BEDKNOBS & BAUBLES

Goals for the New Year | 2025

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Above: A snapshot from our trip to Lucerne, Switzerland.

Happy New Year! I recently read an essay about setting New Year’s resolutions and goals that are based on what makes you happy. The author didn’t make lofty proclamations about losing weight or ceasing unnecessary expenditures; she highlighted things that bring her joy like traveling or attending concerts, and then identified potential vacation weeks or tour dates to make those goals a reality. I like this approach because it’s so much more optimistic than self-reflecting on your perceived failures. And even if you do have goals centered on changing a habit, reframing the intention behind it can be powerful.

TRAVEL TO AT LEAST FOUR DESTINATIONS

Travel somewhere new has been my perennial resolution for as long as I can remember. We rarely book trips more than a couple of months out, letting competitive flight and hotel prices guide us, so there’s always a bit of mystery about where we’ll find ourselves vacationing in the new year. That said, we do have two domestic getaways booked already: a summer weekend in Chicago because we found relatively inexpensive hotel prices at The Robey and a longer trip to Philadelphia. Where else will we go in 2025? Who knows! I’m sure there will be an international trip and I’m hoping for a beachside escape, too.

FIND JOY IN MOVEMENT

For whatever reason, I’ve always seen exercise as a type of punishment. I’m sure there’s plenty to unpack there about my perceptions and body image, but we’re not going to do that. Instead, I’m going to focus on how good I feel after I exercise. It takes a lot of mental energy for me to get started, but I always feel proud of myself and more energized afterward. I’m going to work on reframing a workout as something that will make me happy rather than something that I have to do.

CONTINUE MAKING PROGRESS ON HOME PROJECTS

What I love most about “home” is that it’s ever-evolving. Furniture moves, walls are repainted, new decor is added, renovations are considered. It’s never really done, and I can’t really predict what we’ll end up doing this year. However, I do know that focusing on our space makes me incredibly happy. Here are a few things I’d like to take care of in the first half of 2025:

  • Purchase a bookshelf or credenza for the living room. We moved the bar cabinet to the dining room and now have an empty space in the living room that needs some sort of storage, whether open or closed.
  • Purchase a second armchair for the living room. Whenever we have guests over, I feel like we need one more comfortable chair in the room. I’d like to buy a matching leather chair to the one that’s already in the space, but the leather color is no longer available. I’m not sure if a different chair would make the room feel too chaotic and mismatched when the existing armchair already doesn’t match the couch.
  • Install a curtain rod and curtains in the guest room. The space has roller shades already, so this isn’t a privacy- or light-related priority. It’s more for aesthetics. I already bought curtains from Amazon in “Key Green” that match the wall color pretty well (Sherwin-William’s “Billiard Green”), and curtain rods are backordered until March.
  • Finish with the guest room. After curtains are hung, we really only need to hang a mirror, add artwork, and consider replacing the hand-me-down nightstand. I’d also like to find a queen-size bedspread or quilt for the space that I love, rather than using our king-size blankets and tucking under the excess. Addressing the guest room was one of my 2024 goals and I’m so glad we did it because it’s allowed my parents to stay with us when they visit.
  • Begin organizing the basement. This has been on my to-do list for years. It’s a daunting project that I never actually want to start doing. However, if we can even just start with a small section, I think it’ll give us motivation to keep going — or, at the very least, that small section will be organized! Progress, not perfection.

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Goals for the New Year | 2024

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Happy 2024! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and a restorative start to the new year! As with every year, I enjoy thinking ahead about what’s to come, reflecting on changes I’d like to implement, goals I’d like to achieve, and places I’d like visit. “Resolutions” have gotten a bad rap recently with their overly ambitious connotations, so let’s just call this my annual list of goals. That doesn’t seem nearly as daunting!

GET ORGANIZED

I never did achieve my 2023 goal of organizing the basement. It’s just such a large, daunting task that feels impossible to get started on. This year, however, is all about getting organized and allowing myself to let go of items that no longer serve a purpose. This extends well beyond the basement, too. Our garage needs some TLC, the kitchen cupboards have miscellaneous food that we need to either consume or toss, and I’m sure there are plenty of things in our closets that could find a new home. I know everyone feels this way at the dawn of a new year, but I finally feel motivated to do something about it. It probably has something to do with aging, too. I turned 40 last year and I don’t need to hold on to things like mugs I had from my first apartment. I want to surround myself with things I truly love or serve a purpose. Things shoved in boxes aren’t exactly doing that.

TRAVEL SOMEWHERE NEW

You know my favorite annual goal is coming back for 2024! There’s nothing on the books yet — just like how Switzerland wasn’t on my travel radar at this time last year — which makes it all the more exciting to daydream about where we’ll find ourselves.

ESTABLISH NEW ROUTINES

I downloaded the Streaks app to help motivate me into establishing a few key habits in the new year: drink a glass of water before my first cup of coffee in the morning; exercise at least twice per week; read two books a month; and go to the pottery studio once a week. I’ve been successful learning French each day with Duolingo’s reminders (I’m on day 1,007!), so I’m hopeful that Streaks will keep me accountable for the other habits.

MAKE PROGRESS ON HOME PROJECTS

We renovated our bathrooms in 2022, so last year wasn’t ambitious on the home-project front as we sought to beef up our home savings account again. Instead, we worked on refreshing our bedroom by way of a new bed, new lamps, and new paint. While I still need to select and hang curtains, the bedroom has become a room that I really enjoy and it feels so much more adultlike! This year, I’d like to make progress in either our office or guest room (maybe both!) as the rooms have become uninspiring dumping grounds for clutter. I’d also like to start a mood board for the sunroom and — possibly — get quotes on the project so we can start planning what’s feasible in the space to add more livable square footage to our home. I feel like this won’t be anywhere near as extensive as the bathroom renovations were, so my guess is that the price tag won’t be astronomical. I guess we’ll find out!

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Happy New Year + Goals for 2022

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I hope your new year is off to a wonderful and stress-free start! We celebrated the dawn of 2022 with a few of our close friends (all vaxxed and boosted, of course) who came over to play games and share in entirely too much bubbly with us. It was the perfect way to ring in the new year, and we followed it with a weekend of much-needed R&R — and a deep clean of the house. (Never mind the errant pine needles that’ll pop up over the next few months!)

If the last two years has taught us anything, it’s that even the best laid plans will have to pivot and adapt to uncertainty. I’m sure 2022 will be no different, but I’m still a fan of outlining a set of goals to keep us on track for the new year. Here’s what I hope to accomplish this year:

1 | TRAVEL SOMEWHERE NEW (MUNICH!)

Traveling to a new destination is a perennial goal of ours and one that we’re always happy to check off our to-do list. Assuming the pandemic eases up this year, we’re planning to visit Munich for Oktoberfest this year. We already have our hotel reserved and are researching the other place(s) we’d like to visit while we’re abroad. It feels a bit surreal to be planning an international escape after the last two years, but I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to travel safely and responsibly later this year. And, if not, well, the hotel is refundable.

2 | SHARE MORE HOME CONTENT WITH YOU + HERE’S WHAT’S ON DECK

Our bathroom renovations are scheduled to begin on Feb. 15 and I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am to see our vision come together for the spaces — and to bring you along for the ride! In addition to that huge project, here’s what else I’d like to accomplish this year: repaint our main bedroom’s accent wall (I’m no longer in love with its current color), hang curtains in our bedroom, finish the guest room, continue honing my budding green thumb with more plants and flowers in our yard this spring, find the perfect armchair for our upstairs office space, finally organize the basement and workbench, and close up the inoperable door to the original porch of our home (you can see the door on the right of the opening image in this post).

3 | SPEND LESS, SAVE MORE — AND PARE DOWN IN THE PROCESS

First off, I should be able to pay off my student loans this year! That loan felt insurmountable post-graduation and I can barely believe that I’m in the homestretch! Additionally, I have a target number to increase my savings account by this year. It’ll essentially have me saving twice as much each month as I did in 2021. It doesn’t seem unrealistic, but it is going to require that I actually make a budget and stick to it. I think this will be good and will help me continue to strive for fewer better things. I want to be mindful of my purchases and ensure that each one is something that I’ll either use regularly or that will spark joy. Along those lines, I need to do a real purge around the house. We have boxes in our basement that we haven’t opened since moving in four years ago. Some are old photo albums and will stay, along with the prettiest Kate Spade dessert plates and cake stand I just don’t have a home for in our kitchen. (I resolve to bring out the cake plate for special occasions this year!) Other boxes are full of miscellaneous things that don’t have a place in our lifestyle. I have a difficult time letting go of material items because I feel so guilty for having spent the money in the first place, but it’s not doing us any good in a box.

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

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image credit: Betty Subrizi

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

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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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