2012 - Places I've been, Places to Go

At the end of 2011, I dubbed 2012 the Year of Staying Put. I wasn't going to travel anywhere...traveling had kicked my butt in 2011, and between pregnancy and the first 6 months of this baby's life, I was determined not to go anywhere in 2012.

Well, at least I didn't travel much.

In 2012 I made a short trip to Greenville, SC with my 3 year old during the very short period of time that I wasn't terribly sick with the pregnancy. I took him right after we closed on our house, to give Chris a chance to pack and prepare for our big move without us in the way. It was a nice trip and Zeke had a blast. 

Then right after the baby was born, a death in the family sent us to Florida for two weeks. The drive was exhausting, but it was nice to spend so much time getting reacquainted with family.

For the next year or so we plan to only travel to see family again, while I'm tethered to the baby. So it will be a while before I can check off any of the places to visit before I'm 40. This list is probably more realistic as a Places to Visit before I'm 60, but for now we'll leave it as-is. Who knows what the last 5 years of my 30s will bring, right?

Places I hope to visit before I'm 40:

• Seattle, WA
• Vancouver, CA
• Boston, MA
• Rome, Italy
• Yellowstone
• Chicago, IL completed May 2010
• Austin, TX
• Denver, CO

Turning 33: Goals for my 30s, take 3

Well, I made it through another year. And whoa, what a year. This one rocked me, and definitely felt like survival was all I could accomplish through a lot of it. Good things can be exhausting, world rocking things when they're in their development stages... and let's just say that the development of my second son has been a doozy on me physically, both in and out of the womb. Jonas is a joy... but my body didn't handle this pregnancy well, nor did it handle recovery well... or the lack of sleep that comes with a newborn... then our family launched right into cold after flu after cold after... to be honest, I'm happy to say goodbye to 32 and welcoming 33 with open arms and an earnest hope that our family can just settle into life for a while.

Last year, when I revisited my Goals for my 30s, it had become a list of things I didn't know if I was even interested in doing, save for two big ones. One of the interesting things about revisiting my list every year is not only to see if I can check any off, but also to see how the priorities change as I get older. So here we are again, another year older, with a revised list.

Accomplished

1. ✔ Have baby #2. Jonas Emmanuel Skeene was born at the end of June. He's perfect, and he gave me with one heck of a birth story to boot. 
2. ✔ Buy a house. I still can't believe this one happened this year. It started out as a pipe dream to even put it on my list when I was 30. The Lord really blessed us with a home I hope to see my children grow up in.

New Goals

3. Go to Europe. Saving up as we speak. Chris and I plan to go for our 15 year anniversary, in 5 more years.

Outstanding

4. Learn to do wet felting.
5. Learn to sew. 
6. Figure out if I want to go to grad school, and if I do, get started with it. I still think I'm 5 years away from really considering it, and I'm still not sure it's something I need to do.
7. Complete a fine art project. I still have a project I think of every now and again that I'd like to do some day. Some day.

Rejected 

8. Become a Stay-At-Home Mom. Right now I think the working world is exactly where I need to be and want to be. Staying home with little kids is exhausting.
9. Find a place where I can get into wheel-throwing pottery again. Okay, I still want to do this. But I think it might be a goal for my 60s, not my 30s. Fun Things To Do When I'm Old and Retired.
10. Produce another film.
11. Learn to knit. 

What about this year?

I think my goal for my 33rd year is to just be. Enjoy my children and my husband. Zeke was 2 years old before I started feeling like I started to have enough freedom to do things for myself again... and then I got pregnant. So trying to have any personal development goals with a baby in the house seems silly. If I get a bit of free time and the craft bug bites maybe I'll finally finish a crochet pattern or something, but if I don't check off any goals this year, I'm okay with that. 

Advent Calendar Photos!

 Before we took down our advent calendar, I got Chris to take a couple of GOOD photos of it. Here they are...

Beginning of Advent

End of Advent. Artwork courtesy of the talented Kimberly Swait.

With the ornaments