So I did some math this morning. Don’t worry; I didn’t sprain my brain too badly. I got out the ol’ abacus AKA my fingers and determined that since it is now 2015 and I graduated from high school at the age of 18 in 2000, I have now been an adult for 15 years.
Fifteen years. That’s like a quarter of the shelf life of a box of Twinkies. My life and Twinkies are passing by before my very eyes.
When I was a newly-minted adult in the early 2000’s – ambivalent over whether I loved or hated “Lady Marmalade”, chatting on my flip phone, and completely convinced that The Royal Tenenbaums was the best movie that could ever be made so we should all just give up and go home – I didn’t make resolutions at New Years. If I wanted to change something, I changed it. No big whoops were given to the date. I flouted convention by making changes in March or August or even November. I grew up during the heyday of Madonna and this is just how I expressed myself.
Nowadays, as a seasoned grownup, I make New Years resolutions. With a marriage, a child, a job, and a life with about a million moving parts, I need to quantify all the things I want to do during the year in one sitting or my goals are just going to be stashed in the closet along with all the other things that I say I will get to at some point but never do. New Years resolutions aren’t necessarily fun, but they’re necessary. They are basically mammograms.
So let’s get to the boob-squishing, shall we?
In 2015, I resolve to….
1. Get in freaking shape
It’s kind of basic of me to put the whole “lose 30 pounds” resolution at the top of my list, but then again as I sit here writing this blog post I’m wearing yoga pants and sipping Starbucks. Let’s just call a spade, a spade.
Full disclosure: C is now almost three years old, and I have not lost the weight I gained during my pregnancy in 2011 and 2012. Not only that, but I have put on about 15 more pounds since I went back to work last summer. This year, I’m bringing healthy back. I’m phasing out the idle eating, exercising at least three times a week, and ceasing to “reward” myself with food for things that I should be doing anyway. Yeah, it’s great when I take the garbage out or whatever, but completion of this task does not merit a handful of candy.
Short term goal: run a 6K in May that benefits the nonprofit I work for. Hold me to it, y’all.
2. Get this blog in gear
I haaaaaaaate making editorial calendars. I would rather be the lone adult in a Chuck E. Cheese. But ever since I went back to work, I feel like I’ve been grasping at straws trying to a., find time and energy to write here, b., figure out what direction I want my own writing to go in, and c., take the pressure off and just enjoy writing like I used to when no one read my stuff.
Wait – what’s that noise? Do y’all hear it? Hmm, sounds like a tiny violin.
Moving on.
With blogging, there’s an undue amount of pressure we place on ourselves to post, to just get any damn thing up. This year, I’m not going to commit to posting once or twice a week. I’ve tried that, and it simply didn’t work. I am, however, going to commit to writing once or twice a week. When the post gets done, it will be ready and not sloppy or half-baked. It’ll be worth the time it took for me to write it. I’d love to get some of my writing featured on nationally syndicated blogs too this year, but we’ll see.
3. Get the house organizized/ move C to her big girl room
She was a baby when we moved this summer, but now she’s a doctor, so I *guess* she can move upstairs.
We have an extra room upstairs where we’d like to move C in 2015. Right now, her bedroom is right next to the kitchen, and so it’s hard for us to get anything done in there while she naps or sleeps without waking her up. It was an intentional decision to set up her shop there when we moved – at the time, she was too little to safely navigate the stairs by herself – but six months make a big difference and we’d like to get her upstairs this year. I’d like to repaint the walls to her new room, unearth the pretty hardwood floors that are currently carpeted, and even maybe paint a mural on one of the walls. She’ll also get a real bed. It would be awesome if all this could be done by next Christmas, and it could be her present.
In addition to her room, we also really need to just purge the attic. It gives me hives just thinking about all that needs to be organized up there, but it gives me hivier hives thinking about the ceiling in our house caving in because we are holding on to superfluous baby stuff.
So those are my super responsible big girl resolutions for 2015. Hopefully I’ll actually accomplish like 10% of what I’m resolving to do because I would hate to revert back to 18-year-old me and actually believe that Old Navy flip-flops count as dressy footwear.
The Waiting 
Good luck on our goals! Can’t wait to see more from you and hope moving c to her room goes well :)
Thank you!
I thaught I was the only one to not make resolutions in my 20s, thanks to this blog post that is allot of hooey. This is what I came up with today. http://tylershepard1991.wordpress.com/2015/01/01/new-year-new-pla ns/
You are certainly not the only one.
Be resolute and they will be done. All the best!
Thanks, you too!
Ambitious and admirable goals – good luck!
Thanks!
C will ALWAYS be my baby.
:)
I know the exercise/weight loss resolution is soooo cliché…. but I’ve allowed myself to just blow off working out completely for the past month, or 2…. with the goal of actually doing something about this body once 2015 rolled around. I’m on board, hope to see how you are faring with that goal.
Seriously, it’s insane how easy it is to blow stuff off once you have kids and your lifestyle changes. But I’ve gotta get it done because life is only going to get busier from here on out. I went on a long walk (not a run, a walk) yesterday, and I’m slightly ashamed to say that I’m sore today. That’s a testament to how out of shape I am. But I’m going to use the soreness as a reminder of how much I need to do this in 2015.
as I sit here, eating my 2nd bowl of popcorn mixed with skittles….. I agree. I was just thinking how sore I’m going to be after I force myself back into working out tomorrow. I think they say it takes at least 2 weeks to make it a habit, I hope so!
I guess I need to get off my duff and make some resolutions. I have things in mind that I want to do. That I need to do. I just realized I’ve got a kid going to college in 8 months. Mamma gotta sell a book! I suppose that means I need to edit and rewrite.
Good luck with your goals! Have you started running yet?
Meh, you are writing books all over the place AND holding down a job AND raising three kids AND writing a consistently hilarious and quality blog. Who needs resolutions when you’re already juggling the world?
I went on a long walk yesterday. I am sore today and slightly ashamed that I allowed my body to go to the proverbial pot. But it’s a good sore. Running starts tomorrow.
These are great. I specifically like your blogging goal–I enjoy your writing so much that I would enjoy being able to read more of it.
Happy New Year…and don’t cut Starbucks out based on your first goal. There is a reason God created coffee. For us mamas to be sane and happy. Drink up.
So can I put you down for my Coffee Enabling Crew? ;)
Of course!
Reblogged this on Vichet and commented:
I guess I make New Years resolutions now.
The big girl room sounds like its going to be cool. I finally got my son into his big boy bed. I had to of course make it really really cool, have him help, that way, he would think it was his idea and not mine.
Good call!
Get a FitBit, they rock! Very motivating. Our local hospital bought them for all the staff…. Big girl room, do it sooner, not later. Start making noise at nap time. I use to vacuum during nap time, so my kids wouldn’t be light sleepers. It worked; I can’t wake them with a bull horn, to this day!
I don’t do resolutions. I broke down and did it last year, and it bit me in the ass… so I’m going back to intentions. I have some. I’ve been working out again, up to 5 days a week. I put a documentary and show on netflix and get on the treadmill, and shockingly, I’ve started liking it! The snacking is still a problem, and now I have high cholesterol. This aging thing sucks the big one! But, I have intentions to bring that down too… Good luck in 2015, Emily. 2014 was all the better for having spent time with you, face to face! xox
Thanks, Dawn! I am going to get a FitBit; I have heard awesome things about them. As far as the room goes, we gotta get some more money in the bank first ;)
When I had my first 2 kids, we had NO money in the bank. Zero. I think there’s a lot of pressure to make things perfect, when really, I bet you make C’s world so wonderful she would love her room with our without that mural and fine floors. Have you seen the wonderful wall stickers that change a room into a Princess land, or garden, or many other fantasy places? They can be put up and pulled down and redone over and over. She could make it her own magic room! I’ve given them as gifts to older sibs when a new baby comes, and it’s always a hit. A good friend of mine, who is a professional “organizer,” (yeah, I know) says do it in small bits, not big projects, and goals get accomplished much faster… which encourages us to then take more steps… and more… However you do it, all the best with your resolutions and your gorgeous girl, in 2015!
Or you could buy my UP band. I like it better than FitBit and I got what I needed from it the 3 months I used it. $50 including shipping. Let me know. It’s neon blue. :)
I might just take you up on that!
What’s the difference? I am interested in getting a counter but not sure which one is best.
I really can’t remember … I only recall researching both and deciding UP was better for me. I loved the way it interfaced with My Fitness Pal on my phone as well! Wonderful tools!!
Love the mammogram analogy and also your writing resolution.
I’ll probably sign up for that 6K!!
Please do! As soon as we iron out the details, I’ll forward them to you :D
Great resolutions for the year! I have been resistant to an editorial calendar too but have literally been thinking this morning how I need to create one so I can keep the blog on track and grow it! Happy New Year!
Thanks! Yeah, even if you don’t stick to the calendar, it’s still a good exercise in brainstorming on all the things you can be writing about.
Love it! You have some great goals here. Wishing you and your family a very Happy New Year! I really don’t have any “official” resolutions. I have some hopes and ideas – some New Year thoughts. But resolutions, nope, I just don’t want to commit. Now that I’ve written that, it sounds a bit lame but it is where I am at in this moment.
You too, Shoes! It’s not lame at all. I think you have to really be ready to make a change or commit to something. The calendar doesn’t know our brains :D
Hi Emily! Wow, C is moving to her big girl bed. Time just flies. Just yesterday it seemed like it was 2012 or the year 2000. Good luck with all your goals! I hope your year is filled with happy times. xo
Hey Amy! She is indeed! I was looking at her lying in her toddler bed this morning, and I couldn’t believe how well she fills it up. Where does the time go?
Cheers to your 2015 goals! As for getting healthy, take note of how often you are snacking and what you are snacking on of course. A friend of mine mentioned the book Clean and I am hooked on cleaning up my lifestyle. I don’t even consider the mindless snacking I would do especially at children’s birthday parties even if I wasn’t hungry! Happy, healthy New Year!
Got for it! The goal for running a 6k by May is totally doable! My sister in law and I started running last May and ran a 5k at the end of September. Incredibly proud of my 39 minute run, but totally hoping to do better the next time. :) Check out the “Couch to 5k” program. Even if you spread each work out over two weeks (which is what we did) you can still get great results.
I didn’t make any resolutions. I got busy and forgot it was that time of year and now it’s too late because we’re more than a week in, like how you can’t start a diet on any other day of the week besides Monday. But I’m going to do lots of great stuff just like you….next year.
Pass me that box of 15-year-old Twinkies, will ya?
We are human and i pray to god every man of this earth who lived here take education and enjoy the best life in this world and know that this is one the great place for stay.