2025 Consistent

 Happy New Year!

I woke up in 2025 feeling a bit of dread but made myself a cup of coffee to try and shake it off.

I decided to do The Bible Recap this year but for some reason it felt daunting yesterday morning. I'm not sure why, I have been reading the Bible literally since I could read.  I have read the entire Bible through more than once. I started by opening Jesus Calling and this is what is said...

So I dove in with my trusty sidekicks.  I'm excited to see what God has for me this year.

Hannah had to work at 8 am, after I dropped her off I took both boys for a walk and then a run with Bruno.

The creek has risen considerably this week- full to the brim. All the snow melted and it rained a bit. Although as of today snow is back with anywhere from 2-12 inches expected in the next few days.

This is the same spot on saturday...

After our run I baked a loaf of apple cinnamon sourdough and started some scalloped potatoes to take to my parents' house for New Years dinner.

Isn't she lovely!?

We had a great time and lots of laughs!

Back home the boys could not get close enough, you would have thought we'd been gone for days!  Bruno had to squeeze in between me and Chance.

It was a great day! I am looking forward to good things in 2025.

My Word for 2025 is Consistent

I want to be much more consistent in many things this year- the two biggest are fitness/running and my house.

Here are my goals for this year

• Do things that are good for me and make me feel good in my body (while striving to have a stronger, healthier body)- ie moisturize, nails & makeup, yoga & running
• Follow training plan and PR at Syracuse Half
• Have a Home that is cozy and inviting
• Get rid of excess- keep what I need.  Keep what I USE
• Slow Down- savor, enjoy, absorb
• Journal in general and specifically my continued list of Delights/gratitude
• Continue shaping our marriage into the one of our dreams 💖💗💖

Goals for January-

• Keep up training plan including Long Runs!
• Purge wardrobe
• Complete Daily Checklist in my Home Planner
• Drink enough water!
• Hit steps 8000-10000
• Reorganize Mud Room
• Girls Night- Chinese and Wicked

Thought for January-

One Word 2024

I woke up this morning with that familiar sense of dread.  Overwhelmed with things left undone. Tasks yet to be done...knowing tomorrow its back to work and the "real" world. Its cold. The sidewalk is icy. I'm frustrated and discouraged... will 2024 really be any different or will I just plod along stuck in that same old rut....

A few months ago I started thinking about my word for this year. I've been feeling rather stuck for quite some time.  I'm not really sure how to fix it.  2023 was a pretty hard year for a variety of reasons.  I want to be better. Stronger. Capable of asking for what I want and need and speaking my mind.  I feel alone and invisiable or superfluous a lot of the time.

Anyway. I remembered this graphic I had found somewhere along the line last year.  I always meant to print it and hang it in my bathroom to remind me of who I really am... but of course I never did.  Now my bathroom is demolished... hopefully about to begin being put back togther.... but that's beside the point.

This year I decided that my word was going to be Identity.  I feel like I have been having an identity crisis the past few years as my kids become increasingly grown and leaving the nest one by one. 

So for this year I am going to focus on who GOD says I am.  Each month I will choose a word and a verse and work on believing that for myself. For January my word is STRONG.

Goals for 2024:

Here's how I did on some of my 2023 goals...

• following my planner checklist, therefore keeping my house more clean and orderly- meh
• exercise and be more mindful about the things I put into my body- constant struggle 
• successfully complete my training plan and PR the Syracuse Half this year (April 16) Complete fail but a little bit of redemption on the Loop the Lake Half in October
• Read Middlemarch (my big fat classic for this year)- still working on it on and off
• monthly coffee date with my sister- we did pretty good on this! It is one of my favorite things about this year
• monthly date night with the mister- not perfect but pretty ok
• celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary in October! Lovely get away in the Finger Lakes 💖

So all in all not too bad I guess! I love New Year's, I love new months, new weeks, new days.  Always a chance to start again.  So start today friends.  Make choices that lead to the person you want to be the life you want to live.  If something is bugging you figure out how to change it.  Start small and remember those litttle changes add up!

Past words I have chosen-

• 2023- Intentional
• 2022- Steadfast
• 2021- Delight
• 2020- Bloom
• 2019- Redeemed
• 2018 Fierce 
• 2017 Prayer
• 2016 Purpose
• 2015 Believe 
• 2014 Confidence
• 2013 Joy
• 2012 Gratitude
• 2011 Grace

Happy New Year!

Boy it is going to be hard to go back to real life tomorrow!  I have thoroughly enjoyed this Christmas break, I feel so happy, refreshed and renewed.

Bruno and I have gotten in 3 runs in the last 4 days. It has felt pretty great. =)

This weekend was so unseasonably warm!  I loved it!

This happens any time I sit on the bed.

I reorganized my library/TBR shelf and cleaned off my night stand.  It made me so happy to have my nightstand clean!  I did not take a before picture but it was bad.

Friday coffee date with my sister 💖

I had a french toast breakfast sandwich. Super yummy!

Yesterday we had dinner at my parents' house after Church.  Our menu was a nostalgic homage to our family dinners at Grammy's.  Right down to the caffeine free diet pepsi.

After much thought and consideration I have decided on my 2023 One Word.

Intentional.  I want to be more intentional about making time for things that matter and not sweating the things that don't.

My Verse for January:

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart,

as working for the Lord, not for men. 

Colossians 3:23

Some of my goals include...

• following my planner checklist, therefore keeping my house more clean and orderly
• exercise and be more mindful about the things I put into my body
• successfully complete my training plan and PR the Syracuse Half this year (April 16)
• Read Middlemarch (my big fat classic for this year)
• monthly coffee date with my sister
• monthly date night with the mister
• celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary in October!

For my devotional time I am working on the Women of the Bible Speak study.  It was an online study during advent but it got crowded out of my schedule.  It focuses on Tamer, Ruth, Rahab and Mary.  (I plan to go back and do the other chapter too once I do these four.  I have wanted to do this ever since I first read the book back in 2020 for bookclub).  My January book club selection is Francine Rivers, A Lineage of Grace. Which is actually 5 novellas in one volume, on the lives of Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba and Mary.  I am going to read them in tandem with one another and am really excited about this project for January.

Another project I am beginning hopefully this week or next is a crochet along with Attic24.  I ordered my yarn pack the day after Christmas and I hope it arrive soon!  The CAL begin January 6 and the patter ill be posted weekly on her blog.  If you are a loooooonng time reader, you may recall I first taught myself to crochet to participate in the ripple-a-long hosted by Attic 24.  I have not crocheted anything in ages and am looking forward to this fun winter project!

Ripple-a-long circa 2011

My favorite books of 2022 and reading goals will be coming later this week.

I hope your New Year is off to a great start!  

Every day is a fresh new start.  Not just New Year's!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2022! I rang in the New Year watching a Back to the Future marathon on TV and working on my puzzle, my children got me for Christmas.

I woke up Saturday morning and spent my devotional time in front of the tree and found verses to go with my 2022 Word of the Year- Steadfast

My intention is to be Steadfast in all my endeavors while also resting in the Lord's Steadfast love for me.

I ordered a new planner- one of my greatest struggles is housekeeping. So the checklists at the top of the page totally sold me on this planner! Also the daily chores listed.  It cost a bit more than I usually spend on a planner but am really hopeful it will help me to develop some good habits- in which case it will be well worth it!

I can not wait to get it- the order included a digital version so I could print a couple pages to hold me over until the actual planner gets here! Also excited to dig into my three new cookbooks I got for Christmas!

Rhett made me breakfast!

A little later I walked the dogs and went for a good run with Bruno.  It felt so great to be outside and running! I could not believe it was 52 degrees on New Year's Day!

I repurposed our gifted Christmas crate into a library/to-be -read shelf 

One of my biggest accomplishments- finally finishing Anna Karenina in 2021!

I did IT! 

I finished Anna Karenina Tuesday night!!

All in all I read 96 books last year.  I am very pleased at how much my reading increased when I made a conscious effort to read more in 2018, instead of scrolling on my phone or just watching TV.  Sometimes though I am afraid maybe I have gone too far the other way- I would rather read than do pretty much anything else- while not bad per say... sometimes I neglect other things I *should* be doing. Like making sure the kitchen is cleaned before I crash- hoping the my new planner will help with that. I can still use reading time as a reward for actually finishing my chores! Haha. :P

Amy's 2021 book montage

Amy's favorite books »

For 2022 I set my goal at 100 books. I also want to be more mindful while reading this year. 

I hope your New Year is off to a great start.