Just writing this post has me energized and excited about the upcoming year.  So excited that there's a big smile on my face write now...I'm practicing #1 already!!

8 comments:

  1. these are all great and i love he thought behind them! and while you are planning your meals, want to do mine? i stink at that! ;)

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    1. Thanks Cassie!! As soon as I figure out our meals, I'll be sure to write a super detailed post:)! Better meal planning seems to be on everyone's resolution lists this year!

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  2. Well maybe we can work through some of these as a team. I see a lot of overlap in what 2013 has in store for me as well. Let me know when you try out some kid friendly recipes and they work for you and I will do the same. I am going to try and make those breakfast cookies that I saw on Pinterest this week. Might be a fast/healthy breakfast the kids can eat on the way to school.

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    1. Is it bad that the Wonder Pets song is in my head from your comment...'What's going to work? Team work!' How did your breakfast cookies turn out?? Can you bring me one tomorrow:)? J/K sort of. I'll pass along any kid friendly meals I find!

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  3. Is meal planning on everyone's list? We just talked about needing to do that at lunch today... we have nothing at home for dinner, and no thoughts about what to have. I hate that feeling and am determined to do better this year - I think 2 weeks or more is a great idea so we don't repeat as much.

    I'll be one of your test subjects at Target. I'm always talking to strangers there... some will respond in a friendly way and some think I'm wierd. Don't be discouraged by the "some lunatic is trying to have a conversation with me" people - it's fun when you find the ones that respond in kind. Be Positive!
    :-)

    BTW, Thanks for finding the coasters to fast! They are really cool!
    I'm glad you are back. I've been home sick these early days of the year and just waiting for the sunshine to come back online. I'm back at work now, but decided to look for you anyway. Shhh don't tell anyone.
    -Mary

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    1. Hi Mary,

      I hope you are feeling better now!! I'm glad you like the coasters...I had to buy them at that price:)!!

      Let me know if you come up with any great meals!!
      Beth

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