Ringing in 2018!

Happy New Year everyone!

Rang in 2018 with The Mechanic, my parents and my aunt who were visiting for the holidays

Who’s ready for a new year? <raises hand>

2017 was definitely not a bad year for me by any stretch but the last few months were just hectic enough that I am ready for a new start and some time to recover. To recap life since July:

• We moved into a new apartment that we hated
• We placed an offer on a townhouse and bought our first home
• We took Gaston bunny speed dating and he picked a pair of English angora siblings, Sullivan and Quinn
• We moved into our new home
• We adjusted/continue to adjust to life with three rabbits, two of whom are larger and require more maintenance
• We went to IKEA and Home Depot more times in the last two months than we have in the last two years
• We hosted people for Thanksgiving
• We hosted family for Christmas and took a 7-person strong trip to Natural Bridge, VA

Gaston, Quinn and Sullivan

This just happened.

Natural Bridge State Park

Looking at it like that, it doesn’t seem like as big of a deal as it feels! Crazy, chaotic, stressful – and 100% good!

Now I’m looking forward to a new year and a fresh start. I need to catch up on many things, like sewing (I only made 15 things in 2017! <sad face>), biking, reading, and being healthy. Oh, and blogging more – I’ve gotten really behind with this blog!

I’m not going to set any resolutions but here are a few of my plans for the near future:

Sewing

1. Finish the Dashing Tweed reflective tweed winter coat I’ve been planning since the summer
2. Make a reflective brocade bomber jacket
3. Learn how to use my new walking foot
4. Use the patterns and fabrics I have stacked up
5. Rethink how and where I use reflective fabrics in sewing projects
6. Find a new source for reflective fabric!

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Biking

I’ve become a weekday warrior! Seriously, I hardly bike on the weekends at all anymore. I just bike back and forth to work. (#lazy ) I need to find some fun yet not crazy long bike ride event to get back into the swing of things. Then make some fun moisture-wicking bike clothing! Any suggestions for VA-MD events?

 

Reading

I went to a Smithsonian Associates lecture about archeology and it rekindled my love of learning. The first of a series of five, “Indiana Jones: The Eternal Explorer” looks at the politics of archeology through the popular culture character of Indiana Jones. I love Indiana Jones aka Harrison Ford, and I love archeology, and it has something to do with the research I did for my Master’s thesis, back in the day. I can’t wait for the next four lectures. It makes me want to read more and learn more so I’m going to set a goal to actually get some reading done this year. Focused, historical reading, not the news, not work-related, but something that fires another part of my brain. Also, I just miss history.

Health

Isn’t this the top of everyone’s list every year? I let my health get away from me in 2017 and I’m ready to reclaim it! Time to get back to BodyPump and yoga and veggies and no desserts and cooking. The Mechanic and I are still doing Green Chef and love the meals, so we won’t give that up any time soon. It’s taught us a lot about cooking and food and vegetarian/vegan meal options. So now I can take those lessons and try to cook more ourselves. Toast and peanut butter really shouldn’t be my every day staple.

 

Blogging

I don’t seem to have time for two blog posts a week anymore so once a week it is. Sorry about that! I’ll try to balance out more with sewing and biking, especially as I get back into biking more (caveat: current temps are much colder than I prefer to bike in so it might be a while…). I have some sustainable fashion ideas as well as some general mobility topics in mind, and of course, my favorite – All Things Reflective!!! I need to do some scheduling and organizing to stay on track, I think.

 

What fun and exciting things are you planning for 2018? What will be your focus or goal for the new year? Whatever it is, I wish you a year of happiness, strength and success!