Life plans for 2016

I’ve never been one for resolutions. In my experience, New Year’s resolutions quickly get forgotten by the second week of January. Promises to lose weight and get organised seem bizarrely cruel when you’re at the height of post-Christmas bloating and knee-deep in discarded wrapping paper. Way to kick a girl when she’s down, and all that.

However. Plans, plans I can get on board with. Plans seem a whole lot more positive. Plans are achievable, a work in progress, a solid beginning on a lovely fresh new slate. I haven’t written about my New Year life plans on this blog over the past couple of years, because they felt too personal to share. 2014: get pregnant and have a baby; 2015: raise said baby and make it through the year on zero sleep.

This year though, I am brimming with plans. A lot of this is down to reclaiming some time and space for myself, away from those all-consuming tiny baby days, where it feels like an achievement just to get dressed in the morning let alone do anything else. I feel a bit like a tortoise gingerly poking his head back into the world after a long hibernation. My baby is now (nearly) 15 months old and I’ve had over a year to get used to the juggle of being a mum of two. I’m ready to throw myself back into something more than motherhood.

And so, here are my 2016 plans.

Health

Sorry to start with a huge January cliché, but right up there on my plan for this year is to get some control back over my health. Sleep deprivation kicked my arse in 2015 and I ate too much rubbish, drank too much wine and didn’t exercise enough. I joined a gym and then promptly cancelled the membership six weeks later as it became apparent I couldn’t squeeze in regular gym sessions alongside working 30 hour weeks with zero childcare. But that doesn’t mean I’ve given up. Far from it.

The NLM and I are embarking on our first ever Dry January (wish us luck!) and are determined to tackle at least 15 minutes of actual proper out-of-breath exercise every day. I’ve subscribed to BeFit, Blogilates, BodyRock and Tara Stiles on YouTube. And, for the first time since before I was pregnant, I’ve weighed and measured myself. It was eye-opening (gulp).

Work

Possibly the thing I’m most excited about this year is a big new work project I’ve had in the pipeline for six months or so. It’s going to be my main focus of 2016 and thinking about it gives me a tingly feeling of anticipation in a way I haven’t felt about anything work related in quite a while.

I’ve always been a lover of all things home decor, right back to when I was a kid and Changing Rooms was my favourite TV programme (remember Carol Smillie and Handy Andy?!), so it’s sort of inevitable that now I’m past the tiny baby stage and want to write about more than just motherhood I should put my creative energies into all things home style.

And so, the kernels of Roost were born last summer. Roost is going to be a collaborative interiors site dedicated to stylish family living. It will be edited by me, Victoria from Owl and Accordion and Katrina from Cool Bananas and feature regular contributions from other very talented folk. We’re working on a YouTube channel which will link to it, along with a couple of other very exciting spin-off projects later in the year once we’re fully launched. I’m brimming with ideas and have been knuckling down and working hard behind the scenes to make it a reality. We’ll be going live later this month, but if you want a sneak preview of what we’re all about head over to our new Instagram and Pinterest accounts where we’re posting regularly already.

Home

Our home continues to be a work in progress, but it’s one that brings me joy every time we complete a new project. Our big ones for 2016 are tackling the kitchen and our bedroom. We’re also in the process of revamping our home office space and making our way to a clutter-free year with some definitive solutions to our ongoing storage woes. All of this takes time and money though, of which we are limited. So I need to find clever, budget-friendly answers and be creative at every point. This is all part of the challenge though, right?

What does 2016 hold for you?

 

 

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