Hello 2018!

So for the past few years I have done a New Year's post. It's nice to look back on the previous year to see what I've accomplished and the goals I want to make for the new year.

Resolutions Completed in 2017:

1. Read 35 Books. 

I actually kicked butt in this one and ended up reading 58 books! Just a few of my favorites:

 

2. I came off my blood pressure medicine!

Okay, this one was really hard and a little tricky. In fact, I JUST came off of it last week. Turns out my blood pressure issue was more of an anxiety issue. So once I got the proper care and started taking an anti-anxiety medicine, I no longer needed the blood pressure medicine. The moral here is always take care of your mental health!

3. I went on vacation!

 Zack and I never really took any vacations alone. We always went with my family. Well, I'm happy to say this year that we went on our very first family vacation to Gatlinburg! It was really amazing- secluded up in a cabin with a hot tub overlooking beautiful mountain scenery. I loved it!

4. I learned to let go of the Mom Guilt (mostly).

Leaving River with anyone caused me a serious plague of Mom Guilt. I couldn't enjoy my time out alone at all. I believe a good chunk of this was my anxiety pre-medicated self, but it also just comes with being a mom. Over the past year I learned to let River embrace spending time with other family members, and to seriously cherish that rare alone time I got. 

5. Find a new hobby that I love.

I have always wanted to learn how to crochet, and this year I planted my butt in front of my laptop and watched a hundred videos on how to crochet! I'm far from an expert, but I know enough to make some pretty rad blankets, scarfs, and hats!

6. Took a vacation alone with my mom and daughter.

This wasn't a resolution I had made, but it was something I never would have thought I could have done before. This probably isn't a big deal to most people, but this was a huge deal for me. My mother and I haven't spent any extended amount of time like this together in over ten years. I'm not going to get into why, but it was a really great, healing trip for me. I rented a cabin in a small town in my state and we were completely surrounded by woods and a hot tub to relax in. It was a really memorable trip for us and I hope we can experience it again this year. Also, I'm not a huge fan of driving, so the fact that I drove the entire trip having no idea where I was going was a huge deal for me.

2018 Reading Challenge:

Besides my Goodreads Challenge, I came across this wonderful reading challenge from Modern Mrs. Darcy

1. My Goodreads Goal is to read 75 Books, but honestly I've learned quality > quantity so I'm not really going to sweat it if I don't make that.

2. Read a Classic

3. Read a Recommendation by Someone With Great Taste

4. Read a Book in Translation

5. Read a Book Nominated for a 2018 Award

6. Read a Poetry, Play, or Essay Collection.

7. Read A Book You Can Read in a Day.

8. Read A Book That’s More Than 500 pages.

9. Read A Book By A Favorite Author.

10. Read A Banned Book.

11. Read a Memoir or Biography

12. Read a Book by an Author of Different Race, Religion, or Ethnicity.

2018 Resolutions:

1. Lose 50 Pounds.

2. Be Kinder.

3. Make Date Night a Priority.

4. Pay Off All Credit Cards.

5. Potty Train River.

6. Cook One Exotic Meal at Least Once A Month.

7. Come Off Anxiety Medication (as long as it's safe!)

8. Cross Off Something On My Bucket List

Hello 2017!

Is it seriously already a whole new year? How did that happen?! Is it just me, or is time going by faster than ever?

Anyway, here's some of the resolutions I completed in 2016:

1. Moved into a new (better) house!
This was number one on my list for last year, and not too far into January 2016 we found a perfect little home to rent for our family. Best part? It's literally five houses away from my grandmother (who is also River's main babysitter).

2.  Discovered the cause of my anxiety attacks.
Turns out it wasn't just postpartum anxiety that was causing me to have severe panic attacks on a daily basis (although that definitely helped). It was my horrible eating habits (and the fact that I can stress like the best) that caused me to have high blood pressure.

3. Got Rid of Toxic People/ Things and Learned How To Tell People No
Anyone who really knows me knows that I don't put up with people who's main goal in life is to cause drama. I also don't let people take advantage of me repeatedly or use me or my family. On the opposite side of that, I also have a really hard time telling people I love "no". Well, as River has gotten older, I've become wiser and discovered the ability to tell people no and mean it. It's been pretty liberating. Because of that though I've lost some people along the way, but that's okay. Those are not the kind of people I want in my life or in my daughters.

4. Completed my Reading Goal.
I challenged myself to read at least 30 books this year (much lower than my usual 100 pre-River). I ended up passing that goal and reading 47 books this year! Just a few of my favorites...

Anyway, new year means new reading challenges and resolutions! So here they are:

Reading Challenges:

1. Read Carrie Fisher's Postcards from the Edge then watch the movie.

2. Read 35 Books

3. Host a Read-A-Thon on the Blog.

4. Clean out my books.

Personal Goals/ Resolutions:

1. Get healthy enough to come off of blood pressure medicine.

2. Buy a new (to us) car.

3. Save money for a vacation, and then go on one.

4. Let go of the Mom Guilt when I leave River with a babysitter.

5. Start going to church again.

6. Make date night a priority once a month.

7. Write. Just write.

8. Enjoy things by myself.

9. Let River stay the night from home.

10. Let go of the small things.

11. Check something off my bucket list

12. Keep it simple.

13. Find an active hobby that I love.

14. Declutter the attic.

15. Less social media.

Hello 2016!

2015 has been the most life changing year for me. I became a mother. I've had a lot of roles in life: Daughter. Friend. Granddaughter. Cousin. Girlfriend. Fiance. Wife. But none of them, not one, comes close to the absolute sheer joy of being a mom. I've tried to sort out the awesomeness that comes with being a mother, but I can't. It's overwhelmingly wonderful and crazy and exhausting. Nothing I have ever experienced comes close to it.

As this year comes to close, I'm filled with an alarming sense of "time". Of how fast it passes. Of where I'm at in my life. Of the fact that thirty is approaching awfully quickly (wasn't it just yesterday that I was legally able to order wine for the first time?). And most importantly, the quality of how I spend my time. It can be a pretty terrifying feeling. One thing I have always known though is that life is short. Time is not infinite for me. At least not on this Earth.

With 2016 right around the corner I have come to realize that I need to embrace this feeling. So, without further ado, here's my 2016 List of Resolutions:

1. Center everything in my life around God. Obviously, this is not so much a resolution as something I struggle with to do on a daily basis. I also want to add in finding a church to go to as a family.

2. Make the effort to carve out time for my marriage. Spend quality, kid-free, time with my husband and not feel guilty over letting someone else keep River.

3. Have dinner at least once a week at the kitchen table as a family. Zack and I are super bad about just sitting down and eating in front of the TV. With it just being the two of us for so long, it became an easy routine to fall into. But now that River is here I think it's important that we start to establish family dinner time.

4. Have a Family Game night once a week. I LOVE board games, and unfortunately have just not made the time for them in far too long.

5. Save more money/ be aware of what our money goes to. This is a big one. I'm already pretty conscious of our finances, but I could definitely do better. My goal this year is to participate in the 365 Penny Challenge, and to make that a tradition for part of River's college fund. I also want to stop using my debit card so much and take out my extra spending money and use it as cash (that way I'm actually pulling bills out and noticing what I'm giving away).

6. Eat healthier. Okay, this one is pretty much a gimme on anyone's list, but I don't want to start eating better to look good. I want to get healthy for River. I don't want to have to worry about heart disease or blood pressure problems. So the goal right now is one small change once a week.

7. Worry less. If you know me at all, then you're probably aware of the severe anxiety I developed after giving birth to River. I tried really hard to deal with it on my own and without medications, but honestly it got to a point where that just wasn't healthy for me, and it definitely wasn't good for my relationships or my work. So for the past few weeks I have been on a low dose of Zoloft, that has worked amazingly. I feel like I'm getting back to myself and that makes me incredibly happy. I'm trying not to feel like I took the easy way out on this- because I certainly wouldn't feel that way if someone else told me they were on it. It's a work in progress. I also want to start meditating and focusing in on exercises that will help with the anxiety.

8. Stop nagging. So this one has a condition with it. My resolution is to stop nagging with the condition that my husband will actually get things done that I ask him to the first time and not ten days later lol. We're still trying to figure out a system that works without us trying to take out the other one. Right now the only workable idea that we've come up with is a "Honey-Do" list. I make a list out for the day and don't say anything else about it... unless it's like 9:00 at night at that stuff still isn't done haha.

9. Spend less time on Facebook. I'm ashamed to admit that FB probably takes up a good chunk of my day. I love private messaging my friends and checking out author's posts. Honestly, it's addictive. But keeping up with River leaves little time for much else these days, so it's time to cut back on the Facebook and focus my time on things that I really want to do (like reading) and not things that just pass the time. My aim is to check it once in the morning and once when I get home from work for no more than ten minutes each.

10. And finally (just because I'm OCD and there HAS to be an even number): recognize how I'm spending my time. I want to really focus on each moment this year. I don't want to waste a single second of my life, or my time with my family. I think I've fallen into a bit of lull this year. Being an exhausted parent is hard, but that's no excuse to be lazy with how I spend my days.

I hope everyone has a happy, healthy new year!

Happy New Year!

Happy new year! While I've never been a huge fan of New Years Eve (and the usually lame festivities that it brings), I do have to say I enjoy New Years Day the most. For most of us, it's a time to write down all of those resolutions and changes that we want to make for 2015 to be our most amazing year yet... and of course, some of us have probably already broken those resolutions before noon today ;) Regardless, January 1st is always looked at as the first page of a new beginning in our lives, and for my family and I that is definitely going to be the case with baby River on the way.

2014 was an incredible year for me. I learned so much and grew as a person. My best-friend/ soul-mate and I stood before our friends and family and pledged to love each other, and be committed to each other, forever. We were so blessed during this time, because Zack's dad was there to witness this. I've never seen someone with so much strength to hang on so he could be there for those he loved. The day after our wedding, Zack and I spent the rest of the week with him before he passed on. It was by far, the hardest thing that I have ever done, and I'm sure my husband felt this way as well since his father was his best-friend. But I would never trade a single moment of that time we spent with him. I learned so much, not only about my father-in-law, but about my husband. Zack inherited the same strength and love that his own father possessed. I thought I knew everything about my husband up until that point, but he amazed me the way he took care of his dad in those last days. 

2014 also brought along the news that I was going to be a mom. By far, the most amazing thing to ever happen to me in my entire life. I've always felt unsure of everything in my life, but with the announcement of River I've never been more certain of anything. The most incredible sound I heard this year was the first time we heard her little heartbeat. On our first visit, we we're given two due dates: March 16th or March 24th. March 16th was my dad's birthday and March 24th will be one year since Zack's father passed away. She may not come on either of those days, but regardless she has definitely been gift to us already.

This year my resolutions are short and sweet:

1. Follow God's direction for my life by building a stronger relationship with Him.

2. Wake up every morning and decide to be the best mother and wife that I can be to my family. 

That's it. Because, I think if I can do those two things, the rest will just fall into place :)

Hope you all have an amazing year in 2015!