Stuff to do in 2017

I am usually not one for making New Year’s resolutions. A lot of times it’s “do less of xyz” or “stop doing xyz” and no thanks, I do not live my life by ‘cannots.’ (Unless that cannot is, like, meth.) But, in looking back, I realize that when I have made a commitment to something, I have often stuck with it. For example, one year I decided I was going to floss every night. This was like 15 years ago and guess what? I still floss every night. So, I figure there’s probably nothing wrong with making some choices for my overall well-being. Here they are:

Bring a snack to school pickup for LG
Homegirl can be cranky after school and it occurred to me when she was in daycare over the winter break and was SO NICE when I picked her up after lunch that DUH, she is just hangry after school. I figure if I just shove food in her immediately when I see her, then we’ll all be happy.

Take LG somewhere after school once-ish a week
Currently, we come home from school and LG unpacks her stuff and then retreats to watch PBS Kids while I work. On Wednesdays, she does gymnastics, but the other days of the week are activity-less. I don’t feel bad about her watching tv (she learns a lot from PBS Kids, no really, she does), but there’s probably also some value in going and doing something. It will all depend on my work schedule, but I am hoping we can implement this most weeks. I’m thinking library in the winter and when the weather gets nicer, then we can go to the park.

Continue with the yoga
I set out to “do more yoga” in October and have been keeping up with that. Since I am now a member of my yoga place, that makes it even easier. I can sign into classes through the app and then sneak in through the backdoor and I never have to talk to anyone. It’s great. My general goal has been a minimum of two classes a week/eight classes a month.

Run more
While 625 seems like a lot of miles completed in 2016, the truth is it was a lot of walking. Summer here was disgusting–so humid and gross–and winter was too icy for running, so I ended up slogging or gingerly tiptoeing through a lot of walks. It was fine, but I’d like to get back to actual running when I’m not yoga-ing.

Read more and READ MORE
I read nine books last year, which is…not a lot. I want to read more this year and in addition, I want to READ MORE than just the same old authors. I get stuck in ruts with the same authors I always know I’ll enjoy, which is okay for a little bit, but I would like to give some new authors a chance. I have the following books queued up at the library:

• A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles (I love, love, loved Rules of Civility, so I am hoping this one doesn’t disappoint)
• The Woman in Cabin 10, by Ruth Ware
• Superficial, by Andy Cohen
• Winter Storms, by Elin Hilderbrand (I CANNOT QUIT ALL MY FAVORITES)
• The Passenger, by Lisa Lutz
• Not that Kind of Girl, by Lena Dunham (I will spare you the “LEAVE LENA DUNHAM ALONE!” tirade I went on on Twitter the other day)

Say yes to more fun things Chris suggests (get your mind out of the gutter)
Chris is our resident spontaneous fun person, whereas I would stay home all weekend and read books or lay around watching tv. On the day before New Year’s Eve, he suggested we go into Chicago for the night and normally I’d come up with some reason not to, but I didn’t and we had so much fun. More fun!

Write a cookbook!
More to come on this as we progress, but Chris and I are going to write a cookbook! This weekend we planned what will most likely make it into the cookbook (it was harder than you’d think to come up with meals that are truly “ours” and not adaptations from others). Next up is scheduling everything for us to cook throughout the year so that we can test and nail down the recipes. We also need to buy a kitchen scale and, dream of dreams, a second dishwasher like Queen Ina Garten. Anyway! Follow the hashtag #sundaykindofdinners for updates, etc.