Hi new year! I’m not the kind of person to set “resolutions” really. I’ve sorta done it in the past, because who hasn’t (?), but I usually gave myself vague goals like “drink more water”. That said, I can definitely see the appeal in resetting your focus after the holidays, when desserts are impossible to turn down and there’s always some sort of feast in front of your face. But I exercise regularly all year and that’s always a priority for me, whether it’s January or not. Similarly, I always want to eat good quality whole food. And when I get off track, I’m pretty quick to reel myself back in. So physical health related goals are rarely things I feel I need to work on. Instead, lately I’ve been trying to emphasize mental and emotional health. Last year was the first year I truly embraced it as an actual focus and I think a lot of it had to do with the overwhelming feelings I had been having previously (working as an RN and being a good wife and friend and loving nurturing mom). It was difficult for me to do everything as well as I wanted and I didn’t really know where to sacrifice my effort because it felt like there was nowhere to cut corners. 2014 was a fabulous year for me, and accordingly for our family. I felt fulfilled and happy as a stay at home mom and had the ability to put my family first. I don’t know why I felt so guilty leaving the ICU setting, but once I got over the “shoulds” of the situation and realized how blessed I was to get to spend 100% of my time hands-on with my kiddo, it was like I was able to be my best self. All the stress I had before melted away and everything was good. Great, actually. So I have no rock-the-boat changes I want to make in 2015. I just want to continue to be as supportive as I can be to my family and friends. It’s what makes me feel accomplished and keeps things running smoothly in our home, and for now, that’s perfect. The one thing I want to do more is go on date nights with Kyle. We NEVER go out. Ever. It is mainly due to the fact that we are budget conscious and we don’t have a babysitter, but either way, we have to figure out something. We’ve been discussing date swapping with our other baby friends’ parents and I’m hoping we can make it happen. As it stands, that’s the only thing I’d like to work on this next year.
On that note…let me talk about our wild and crazy New Year’s Eve date night!
Party animals that we are, Kyle and I were out it til 11 pm! My parents were nice enough to watch P after we put him down at their house, so we decided dinner and a movie would be a perfect thing to do as a couple. It has been over TWO YEARS since either of us has been to a movie theatre and since we don’t have cable we are beyond out of touch (I have no clue when we last went out to eat childless…I can recall only two times since giving birth). We decided to see The Imitation Game for no reason other than it fit the right time slot. Why do movies start at 10:45 at night??? Who can stay up that late? Okay, teenagers, sure. But what adults are out at that hour? Am I completely ancient? There was literally nothing showing between 7 (when we were eating) and then. Except for The Imitation Game. At 8:40. Fingers crossed it was interesting! Anyway, we hit up Lark Creek for dinner first.
Kyle and I had been there for brunch before, but never dinner and they have a good reputation so we made a reservation a while back. We got there early and sipped on drinks – mine was a cucumber lemonade slushy thing. Yummmmm.
As a main I got the roasted chicken (Brick Pressed Mary’s Free Range Half Chicken) but the real reason I picked this dish was for the sides.
It came with brussels sprouts and roasted potatoes that were so mouthwatering I wanted a plateful to go as well. Kyle helped with half of my chicken because his appetite is grande now that he’s training for a half marathon.
He got Filet Mignon which came with a potato-leek cake, and creamed spinach with bacon & red wine butter.
Not too shabby!
We both loved our food and would definitely go back to Lark Creek.
Instead of getting dessert, we headed to the theater and grabbed sweets there. Not exactly healthy, but it’s NYE! Gotta live it up! Kyle got two scoops of ice cream and I got peanut AND peanut butter M&M’s (because I have to get my nut fixes while P is nowhere around!).
The movie was super interesting and I’m really glad we went. I love the WWII genre, and this had lots of other topics too, so it was a very fun night out with my main squeeze.
Hoping for many more in 2015!!
