It's been about three weeks since I announced I'd be
changing the focus of this blog. So far, I've received positive feedback about the change.
As I mentioned, as life has evolved, so have my priorities and interests. To keep this blog alive, I'll write about what I want to write about and hope that some of it resonates with you.
Today, that means I'm sharing yet another overdue post. I'm sharing the focus word and theme I chose for 2024.
To be honest, this year's focus word is the same as last year's.
Our family had a lot on our collective plate at the beginning of 2023, and I never got around to sharing it. Because so much of what I want to write has roots in my theme for 2024, I want to share it with you now... even though we've already left three months of the year in the rearview mirror.
Given where I am at this point in my life,
I'm challenging myself to Create in 2024. I want to be more intentional about how I spend my time and who I spend it with. As I wrote down my
goals for the year, I focused on ways to:
- Create Connections
- Create Memories
- Create Inner Peace
- Create a Home
- Create my Brand
Create Connections...
- go out for monthly Date Nights
- plan outings with friends
In many ways, I want to make up for the lost opportunities for connection during the years of the pandemic. Our lives have stabilized, and we're much more settled after six months in our new home. Now comes the fun part - building our lives here and carving out time for the people that mean the most to me.
To help do that, I prioritized
building a network of childcare support. I now have a handful of babysitters I can contact when my husband and I want to go out by ourselves or with friends. Plus, they're willing to help this spring as the coming weeks will be super busy at work.
Create Memories...
- take family vacation
- go out for monthly Kid Dates
We haven't had a proper family vacation in a long time. Cross your fingers that everything works out for a weeklong adventure this summer!
[Note to self: make final decision about destination SOON.]
As for the monthly Kid Dates, I'm realizing more and more how necessary these are... especially for our oldest. Our grown-up responsibilities pull us in so many different directions. Because of that, it's very important to me that I give each kid the one-on-one time they're craving.
Sometimes this means taking one of them out for a
coffee and cocoa date. Other times, I bring one of them with me on a Target run.
Create Inner Peace...
- Go on monthly Mom Outings
- Read 12 books
- Complete six jigsaw puzzles
If I'm being honest, I'm not great at making time just for me. With so much going on, it's hard to justify doing anything by myself. But then I actually do something on my own and remember what it's like to feel a little bit lighter.
When leaving the house isn't ideal, I reach for my latest read. (I'm reading
this one right now.) I try and read at least one chapter each night, but there are times when it serves me better to read more than that.
If I count the books we've read as a family, I stand a decent chance of achieving my reading goal by summertime... which is good because I haven't even started on the jigsaw puzzles yet!
Create a Home...
- paint interior rooms
- design work area in the study
- plant gardens
When we moved into our house last fall, we decided to paint the interior rooms as soon as possible. This seemed like a proper first step to transforming the house into our forever home.
(Spoiler alert: we did have the interior rooms painted... and every space looks amazing now. You can see some "before" and "after" photos of the living room
here.)
With my hybrid work schedule, I work from home twice a week. I realized early on that my current "home office" isn't going to cut it anymore, so I want to revamp my corner of the study. This likely means a new desk, new chair, new lighting, and new monitor.
But one thing at a time. 😉
As for the yard, we were very fortunate to find a home whose previous owner had a green thumb. She planted beautiful gardens that are just starting to wake up after the long winter months... so I don't have to worry about planting any flowers.
What are are hoping to do, though, is plant a small vegetable garden.
Create my Brand...
- secure five new brand partnerships
- update old recipe posts
In January, creating my brand was a real goal for me. I wanted to make myself stand out in a very crowded community of content creators. One way I wanted to do that was to continue working with companies that we support as a family.
But then my focus changed. I decided that limiting myself to one niche wasn't something I wanted anymore.
I'm still going to try and partner with brands that we support, but I'm going to go about it more organically.
When it comes to my blog, specifically, there is still a lot of backend work that I want to do. So let's see how many recipe posts I can update this year.
Previous Themes
