new year’s resolutions

We did it! So long, 2020! + What’s in store for Q1

January 1, 2021 by jessica Leave a Comment

2020. Was. A. Year.

I know we can’t let out a sigh of relief just yet, but turning the calendar to 2021 feels like we’ve hit a major milestone in leaving behind the worst of year of our generation. (Fingers crossed.) And, yet, there was some good that came out of our collective “gap year.” We learned to slow down. We grew green onions on our windowsills. We lovingly raised sourdough starters. We relished the simplicity of walks. We watched so much TV (and still raise an eyebrow when Carole Baskin comes up). We cherished family and friends, and cared for them by social distancing. We supported the restaurant industry by ordering contactless pickup and delivery. We stayed home to ease the burden on healthcare workers. We masked because we cared for more than just ourselves. We pushed the reset button on our lives and identified our priorities.

It was a tough year, but in some respects, a year we needed.

I was thinking back to a year ago when blogs and Instagram accounts were littered with ambitious to-do lists, grandiose travel plans, and annual one-word mantras. No one knew what 2020 had in store for us and how it would force us to adapt to change and live more intentionally. While I’m thrilled to finally have 2020 behind us, I hope to bring some of that flexibility and thoughtfulness to the new year. In 2021, I’m approaching annual planning a bit differently this time around and taking it one quarter at a time. (I was dangerously close to a Fast and the Furious reference there.)

Here are my goals for the first quarter of the new year:

Office makeover! Working from home isn’t my favorite and it doesn’t help that I have a terribly uninspired room that I’m working in — one that still has an unpacked box from when we moved in. That’ll be changing shortly and I’ll be sure to share some before photos (maybe after I move that box…) and the direction I’m going in soon!
Lose 5.5 pounds. I have a goal of losing 21 pounds in 2021. I might document this; I might not. I struggle with my weight and even just putting a number and time frame of my hopeful weight loss is a bit daunting. I’m excited, though!
Paint the bathroom ceiling. As you may recall, I gave the bathroom a mini refresh last fall. I swapped out the old florescent light fixture in favor of a smaller, schoolhouse-inspired one and I was left with a pockmarked ceiling that was only partially painted. I need to get around to finishing that.
Paint the guest room. I painted the guest room grey when we moved in without adequately testing paint swatches. It turns out, the grey I picked looks lilac most of the day. I hate it and I really need to do something about it.
Contractor quotes. I’d like to do some contractor research and narrow it down to three to give us quotes on a full bathroom remodel as well as quotes on redoing our original-porch-turned-sunroom. I have no idea what this will cost and I’d like to get a better idea of what we’re saving for.
Get in the habit of doing the dishes every night. I tend to let them sit for a day. I know.
Read three books. For those who are voracious readers, I realize reading three book isn’t an impressive goal for the first three months of the year. I used to read a lot (one of my majors is in English literature!), but haven’t prioritized it lately. I’d like to start reading a bit before bed each night and rediscover my love of the written word.

What’s on deck for you in 2021? Are you looking at the year as a whole or breaking it down into smaller chunks?

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Goals for 2020

January 9, 2020 by jessica Leave a Comment

TRAVEL SOMEWHERE NEW

My perennial resolution is also my most favorite! Last year was amazing with two trips abroad, which I never would have anticipated when I was penning a similar post a year ago. That’s kind of what I love about this resolution. I have a few ideas of where I’d like to visit abroad and stateside (in no particular order: Poland, Sweden, Croatia, Austria, Quebec, somewhere in South America, Maine), but it really comes down to whatever destination we decide to research on a whim and ticket prices.

BE A BETTER STEWARD OF THE ENVIRONMENT

I love that people across the board are becoming more cognizant of their impact on the environment. I know that individually my impact won’t be as significant or meaningful than if corporations and governments fully committed to sustainability. But, I know I can do more to be more responsible and reduce the impact that I make. I want to reduce my consumption of single-use plastics this year. I already made the switch to reusable shopping bags, but I can do a better job with doing things like consistently packing my lunch into reusable containers instead of reaching for a baggie. I’m also trying to find ways to reuse plastics that groceries are packaged in. For example, yogurt containers are great for paint when I just need a little bit for touch-up work around the house. Also, I think I’m going to start composting this year. Until recently, had no idea how bad it was to send organic materials to a landfill, so I may as well make that into usable dirt for a small veggie garden in 2021.

I also want to extend this sustainability focus to purchasing items for my wardrobe. I’m so tired of fast fashion and trend-based pieces that don’t earn a spot in closets long term. It’s so wasteful. I want to make sure that everything I purchase this year is true to my style, is good quality, and is something I can see myself holding on to. It’s not to say I won’t geek out over the occasional Target dress, but I want to be sure that cheap thrill is something I actually want to own longer than a season.

PRIORITIZE MY HEALTH

I know how tragically cliche this one is, but my goodness, I gained nearly 15 pounds last year that I need to shed. Plus another 10 for good measure. I wanted to get in better shape last year and I lost focus of that goal and ate and drank my way through a couple of vacations and, well, the rest of the year. I’m now 36 years old and I’m worried that I’ll be facing health problems down the road if I don’t make significant changes to my routine now. So, Dave and I have committed to helping each other stay motivated to lose weight with calorie counting, cutting out weeknight drinks, and exercising (which will be much easier come spring). I’ve also scheduled one of my annual doctor’s appointments this month in order to start the year on a positive note. I’m actually really excited to make these changes and I’ve already lost 4.5 pounds since the holidays.

For those who may be new around here, I lost 70 pounds after college. (I know, right?!) I had gained 50 of that back over the past eight years. (That weight-creep when you’re older is real!) I want to split the difference and lose 25 and put myself at a weight that felt maintainable and where I felt balanced. I was a size four at my lowest weight — which felt insane to a girl who had always been overweight, and it was almost impossible to maintain if I ate anything more than a salad for lunch and dinner. My current goal weight was what I stuck with for the longest amount of time and I feel like it’s achievable this year. It’s still going to be hard and it’s going to be a long road ahead, but I know I need to make this change for myself.

TACKLE PROJECTS AROUND THE HOUSE

I actually put together a post outlining the tasks I have in mind for the first six months of the year. I took a SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-based) approach to goal-setting for this so that these items don’t sit on a wish list forever. I plan to refer to this post throughout the next six month and check back with you on my progress with plenty of home-related content. It seems to perform the best judging by the analytics, so I suspect you have an interest in it, too!

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images: 1, 2, 3, 4

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Goals for 2019 – The First Six Months

January 1, 2019 by jessica Leave a Comment

I love the start of a new year, especially the fresh slate and sense of optimism that comes with it! But as I was reflecting on the past year and thinking about some of my goals for 2019, I realized that I seem to forget what were my priorities midway through the year! This year, I’m looking at things in six-month increments. It’s enough time to actually work toward some of my goals, but having a midyear check in will help keep me accountable and allow me to reflect back on what’s not working and why.

TRAVEL SOMEWHERE NEW

If you’ve been a longtime reader, you’ll know that this is a perennial goal of mine. I think it’s important to continuously expand your horizons and see new parts of the country and world. For me, travel is inspiring, fuels my creativity, and honestly travel makes me feel like a better and more interesting person. We traveled a lot last year, visiting London, Austin, Portland, Seattle, New York City, and Chicago. The latter was the only city I had already been to (and numerous times at that; it’s only a couple of hours from Madison, so we get there at least once a year). This month, we’ll be traveling to Florida’s Gulf coast to visit Dave’s parents who rented a condo for the month. We have Sweden on the radar for this spring (assuming work schedules and travel costs allow), and we’ll add on a to-be-determined destination abroad during that trip. It’s tempting to go back to our beloved Brussels or visit Copenhagen again because one week in that gorgeous city wasn’t nearly enough time.

GO WITH THE FLOW

I’m not the most chill person and I may have a tendency to overreact and be a bit dramatic. This year, I’m going to do my best to be more understanding and relaxed whenever an unexpected curveball is thrown my way. Along with this, I need to stop taking as many things personally.

TAKE SELF CARE SERIOUSLY

No, I’m not talking about doing face masks and soaking in the tub. I’m talking about being more active, drinking more water, reading more often, and eating better. My 46-year-old uncle died rather unexpectedly on Thanksgiving and it was an eyeopener to me that at age 35, I really need to start taking steps to take care of myself so that I don’t find myself with a slew of health problems ten years from now. I do need to lose weight. I lost 15 pounds in 2018 … and then gained it all back during our hectic travel months and the holidays. While discouraging, if I could do it last year, I can easily make it happen again with a little willpower! I’ve also been making sure I drink at least 64 ounces of water daily (but aiming for 100 ounces each day). This is such a small thing, but it’s made me feel more energetic and keeps me from mindlessly snacking when I’m really just thirsty.

AROUND THE HOUSE

I had a lofty list of goals for the house last year and didn’t accomplish as many as I naively thought possible. That said, we did find the perfect dining room table and chairs, painted our upstairs hallway, made significant progress on painting the doors and removing old paint from the hardware, purchased light fixtures for five rooms, and had four dying trees removed. We probably should have done more, but it’s such a balancing act with time and money. Here’s my must-do list for the first six months of 2019:

First of all, share more home-related content! I’d love to give you a better idea of where I’m spending my time and some of the things I’ve learned improving a fixer upper.
Finish installing our living room sconces. We bought sconces months ago and only installed one. It was such an annoying process that we got discouraged and put it off. I’d actually like this done before the end of January.
Paint the remaining three doors, strip the paint from the hardware, and hang them.
Hire someone to fill in the unnecessary doorway between our bedroom and guest room. (Long story short, the house was a two-flat at some point. Our upstairs guest room was a kitchen and our master was a living room. Instead of having the tenants go into the small hallway to access each room from the original doorways, a previous owner cut a doorway between the two rooms … and did a shoddy job at that. In fact, the “trim” is plywood. It’s a more difficult job than just drywalling each side, which we could do ourselves, so we’ll need to hire someone. I’ll share photos and talk about it more soon!)
Hire a painter to tackle our stairwell. I’d like to do wallpaper eventually, but I don’t want to live with the ugly yellowish paint that’s on the wall until I have money saved up. I’d rather have it painted white (or maybe an accent color) so it’s less of an eyesore for the time being.
Replace the storm door at the front of the house. It’s in such poor shape and incredibly ugly. (I have no idea how to install a door, so that’ll be an adventurous weekend!)
Add a screen door to our back deck, if the existing door and frame allows.
Add an exterior motion-sensor light to the garage.
Paint or stain the deck and front porch.
Figure out our gutter situation so the rain doesn’t just dump directly from the roof onto the deck. (I’m not sure if they simply need to be cleaned out or if we need more gutters.)
Buy curtains for the dining room. Our house is close to the neighbor’s property, so we’d like to do sheers or linen curtains for privacy, but also to allow light to come in.

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images: 1, 2, 3, 4

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2018 New Year’s Goals

January 1, 2018 by jessica 9 Comments

FEWER, BETTER THINGS

I know this is the Cuyana tagline, but it makes so much sense for where we are in our lives. We have a lot of possessions — which became evident when we moved — and the last thing we really need is more stuff. I’m trying to get out of the habit of impulse purchasing or feeling like I need something new to scratch an itch, or in terms of our home, feeling like we need a transitional piece that acts like a placeholder while we hunt for “the one.” I have a few lofty items that I’d love to own this year, namely the Gucci bag I’ve been saving for, wallpaper for our stairway, light fixtures for the entire house, and a dining room table and chairs. Having clearly defined purchases makes it easier to pass up the impulse items. I’ve also thought about limiting myself to just one or two sartorial pieces each month. It’d be an interesting challenge to whittle down a wish list to just a couple of purchases, but I could see it sucking a lot of joy out of fashion. Maybe worth trying for a few months, though!

TRAVEL SOMEPLACE NEW

This perennial resolution is my favorite. I think it’s important to expand my horizons and see a different part of the country or world. Plus, it’s so much fun to experience a new location! Last year we only took one vacation, and fortunately it was to a new-to-us location: New Orleans. It was difficult to justify additional travel when we just purchased a house and were feeling financially stressed as we adjusted to a new budget. Hopefully we’ll have more travel flexibility this year. We already have London on the books for April (with the flight and hotel already paid for, so that’s taken care of!), and have toyed the idea of going to Iceland for a week in the summer. I’m not sure if Iceland is realistic, so we have a couple of domestic ideas in mind. (After last night’s subzero temperatures, I wouldn’t mind ringing in 2019 somewhere with a beach!) And, while this is more than a year away, I promised Dave that we could go to Japan in 2019 or 2020. (Maybe if I write it down here, I’ll feel accountable for making it happen?)

MOVE MORE

Challenging myself to lose a certain amount of weight or commit to an ambitious workout schedule isn’t going to happen. However, I am looking to make healthier changes to my lifestyle in 2018. (Gone are the days that I could reliably lose weight just by reducing my calorie intake!) I’m starting an exercise regime that I can accomplish at home (twice a week sounds realistic to start) and once the weather gets nicer, I’m committing to at least one bike ride a weekend to get out an enjoy our neighborhood, Madison’s parks, and the surrounding lakes.

AROUND THE HOUSE

When we purchased this house, we knew there’d be a lot of work to do to make it our own. It was largely abandoned and hadn’t been taken care of or updated over the years. We’ve made impressive strides in the first six months of ownership, but there’s still a long list of things to do! We keep a shared list on the “Notes” app that allows us to jot down every project that comes to mind so that we can prioritize them. I won’t get into all of the projects, but some that I’d like to do tackle this year include:

Finish painting the trim and doors.
Finish painting the hallway and ceiling. (We’ll need a professional painter for part of the wall and ceiling that we can’t reach over the stairs.)
Repaint the guest room since we hate the grey we originally picked.
Replace the storm door at the front of the house. It’s in such poor shape and incredibly ugly.
Replace the remaining light fixtures … for seven rooms.
Buy a dining room table and chairs.
Purchase a living room rug, preferably vintage.
Add a screen door to our back deck.
Have a contractor come in to give us quotes on renovating the bathroom, closing off the opening between the master bedroom and guest room, and renovating our front porch/sun room. (It was originally a porch, but had been closed in at some point. We’d like to add more windows and give it an interior face lift so it’s a space that we’ll use.)
Get quotes on wallpaper installation for the stairway. (I’d love to make wallpapering a priority for 2018, but it all comes down to money.)
Get quotes on skim coating the kitchen to get rid of the awful textured walls.
Have an electrician install exterior outlets.
Resurface the driveway and add a parking pad to the side of the one-car garage.
Add exterior lights to our side entrance and the garage.
Paint or stain our deck and front porch.
Figure out window coverings. We’re likely going with roller shades because they fit the period of the house and they’re affordable.

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images: 1, 2, 3, 4

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2017 New Year’s Goals

January 1, 2017 by jessica 3 Comments

Happy 2017! A new year brings with it a renewed sense of optimism and excitement for the months ahead. Sure, we have a certain president to contend with later this month, but let’s move beyond that for now and focus our attention on happier pursuits: the things we’d love to accomplish in the new year. Setting out with a list of resolutions for the year sounds daunting (and oftentimes unrealistic), so instead I’m framing them as goals. These are the items I’d like to work toward in the coming months and, honestly, I might not accomplish any of them. That’s okay. Setting goals rather than resolutions means that even the small steps forward are successes worth celebrating.

MORE OUTFIT POSTS

I’m sure Dave is super excited about helping me accomplish this 2017 goal, but they’re the most popular posts and, honestly, my favorite ones to do. Plus, photographing my sartorial hits (and misses) helps me hone in my style and encourages me to be more creative, which leads me to my next goal:

STOP OVERTHINKING CLOTHES

Fashion should be fun and personal style should be a creative journey unmarred by overthinking things like cost per wear and “Can I wear this with three items I already own?” Year after year, my favorite purchases typically fall into one of three categories: impulse purchases that struck an I-have-to-own-this-now chord, uniquely designed items that I love to wear simply because they’re fun, or expensive items I actually had to save up for. (The latter is certainly the anomaly, but it applies to designer duds my bank account can’t handle on a whim like my Hermès bracelet.) Of course, I don’t want to just throw money at anything that catches my eye. I’m working on finding the balance between identifying the items I’ll wear a lot and making sure they’re not just boring basics. And, really, if an item is just that good, I’ll figure out ways to wear it. I also want to get out of the habit of only purchasing individual items because they’re versatile. Why not buy an entire outfit because it looks great together?

TRAVEL TO NEW DESTINATIONS

I can’t let a New Year’s post go by without my perennial goal to travel to new destinations. Last year, we ticked Copenhagen off of our travel list and also visited Nashville. We’re planning to visit Arizona this spring. (I’ve never been to the Grand Canyon and I hear it’s kind of a big deal.) We’d also love to head back to Europe this summer. London is high on our travel wish list as is Iceland, but we’re open to any destination with a deal on airfare. I also really want to spend a long weekend beached at, well, the beach.

BUY A HOUSE

Last year was an emotional roller coaster with our house hunt. (I never expected to feel so devastated after losing out on the only house we liked enough to put an offer on.) The real estate market in Madison is tough with low inventory, but things are starting to come on the market again and I’m optimistic that this is the year we’ll finally become homeowners. This also means we’ll finally get rid of some of our ugly hand-me-down transitional furniture. It just doesn’t make sense to buy things like new couches until we know what kind of space we have to work with.

EAT OUT LESS OFTEN

With the aforementioned plans, we’ll have to find ways to cut expenses throughout the year. Dining (and drinking) out is a huge line item that can be trimmed. Not only is dining out multiple times a week expensive, it’s also doing a number on our waistlines with the calorie-laden meals. Besides, I enjoy cooking. It’s a fun, creative way to unwind after a busy day at the office. So, here’s to getting mileage out of my Bon Appetit subscription with more meals at home in 2017!

Happy New Year!