15 before 2015

I totally missed the 30 before 30 posts that I keep seeing (I am old, well not really, but I am over 30 so that just seems silly to start a 40 before 40, because well I don’t want to). Instead, I am going to set a small list of goals for the next two years, and hopefully check in with this list from time to time throughout the years. Might I never touch this, sure – might I really feel better about having some goals out there. Here I go…

Get to Paris  and take the Eiffel Tower photo

Spend an afternoon in the Met, the Guggenheim, and the MoMA

Workout 3-4 times a week, every week

Read Non-Fiction regularly (ideally, every fourth book I read).

Get a pet – I really want a dog – and have a hankering for French Bulldogs (intsagram obsession). A dog might be too much so maybe I am looking at a little kitty to keep me company, or glare at me or whatever cats do. Two years to figure this out (it’s going to be a goldfish).

Get completely out of debt, student loans, credit cards, all of the above and save more money. I’ve started a little log for each month to track my progress for 2014. I hope to be debt free by December 2014, if not sooner.

Shop less. I love new clothes, I love online shopping, but I have so much already, it’s time to get rid of things before getting anything new.

Give up alcohol for Lent. 40 days, 40 nights. I am never attempting this for New Years as my birthday is so close to the beginning of the year. I just feel like a break from drinks might do a body good. Plus Fat Tuesday is a great last party night.

Volunteer my time to an organization. I tend to be a person who will write a check, or donate some money to a cause, it’s time to donate my time.

Spend two weekends a year exploring a city I’ve never been to in the United States. It’s time to start taking advantage of those weekly airline deals, the book 36 Hours, and see some of the United States.

Purchase a home. I love my apartment, but it’s time to graduate to homeownership in the next few years.

Stop allowing for completely lazy Saturdays in front of the television. I am so guilty of allowing myself to park it in my jammies (and no, not just my Christmas jammies) on a Saturday and waste the entire day watching television. One thing that might help this is that Soapnet is off the air, so no more 90210, One Tree Hill or Gilmore Girls to suck me in during the weekends.

Work on being more green in my everyday life. I am a disposable water bottle girl, and it’s so bad for the environment. I’ve also been trying to make the switch to bar soaps and shampoos to better the environment as well, the bonus is my hair looks so much better with bar soap and requires much less washing.

Get this work life balance thing under control. I am very guilty of working over the weekends, on vacations and late nights. I’d like to normalize a bit and be less of a workaholic.

Learn to snowshoe – I’ve always wanted to do this and I am going to make it happen.

Some are more ambitious than others, some are fun, others serious, all and all I like it. I’ll check in from time to time with an update to see how I am progressing. It’s fun to have a list of things to accomplish. Wish me luck!

(quote via pinterest)

birthday girl

Well another year older, another year wiser right? I will say the 10 day span of Christmas to my birthday feels like I get all the partying out in less than two weeks each year. I use to loath when my birthday fell, particularly as a kid when people would always do a combination gift. I am sorry but that’s just lame, because even if you tell yourself your making that gift extra special, as a little kid you want to feel like each day is unique and special, not a great way to only have to put thought together once. Now as an adult, I am embracing the holiday hangover and just keeping the party going a few more days.

This year I hosted a cocktail party with appetizers to snack on. It was great to get everyone together and have a good reason to really make sure the apartment was in tiptop shape for company. Anyone have that problem? Sometimes the best motivation to clean and organize is to have people over, because nothing embarrasses me more than having people discover how messy I like to be on a regular basis. I also got to leave up the Christmas decorations up a bit longer because I love how homey that makes my apartment feel, plus it’s always a bit sad to take down all that holiday feeling.

I spend the day prepping food after a good workout session (I woke up Sunday morning with some seriously sore triceps) and doing some last minute cleaning. I was lucky to wrap up early enough to get a pretty birthday manicure, complete with the accent nail, before having people come over. I made my famous seven layer dip, turkey meatballs, the family holiday staple- cheese, pepperoni and crackers, veggies, frozen grapes with cinnamon and sugar, and gluten free cupcakes. I also was able to stock up on all that sale Christmas candy so put a lot of that out too. One of my friends make deviled eggs, which are one of my favorite foods. It was a delightful little feast.

It was my ideal birthday, with friends dropping in, enjoying lots of champagne (I’ve taught you all so well) and celebrating another year. Thank you to everyone who celebrated with me, and everyone who sent along well wishes. I look forward to next year.

snow falling on...

Last night it snowed, which makes me extremely happy. I love everything about the snow, at least while its fresh on the ground- it makes everything look so clean and fresh. My favorite thing about the snow is how still everything gets in the world, people stay in, there are no cars on the roads, and it's just magical to be outside. Rumor is 2014 is supposed to be a very snowy winter and that makes me very excited. There's nothing better then getting to put your snow boots on and crunch through the snowdrifts.

christmas week highlights

Christmas week was a rough one for me, I had the flu for two days which knocked me right out. I swear, my body loves letting me get sick as soon as I am at Mom’s house and she can take care of me (I know Mom really loves that too). Anyway, on Christmas I did start to feel like a human again able to eat more than toast. I also looked at this a tiny bit of a jump start to the 2014 eating better routine (nothing says skinny jeans like a few days of the stomach flu).

Anyways, I was lucky enough to get to spend a full week the family, despite my two days in bed. It was so nice to see everyone for a long while and have some time away from work. A quick list of highlights below:

Watching Norbs dance and sway to the Bill Clinton saxophone Santa toy my parents have, it’s ridiculously funny and he’s so happy when he’s grooving.

Seeing two movies at the theater with Mom, we saw The Wolf of Wall Street and American Hustle. Clearly we had some theme requirements when choosing movies: Tri-State area location, movies set in the past, and looking like an Oscar contender. It also didn’t hurt that I had super old passes to the movies that I bought sometime in 2012 (yep, that long kiddos) so it felt like going to the movies for free.

Winning a week in the football pool at work, with 15 out of 16 picks correct- against the spread. I should placed that bet in Vegas and retired or something. That’s 94% correct on an equalized (anyone who wants a lesson in spreads let me know) playing field. Dad was ridiculously proud, this made the flu feel like it was lucky, and I treated myself to something special with the winnings.

Enjoying some much needed rest to gear up for 2014.

Happy New Year to all!

 

(photo from pinterest)