I have been informally forming a list of things I want to do this year and I am going to go ahead and formalize that list here on the internet. Here are the top five things I want to do this year… these aren’t radical, life changing or even selfless things by any means. They are just 5 things I want to do for myself.
Train for my 10k
Honey and I are signed up for a 10k in April so it’s time to get moving. I used to periodically do a 10k on my daily walks but haven’t done more than a 5k since I hurt my knee skiing last February.
Attend the vigil mass
Sunday mornings have been a real challenge for us lately. I feel like it is a fight to get out of the door and then the day starts off on a really bad foot. We almost always went to the Saturday vigil mass growing up and I want to try that this year with my family. I personally prefer the Sunday mass but I really think this one might be a better fit for us as a family at the phase where we are right now.
Stop eating out
We spent a ridiculous amount of money eating out last year. Trying to figure out how to work at home, juggling new school schedules and having them in two different sports all contributed to this. The sickening part of it is that 90% of our eating out was at places like Chick-fil-A, Zoe’s and Chipotle. Not even memorable meals. We got in this rut years ago and cut out ALL fast food. As a “reward” we went out to one nice dinner each month, trying a new place every time.
Figure out a work schedule
I am awful at this whole working from home thing. I know it sounds so ridiculous but I have no boundaries or routine anymore and feel like I just play whack a mole most days :-). I need to figure out some sort of a new schedule that balances household to-dos, the blog, the etsy shop and the travel business.
Start on a bathroom reno
Our bathroom is hideous, which I’m really not all that bothered by aesthetically seeing as it has been 9 years and I’ve done nothing about it (photo from 2012). The whole project seems so overwhelming to me that I have put it off year after year after year. However, it has caused three leaks in our den (like, cut the walls and ceilings out kind of leaks….), we have no bathtub anymore (had to cut the pipes to that), we have two giant holes in the walls up there (due to all of the needed repairs) and, the straw that broke the camel’s back, I now have no hot water in my sink. I’m not saying we are actually going to complete the reno this year, but I have promised Honey that I will start getting estimates and try to figure out a plan. Then we can assess whether or not we can afford it and still travel OR if we need to really budget for it next year. Priorities! (on that note, I’d love any recommendations on contractors in the North Atlanta area)
Like I said, my list is both unexciting and uninspiring, but the reality of it is that these are things I need to do. Now, I want to know what is on YOUR list for 2018!!!
Thank you for this very REAL and down-to-earth list for 2018! I’m always so appreciative of how relatable your content is — a perfect mix of pretty and the occasionally not-so-pretty parts of life! Best of luck as you knock these goals out of the park.
I am happy about posts like this. I mean, I still love all of the posts that lead me to believe that your whole house looks like it came from a magazine and that you set a perfect table for every meal. But it is nice to see posts like this as well-with normal, everyday things that are still fun to read and interesting.
Oh love, it sounds like you need to prioritise the bathroom reno. That sort of thing has such an effect on your daily life without you realising it. I bet you tense going in there without noticing. You are paying the cost of putting off the work, literally paying the cost in the work to stop and fix leaks, so as long as you don’t go crazy with marble, you’ll save money in the long term.
Good practical list, Amanda. I can relate to the schedule thing. When I retired three years ago, I couldn’t get this being at home thing down. The retirement came at a good time, since I had a parent die and moved my other one here, not in our home, but in a townhouse close by. My days were just so jumbled for so long. I am just now making good use of my time without feeling out of sorts and frazzled. It is a funny thing…work actually kept me a bit more structured and organized. I had to work at it.
I was on the same schedule for 11 years – since having John – and it has been hard to adjust. That being said, I wasn’t intentional about adjusting anything – just playing whack a mole every day. I’m going to figure this out in 2018 :-) Thank you for sharing your story <3
I’m with you – I wouldn’t give up travel to do the bathroom reno. You’ve made it this long… what’s one more year?! ?
Some of ours are similar – we’re giving up eating out, although I don’t know how I’ll go about this. Our biggest culprits are: on the way home from class on Mondays/Wednesdays when the boys are starving, and on baseball weekends. M/W will be easy enough to work around, but I just really have no idea how I’ll accomplish it when we’re several hours away from home, changing ballparks and on the road for 3 days.
Also, I wish you luck on figuring out the work balance. I have the opposite problem that you have – I look for any excuse I can find to stop working, lol! It’s different because my boys are home with me all day. So, my hours are 6-10 on the job job T, Th, F and on M/W I get a little in early and some after we’re home. For the teaching job, I do my very best to get all of my lesson planning done, copies made, etc. for the entire semester during breaks from class. On those days I have a planning period built in, so I can adjust things on those days. And, none of that is relevant to you… but, thanks for letting me ramble anyway!
I have lots of plans for 2018, though nothing grand. I’m reading more… I’ve let that slip the last couple of years. I’m taking an online French class. I want to lear to watercolor. We’re planing to travel the Southeast much more, including hitting every state park in Georgia.
I just really want to actually LIVE each day, not let them run away from me in being busy. I want to grow into the person I’m called to be, want to be, profess to be. I want to say YES more, and NO more as well. I want to enjoy my boys while they’re still at home, because the time is running away RAPIDLY. ? xoxo
I love your list too. I LOVE that you are taking a french class. How fun! I also love the travel one and want to hear all about your tour of state parks. Do you follow atlantatrails on Instagram? I have found so many new ones on their page. I just screenshot them for future reference. I love the LIVE each day. That kind of goes to my work life balance thing. xo
We are so excited about the state parks tour – it will be a major accomplishment as there are 45(ish) state parks (this doesn’t include historic sites that aren’t designated state parks) which would mean almost one per week! Realistically, there are some that I might take off the list simply because we’ve been there very recently or they’re close to home and we can go any time, but ideally, I want to visit them all + some historic sites as well. I haven’t fully fleshed out our plan, as so much timing depends on baseball, but I will definitely be posting about it as we go!
I love following atlantatrails and their sister site ashevilletrails and get a lot of recs from them (especially for waterfall hikes), as well as northga.treks, exploringnc and lots of others! It is my DREAM to hit all 59 National Parks (so many good pages – 59nationalparks, 50statechallenge, theamericanfieldtrip, ourvieadventures) but I don’t think that’s something we’re going to be able to accomplish while our boys are still at home.
And finally – since I’ve totally monopolized the comments section AGAIN, I might as well add this on here! – are you going to listen to Payne Lindsay/Up and Vanished’s new podcast Atlanta Monster?
I highly recommend the instapot. I use mine 3-4 times Monday-Friday. My kids love every meal out of it. It’s one pot meals. I make rice, mashed potatoes, different meats. Love it. Two nights a week we are at cheer. This has saved us from eating out.
we are right there with you on the eating out (or more lazily, the ordering in)! the more we do it, the less pleasurable and special it becomes. plus… restaurant food is never as healthy as it would be when made at home, womp. i think we’re going to consider saturday night our BIG NIGHT OUT and even if it’s something as simple as chipotle, that’ll be it for the week. wishing all of us luck! ;)
I’ve been bad about eating out, or grabbing a burger at the ball field in the past. I have found that meal planning and meal prep work best for us. I plan meals for two or three weeks at a time, so that when I shop I can buy things in bulk. When I make something that freezes well like lasagna or meatloaf I always double the recipe and freeze one. I cook ground beef all at once and portion it into freezer bags so that I can easily pull out a bag for sloppy joes or tacos. Cooking a bunch of chicken breasts and freezing them in portions is also handy. You can add some to a salad, or heat it up to go with leftover veggies from the night before. I also keep a salad bar in my fridge. I chop lettuce, grate cheese, chop cucumbers and carrots, boil a few eggs to chop. Put each item into it’s own Tupperware, then put it all on to a cookie sheet, and slide it into the fridge. Then we can just slide the whole cookie sheet salad bar out and make our own salads for lunches or after school snacks.
This idea is amazing, thanks for sharing!!
I learned to set a hard stop time as I work from home 1 day a week and travel for my job 3-4 days a week. If I don’t set an alarm on at home and in the hotel, I will work all night! Not good for me! Try setting an alarm…and see if that sets some boundaries for you.
Oh the dreaded resolutions! But I, too, have thought long and hard so as to keep them manageable. 1. The eating out thing–We eat out too much so my big goal is to cook more meals at home and only eat out when necessary. 2. Cut out unnecessary purchases. #1 should help with this. 3. Get back into the routine of regular church services. My hubby works out of town and there are many Sundays where I have had the attitude that God will understand if this tired Mama sleeps in.
So, mine are very similar to your’s, and all are doable and I’m sure very rewarding when accomplished! HappyNew Year!!!!!!
I feel like you crawled into my brain and wrote my realistic goals for 2018 for me, including the master bath reno. I look forward to reading your blog and getting your updates. If you don’t already I have a bit of advice for days when you are working from home: 1) definitely set boundaries, including reasons that you can be interrupted (pretend like you are at a physical office and what reasons might you leave for the day?), 2) DRESS like you are going to work…maybe not the same work clothes as a office job, but dress for the work you will do that day and get fully dressed, shoes and make-up included as I think it helps you to be in real “work” mode, and 3) this one probably comes really easy for you, but set daily, weekly and monthly goals and reassess your progress regularly and why/where you fall short so you can work on new methods for getting your ‘work’ done. Oh, and one more, sometimes it’s fun if you ‘work from home’ to spend a morning or afternoon, or several hours for that matter, at a coffee shop. Then you are still working, but you have different stimulation and often inspiration from what’s around you. ;O) Cheers to a great and healthy 2018!
I love these tips. I read them when you posted AND both yesterday and today I showered, dressed and put on makeup before “work”. It really did help! Bonus is that I didn’t go to the bus stop in my PJs. HA
You took the stickers off of the bathroom mirror so that has to count for something, right?!
I want to get to the giant redwoods, stay on Nantucket and seriously purge and organize my craft room (if that’s even possible!) In February, my dear brother turns 64 …and he’s a huge Beatles fan…so, since I “still need him and I still feed him”, I’m planning a special party for him in Florida and looking forward to celebrating his big day. :-)
Actually they are still there. This pic was from years ago. I couldn’t find a more current one :-)
First off, I love your list… so honest and practical!
First I am participating in “A Bowl Full of Lemons” organization challenge starting Saturday and I’m so excited for it… hard work but I look forward to a clean an organized home. Doing this will also let us set up 2 guest rooms (empty nesters now) and a new dressing room/Office/craft room.
I would love to get my master finished decor wise, my wrought iron bed of my great-great-grandmother sand plaster and painted for one guest room and my grandmother’s sewing machine cabinet refinished with a new top to use as a desk. The other purchase is a “new to us” dining room suite.
We have some travel plans this year as Brooke graduates from grad school and my niece graduates from HS so we have a huge trip to Florida as well as my husband has a work trip to Detroit that I will accompany him on. We plan to go to Boston late summer to catch a Boston Red Sox game and I plan to go to the beach as often as possible!
The last thing is finding a new church Home.
I don’t know about a bowl full of lemons! Need to look that up. Yes, our master was our last room too. AND, I am so excite for Brooke and your family. <3
I echo everyone else…love your very real list! I need to add that stop eating out to my list, too…same here, life got busy and we’ve gotten in a rut that we need to get out of…love rewarding your efforts with one nice meal out a month…great idea! Always on my list is travel…go somewhere, anywhere, new… :)
You are SO good about traveling already! I always look forward to where you next stop will be. We have DC and NYC on our agenda this year. And Disney, of course!