I LOVE the start of the year. January felt like an extremely long month. Everyone in my world agreed that when January 31st hit the calendar it felt like a year had passed. The combination of cold and snow delays and stuff, well, it made us tired out.

In life, though, things are good. Solidly good.

• Exercise (make room for one non-WIP workout per week): 15 workouts plus one yoga class. An super active and productive month!
• Allowance for the kids: Yes! Thanks to an abundance of single bills, we’re back on track. And this time, they seem motivated to save for something and are starting to see when they could use their own money for something they want in the short term. I don’t want to get too excited, yet.
• Read 30 books this year: Read 2 books this month!
  • What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton
  • Schadenfreude, A Love Story by Rebecca Schumann
• Write regularly: 1-2 blog posts per month plus external projects
  • Downtime
  • What’s It Really Like? Remember all of that writing I did for myself last year–it’s all coming due! Here’s the first in a series from Beyond the Professoriate
• 1 hike per month, preferably with the kids: too cold for hiking this month.
• 1 date night: We did it! One night out together for dinner and bookstore!
• Donate blood 6 times: 1st blood donation complete!
• Volunteer once a month: We attended the kickoff of an incredible woman running for state office and I met with her about helping her campaign. I also attended volunteer orientation so that my youngest and I can volunteer with a dog rescue organization. So far, so good.
• Self care (once per quarter): Crickets.
• Experiment with podcasting: It was a busy life month and we recorded two great Boy vs. Girl episodes together. I have been working on my first minipod of 2018 but it’s not yet complete. And I didn’t make any progress looking at new equipment. I DID have a new podcast idea. Stay tuned….
• Find new opportunities to speak in front of an audience: Crickets.
• Capture my “best thing all week” every week all year long (52 total): Four weeks, 4 best things recorded.
• Financial planning for the household: I spent a good portion of January marshaling spending information to understand how to start savings. Two meetings with financial planners in February to keep the momentum going.
• Get our unfinished rooms completed: Made our scouting trip to Ikea and decided on the things we need. Just have to return with the car and no kids to haul everything home. Once that’s settled it’s on to our office.
• Crochet regularly: A few baby hats complete this month!

Other January highlights:

• Kicked year off with fondue and friends
• Hosted my nephews for the weekend and helped get them skiing with their uncle
• Went to our first UConn game as a family
• Launched a new workshop at work and seeing lots of potential for it

A long January and squarely into February.