Starting 2017

The New Year (Year-End) Review... I feel pressured to do it, for some reason, though it isn't critical. I tried to do some thinking about 2016 during the holiday break and New Year's weekend, and here's what I came up with. The good stuff:

• Our Aussie cousins' visit in January
• In April we saw Mom and Dad, on the way back from their trip to France
• May, I traveled by air for the first time in AGES, to Seattle for Jilly's birthday weekend (sadly leaving Shawn to drive the kids to Nanny's in the middle of a bout of strep throat). Jilly and I had a blast, touristing and eating and having heart-to-hearts
• June included, like always, a kid attending camp at Winshape (Kate) and then our beach trip
• July, despite missing some of Alex's birthday due to the trip, was my trip to Germany, an eye-opener and good time, both professionally and personally (I was honored/surprised to be the person that my manager chose to share her Catholicism/God/Divine Inspiration/Faith story with, and thought, maybe that's why we were in each others' lives all along, that one conversation...)
• August was the beginning of my personal health quest to walk for at least 15 minutes, as many days as possible. I've kept it up with various levels of success since then. August also saw my work-life change dramatically with the departure of the same manager, who generally caused me stress and anxiety. But to balance that good thing, the start of school meant we had a hard time transitioning Kate to a regular bedtime again. We will work harder to avoid that mistake again in the future.
• September, we hosted Tom and Dominique and their kids, and Angie and Scott and their kids, with a super-fun dinner party at our house, and then went to a Braves/Nationals game the next day; we threw a grand party in Pensacola for Mom's 70th; and I invited the SJCS Moms to my house for a wine night, which was so fun. 3 parties!
• October, we hosted our family who was evacuated from South Carolina for Hurricane Matthew. Fun to see them; strange week overall with their different schedule/routines than ours. But it was a good thing to do, the only right thing, obviously.
• And November and December we hosted the holidays at our house, with Mom and Dad and then Mom, Dad, and Jill.

It was quite a good year. Christmas and New Year's were at home and rainy. The whole time, I felt weird/bad that we weren't doing any sight-seeing, or hiking together, or interesting activities, especially after Jill showed me around Seattle like a boss earlier in the year. I hated that she came all the way over here to the East Coast to... enjoy my couch and kitchen. But I told myself, and everyone, that maybe God/The Universe thought we all just needed To Rest. We rested, for sure. We watched movies, read books, played a ton of board games, ate leftovers, napped, and watched the days go by rather fast. Shawn's home with the kids today and tomorrow while I'm at work, and then the kids go back Thursday. Done and done.

They loved their Christmas presents, btw.

Goals from 2016? Well. I didn't do much work to get out of this job that I don't love, but other things shifted a little AT the job, as mentioned, so I'm waiting. And I decided, I am here for proximity to the kids' school, for now, and that's enough. Acceptance. (I still get email alerts for new jobs, and sometimes still read them.) Right now, I'm trying to take initiative and be professional in my work  responsibilities. It's not easy. I'm also appreciative of my team members, who are also friends.

For the New Year, Mom and Jill and I are going to do the Whole Life Challenge together, starting on the 21st. I think it's going to be hard. I'm trying not to dread it (and dreading it). But I need something to help jump-start me to a better mindset about food. I don't want to continue my bad habits in 2017. Habits like:

• Eating chips and salsa, standing up, after getting home from work when I'm really hungry
• Cheeze-Its
• Chocolate at work, chocolate at home
• Relying on Pizza and Pasta and hamburger buns for every weekly dinner menu
• Fast-food and Mexican for lunch every week

I am sure the WLC will help me kick those habits, so I'm willing to try it. No bread, no sugar, no cheese for 8 weeks. *big eyes* I'm also reading Cravings: A Catholic Wrestles with Food, Self-Image and God, for a spiritual boost on the same topic. I hope it's good for both soul-food and table-food. :)

And beyond that, I (am resolved to STOP picking up my phone at traffic lights, and) just want to maintain my place right now, and my "project," which has kept me sane and happier the last several months. Walking, meditation, calm but firm parenting. Acceptance. Contentment. Curiosity. Those are my words for the year.