25 Accomplishments of 2018 (and Final Goal Update)

Once again, I finished out the year by listing my 25 accomplishments of 2018.  I enjoy making this list every year for so many reasons: enjoying the memories made this year, taking a personal accounting of how I spent my time (our most valuable resource, in my opinion), and planning how I will use what I learned this year in the future.

There have been years where I opted not to share my list.  I think we all have years like that.  Years marked by loss and grief may be ones where keeping our lists honest also means keeping them quiet and close to our hearts.  However, in years where we really pushed ourselves out of our comfort zones or accomplished things we are especially proud of, I think it's great to share our accomplishments with others, allowing us to exponentially increase our joy.  Regardless of whether you choose to share your list, I highly encourage you to take some time to make one.  

OK, here we go!

This year's list:

1. Parented teenagers.  Multiple teenagers.  And survived.  Barely.  I honestly don't know how.  I should probably give most of the credit to Dan, my mom and step-dad, and my sister, Jessica.  They keep me sane.  I mean, I parented the other non-teenager children, too.  But compared to this??  That was easy.

2. FINALLY took the Iowa bar exam.  That damn thing.  That all-encompassing, smothering, controlling, God damned thing.

3. Read 40 books.  Many of my friends put me to shame on this one.  I'll do better this year.  

4. Made an attempt to maintain this blog.  I will talk about this more in my Goals 2019 post, but for now, I'll just say that.

5. Learned the very basics of salsa dancing.

Poconos, Cinco de Mayo, and Prehistoric Putt

Hello!

I am trying to fit in a little bit of time to post this evening since it has been so long!

We have had so much fun going on around here that I just haven't had any time.

In April, we went to the Poconos.  We thought we were cool and athletic, so we went on a hike....and got lost in the woods.  Which was totally okay because this region isn't known for having black bears just wandering around or anything.  

Birthdays, Easter, Elephants & Good Books

Oh my, we have been so busy!!  

My birthday was a couple weeks ago, and of course, my wonderful family made it super awesome.  We had ice cream and pineapple upside down cake and Reba tickets and a bada$$ Ninja blender and stuff that smells good, and a SAVANNAH BANANA SHIRT!!!  It was a great time.

We also had a very happy Easter, and hope all of you did, as well.

Spring Candles, Lucky Charms Treats, Sushi, and a Birthday Party!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!

Last year, I made corned beef and cabbage....oh my, it was so good.  This year, I forgot to put corned beef brisket on my grocery order and well, we had these Lucky Charms Treats instead.  (Not actually for dinner.  Just dessert!).

We also had these yummy cupcakes!

I guess I forgot to buy St. Patrick's Day cupcake liners.  Whoops.

We have also had a bunch of other wonderful things going on around here.

Cinnamon Rolls, Strawberry Shortcake, Instant Pot, & Slime

Hello!

We have been so busy this week.  Oh my.

Sunday, I made these yummy Easy Overnight Caramel Cinnamon Rolls.  They were super good and so pretty.  I have no clue why I didn't take a picture, but I didn't.  These were made from frozen bread dough, which was great for convenience, but a little difficult to roll out, at least for me.  They were really good, but I prefer making my own dough.

Monday was full of GREAT surprises.  My awesome mom thought I needed this:

I was definitely in agreement.  I haven't used it yet, but what a wonderful surprise to come home to!

Kickboxing, Creighton, and Scary Barbecue

Happy Saturday!

Oh my, we have had a great week!

Monday, we celebrated Cherry Pie day in the most sophisticated way we could:

Wednesday, in keeping with my goal of learning at least one new thing a month, I went to kickboxing with my friends Eloise and Calina.  Oh.  My.  Oh my.  It was amazing and awful at the same time.  But awful in a good way.  Like it kicked my butt.  But I needed it.  And....these:

We went to Impact Kickboxing, which I very, very highly recommend.  

January 27

Hello!

As January comes to a close, I wanted to share a few pictures from a day that is super special to our family.

Fifty-seven years ago, on January 27, 1961, my dad was born.

A few (or more) years later, my parents were also married on January 27.  That may not have worked out so well, but hey, I exist.  I'm pretty thrilled about that fact, so, I guess it was a minor win.

Then, a couple years ago when this cute guy decided - on January 27 - that maybe he kinda liked hanging out with me just a bit, I was pretty agreeable to the idea.

So, yes, we enjoyed celebrating January 27.

First, we had breakfast at 11-worth Cafe.  This is exactly the type of place that my dad would have loved.  Little cafes with amazing breakfasts were his thing.

I, of course, had the Chicken Fried Steak.  I ALWAYS have the chicken fried steak the first time I try any place that has it.  I don't know why.  I'm just weird like that.  

Strawberry Ice Cream, Fig Newtons, Stranger Things & Chicken Lasagna

Hola!

I think I may have said this already, but I hope everyone is staying warm!!  It's been so wonderfully cold!!  Our family has really enjoyed the last week, so I thought I'd share some of our favorite moments with you.

We celebrated National Strawberry Ice Cream Day on January 15.  Why my daughters are wearing shorts in January in IOWA, of all places, is anyone's guess.

Obit & Ice Skating

Hello, everyone!

This week has been busy, but so much fun!

Wednesday, we went ice skating at UNMC and had a blast!!  Well....I had a blast.  Dan...well, Dan was a trouper, like always.  He may not love the ice, but I think he had fun.  At least, I hope so.....??  I think this face says, "YES!  I AM HAVING FUN!"  Or something similar.

And after ice skating, there is nothing better than, of course, a good book and a glass of  wine.  We are big supporters of local wineries (and by "big," I mean we drink about two bottles of wine a month....but in spirit...big supporters....??)  If you follow my Instagram, you will see that we spent a lot of time visiting Nebraska and Iowa wineries this summer.  This Peach wine from Breezy Hills isn't actually one of my favorites when compared to their wonderful Cranberry wine, but it's still really, really good.  

As for the book, Obit by Jim Sheeler is shaping up to be one the most interesting books I've ever read.  It's a book of obituaries, which sounds so sad, but is actually very inspiring.  My wonderful friend, Rhea, suggested this book to me (and then let me borrow it!) and I am so glad she did.  It's just amazing.  I strongly suggest you all check it out.

Hope you all are having a wonderful week! 

Chocolate Covered Cherry Day and Some Other Things

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Doesn't Snapchat make us cute??

I'm also super excited about that cardigan I'm wearing.  I finally decided to try out Stitch Fix, and I'm so so glad I did!  Dan is also trying it out, which I'm sure will make me think I need to take more pictures of us than I already do....  Because I struggle a tad with buying clothes - some may call it picky, I call it selective - I sent back four of the five items that came in my first fix, but I absolutely love the cardigan I kept.  (If you are curious about Stitch Fix, click the link.)

If, on the other hand, you're curious about where to find the cutest little chocolate teddy bears and snowmen, don't click the link.  Go to Aldi!  Found these there today:

New Goals for the New Year

With the end of the year quickly approaching, I, like so many at this time of year, have been reflecting.  This year was so much fun for so many reasons.  Not a perfect year, but definitely a good one.  If you follow me on Instagram, you know that we packed a lot into this year.  Big goals, big decisions, a little bit of travelling, a lot of donuts....possibly a bottle of wine...or two....or ten.

For those of you who have followed my previous blogs, you may remember that I always, always end the year with "25 Things I've Accomplished this Year".  For those of you who haven't read my old blogs, this is an exercise I encourage everyone to do at the end of the year.  Some people are really intimidated by this exercise.  I often hear, "25 things?  I can't make a list that long. I didn't really do anything this year."

I'm pretty sure you did.

You may not have won a Nobel prize, but I'm sure you did things worth taking some pride in.  Did you finish a book?  Exercise regularly?  Take your kids to the park?  Relax?  Try something new?

Ending the year focusing on what you did right feels good.  Really good.  And the older I get, the better it feels.

There are times in the past where I have shared my list, but most years, it's something I keep to myself. 

But my goals for the new year?  I tend to share the heck out of those.  I find I do this for two reasons:

1) Accountability.  There were a few mornings this year where I found myself lying in a nice, comfy bed in a hotel room really, really wishing that I was not there for the sole purpose of getting out of that bed and running 13 miles in the snow/rain/heat/mud.  But just as I was about to let myself off the hook and go back to sleep, I would remind myself that if I did that, someone was going to ask on Monday about my race for that month and I would have to say, "Ummmm....I skipped it."  And did I want to face that kind of public humiliation?  No.  So I got up and ran.

2) Celebration.  As my Instagram followers can again speak to, I LOVE celebrating just about anything.  One of my core beliefs is that there is something beautiful to celebrate in every day.  Things like "I accidentally ordered way too many tacos for National Taco Day" are frequently heard in our home.  We celebrate almost everything.  And the best thing about accomplishing a goal is definitely celebrating with the people who helped you accomplish it!

Yeah...I really like to share goals.

So to kick off the new year and this new blog, I thought I'd share my 2018 goals as part of this intro post.

10 Goals for 2018

1) Start this new blog.  What am I going to do with it?  Oh, just a little bit of this and that.  The things I love.  Travel, food, family, friends.  Books, clothes, drinks.  Adventures.  Ideas.  Little beautiful moments.