Harts in Durham

I love a new year in kind of the same way I love Mondays. A fresh start, new goals, a chance to reset and make the best of life. I’ve always kind of loved that my birthday falls at the beginning of a new year. A new year on the calendar, a new year in my life.

At the beginning of a new year I usually get really excited about goal setting. Overly excited about goal setting may be a more apt description of things :). I have a tendency to become too abmitious, bite off more than I can chew, and ultimately end up crashing and burning because I can’t live up to my own (pretty unrealistic) expectations. So this year I decided to do something different. Don’t get too excited–I’m by no means breaking new ground here. Instead of coming up with 10,000 I want to do better/differently, I chose a theme. I’m not even sure I did this the right way, but who’s making the rules here? (I AM! I’m making the rules!) It’s my new year, and I’m determined to do it my way. So the theme I’ve committed to his year is cultivate creativity. If the last couple years have taught me anything, it’s that buckling down and forcing myself to become more regimented often leaves me spinning my wheels rather than becoming more productive. Choosing a overarching theme allows me to loosely structure my life around that idea and to gradually get to where I want to be.

This year I want to infuse creativity into more areas of  my life  For example, creativity in my parenting might look like saying yes to my kids more often, even when it feels inconvenient to me. Creativity in my marriage may mean finding a way to have a date night after the girls are in bed if we don’t have the time or the money to go out that week. And cultivating creativity means spending more time doing/watching/listening to things that spark my imagination instead of mindlessly getting sucked into things. And again, this is something I just want to be mindful of. Like asking myself during the day, “what could I be doing right now that would inspire creativity?” and not, “I need to do [blank number] of creative activities today.”

So, what do you do to get ready for a new year? Are you a goal-setter that sets out to achieve all sorts of things? Or do you choose a word or idea and try to let that affect every area of your life? Please share in the comments, I’d love to know!!

I also wanted to share a little bit of NYE 2017 with you as well. We had a pretty low-key day and were just really happy to spend it together after the hustle and bustle of Christmas.

We started out with coffee on the couch in the morning. If you know me even a little bit you know that one of my favorite things is a slow morning with my family and a full pot of coffee.

Later on we took the girls to the museum to put their Museum of Life and Science membership to use for the first time! It was such a good time for all of us. Corey and I got to sit and talk (and drink more coffee) while the girls ran around and played with all.the.things. I think this is going to end up being one of our very favorite gifts this year–and I’m not just talking about for the girls!

When we exhausted just about everything inside (because the high was in the 20s or some such nonsense and mama doesn’t play outside in cold weather!), we headed to NanaTaco for–what else–tacos! Much to our surprise it was nearly empty, which really never happens. We enjoyed taking our time with our meal and these two entertained us with their antics.

We came home and Corey and I broke out the champagne toast (early ;)), we all put on our jammies and slippers and snuggled up on the couch for a movie.

The girls were asleep by 10. Corey carried them up to bed and we crashed hard shortly after. It’s certainly not the NYE I desired or could have imagined in my 20s, but right now I wouldn’t have it any other way. These are my people and I couldn’t be more thankful.

I hope you’re having a great start to a fresh new year. I’m really looking forward to using this space a little more to create more of an authentic connection with you this year. I just can’t wait to see what all is in store!