One of my pet peeves in life is how quickly ' Normal Life' happens after a wonderful holiday away. Sadly, a seven night holiday away goes very quickly, and while I am very appreciative of our time away when we get to go away, I want to bring the joy of holidays home with us into our everyday world. When I break down what it is exactly I love about going away on holidays, it is the time we have with each other, very limited chores, and the time to do whatever we want - go for a swim, read a book, watch a movie, spend hours at the beach bopping around in the water or reading a book, and going to have a spontaneous ice cream. Sure I still cook on holidays (it keeps the cost of the holidays down), but overall, it all seems a lot calmer and for whatever reason, and a lot more fun.
I don't want our 'normal life' commitments stopping us or taking joy away from our lives. We need to continue to add spontaneous fun into our lives that bring joy. One way Beps and I plan to keep the holiday fun going is to go to the Kings Beach Pool two mornings a week straight after we drop the kids off at school. The kids don't know we are off to Kings Beach for an hour of aquatic fun! We stay for an hour and then head home to do what we need to do. There are no words to really explain to you how beautiful it is down at the beach in the mornings. Leaving Kings Beach is hard, but necessary, so we are pushing the kids to be ready for school a little earlier than normal so we can get our full hour at Kings. If you know me, you will know that I am neither fit, nor am I in shape, but I will say that I am thoroughly enjoying being in the water. I had a great time with J at Dicky Beach over the weekend, and I am planning to go again next weekend with whoever would like to come with me. We bought a Coolcabana beach shelter over the Christmas break, so we should all fit under it quite comfortably. I may not have the sexy body I'd like, but I am starting to feel stronger in myself, I'm enjoying spending time with my kids, and doing things that I tend only to do when we are away on holidays. I am feeling a lot better in myself as well.
One of the biggest goals I have on my list is to really get in and declutter our home. Our garage has become a dumping zone for everything we don't want to live in the house. One thing I notice when we go on holidays is the little we bring. Basically everyone has a bag of clothes, a book or two, a gadget, and then we have the esky. We still go grocery shopping and get what we need for the week while we are away, but we bring the basics in the esky like the vegemite, or baking we have done for the holidays etc. Our focus for while we are away are on spending time with each other, the facilities where we are staying, the beaches, parks, and events. Last time we were away, they had a morning where they bought down to the lake kayaks and a number of stand up paddle boards. It was a lot of fun.
We have a stand up paddle board, and a surf ski. It will make it easier to bring the surf ski when we get our car some roof racks. We just need to make it easier for us to use them.
Today, as I write this post, it is the very last day of January. This month has flown by so quickly, and with school now back in session for the year, it is time to really get moving on our goals. Have you figured out what you want to achieve this coming year? I personally decided to use January as a time to continue having fun with the kids while I gave my goals a chance to really come to the surface. Ideas are easy when you have loads of money, but along with everyone else out there, our house repayments are going up every month at the moment so we are curbing our spending. Some of the plans for had in mind for the beginning of this year are on hold for a little while.
The ultimate goal for us is to have a bigger life! What does a Bigger Life look like to me?
The answer... Closer relationships with family and friends, more fun, a calm life, a totally decluttered home, a plan for health and wellness, and the ability to reach on the aspects of our lives that we just don't have time for. The plan is to address each life category - Faith, Family, Friendships, Fun, Fitness, and Finances, in some way.
My goal is not to reach 23 or exceed 23, just to write down a few things I would like to be able to say I achieved in 2023 when I am asked at the end of the year 'How was my year?'. I am happy to announce that we did in fact take the Christmas tree down and put away all of our Christmas decorations. We are ready to start the new year. I realise we are about to start February, but we have started adding more fun to our lives, we caught up with some extended family in January, we took down our Christmas tree, I am discovering more recipes and giving new ideas a go.
Goals for 2023!
- Write Daily
- Blog weekly
- Start Uni
- Start Every morning reading the bible
- Healthy eating
- Move more
- Totally declutter my home
- Be more hospitable to family and friends.
- Encourage kids to bring friends home for movie nights, fire pit chats, and general hanging out.
- Hang out at the beach more often
- Read 2 books a month
- Organise coffee dates with friends
- Schedule spontaneous fun with kids - something monthly
- Organise a date night at least twice a month
- Write a One Sentence Journal every day
- Update my computer
- Upgrade my phone
- Organise coffee dates with each of the kids just to chat and hang out together.
- New car for Dion and myself
- Become a better cook
- Replace the back fence
- Family Holiday and weekends away
Take down the Christmas tree- Swim daily
- Beach weekly
- Take more photos daily/weekly
- Make sure all of our photos are backed up properly
- Go skating with the girls
- Buy new shoe laces
- Feel good in myself before Chanel's formal in mid November
- Help Chanel get her L plates
- Help Bethy get her P plates.
- Help Amy with her side business idea.
- The New me is not worse than the old me!
- Have a weekend away with Dion
Till next time,
XO
