Summer 2019… here we come! We’ve got several big goals this summer, but let’s start with this biggest one.
-Adopt Marigold. Augh…. It’s been five months since we were matched with this beautiful little girl and our family has talked about her, wished for her and planned for her every day since. This is by far, the most exciting and important part of our year and the process of preparing, traveling to China and bonding once we return home will consume most of our summer. We’ve already been preparing for the trip for a while!
-Family time. In July and August my husband I will be taking off work to spend time as a family before we dive into childcare and our normal routines in the fall. Our plans are pretty simple- enjoy the small things. When we did maternity leave with Nova we actually got cabin fever pretty bad and ended up eating out multiple times a day just to escape our house. It was winter then, though, and I’m glad this time it will be summer!
I’ve been saving little treats in Nashville like this bagel spot where we have never been for our maternity leave. Our lives with work and toddler-schedule are typically pretty routine- so I’m excited to have a couple months to do little things like take a day trip to a random suburb for flea markets or swim in our kiddie pool or go to Jeni’s for ice cream in the middle of the day. Going to soak it in!
-Visit Missouri and complete the holiday house. We’re planning to visit Missouri in August so our family can meet Marigold. My sister has been managing the renovation on our second home which will also be a short term rental when we’re not in town. We call it “holiday house” because it’s where my family will be spending Halloween and Christmas for years to come. It’s a place where our children will make a lot of memories. I’m excited to go there often, help decorate and make it the coziest little home ever!
-Enjoy our home. We’re done renovating after a few years of it and we are saving up to potentially move in the next few years (no firm plans- just saving). Currently I feel like the most important thing I can do is just ENJOY the home we’ve created. It’s funny because when I’m in the middle of a renovation all I think about is wanting it to be done, but when I’m done I miss it. Currently I’m trying to remember that overwhelmed feeling when we first moved in and just enjoy everything we’ve built.
-Cook at home. I recently bought a pasta maker attachment for my kitchenaid. Last year I taught myself to make royal icing sugar cookies and this year I want to learn pasta. One new trick a year seems like a reasonable goal for someone like me (aka- NOT a passionate chef…) Small goals for the win!
-Go outside more. Simple as that. Nova is obsessed with eating her dinner on our front steps or in our sunroom and little things like that make me so happy. We just spruced up the playhouses, so I want to spend more time out there with her. I had planned to start a garden this year, but once we were matched I decided to save that for another year. For now, we’ll see if I can keep our three potted herbs alive. Dream big!
-Watch more movies. I don’t know if anyone else feels this way- but since TV has become so movie-like we watch way less movies. And I miss them! So one of my goals is to watch more movies with my husband (and not just documentaries!) and I’m also not against watching movies alone since Jeremy can be a bit of a snob. Eh- to be fair he did watch Dream Girls with me on Valentine’s Day.
You’ll notice a big lack of travel and business goals this year. I love travel, but I’m already going to China this summer for two whole weeks. And I love businesses, but I already have three growing businesses and another app on the way. For those reasons I’m focused more on enjoying the small things right now. The plate is already full. We’ll be taking the kids all over the world soon enough! This summer is for cuddles and staying mostly local.
Cheers to enjoying the small things! Especially in life’s most crazy seasons. xx
