Tag: list

33 Goals for Year 33

Katie4 Comments

I didn’t mean for a whole month to pass before posting again.  We’ve been so busy this past few weeks, and I’m excited to say spring is around the corner.  I celebrated my birthday on Sunday with dinner outside and strawberry shortcake Jude helped me make.  It was a perfect way to begin my year and inaugurate the spring and summer.  Longer days and more time outside lie ahead.

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I’ve seen goal lists for new year’s posts and birthdays, and I love the idea, so I decided to do one for myself.  As always, accountability is a reason to post it here, and I figure it will be fun to post a little every now and then on my progress.  Some of these are a little embarrassing in that they are things I should be doing already, but I am putting it all out here anyway.  Some are just for fun.   I hope to come back to this post and cross them off as I get them done.   I love fresh slates and new beginnings, and I have a good feeling about 33.

1. Go to the dentist.  (Recently neglected for me.  I think it’s been about two years!)

2. Get an actual physical.  (So embarrassing to admit this, but 2007 was the last time I had a physical.  Seven years ago!)

3. Establish somewhat regular exercise.  Emphasis being on somewhat – I’d be happy with 1-2 times a week if it really happens.)

4. Start submitting some freelance writing pieces for publication.

5. Travel somewhere I’ve never been before.

6. Start using my camera again – not just my iPhone.

7. Get at least three facials before I turn 34.  (My friend’s skincare clinic is AMAZING, and I’m old enough to take care of my skin a little better.  I love visiting her for treatments when I can.)

8. Discover a new musician or two.

9. See three movies in the theater.  ( I never do this anymore!)

10. Go on a few real dates.

11. Blog more often, at least 24 more entries before I turn 34.

12.Pack some good food for a real picnic once this spring or fall.

13. Have some fun new experiences with the kids – maybe a day trip, a new museum, festivals, etc.

14. Get to know our library.  It is walking distance from our home and just opened this year.

15. Get to know our new farmer’s market this summer.  It’s busy and thriving and one mile down the street.  So much better than the supermarket!

16. See a concert.

17. Focus on taking a true sabbath every week. No plans, at least a few hours of no housework and phones and computers.

18. Master steak in a cast iron skillet. (Some claim it’s the best way to cook them.)

19. Make homemade gnocchi.

20. Complete 5 knitting projects.

21. Create more time for reading, and finish more books.  (I’m leaving them unfinished so shamefully often lately.)

22. Establish some flowers and vegetables in our back yard.

23. Create a reading nook in our master bedroom.

24. Finish the family recipe book I began last year.

25. Complete Norah’s second year album.

26. Finish our 2014 family album.

27. Finish the guest bedroom in our house.

28. Get a better understanding of retirement savings and save more in general.  (I know we put money away, but at this age, you don’t question or worry too much.  I could examine it a lot more carefully.)

29. Continue to invest more time in my close friendships.  Maybe even a brief girls’ trip this year.

30. Streamline my closet a bit, throw out old clothing and be ruthless about it this time.

31. Share 6 recipes here.

32. Go strawberry picking with the kids and enjoy the apple orchards again as we did last year.

33. Make use of our screened porch and outside space this summer.  (I have big plans for ferns, rugs, extra seating, and a sandbox for the kids.)

Thanks for reading if you’ve made it this far.  What about you?  Any goals for the upcoming year or the season ahead?  Spring is a great time to make big plans.

thirty.

Katie7 Comments

I am thirty years old today.

And I have typed a little here on this page just to backspace and delete every single time. As is the case with most other monumental occasions, it’s hard to decide exactly what to say, to put your own feelings and ideas into words.
thirty

I’ll say something I didn’t expect to say: I’m happy to be at this number.  Your twenties are such a glittery decade, but I feel like I’m ready to turn the page.  When you reach the next step concerning life or career or education or age or whatever, you can’t help but look back and think about what you learned and how you’ve changed. So I hate to be all I-know-everything-now-that-I-am-older about things because surely I don’t. Surely I’ll look at this post sometime later and laugh at my naivety and what I didn’t know, but that’s the joy of life – growth and change and gratitude along the way.  Nevertheless, a list of 30 things I’ve learned in 30 years:

  1. I’ve learned that you can wait around for your life to start, but really , this is it. Wherever the this is for you right now, it won’t happen again. There have been moments, I’m ashamed to say, when I thought when I graduate, things really begin.  When this semester is over, I can do that.  When we move, life will be different.  Blah blah blah.  In the words of Wordsworth, “To begin, begin.”
  2. I’ve learned to be what you are. Even if you’re not tan or you don’t wear heels or you aren’t always where you expected to be.
  3. I’ve learned that people should wear sunscreen.
  4. And eat more vegetables.
  5. I know that travel is the best reset button for any amount of monotony or restlessness.
  6. Give me a movie with thick British accents and some period costumes, and I’m a happy girl.
  7. Every now and then you should do something just because you feel like it.
  8. But life definitely isn’t only about what you feel like doing.
  9. I’ve learned that I love literature, and I don’t care that you think it’s nerdy.
  10. I love poetry, and I don’t care that you think it’s pretentious.
  11. While we’re at it, I also love Simon and Garfunkel.
  12. And slow, sad movies that make you cry.
  13. I know that I don’t like roasted red peppers.
  14. Or cantaloupe.
  15. I know that cooking dinner is my favorite part of the day, and I use real butter and heavy cream, and I don’t care that they’re not fashionable right now.
  16. I know that, at the end of the day, there aren’t many things that a glass of Cabernet and a long bath can’t fix.
  17. I’ve learned that creating something feels so good.
  18. Cooking dinner with a glass of wine and good music on the stereo is an unfiltered, heavy dose of happy.
  19. Food is far more than sustenance.
  20. Live music is good for you.
  21. Teaching is a profession you can love and hate at the same time.
  22. Kindness usually pays off.
  23. It’s sometimes really hard to be honest or genuine, but good people are always attracted to the “real” in someone.
  24. I know that life isn’t fair, but the happy outweighs the sad.
  25. To be more specific, there have been some painfully unfair elements about my own little life, but it’s a happy one nonetheless. I am still a lucky girl.
  26. I’ve learned that there are many types of love, so many different manifestations.
  27. Loving someone, with any type of love, is the best feeling in the whole world.
  28. I know that birth is a heavy transformation.
  29. I know, with all certainty, that of all the incarnations I’ve been, of all the hats I’ve worn, motherhood is clearly the best. It is fulfillment and wonder every single day, and it drowns out all the white noise in my life.
  30. I’ve learned that those tiny, seemingly insignificant moments actually emerge as the most powerful for me, the most meaningful of my life.  So stressing and pontificating over milestones like this one are really useless tasks.  It’s all the everyday life in between these things that gives me meaning.

So I’ll leave it at that.  Life is calling my name – the fun stuff and the boring stuff.  And I’ve got no time to think about younger years when my ass was tighter or my days were more carefree, except to be grateful for them.  I’ll pack them up and move right along to this new place.