Bookworm Cottage Style

I LOVE reflecting on my previous year and setting goals for the upcoming year. This winter has gotten off to a rocky start. Cold/flu/virus season with kids is no joke! I am coming to terms with the fact that winter just might need to be about surviving, not necessarily thriving. But looking ahead, here are some goals (some wholesome, some frivolous) that I’m hoping to work towards this year.

500 Hours Outside: Inspired by Carly’s experience, reading There’s No Such Thing as Bad Weather, and the 1000 Hours Outside movement in general, a big bold outdoor commitment is at the top of my list. Realistically, 1000 hours is not attainable at this point in our lives. Baby only has about 2 waking hours after daycare in which we have to squeeze in introducing solids, the bath routine, etc., and on the weekends, his wake windows are so small that there’s not nearly enough time to make up the hours, even if we spend virtually every wake window outside. But 500 will still be a push as it is close to 2 hours daily, on average. While I think this practice will be good for me personally, in terms of tracking, I think I’m just going to keep track of when baby is outside. So if my husband takes him on a walk while I cook dinner, that will “count.”

1,000 Books Before Kindergarten: I signed up for this challenge at the library. Any book “counts” even if it is a reread, and I’m halfheartedly tallying books on the challenge sheet from the library. But I also started a spreadsheet and am trying to see if I can do 1,000 NEW books before kindergarten. Even though babies and kids love repetition and familiarity, I like the idea of mixing in a couple of new books each week alongside familiar favorites so that baby is exposed to a wide range of vocabulary words.

Socializing: Amanda Litman’s substack article on having people over for dinner every single Saturday for a year has been living rent free in my head for days. I cannot get this idea out of my mind. Since this is a wild chapter in our lives and I fully expect someone in our household to be sick for the next 18 months or so (thank you, daycare) we might not be able to match this level of commitment. But I want to have some sort of goal or structure to build our social lives and so I’m going to keep thinking on this…

Home Updates: We’re waiting to see how the budget shakes out, so I’m not quite sure what’s going on the punch card this year. The entryway is an area of focus for me right now. Hopefully trimwork, paint, and a stair runner. Baby will need a dresser at some point so I plan to put my husband’s dresser in the nursery and then buy a new dresser for the primary bedroom. After that, the last thing I really want for the primary bedroom is a rug, though I’m torn on which rug to get. For the yard, I’d love a little patch of turf out back and some more perennials (hydrangeas, coneflowers, peonies) out front.

Fashion: After putting fashion on the back burner for the past couple of years, I am itching to spruce up my wardrobe. I am focusing my January spending on cold-weather gear like the items in this post. Last year AYR had a birthday sale in early February, so I hope that will finally be my opportunity to grab the Deep End shirt (or two), assuming they restock soon. I really want to rock the socks with loafers look because my feet are always cold and I love preppy style, so that may mean a fresh pair of loafers and some new dress socks. One or two new pairs of jeans – especially full length jeans – might also be called for. And I want to get better at accessorizing with things like belts, jewelry, and scarves. 

Adventures in Parenting: This winter we’re planning our first overnight trip with baby: a ski weekend in New Hampshire with friends who have kids. Then later in the spring, we have baby’s first airplane ride to visit family. Wish us luck! Once baby gets comfortable eating solids, I look forward to taking him to his first restaurant – perhaps this summer? I also want to bring him into Boston again (he’s only been once) and go to a storytime or children’s event at our local library. Plus lots of hikes and beach days.

Hair: I am still working on figuring out how to get good at doing my hair and keeping it looking healthy. This year I plan to budget for 4 haircuts per year instead of my usual two. I recently ordered the Shark Flexstyle so I’m excited to play around with that. I also want to figure out an air dry routine for days when I don’t have the energy to blow it out.

More Movies:  I’ve written about my love for movies before. Last year one of my goals was to watch more movies, but then I got logged out of my Letterboxed account and didn’t keep track, plus I didn’t really define “more.” This year I’m aiming to watch at least 50 movies with at least 5 in theaters. I also reset my Letterboxed password and so keeping track is much easier.