New Year Resolutions 2015

Last year I posted my new years resolutions in March.  It was a little late but I'd been thinking about them for a while. This year I'm trying to tackle them a little earlier.  Let's take a step back and see how I did in getting to my goals, most of which stemmed around work life balance.

Goal Number 1: Separate home and work time.  I think I've done a pretty good job of this. First and foremost in making this happen was hiring an employee. Having less work on my plate changed my work / home scenario tremendously.  In general I try to step away from my work emails at the end of the day and we have two set days a week now where Scott catches an earlier train to have more family time.  The scenario has worked out well, and creating and actual plan that we could schedule into the calendar was the key here.  I could probably continue to work on this but so far so good

Goal Number 2: Spend more time with my husband.  We've managed to accomplish this with date nights here and there.  As I predicted, somehow date nights have become more frequent now that I'm not pregnant anymore.  Especially now that Lucy isn't such a teeny infant and she is weaned, going out together should become easier and easier.  We are still working on creating more regular date night plans, but again, so far so good. 

Goal Number 3: Take more "me" time.  So I'm not sure how good I am at this.  I can say that I now have a group of moms I go out with on a monthly basis and I consider that "me" time to recharge and be around women I like and admire.  As far as taking relaxing baths, enjoying yoga and the like, I can't say I've made that much headway but I feel like my to-do list is no longer running my life, so that's good.

Goal Number 4: Be Less Jealous. This has somehow happened even though I was not consciously trying to be less jealous. Perhaps its because things have fallen into place in other parts of my life that I feel happier and less need to compare myself against others.

So there you have it for 2014.  It was a good year - we welcomed a new member into our family and made a lot of headway on those resolutions.

On to 2015.

This year I think I have a few less goals. Perhaps that makes them more attainable? Or perhaps it just means I'm finding it hard to think of things - because my life is so perfect as it is- ha! This year's goals are a tad more "me" oriented and perhaps even a little superficial.  But you have to have something to reach for right?

Goal Number One: Exercise more regularly.  I have been coasting along for some time now on my genes. I didn't really gain much weight with the second pregnancy and I've lost most of it, but I'm not where I'd like to be.  And let's just say things have shifted around a bit (I'm sure all you mammas out there know what I'm talking about - especially after Baby #2).  Back in LA Scott and I ran a couple of marathons.  I loved training for marathons and having a concrete goal to work toward. It was fun to run as a couple and I love the changing scenery that running affords (and the fact that you can just start off from home).  I'm not much of a gym person given that you have to drive or walk to the gym in the first place.  But now that we live in a climate that is frigid for at least a quarter of the year, running is much less appealing.  I honestly don't have time to train and put in the mileage for a marathon.  So I need to figure out what my regimen is and whether I'm willing to suck it up and pay for a gym... and do some regular exercise that doesn't involve some sort of end game like a race.  Perhaps yoga is the solution - but finding classes that fit my schedule is another issue.  So I'm trying to figure all of that out and hopefully it doesn't take me so long to figure out that the same goal ends up on the list for 2016 ;)  Any constructive suggestions are more than welcome in the exercise arena.

Goal Number Two: Be more stylish. I know - this goal sounds more like an excuse to go shopping.  BUT, since I work in a style-based industry it's pretty crucial to dress the part or at least put out the image that you want people to see.  And let's face it, I do like clothes and fashion.  That said,  I tend to dress casually since I work from home and am constantly corralling a toddler and crawling baby. So that's not going to change.  I like casual, but I like casual but stylish - think J Crew or Madewell.  My goal this year is to take a hard look at my closet and edit things out that are too trendy or not on-look for what I'm going for and add in hard working, high quality staples that I can mix and match. I've been trying to do this for a while now already, especially in the shoe, jeans and bag departments, but I need to be a little more focused in my efforts.  Certainly a less cramped closet with some light would help.  And a stylist who could come in and help me rethink clothes pairings and give me suggestions on items to purge and add in would also help.  But since that may not happen any time soon I think I'm just going to have to suck it up and do this myself.  Perhaps this goal leads to a whole series of blog posts on what I'm wearing (although I hate posting photographs of myself).

So those are my 2015 resolutions. They all sort of stem around trying to spend a little more time on myself.  Oh and there's another teeny resolution that I can't share with you all until it happens, so cross your fingers that it does and I'll share it then :) And stay tuned for a business resolution post which should be much more chalk full of less self-centered and more serious-sounding goals.

Illustration by Cori Magee