Saturday, January 1, 2011

New Year, New Mindset

I'm coming to the realization that I'm a grown up. This is disturbing, and it makes me what to crawl into a hole and pretend it's not happening. The fact is, it is happening. I have a husband, a dog, a mortgage, a car payment - shit is getting real. As much as I'd like to just act like a selfish princess, I need to start thinking about myself as part of a family unit. My husband and I need to make sure our decisions are based on what's best for us.

The reality of our current situation is very good. We are both employed, and we never go without - I need to keep this in mind when I start to complain about how crappy things are.

I make new year's resolutions every year, and I don't think I've ever stuck to one. Well, that's a lie - when I was 24, my resolution was to have more fun - I'm pretty sure I rocked that one until December 31st! Other than that, I usually fail. This year, instead of trying to lose weight or quit smoking for good, I want to change my way of thinking about things.

First off, I want to stop taking the stress of work home with me. When I'm home, I can't do work, so I just need to stop worrying about it. Work stress makes me quiet, drink more wine than I need to, and ignore my loving husband and loyal doggie - it's no good. To get work off my brain, I'm going to work-out when I get home. For goodness sakes, we're lucky enough to have an exercise room, I might as well use the darn thing! This will help my health, hopefully knock off a few pounds, and improve my stress levels.

The second part of my resolution goes in-hand with the first - I want to start listening more. I find myself getting so preoccupied with work-thoughts that I miss out on things. My husband will often be talking to me, and I will honestly have no idea what he's saying. It's just not right. He needs to be number one in my life, yet work is always making its way into my brain! This needs to end now - it's just not healthy to keep on in the direction I'm heading.

So far I've gotten this year off to a good start. I don't think I've talked about work much, and my husband and I have been working together as a team all day! We started by taking down all of our Christmas decorations, then going grocery shopping, which was followed up by a day of cooking. I saw that King Arthur Flour was promoting a bread recipe contest, so I got the idea that we should work on perfecting a recipe together. It was a lot of fun working out the minute details - we probably still have a few more bread making sessions until we can call our recipe "final." Since so many of our recipes are in our heads, it's hard to actually create the recipe. I'm looking forward to working with him more on it.

We also made the most amazing dinner - Butternut Squash Ravioli with Sage Brown Butter Sauce. Seriously, It has to be the most amazing dinner we've ever made. There's nothing like homemade pasta to get the year off to a good start.

Here's to 2011, and actually keeping my new year's resolution to keep work at work where it belongs!

Now onto keeping up with the second part of my resolution. My hubby is downstairs playing Donkey Kong by himself right now, and I need to get down there! Look out jungle - we're gonna reclaim our banana hoard as a team!

2 comments:

  1. Great resolutions - and I LOVE the idea of working on a recipe together! What fun!

    I recently had the same realization about being a grown-up - but it didn't come after marriage, house, or even having a baby last year. It was when I had to start wearing a watch to make sure I got where I needed to be at the right time! :-)

    Happy Baking - and good luck with the recipe!

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  2. Thanks Allison - we are very excited about our recipe, and I think we're almost there. I love working on projects as a team with my husband =)

    I'm thinking it might be time to start wearing a watch too!

    Cheers!

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