Sarah’s 2019 Resolutions

Holy crap guys, I guess I haven’t shared resolutions since 2015! See them here. Katie has been more diligent, here are her 2016 and 2017 resolution posts and here are her 2019 resolutions. Inspiring, yeah?

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Here’s a look back at 2018 – These were the main things I had hoped to accomplish, some went better than others. Continue reading

50 Things To Accomplish Before The New Year

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Thanksgiving is already here – cue the freakout. Where did this year go?! What did I do? What can I possibly accomplish before the New Year? Each year goes by faster and faster and I wonder how old I’ll be when I finally stop saying that. I’m going on four years strong now, officially at the point in my life where I’m done wasting time and energy on people and activities I don’t enjoy. Bye bye loser boyfriends! Peace out mediocre jobs. See ya later annoying obligations. Eeek! 

This mindset has been working out really well! I’m finding myself more in control of my time and exceedingly more honest with myself and others in relationships. So, what can we get done with what’s left of this year? It turns out a lot. Here’s a quick list of 50 Things To Accomplish Before The New Year – and if we treated time so fleetingly during every other moon and month just imagine the sh!t we could do. Lots more books could be read, beer could be tasted, errr, I mean closets organized and meals prepared?!

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2017 Resolutions

Want to see how this list compares to the past? Here are my 2016 and 2015 resolutions.

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I know everyone’s not in the same boat, but I love setting intentions and goals for the new year. I like that it creates a challenge within a timeframe. I’m always trying to better myself and create a better home for our family in a number of ways, but saying and writing specific ideas down at the beginning of the year gives me a bit of focus that I don’t have when I just say “become more healthy”, “do more of this or that with the boys”, etc.

I also like that when creating the coming year’s resolutions, we take a moment to look back and reassess how we did the previous year (who am I kidding, since I live with the Resolution Master, our assessing starts in August!). With that in mind, I thought a little looking back would be nice before diving into 2017.

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As I titled last year’s resolution post, it’s always a lot of same same, but different. I’m so SO happy with how well-nourished our family was in all aspects of mind, body, and soul. We ate so well (did you see those farm share posts?!). The boys are growing and learning new physical and mental skills left and right. As a family, we spent so much time outdoors. We filled every weekend and many weekdays with adventures, some big and some little, just like I wanted. Personally, I ended the year feeling really happy and content, and I think this is a reflection of how much I was able to take care of myself with exercise, creative projects, and doing it all while taking care of the day-to-day business without feeling overwhelmed. So, while the world seemed to be crashing down around us (I’m looking at you, presidential election), in our home, all is well.

This year, my biggest goal is just to keep on, keeping on. I want to keep doing all that good stuff, and improve it with a few key goals.

  • 100 sun salutations – last year I wanted to do a sun salutation a day. I kept this up for a long time, but then it fell by the wayside, and somehow I had that mental block where I couldn’t start it again because I had already missed too many days. Why do we do that to ourselves?! Anyway, rather than a daily task, I’m shooting for 100 total (but maybe really 1-a-day, wink wink).
  • sew some clothes with knit fabrics (think sweat shirts, t-shirts, leggings) – I was give a serger for Christmas, and if you know anything about sewing machines, then you know that these are great for sewing clothes (they create the tidy seams that you see if you look inside almost any factory-made shirt). And sergers are particularly handy for sewing knit fabrics because they create a stretchy seam that’s necessary for that material. So, I want to stretch my sewing and clothes-making muscles by making some clothes for myself and the boys.
  • weave! – I also received a table/lap loom for Christmas and am so excited to start using up my crazy yarn stash by learning to weave. My exact goal is to make a wall hanging for one of our rooms. I have this idea to create something that’s actually going to be a combination of multiple individual weavings (more on that in another post!).
  • make a specific curriculum plan for the boys – I’m going to talk about this more in a series of posts, but a quick summary is that the boys are still young and they’re home with me rather than in daycare/preschool. I love it this way, and the educator in me loves to think of ways to integrate learning opportunities in our day-to-day play. It’s been going great so far, but I think it would make me happy to have an overarching plan to some of our play. I know that’s a bit vague, but I’m hoping to explore the idea on the blog in real time.
  • get to Great Sand Dunes NP! – Great Sand Dunes looks like such a crazy place, and it’s in our state! I’m making it a personal goal of mine to get our family there for at least one visit this year. Hopefully it’ll involve camping and a bit of exploring that area of Colorado. eek!

Those are my big goals for the year. I think it’s such a manageable list, but what’s not on it are some of the goals that I keep setting and then not finishing. I’m looking at you, room full of instruments. I would really love to spend more time practicing the piano and violin. I decided not to make it a specific resolution this year, but I’m hoping that as I spend less time changing diapers, I’ll eventually find more time for making music.

I’ve also taken this excitement of the new year to make a few simple changes. I was getting tired of my old exfoliating face wash, so I picked up an alternative that I’m loving (more on that after a few more weeks of testing). I also decided that I want to drink more water, but somehow this seems too lame to be a resolution. I’m doing it and tracking my progress in Streaks (also tracking my daily sun salutations and how much I read), and I hope that’s enough to make me more aware of my water intake, and that in a few weeks it’ll just become habit… hope springs eternal (ha! pun intended).

What about you? Any resolutions that you’re excited about this year? Any that you’re re-doing from last year?

New Year, New Goals.

Happy New Year!  I finally got around to thinking about goals for this trip around the sun.  Each year I make a whole host of goals and if I feel like I’m slacking, I make mini new moon resolutions too! Fingers crossed that I abide by this list in 2015.

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  • Establishing a daily routine is of PRIME importance this year.  I work as a freelance photographer so most days I’m at home editing photos or simply taking a day off.  I find I get a bit anxious and unhappy if I’m just ‘sitting around’ all day even if I’m doing something I enjoy like reading or cooking.  I’ve read that ‘happy’ people often have morning and/or daily routines. What about you? What do you do when you roll out of bed?
  • Ugh. The subject of sleep. I love sleep SO much. I could sleep at least 16 hours a day and often times I do sleep eleven or twelve hours a night.  Why am I complaining, right? Well, most times I wake up feeling lousy instead of well rested. I feel like I’m wasting the day and the last few hours of slumber are usually punctuated by alarms and crazy dreams anyway.  On that same note, I think creating a regular sleep pattern will help with my overall health. Hopefully I’ll feel more energetic and ‘ready’ to go in the morning even though I only need to cross the hallway to get to work.
  • I finally made a budget.  I’m sure some of you have had budgets for years and others want to go run and hide at the mention of it, but I’m pretty excited about it.  I’m extremely thrifty and therefore I always have enough money for the essentials, but I realized it is important to know how much you’re spending and saving each month.  When I travel I write down EVERYTHING, like every single thing, that I purchase and it is so helpful.  I can see how much I spend in each sphere of life, which is really helpful for future planning and squashing buyer’s remorse. Budgets are also super, duper helpful if you are a freelancer like me.  It is easy to sit back and relax and kind of slack off for a couple weeks, but if you have an earnings goal you’ll actually know if taking a few days off is a good idea.

 

  • Make soup once a week! Possibly my most favorite goal of all time.  I’ve been wayyyyy into soups lately. They’re so easy to make, usually only take one pot and they reheat so well.  Some of the tastier soups will be featured on the blog so sit tight 🙂
  • I need to camp more often.  This year I went for a bajillion day hikes. I probably averaged four or five a week, but I only camped out a couple times.  In 2013 I slept in a tent for over three months! The disparity is insane, so I plan on fixing that. Oh and I got an AMAZING new tent for Christmas.
  • I think I’ve had more yoga and meditation on my goal list every year since 2011.  Last year, I started strong in January by practicing 27 days in a row, but on the 28th day I came down with mono. That was a big bummer and definitely signaled that I need to practice more, but also pay attention to what my body needs. This year I plan on doing all that and traveling to Nepal to become a yoga teacher! I’m over the moon about my yoga-centric trip.
  • I spend a lot of time on Instagram.  I used to feel guilty about it, but then I remembered my professors were always saying something like, ‘look at photos, decide why you love them and go out and shoot.’ Now I think of my IG habit as an investment in my work!  I see so many beautifully styled photos on my feed and I realized I want to create some of my own.  I’m a trained photojournalist so I was taught not to manipulate the scene at hand, but now that I have a blog those rules are out the window.
  • I have at least four books started at all times.  My goal for the year is to read at least two a month, which shouldn’t be too hard, but we shall see.  What are your favorite books?! What do I absolutely need to read?
  • I feel like I’m pretty good at taking time to get inspired.  I have at least a dozen ideas floating around in my brain at all times, but I completely fail to write them down.  If I don’t write them down, I usually forget them and a majority of the time I never act on them.. I have a ton of cute notebooks and this year I’m puttin’ em to work!

 

  • Guys! Podcasts! I’ve been listening to them for years, but these past few months I’ve really started to nail down some favorites, which makes driving an absolute breeze! No idea what the hell a podcast is or how to listen to them?  It is SO simple, which is why I want to tell everyone!  Podcasts are basically episodes of radio shows.  You simply subscribe to each one by going to their websites or subscribing in iTune or the Google Play Store. Once you subscribe they will show up on your device without you doing a damn thing! (Go on and google it, you know you wanna) Over the past few weeks I have driven approximately 2,705 miles. Actually, more than that, but whatever, that’s a lot of miles.  During those drives I listened to just about every Freakonomics podcast and lots of Stuff You Should Know, That’s Deep Bro, This American Life, Your Mom’s House, and a bunch of others. Find your favorites and enjoy your time in the car. Stop scanning the awful pop radio, please!
  • These next two goals seem relatively simple. Gather my friends at my house and listen to what they are saying.  Doesn’t it feel good to get something off your chest? Don’t be that friend that only calls for that reason, be the one that calls for no reason at all 🙂  If you’re any friend of mine, you know that I hate the phone. I hate dialing, hate answering, just hate it, so this goal will be a test for me, but I’m hoping I’m successful. I realize, gathering friends at my house is kind of a test for others, but if you fail you’ll still get a phone call and a sticker 😉

 

  • Say #NOPE to self-inflicted guilt, external expectations and silly societal norms. I don’t think this needs too much explaining, it is basically an excuse goal of mine to be easier on myself. Please, please, please adopt this goal too.  I need to constantly remind myself that others’ paths are not my own and that is fine. I’m vowing to focus on mine this year, but LOTS and lots of luck on your journey too!
  • Be mindful. Think big. Act with intention.  This will be my daily mantra and again, it’s just another step to self love so if you’re ready, get on the love train with me 😉
  • Am I living a balanced life? Am I taking care of myself? Am I following my inner voice?  Personally, these are all important questions concerning my individual happiness.  You may have another set of questions.  I’m urging you to figure out what YOU need to ask yourself in order to start living a happier and healthier life.  Although we post lots of recipes, crafting and adventures on Live Seasoned, you may have guessed that our daily lives are not always pumpkin pies and snowshoeing. We sift through the muck of daily living too and for me sometimes it’s a struggle. These few questions bring me right back to square one and basically force myself to identify why I’m feeling just so so.  Find your own set of questions. Be honest with you and remember, “Our first and last love is self love.” so be a better lover!

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We are interested to hear if you made any resolutions this year or if you’re anti-resolutions, tell us more! Xo