This is a fun link-up with Holly and Patty that I have been meaning to join all year, and here we are on the very last link-up of the year! Better late than never, right? Ha! I will follow this with a more specific goal and word of the year post on Monday. I’ve been extremely sick for most of our Christmas break and unfortunately haven’t gotten as much done as I would like to, but I’m slowly finding my way back onto the wagon.
Do you make resolutions/goals for the New Year?
Yes. I know…a new year is not anything new, but I LOVE the fresh start of a new planner and a new outlook and chance to set goals. When I am really on top of it, I like to set quarterly goals so that they are a bit more easy to check in and to achieve. I’m not about unattainable goals, but there are a few goals that I have wanted to do each year and just haven’t accomplished them (like Scripture memory!). Still, it’s fun to set the goals and reflect on this past year!
Do you have diet/exercise goals?
Kind of, but not really. I do typically use the New Year as a time to look ahead and sign up for at least one race…maybe a 10k or half marathon. I love to run but otherwise don’t make many exercise plans. I do like to set a step goal for each day and try to achieve that. Before pregnancy, I could usually do 10k steps a day, but during pregnancy it’s been a huge challenge for me to even get to 8k. Diet plans? Nope.
2023 will be a little bit different in this physical area because my main goal is to have my fourth (and final) med-free delivery…and it will be so nice to lose those 15+ pounds overnight when I give birth (hahaha). I know that the rest of the year will be spent breastfeeding, and I don’t tend to lose my baby weight until I wean the baby, so I have NO plans to be in shape or lose weight this year. I am also really, really looking forward to the moment that I will finally have no morning sickness, which will probably be within 12 hours of delivery.
Do you have personal/professional goals for 2023?
Yes! I’ll write some more about my personal goals on Monday, but my professional goals are:
- Have a successful maternity leave. Feel prepared to leave my classroom, and then enjoy being off for 10 weeks!
- Feel prepared to tackle the 2023-2024 school year with lesson planning, organizing and prepping routine established
Do you use a planner? Paper? Electronic combo?
Yes, I LOVE my planner! This is my second year buying the Always Fully Booked planner. It’s a regular yearly calendar that ALSO has tons of fun pages for recording and tracking all the books that I read! This is run by a small business owner, so she does preorders and has already closed orders for the year- but I may have heard that she has a LIMITED restock this weekend if you are interested in buying one! It is not a cheap planner but I love that it has EVERYTHING in one place. Of course, I also have a teacher lesson planning book for school stuff, but use this one for all my family calendar stuff, personal to-do list and bookish tracking.
Do you have a word or phrase for 2023?
So, just for fun I looked back at my word for 2022 and saw that it was Confidence. Well, at the end of this year I would say that I feel more run-down and less confident than ever before, so that was a fail. But I do like to pick a word of the year and for 2023 it is STEADFAST. I’ll talk more about it on Monday in my blog post.
Ring in the New Year or asleep by 10pm?
Listen, I have a life-long bucket list goal of being in Times Square for New Years Eve. Which cracks up everyone I know because that is NOT my vibe at all. I am asleep by 10pm every day, I am the mother of small children, I hate crowds and I hate cold. WHY do I want to stand in Times Square? No idea. But I want to do it. But, alas…this year I will 100% be asleep by 10pm. I’m third trimester pregnant with 3 kids, Theo is working that night/evening, and we have church the next day. Maybe next year will be the year that we hit Midnight! And some year after that will be my Times Square year.
Side note- on New Year’s Eve being a police officer is wild. The city my husband works in has a serious problem with gunshots. Apparently everyone goes out and just shoots their guns into the air?!? People get hit by stray bullets all the time. WHY? Why? Things then usually calm down until around 3am when the bars close, and then New Year’s Day is so quiet until around 2pm when everyone wakes up with their hangovers and family drama starts up. It’s also hard to work holidays because there is a HUGE uptick in domestic violence and suicide/mental health calls. It’s a really hard time of year for so many people, and our first responders really see it first hand. They go on about 2-3x as many domestic disputes and a lot more suicide calls than “normal”.
Favorite Things to do on New Year’s Day?
I mostly like to get up early, workout, and then later spend some time with my planner and calendar for the year. I love a good mix of being reflective while also crossing some things off my to-do list.
Any travel plans for 2023?
To be honest…none. Absolutely zero. I am a bit saddened by this, but I know that 2023 will be “the year of the baby” and there will always be other years that we can travel. If we do any traveling, it will probably be to visit family or friends and will be planned later in the year, like the Hines family reunion in August.
Things/Events you are most looking forward to in 2023?
Well, having a baby in March is pretty much the top of the list! All the other things/events kind of depend on that one event and how our family transitions 🙂 I am looking forward to hitting our first full year on the homestead and this time truly getting to enjoy the spring/summer/fall months here. We moved here in May of 2022 and have basically just been scrambling to figure out a good homesteading routine. So having a year and all four seasons under our belts will be really helpful and give us lots of confidence.
Will you be watching any bowl games on New Years?
Um, nope. I honestly can’t even say that I know what a bowl game is haha. Oh dear me. We really don’t watch sports around here
My answer for bowl games was pretty much the same! I hope you get to Times Square one of these days… though I do not get that desire at all! LOL. (have you ever read any of the blogs and web pages that explain what it’s like?). That is such a beautiful planner. Best of luck with the new baby.