HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!!

2017 was….interesting to say the least.  I’m not really sorry to see it go; while overall not the worst year ever, definitely not the best either.  Between health issues, job issues, worry, concern, panic, etc; it was just full of all sorts of things I’d like to leave in the past.

Luckily, 2018 is already filled with a lot of things that are posed to be a definite upturn from 2017.  I mean, obviously, the first half of the year is going to be pretty heavy in planning for our wedding on June 24th, as well as our two week European Honeymoon. Along with that, we have another good friend’s wedding on July 21st to look forward to, not to mention our friends Yuri and Chanel just got engaged on Christmas so…we have another wedding that will happen probably this year or early 2019.  There’s a lot of love happening here, guys!  Devon will, hopefully, be happily moving to teaching in a high school for next school year so that he can actually, maybe, enjoy teaching again like he has in all years past.  

 

Despite all of these hopes and wishes, I’m not a resolution maker.  I’m not someone who feels the need to make all of these declarations because the calendar changes or a ball drops (or in our case because Tennant regenerates into Smith – if you’re a Whovian, you understand that).  In years past when I’ve done that I typically drop them within a week.

Like I’ve said, I also fully recognize the fact that a lot of my year is going to be dedicated to mine and Devon’s wedding; as it should be.  It’s an important day for us and we want to to go well and hopefully without a lot of hiccups.  Though, if I’m being completely honest, I’m a little more excited for our honeymoon/vacation. Not that I”m not excited to be getting married and to have the day, but in reality, the two weeks away, exploring and doing a lot of things we’ve never had the chance to do and probably won’t again for years and having the relief that the wedding is done and went well, is really the best part of all of it.

So, I’m not going to sit here and claim that I made a bunch of resolutions, because….I didn’t.

However, there are some things I am focusing on for this year because 2018 is going to be a big year; there are going to be a lot of changes (good ones this time) and a lot of setting up for our future this year.  With all of that being said, instead of resolutions, I have three areas of life that I’m planning on focusing on this year:

#1: Surprise, surprise that my main focus is our wedding.  

Luckily, as I’ve said, we have a lot of the big things done and out of the way and what isn’t done shouldn’t be completely stressful. We’re also really lucky to have a great wedding party that wants to step up and help in any way that they can to make sure that everything goes off without a hitch.  I sound pretty calm right now, right? I’m sure that will change a lot between now and June 24th, but it’s why it’s getting so much of my attention. It deserves it.  Hopefully all the smaller details don’t make me crazy.  Not to mention all of the name changing headaches that will come in after the wedding.  A friend of mine got married this year and she told me so many things that happened while she was changing her name; it’s definitely helping me get a game plan together to make this easy (hopefully).

#2: Focusing on getting our finances together.

Once the wedding is all done, our next big goal is to buy a house and while that won’t happen magically overnight, we want to make sure we’re in prime condition when it is time to take the plunge.  The really good thing about this is that we have an area that we definitely want to move to and we have a good idea of housing prices in that area of town so we can do a lot of prep and planning before we even start the process of house hunting. We both also have pretty good credit, so we’re hopefully that a mortgage won’t be super hard for us to get (assuming that our government doesn’t completely implode in the next year or two).  This year is more focusing on keeping better track of our money, what we’re spending, how we can cut back on things that we don’t fully need and how we can save and continue to be financially sound even throughout a house-buying process.

If you’re in Maryland and have any tips, I’m definitely open to any and all suggestions. I already know that there are a lot of programs in our state for educators who are looking at buying homes, which is great and things we are definitely looking into.  Like I said, we already know the area and the price point we’re comfortable with, it’ll just be getting us to the house we love without crushing amounts of debt.

#3: Dietary/Lifestyle Changes

So, while most will think I’m just “shedding for the wedding”; not quite (I mean my dress is two sizes too big already, intentionally).  I’m going to go a bit more into detail about this one on Thursday, but my endoscopy results are back and some changes are likely to be needed.

I will preface by saying, it’s definitely a lesser of several evils; just not the best case scenario either.  I will say though, my endoscopy showed no tumors, growths, ulcers, organ damage, etc; my insides and digestive system look great; which is comforting, but…..it did show a reason for all of my discomfort and if it is truly what it is, it’s going to mean a drastic diet change for me.  It’s not making me overly happy, and frankly we’re not fully confirmed on the diagnosis yet, but odds are regardless, something has to change.

The changes I need to make will depend greatly on the final official diagnosis, but I am trying to commit to a definite lower carb lifestyle into the new year.  I know I’ve dabbled in it a bit the past few months, but I really need to stick to it a lot better than I have.  While I always love my carbs, I do feel better when I keep the amount of them in check, so there’s going to be a bit more creativity in my cooking style this year.  Luckily, Devon is also pretty trusting of my abilities in the kitchen so he’s not objecting (which means I don’t have to cook multiple things when it’s my weekend to cook to satisfy us both) to some new experiments.  Hopefully it helps so I don’t spend most of 2018 with discomfort like I did in 2017; it was so not fun.

 

That’s basically where my life is for this next year; getting married, getting healthy, and getting financially fit are pretty much where my focus is.  I’m sure there will be other smaller things that come up throughout the year, because that’s just how life works.  But, at the same time, I think those three things will keep me pretty busy for the next 365 days (technically 364 already, I know, it’s okay).

Here is hoping it’s a happy and healthy new year for everyone!