NYE 2020 and 2021 Goals

Hello and Happy Monday! It’s the first Monday of 2021! Of course, I feel like our two week break flew by, but it was a good one. Technically, my kids are off until Thursday! Teachers start back today though (virtually).

To kick off 2021, I thought I’d recap our New Year’s Eve and share a few goals I have for 2021.

I saw this graphic on Instagram Stories, filled it out and shared to my stories! It’s one form of reflection 😉

I also always think it’s fun to see the Top 9 posts on Instagram. This was my Top 9 of 2020 on Insta:

New Year’s Eve:

NYE 2020: (and most years, actually)…

I kind of miss the years when we could “trick” the kids with a countdown at 9 PM. haha That being said, we had a great evening at home. Truth be told, I’ve never been a big fan of NYE. I’m not big on dressing up, going out in the cold…or staying up late 😂That being said, we’ve spent some fun New Year’s Eves with friends sharing dinner and drinks at someone’s house, and we’ve also had some fun years at home. This, of course, was an “at home” year.

Both kids were adamant about staying up…Hayden said he was going to stay up until 3! I could barely commit to midnight, but glad that I did.

We got carry out from a local favorite: OBC Kitchen. I set the table using wrapping paper as a runner, used our winter dishes for place settings, and gathered a few decorations from around the house for the centerpiece.

The kids love cranberry Ginger ale while Travis and I had adult beverages. We had bacon and peanut butter for an appetizer, and then had dinner of salmon, steak, gnocchi, bread and salad. So good.

Hadley was ready to party!

After dinner, the kids did their own thing for a while, and then we played Emoji Uno for almost two hours. At one point I couldn’t find Homer, but found him in our bed. Apparently, he wasn’t going to stay up until midnight!

Around 11:30, we turned on the countdown, poured the Ginger ale and champs and celebrated with the countdown. We were in bed by about 12:30. I think Hayden watched TV until about 1:30. We figured with it being NYE and break almost over, we’d let him stay up. Both kids have been sleeping so late…but they slept until almost 11 on Friday and Saturday!

As I mentioned in Friday’s post, 2020 had highs and lows, but I’m still thankful for this most random year and certainly continue to count my blessings.

2021 Goals:

I’m going to start with these goals:

and focus on…

• Allowing for “me” time: This has always been of importance to me which is why I’ve always started my day solo with my cup of coffee, favorite blogs, and scrolling social media. With having the kids home most of the time since March, “me time” has been hard to find. I still get up before them, of course, but it’s still difficult to take some time for myself. I hope to carve out a little bit of time in the evening too.
• Drinking more water: This is usually an easy goal for me in the summer, but I need to drink more daily all year long. While being home so much, I’ve been drinking more coffee than I should, so I need to cut that off at a certain time and drink water the rest of the day.
• Eating whole food nutrition: For January, I plan on eating healthy but also limiting fried foods and sugar. I don’t eat tons of fried food, but even on Fridays I usually pick up Chick-fil-A for the kids and indulge myself. I do have a sweet tooth and zero willpower, so I’m going to try to cut out sweets as well…except for some birthday cookie cake mid-January for my birthday.
• Working out: While I’ve never been one to bounce right out of bed to workout, I do enjoy working out. I feel better physically, mentally and emotionally when that’s a part of my regular routine. I’ve shared a bit before, but I struggled with endometriosis prior to my October hysterectomy which really affected my being able to work out for the past couple of years. I didn’t make excuses and tried to continue to work out, but I still could never give it 100% and couldn’t work out daily. For the past month, I’ve eased back into working out, and will now continue to kick it up a notch and do so almost daily.
• Keep reading: I love to read and have made it a part of my daily life. I usually average around 40 books per year, and I hope to read that many or more in 2021. Also, I think last year was the first year I started using Goodreads, and I hope to get more organized with my book lists on there this year!
• Blogging: I love that I’ve been able to blog a bit more this year. I was blogging three days a week, and then was able to write 4-5 posts a week in the past six months. I think four posts a week for me is usually manageable, so I hope to continue doing that. I’d like to branch out and join some other link ups. I’d love to know of link ups you read or join, so let me know, and I can add them to my list!

and then there’s this:

I want to work on owning my time, setting boundaries, and not be so critical of myself. As far as crying and showing emotions…I’ve always been ok with that…but sometimes I let things build up (due to lack of time to deal with it) rather than process what I’m feeling in the moment. I’m reflective enough to know I’m forever a work in progress over here! 😆

What goals do you have for 2021? I’m so hopeful it will be a great year!

Have a great week (and a great year!)