This has started well and I do feel more organised.
2. Garden projects: Get window boxes for front garden plus big planters. Stepping stones for rear garden.
My plan is to start on this once Spring arrives.
3. Plan a lunch date/date night with Nick once a month (theatre/cinema/meal/outing)
Well we managed a meal out early in the month. Can't take the credit for planning it though - Nick's suggestion to eat out.
Then I persuaded him to go the the Winter Lights which I blogged about here.
4. Eat at 6 new-to-me restaurants
Two down - our meal out mentioned above was at a Chinese restaurant in nearby Stratford called the Sichuan Grand. It has quite a varied and interesting menu, if you like offal, pig's trotters, shredded jellyfish and gizzard amongst others. It also helps if you like your food hot, as in spicy. We did manage to find things we thought we might like and my lamb dish with ginger and spring onions was lovely. Nick struggled a bit with the heat of his lamb dish even though it was only marked with 1 chilli. (I dread to think what a 3 chilli dish would taste like!) We also had starters - pork ribs for me, pork belly with chilli and garlic for Nick. Confusingly our main courses arrived before the starters. This was due to the business of the restaurant apparently. It was busy and there were lots of Chinese people eating there which we took to be a good sign. The delivery guys were also in and out all the time for take away orders.
Overall I enjoyed my food and the interior of the restaurant is nice but.....we probably won't go back as the choices on the menu were a bit limited for me.
The second new to us restaurant was the pizza restaurant we went to on the date night Franco Manca
5. Complete the A – Z blogging challenge
This happens during April - watch this space!
6. Plan Family weekend for my birthday
I might scale this down to a day out somewhere nice. Staying somewhere not only gets expensive it's also a bit stressful for the kids with their young families.
7. Take up an exercise class (pilates)
Bruised ribs from a fall in the bath have delayed this.
8. Plan a road trip/holiday with hubby.
Well I've floated the idea of having a few days away during the February half-term break as I won't be watching Rory but we haven't got any further than that.
9. Visit the beach
At some point!
10. Complete my reading challenge (52 books for the year)
On track for this. I've already read 7 books this month. Full details can be found on my Goodreads page here.
11. Keep a gratitude diary
I'm struggling with this one. I might add this into my daily planner.
12. Blog at least once per week (plus regular memes)
Well I've been taking part in the Just Jot it January Challenge so I've done a lot of posts this month. Now I have to keep it up!
13. Take a photo each week and blog about it.
I've managed to do this every week this month!
14. Read 12 books on my TBR pile.
I managed one this month - it was Cilka's Story which was a christmas present. Feels like a bit of a cheat as I already had a big TBR pile but where else was I going to put a book I'd been bought until I read it?
15. Finish knitting WIP (blanket of squares)
This hasn't even seen the light of day this month!
16. Try out a new recipe or do a bake each month
I made a spiced chicken dish this month. Was really easy and we both liked it so I'm sure it will get cooked again.
17. Visit/see Noah every month
Well Noah and his parents were here from 29th December until 4th January so a tick for this month. Need to get a date in February set up.
18. Get damp treatment done in house
Hubby was looking into this but now we've taken the decision to move we'll probably leave that for a new owner unless it takes a while to sell the house or it seems to be deterring buyers. I wrote about deciding to move here.
19. Maintain weight
Just managed to achieve this in January.
20. Be kind to myself. Whilst I think it's good to set myself challenges sometimes life gets in the way or I just have days where I really can't be bothered. I need to accept this and not be hard on myself when things don't go to plan.
I've practised this in January. The first few days of the month co-incided with a visit from my son, DIL and Grandson Noah. Hard to keep to daily routines with guests in the house. I also fell in the bath and bruised my ribs which meant being active was a bit of a challenge. I just accepted this and didn't fret about it or let myself become too frustrated. I also said no to a couple of things at the end of the month because I wasn't feeling well and put myself first for once.
Well I think that was quite a good start to the year overall but I suspect if I looked back on last year January would have been ok too and then things would start going downhill. (Yep that was the case although I'm pleased to note that the family book review e-mail group I set up is still going strong although my DIL deserves the credit for that - she's usually the first one to e-mail round with what she's been reading.)
Thanks for the update! I enjoy reading how you are doing on your list for the year! Early in and you are already making progress!
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