Resolutions and January

Maybe since it is documented it is easier to hold yourself to it.  Maybe, maybe not.  I have never been one to make resolutions because I feel like if you want to change something or be better at something, just do it already!  No need to wait until a new year to make something happen for yourself.  I feel though that this year is going to be big for us, I feel like the cold air I breathe in outside right now is powering me up for a fresh start. 

Here is what I want to happen this year:

New House:  We are pushing the limits in 5501.  It has been a great house, love it so much still.  So many great memories of bringing babies home, my Dad helping Erin install a window, mom helping me paint, kids playing in the back yard, Erin and I rotating rooms every year just so the kids have the best fit...I still love the layout, the openness and that it fits my style very much.  What I don't love is that we are getting a little too cramped, in the living room, around the kitchen table, just the overall feeling that our walls are on top of us.  I do know that whenever we do get this new house, the kids will still crawl all over me and be on my heels but maybe I won't feel so claustrophobic in a bigger space.  

10 Year: Erin and I will be celebrating our 10th anniversary this October.  We have had a pretty laid back and chilled out marriage.  Which to me is cause for a serious celebration!  Not too many people make it past 10 years and some just bicker non-stop.  So party it is!  I want to whip out that wedding dress, gather our friends and family who like a good polka and beer party and get down with our bad selves!  I already have a hardcore polka band booked, a potentially great location and now I just need the friends and some beer to get on with it in October!  

Owl People:  I don't really post much about Owl People on my blog.  I have tried to keep it as family stuff on here and many probably don't know how much time I put into my little side sewing gig.  I want to really try some different things this year, work on new products and keep fresh all year long. 

Retreat:  I have hosted my little craft retreat, Get The Craft Out for 5 years now.  I feel like I am at a good place with it and have figured out my numbers and what works.  The girls that come all have a really good time.  I would love to grow this to be something more and somehow incorporate other types of businesses/artisans into a larger scale retreat/learning party.  I see so many cool retreats popping up all over the states and I really want to bring it for Lincoln.  Confidence, connections, graciousness are all things that I need to embrace if I want to do it.  Oh, and I probably need to enlist someone to help me do this.  I have learned that I can't do it all by myself, especially if you want to make things great. 

Blogging:  I have been bad since I have joined Instagram.  I blame it all on Instagram.  Instead of documenting by writing, I just have been documenting our lives with pictures and a snippet to describe my photo.  I have considered doing a photo dump a week or at least making it a weekly task to blog.  I don't do this thing much for anyone to read it (sorry) but I do do it for my family and I do it for myself.  Blogging challenges anyone?  I like to write, I like my pictures, I just run stale after a while.  I got this blog overhauled last year with a beauty of a header and layout and I need to make it work.  

Photobooks/Babybooks/Blogbooks-What to do with it all:  I am sure everyone else is victim to loads of photos on their computer with nothing to do with them.  I read somewhere that someone picks the best 100 pictures of the year and loads them into a photobook.  I liked that.  100 is doable.  I only have 7 years worth of 100 pictures to do.  Baby books.  Gosh, I suck.  Poor kids, they all have them.  I am going to be making shit up for Henry's because I can't remember that far back.  Poor kid.  JUST GOTTA DO IT.  Blogbook.  I have tried oh so many times to slurp this thing into blurb to print this blog once and for all.  I hate it, it takes forever, FOREVER.  I am going on 7 years with this thing.  That is a lot of entries.  I need to break it up, utilize my boring ass job and get it done.  I need technology to get a little better in this category.  I feel like Blurb is the best way to do it but it gets so overloaded and takes FOREVER.  Someone surely has to develop something that moves at a faster rate.  

#30bags30days:  I did this last year with the inspiration coming from Becky Novacek.  I think it should be dubbed 30 Places in Your House That Drive You Nuts.  The premise is to make a list of places in your house that are cluttered with stuff, stuff you don't use anymore and gather it to donate, trash, recycle or sell.  Break it down one spot, one day at a time.  I got way more than 30 bags last year and it felt really good to go through the junk drawer, the utensil drawer, the linen closet, THE TOY BOX and so much more.  

Be a better friend:  Jeez, I am thinking that I am getting a little carried away on resolutions here, but this is an important thing.  Do you have those friends that are always really really good at asking about you, how you have been and rattles your kids names off wondering how they are doing and remembering specific things about you that you wonder how in the world they remembered that about you?  Well, I can think of a few.   Those are the people that I want to do a better job investing my time with.  Being more conscience of those who do give more of an effort.  

Okay, jeez, I have to stop.  I could probably go on and on as there is always something that I want to improve on, attain or succeed with.  I am still waiting on my January wall calendar (it should be in the mail) to truly begin my plunge into 2014 and feel like it has begun.  So until then, none of this is going to get done.  Procrastination?  Nawh....