My Guide to 2016

The start of a new year is always exciting.  It’s a time to begin fresh and look forward to what the next 12 months have in store.  There are a few things I like to do to start the year off right.

Get a planner or calendar that makes you happy and then actually use it!  When I’m without a planner I feel like things are jumbled in my brain.  Even if I remember dates, I have to see them written down to really understand how they fit into the week.  You can ask my carpool buddy about this – I’ve texted her many times the night before an appointment because I knew my dentist appointment was on the 3^rd but just realized the 3^rd was the next day and I definitely can’t carpool.  Each year I treat myself to an Erin Condren planner as well as a Quotables calendar for work.  If I’m going to stare at something for a year I certainly want it to be something that makes me happy.

Set some concrete goals.  New Year’s resolutions get a bad wrap, somewhat for good reasons.  People are frequently super ambitious and decide to lose 100 pounds in a year with no plan of how they will healthily achieve that, or set a goal of being happier without identifying what that would look like.  Goals are always important, but it’s necessary that they be realistic and thought out.  Committing to being happier in 2016 is a great goal, but being happier to me involves different things than it would for Mr. C, so it’s important to identify those things.  I tend to think of setting goals as an ongoing thing, but something that deserves some thought as we begin a new year.

Commit to a healthy change.  This can be something major, maybe as part of a yearly goal like getting an extra 30 minutes of sleep a night or something minor like setting aside time everyday to just relax.  A better you means everything will fall into place easier.

Get organized. After I put away the Christmas stuff I’m always in an organizing mood.  I’m a firm believer that having an organized space leads to more productivity, creativity, peacefulness, and just not feeling like a crazy person.  I’m not talking about a major overhaul here, but just spending some time to tidy up those messy drawers or the closet that has an avalanche each time it’s opened.

What are your must-do’s for a new year?

Looking Back: 2015

I’m not sure how it’s the end of the year already, but 2016 is almost here.  Each year I take some time to reflect about the events of the year and my goals for the future year.  2015 had some big changes.

In February I said good-bye to my Alero of 12 years and bought a crossover.  My Alero had seen its better days but I’m a VERY sentimental person and may have cried a bit as I bid my car goodbye.  I love Betsy though (my crossover), I’m a bit obsessive with her being clean ALL the time.  I’m still excited that I get to drive her and haven’t quite got over the shock.

To celebrate our anniversary we took a much needed long weekend in Santa Barbara.  I’m not sure how long it had been since our last vacation, but it was far too long.  The trip ranks in my top 5 of all times and I quickly fell in love with everything about Santa Barbara.  We were able to walk everywhere and felt like locals by the time we left.

In June we committed to going completely added sugar/sweetener and refined-grain free for a couple months.  We’ve continued this and are super selective now, but I can’t imagine going back to the way it was before.  I don’t miss sugar/sweeteners, I have more energy, feel much healthier, and I’ve lost 30 pounds which I’m pretty darn happy about, especially since it was in a healthy, sustainable way, something I’m very passionate about.

This is the year I become obsessive about my tea.  Water, tea, and wine are my jams now.  I’m not joking about this tea thing; a day without tea is no day at all.

I turned 30 this year and am still moving along.  It was a really big birthday to me; I guess it was the age where I thought I should feel like I had my life together.  I don’t have all the answers but I certainly feel much more like an authentic grown up than I did last year.

We finally decided to officially put down some roots and bought a house in September.  It had been our home for a bit, but it’s a pretty great feeling knowing that it’s really ours, or will be after our next 278,987 payments (it feels that way anyhow).  That being said, the process was long and one of the most stressful things I’ve dealt with in awhile.  I’ve said that we will be living in that house for the rest of our lives so we never have to go through that process again.

The home buying process was so stressful that we decided to go back to Santa Barbara for my b-day to celebrate, but the closing date changed weekly and it was hard to plan.  In my mind we would recreate the wonderful trip we had taken in February, but by the time we knew what was going on we weren’t able to book reservations early enough and there was literally nowhere in Santa Barbara to stay unless we wanted to pay $800 a night.  Contrary to popular belief, working in public service doesn’t really pay well enough for that.  We decided to still go to Cali but stay somewhere else.  Almost everything for the entire trip was a mess and it didn’t turn out AT ALL like we had planned, but it reminded us that even when things are messy we still have each other and needed to make the best of it.  I think I would have been okay having missed out on that lesson and having things just work out.

Mr. C and I took on quite a few big projects around the house after our house closed.   I was very happy with the house before, but I love the changes and I feel like it really reflects our personalities.  I wouldn’t have said we were the handiest people, so I’m very proud of what we’ve done.  I’ll be blogging about the updates and posting pics so I won’t say too much, but we spent hours at Home Depot (literally HOURS), got our hands dirty, bought a lot of new tools, and somehow made our house even more of a home than it was.

This was my first full year in my current position and I’ve finally settled in.  I feel like I’m where I belong and I only wish I would have made the change earlier, although I still believe it happened at the perfect time.  I have more work but I wouldn’t change it for anything.  I am really thankful to work in an amazing organization I believe is truly changing the climate of post-secondary education.

This year we were fortunate enough to have some visitors this year.  One of my best friends and his boyfriend came to visit earlier in the year.  They’re the kind of people who are perfectly content playing games, checking out our favorite restaurants, and shopping, so it was a great, low-key time. 

My parents recently decided this was the year they were going to try to become some sort of snowbirds and will be a walk away from our home.  To commemorate this, they hosted Thanksgiving in AZ and for the first time in 12 years I was able to spend Thanksgiving with my cousins, aunt, uncle, parents, and Mr. C’s parents, brother, and uncle.  It was truly amazing to have everyone together in one place and amazing to have a home full of people we love.  My parents will now be spending part of the year down the street for us and I’m so thankful to have them close. 

What were your highlights of 2015?  I’m excited to see what 2016 has in store for us!