Goals for 2019
I love love love a new year – it feels so fresh with possibility and I love spending a little time thinking through what I want the year ahead to look like.
Because I got so much work done before Christmas break and have been able to take some time off, I’ve had a lot more time to think through this coming year instead of feeling like I’m barely one step ahead of my life.
Bart and I got a babysitter on Monday for a couple of hours in the morning and went to a cafe and spent nearly three hours talking through our goals for the year both from a big-picture standpoint and also with lots of details. It was such a fun way to spend New Year’s Eve and I think we might make it an annual thing!
For the last two years, I’ve divided my New Year’s Resolutions into goals, habits, and projects, and that’s been such a good way for me to think about what improvements I want to make to my life, what things I want to accomplish, and what kind of person IO want to be.
For instance, one of my habits from last year was a consistent bedtime and we’ve made serious progress on going to bed by 10:30 every night. You better believe that’s a habit I’m keeping on my list for 2019 because I can’t let that one slide.
Last year, I shared 10 of my projects and it was so motivating to me that I thought I’d do it again this year!
11 Projects for 2019
- Read 100 books. I was pretty close in 2017 and then not even close at all in 2018. This year? I’m going to do better. I already know that one of my big problems was that my audiobook listening dropped off almost completely in the last 1/3 of the year, so I’m committed to doing better about having books I want to listen to on hand (I just renewed my Audible subscription, which helps tremendously).
- Finish back porch. This was actually one of my goals for last year, when we had a different house, and I didn’t do it because we moved instead, but our new house has a screened-in porch which I’m anxious to use a lot this year. I can’t wait to add some seating and plants, some better lighting, and a cozy rug.
- OB-GYN visit. I really know how to make a fun New Years resolution, don’t I? Last year, one of the items on my list was to visit the dermatologist for the first time and I felt such a sense of accomplishment when I was able to check that one off. Now that we’ve moved, I need to find a new OB-GYN.
- Do the Provo Freedom Run. I’ve talked before about how much I LOVE the weight-lifting class I attend several mornings a week, and now that I’m in the swing of that, I’d like to add some running. Provo has a 5k on the Fourth of July and my goal is to run that this summer.
- New front door. I love a beautiful front door (I blame my mom who is obsessed with front doors and has passed that along to me) and our current front door is super blah. I’m trying not to overwhelm this list with house projects but this is top of my list – I can’t wait to replace our current one with something new and fun. This feels like such a FUN New Years resolution. Now to figure out where you even BUY front doors!
- Make 15 recipes from cookbooks. I love to cook, but I don’t spend as much time doing it for fun as I have in the past, so this year I picked three of my favorite cookbooks (Smitten Kitchen Every Day, The Pretty Dish, and Joy the Baker) and went through and picked recipes I want to make from each of them this year. I typed them all out in a list organized by recipe type and also noted if they were seasonal, and I can’t wait to do some cooking just for fun this year. I listed all of them here, if you’d like to cook along!
- Ani & Star’s room finished. These girls share a room in this house and right now, it’s the saddest room in the house to me. I’d like to repaint it, maybe add some wallpaper, get them a bunkbed instead of the queen bed they currently share (which leads to a fair amount of fighting many nights), and generally just make it a nicer-looking and more functional room.
- Do 3 subject studies with the girls. The good thing about not homeschooling is I can just focus on the things I want to learn more about with the girls. I’m dividing the year up into thirds (basically January – May during the school year, the summer, and then the fall when school starts back up)and focusing on one topic for each of those in a reasonably low-key way. We’re starting with art and art history and I’m REALLY excited about diving in next week when they go back to school. I’ve already pretty much maxed out my library holds with every book I can find. Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll share more details as we go!
- Host a Favorite Things party. I’ve been wanting to host a favorite things party for a couple of years and this year, I’m going to do it. Hopefully in the next month or two.
- Paint our bedroom and get a new dresser. Our bedroom looks pretty good, but it could use some new paint (I’m trying to decide if I want to go with the same blue from our old house that I LOVED or try something new this time around) and our current dresser is falling apart and also too small.
- Go on 2 camping trips. By “trip,” I mean “overnight” but we live somewhere with amazing camping now and our girls are all old enough that there’s at least a chance they’ll all sleep through the night.
I’d love to hear what kinds of projects you have on the docket for 2019!
I would love to hear about your plans for teaching art history to your kids. I’ve checked out lots of books, and I was even an art history major in school, but I have no idea where to start with my kids. I start making a plan and then it becomes so big and complex that I just give up!
For learning art, have you seen the book Vincent’s Starry Night? I’ve heard SO MANY good things about it as a story-based read-aloud for art history and want to read it myself this year!
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28926447
Yes! I just got a copy of it yesterday (and I checked it out last year too!).
I love all of your project ideas!!! ESP the Favorite Things Party. I’ve been wanting to do one of those too and this reminded me of that! And I like that you have some practical ideas, house projects, and just a good all around mix. I’d love to hear/see more about your subject one with the girls. I’ve done that in The past with my kids during summer but never during the school year. Thanks!
OBGYN—go to Valley OBGYN on 500 West. I’ve gone there since before I was married (just over 10 years), and have not had a bad experience. My favorites though are Rees, Thorpe, Wolsey, Bennet, and Miller (NP).
Goals—get back into running and run at least two 5K’s this year, read at least a book a month (I’m so out of the habit), and get outside more this summer!
We also want to go camping a few times—haven’t been in years! And once we move into our new house and get settled, I’ve been wanting to host a favorite things party as well!
Thank you for the recommendation! I really appreciate it – you’re making it easy for me to knock off this goal quickly!
Song the lines of doctor trips I have been putting off a mammogram! I told my husband that is my health project this year
Yes, yes! I’d love to hear about your subject studies!
+1
I second Valley Ob/gyn. Had all three of my babies with them, they are awesome! I have also used Grandview Family Medicine and they are fabulous, especially Dr. Savage.
The Freedom Run is great! I’m hoping to do the Rex Lee Run in March, I like it because you run down 9th East and it helps raise money for cancer research!
Great projects! I’m especially excited to see the house projects! I’d love to hear the subjects you’re going to teach your girls, too. I’m always interested in supplementing my kids’ education, and had lofty goals last summer for a new subject every week. (We did NONE. Gah.) Will you be sharing your other goals and habits, too? I’m not a huge goal setter (but would like to be!) so the way you have yours broken down is super interesting to me and makes things seem more doable.
We would be happy to give the girls queen bed a home in our basement if you do replace it. 🙂
Good to know! It’ll probably be coming your way – thanks for the heads up.
I can’t wrap my head around any long term goals this year because of a baby coming in May. It’s been 5 years since my last baby and I know it’ll throw everything off. In the meantime I hope to keep up my exercise routine (until baby messes that up!), plan healthy meals regularly, finish the Old Testament (started last year) before baby, and keep up my reading! After May I make no promises on anything. Pretty sure I’ll be in survival mode, all my kids will have emotional meltdowns, and I’ll have to start over on everything I’ve established ???♀️
I enjoy reading your blog so much, Janssen. Thought I would stop by to say Happy New Year!
I’m working on an 19 in 19 list and there are some boring but home things I’d like to get out of the way (replace our front porch ceiling fan, get new house numbers from Etsy). I’d also like to figure out a system for organizing my son’s school papers and sorting through what I’d like to keep, he’s just in kindergarten so I’d like to figure it out before it gets too overwhelming! I LOVE the fresh start at the beginning of a new year too!
That school paperwork is SO NUTS! I’ll never get used to it.
I would love to hear more about your subject studies as you go. I think it’s a brilliant idea and seems like a more manageable approach to doing something a little extra with my kids even though they go to public school. I’d also love to hear details when you host your favorite things party. Thanks for sharing so many good ideas! My husband and I spend some time at Starbucks doing some goal planning this year too and I think it definitely is going to become a tradition.
It’s so fun, isn’t it? I LOVED it.
These are all such fun goals! I would love to finish decorating our playroom and our main living and dinning area. Outside of that our major goals are a family trip to Disneyland (which will be our first real family vacation!), and not killing myself with schoolwork.
Ah, Disneyland is the BEST! And that fast pass is a game changer!
I wang to hear about the subject studies along the way! I am so intrigued and would love to start that with my girls!!!
I’ll keep you posted!
I love going to favorite thing parties! They are so fun. I love to see other’s favorite things. Too bad I live in AZ. I’d invite you to one ?
Love reading about your goals! Mine are here: http://www.emformarvelous.com/2019-goals/ My list includes an MS 150 (mile) bike ride my husband and I are going to do together, which will be a huge challenge for us! I’ve hosted a Favorite Things party before for neighborhood friends and it was wonderful. We also go camping once a year with another family and they are some of our favorite weekends – we have 5 kiddos under 4 between us! Would love to hear about the subject studies! 🙂
Will you share your recipes that you’re cooking?? I have those cookbooks and would love to follow along!!!
Yes!
I am super curious about your subject studies — like, I kind of want ALL the details. What does that mean? How does it work? What does it look like?
Same! Same!! This sounds fun and I want to know if it’s do-able for me. 😉 ????
Me too!
I too would LOVE to see your unit study plans! Thank you for all your great ideas!!
I would enjoy hearing more about the Subject Studies.
Would love to hear more about the Subject Studies. What are possible topics? How will you tackle it amongst the different age ranges? When will you do it? Is it a one time “lecture” or multiple sessions with field trips? Very interested. I have a kindergartener and second grader. Would you accept input from your kids? So, yes, more details please!
I would also love to hear more about the subject studies.
Can you you link where you got the “With Christ, I am enough” print from? I LOVE it!
It’s actually my photographer’s and when I asked her, she couldn’t remember where it was from. I’m so sorry!
I’d love to hear more about how you are teaching your girls art history! I even got a minor in art history and did the BYU art history study abroad, but I don’t feel like I have a great idea of how to introduce artists and concepts in a great way to my 8 year old.
Is there a place that you have posted the list of recipes out of the books you are planning to make this year? I love this idea, I’d like to try some.
Yes! All right here: https://everyday-reading.com/new-recipes-to-try-in-2019/