2023 Goals and 2022 Revisited

I love pushing myself to take on new goals, whether it's on the yearly or monthly level. Last year I had an extensive list of things I wanted to accomplish and printed out a google doc for each month for tracking progress (I posted it in my office/treadmill room and the visual was really helpful). Here's how I did:

1. Read 75 books- check!

2. Non-stretching yoga once a week- nope! I did more yoga this year, but because of the hiking and running I needed session focused more on stretching

3. One home-related project a month- Yup! 

4. Pay off car- Yup! 

5. Hike once a month- Yup!

6. Donate to a cause once a month- Yup (set up 2 monthly contributions)

7. Stay on top of reviews/blogs- Not really... I did okay on bookstagram, but not great here

8. Organize something once a month- yup!

9. Send mail to someone once a month- yup!

10. 120 hours a month on the Forest app- yup!

All in all, I am really pleased with how I did. This year will have some of the same and some new ones. I am also using a habit tracker chart I bought recently, which will help. A lot of things from last year are just habitual now, like hiking and donating money (reading is, but I just like to include it). Some things I'm not interested in pushing myself on, like staying up on blogging or bookstagram- I will do what I have time for and what feels interesting! 

1. 150 hours a month on the Forest app (average of 5ish hours a day)

2. One 32 oz water bottle a day (I am the worst at drinking water when I am not actively running, so this is a start).

3. 76 books for the year

4. Deep clean something once a month (my house is clean, but I want to really get in there)

5. Send actual birthday cards to friends and family (I need to make a list!) 

6. Some sort of strength training at least five days a week (arms, abs, legs)

7. Do my year-in-review book by month; finish the previous month within the first week of the next month

8. Keep $xx,xxx in my savings, even after travel plans 

9. Make an average five times the amount of the required HELOC monthly payment (this sounds crazy, but it's not)

10. Any kind of yoga twice a week 

2022: The Best Year... Ever?

I feel almost guilty admitting this, but 2022 has been once of the best years, if not the best, of my life. People don't want to hear this, whether it's because misery loves company, they think it's bragging, or whatever the deal it is (their deal...). And I get it, if you've had a shitty year the last thing you want to hear about is someone raving about why they're so happy. So, that's why I do it here, since basically no one reads (blogs are dead, it's cool) and if they are we're either strangers, they're hate reading to begin with, or they're a genuine friend that like to catch up on my ramblings. 

So, here are my top ten reasons why 2022 was great (we have to keep with the obligatory top-ten year-end lists, right?):

1. Travel! I could really put a hundred exclamation points behind it, but finally, I got on a plane again! We did a lot in the state, as well. Here were our various destinations:

    - Yosemite 

    - La Jolla (just me, on my solo weekend trip)

    - Modesto (my sister's wedding)

    - Bay Area (including San Francisco)

    - Sequoia National Park

    - The Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks 

We have some very exciting places on the docket for this year (writes reminder note to deal with passports)

2. Hiking I made it my goal to hike an average of once a month ago and definitely exceeded it. Here are some of my favorites:

    - Yosemite

    - Sequoias

    - Tetons/Yellowstone

    - Big Bear

    - Idyllwild

    - Peter's Canyon

    - Claremont Nature Loop

    - Skyline Trail (it's actually not a great trail, but the beauty comes from it being       so close)

    - Santa Rosa Plateau 

    - Joshua Tree 

3. Happy family My marriage is really good and my son is thriving (swim, art, friends, reading). We found a babysitter who is amazing, which has allowed us to go out much more often, which is super nice. 

4. The best friends I remember when I moved out to the area I live in now and I had no friends or family. I had my husband, my then boyfriend, but I was never close to his family, so I was starting from scratch. Which has turned out amazing! Seventeen years later I have the best friends, and I work hard to maintain my relationships with them. Even if it's just a quick cup of coffee, a walk, or a drink for an hour on a Friday, we make it work. Obviously I love the readings in LA, the lengthy brunches, or afternoon pool dates, but we get what we can take. 

5. Financial goals Oh! The F word! I paid off my car after only one year, hit a savings goal, and set up monthly contributions to two charities I feel strongly about. 

6. Family Time Besides time with Scott and Sawyer (we definitely did more together as the three of us than ever before), I also went to Modesto for my sister's wedding, visited my other sister in the Bay Area, got together with my brother, his baby, and some other family in San Luis Obispo, and hosted some people down here (including for Thanksgiving). 

7. Reading Goal Hit I already published a post on my reading goals, but books are a huge source of happiness for me, so the fact I had such a good reading year was a huge positive

8. Small Home Improvements One of my goals this year was to either coordinate or do some sort of home project each month, as simple as installing solar walkway lights or logistically annoying as  hiring someone to paint our kitchen and living room. By necessity we had to have a tree cut down out back, replace a huge pool part, get a new washer and dryer, and have a leak in our downstairs living room fixed. I also painted a bathroom, did some work in the yard, and had someone finally come and clean out the dryer (PSA- if you don't do this or have someone, put that on your calendar ASAP; that is the leading cause of dryer fires and is an easy fix). This is a boring, adulty positive to have on the list, but it felt good to fulfill. 

9. Fun Stuff  We do a lot, it's how I want to spend my time and money, what can I say? Museums, amusement parks, trails, restaurants, whatever sounds good. I like having a life that is full of variety and movement. I know that's not for everyone, and I do like the occasional weekend where we don't have plans, but this year I took advantage of life basically being back to "normal" and enjoyed it extensively.

10. Small Joys A new tattoo, becoming unapologetically obsessed with the show Yellowstone, discovering one of my new favorite bands Lord Huron, figuring out that doing my nails during my runs (well I hop off to paint really fast) is super efficient, walking down the hill to Starbucks (and back up), and lots of other microjoys that help me get through the daily. 

2022 Top Ten Books Read

I made my goodreads goal of 75 books read with a day or two to spare this year! A miracle, indeed. I had a really, really good year of reading and it was tough to pick my favorites- I need to come up with some sort of elaborate scoring rubric to make this process more scientific and easier (really, I might). Here are some stats, taken off a very fancy note I wrote in my phone to post on social media:

I know it's controversial, but I do not count audiobooks as reading. It's listening. The two are different. Sure, you're consuming a text, still, but it's a much more passive experience and you lose so much when trying to analyze the language (believe me, I can tell the kids who listen as opposed to read their assigned texts for work). I can listen to a book while I drive, walk, or clean- it's constantly something done when multitasking, which detracts from the attention needed to really fully comprehend a text. I listen to audiobooks and it's a totally different experience. 

Okay, stepping off the soapbox, removing chip from shoulder. Moving on. 

Next year my goal is 76 books, since I just move up one a year, but hopefully I'll squeeze in a few more, since my TBR is, shall we say, exceptional.

Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts

Without a doubt, this has been our busiest and best holiday season to date. The combination of it being a "normal" year, Sawyer being old enough and more-than-willing to do ALL the things, and having the time, has allowed us to do some really great things We spent a day at Disneyland (we've never been at Christmas and a rainy morning allowed us to go on a ton of rides right away), watched Home Alone at the Walt Disney Music Hall in LA, did a Santa Run, saw the Enchanted lights at Descanso Gardens, and several other fun things. I've always said that I'd rather spend my money on experiences, rather than things! I'm usually a bit happy to see Christmas wind down, but this year I'll be a little sad to see it go. 

I am incredibly thankful my family has stayed healthy through the holiday season. Sawyer had a nasty bug before Thanksgiving, but other than that we have been well. 

Our Christmas card was so much fun this year! We always repurpose Sawyer's Halloween costumes and this year he was Marty McFly. On the cover he is doing the iconic watch-checking pose and there's a Santa flying in the sky with "Great Scott! We'll miss Santa!" (or something like that). On the inside Scott photoshopped present Sawyer into a scene I had taken of him photographing Sawyer for his very first Christmas card when he was eight months old. 

I've been training for a half-marathon in February, and to make a long boring story short, I've finally gotten some food pain under control, so that's helping a lot. I don't think it's going to be a fabulous race or anything, but it's been good for me to have some structure in my fitness routine.

So, after managing to score Taylor Swift tickets last month, I landed another big concert victory- Lord Huron in Red Rocks in June. I LOVE this band SO much and had told Scott a week before that one day I'd see them there. When the tickets went on sale the next week I couldn't get any but managed to get some somewhat-reasonable ones through stubhub. I'm worried about it somehow falling through, but my friend who is going with me and I decided we'll just go anyway and explore Denver if anything! Between these two and another one in May, my concert budget it spent for 2023, haha.

The semester ended fairly quietly at work. I managed to pull a few extra kids into passing territory and did a good job staying on top of my grading from Thanksgiving to the end of term, so I never had to pull any essay-reading all-nighters. When return in January we're starting Sylvia Plath poetry, which is always super uplifting.

I'm a few books away from making my GoodReads goal for the year, which I know I'll pull off on the the 30th or 31st, per the usual. It's a tradition! Luckily next my second week of break is pretty chill, minus a day trip to Joshua Tree with some friends (I've never been!) and a few happy hours and dinners and whatnot. 

Another big project for next week: completing my year-in-review book. I did through June over the summer, which puts me in a good spot for completing it, if I do a month or two a day once Christmas is over. I always give myself the due date of 1/1, since the site I use has really great sales and my books are LONG. 

Speaking of Joshua Tree, I'll end the year with having gone to five National Parks this year! Yosemite, Sequoia, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, and Joshua Tree. Definitely got my money's worth out of my NPP (and before it expires next summer I'll be using it at Yosemite again, Rocky Mountain NP, and maybe another one of two). 

My sister is due in a few months and I have been doing the same thing for her as I did my brother- Sawyer and I choose a kid's each month and send it to the little fetus to build her library (another niece! I can't want to meet her). 

After the body shop having my car for five weeks after an accident last month, I FINALLY got my car back yesterday. Now I get to deal with car rental reimbursements from the other insurance company, since the other driver was at-fault, but I'm a persistent woman. 

I'm so  proud of Sawyer's reading lately! He always has a book in the car, asks to extend his required homework independent reading time, and is already at 200% of is AR goal for the trimester, which is only half over (I have very mixed feelings on AR, but I like how his teacher uses it). Needless to say, he is getting a ton of books for Christmas! I tried to do a mix of some of the easier series he likes, some challenging ones, and some in between.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas- maybe I'll actually put up a few posts when I'm off. I mean, for the three of your who read for fun and the person or two who is hate-reading ;) 

The Solace of Open Spaces

I first heard about Gretel Ehrlich’s The Solace of Open Spaces on Yellowstone, when the character Beth reads a line to her father (I’d pretend to be embarrassed, but I’m beyond in love with the show, so I’m not). I immediately looked it up and ordered it on the spot. Between Beth Dutton’s recommendation and my newfound adoration of Wyoming after a trip to the Tetons, I knew it would resonate. It did. 

I finally finished the slim book of Ehrlich’s recounting of her time in Wyoming, working on ranches, and I already find myself wanting to reread it (this rarely happens). The language she uses to talk about the land and the nature that lives on it is exquisite, providing the potential for beauty in expected images like the landscape but also in the dry dust storms of the summer. Her depiction of those who inhabit the wide open land left me partially envious of their space, physical productivity, and seemingly simpler lives. Annie Dillard’s blurb on the cover, that “Wyoming has found it’s Whitman” is spot on. 

I’m not going to pack up and leave my home in suburbia, but there wasn’t a page that went by that didn’t make me yearn to get in my car and drive east, through Nevada and into Utah, Wyoming, and Montana. 

There’s plenty of time. And hopefully space.