{ a new year }

i couldn't decide between two themes for this new year, so i've decided to go with both.

the first: { be present }

the second: {save more, have less}

the first is inspired by the recent realization that pj is a hop, skip and a jump away from being a teenager.  since getting his own laptop for his birthday, all he wants to do is hang out in his room and chat online with his friends or play video games, usually jumping back and forth between both.  he's still his sweet, lovable self, just with justin bieber hair and girlfriend drama. 

i feel the time is drawing near when he won't want to spend time with his parents, so i better make the most of it. i remember riding around with my parents one day as they ran miscellaneous errands together.  we were riding in the red pickup truck so i must have been small enough to fit in between them on that small bench without the stick shift jamming into me.  i think it was my mom who said "one day, you won't want to come along with us all day."  i remember thinking that was such a crazy notion.  why wouldn't i want to spend the day with my parents?  i do everything with my parents!  i'm sure she was right and at some point i realized it, but what i wouldn't give to have a day with them in that red pickup now. 

so this morning pj and i played a board game and went for a bike ride to the 7-eleven, taking a detour and riding the beach path back.  it was easy and wonderful. a definite win.  i've also committed to co-coordinating all the costumes for his spring musical; Peter Pan and Friends since he still thinks it's cool for me to be at school around his friends.

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the second theme has been rolling around in my mind for the last several months.  i feel, more often than not these days, that the walls in our meager loft are shrinking little by little.  ever so slowly when my back is turned they're creeping closer and closer together.  it's got to stop and my solution is simple: have. less. stuff. in addition, save more.  get a nice buffer in the bank so that we're not always living paycheck to paycheck.

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some additional things to accomplish in 2012:

: learn to cook 12 meals really well.

: decorate my space so that it feels like a home

: go on a family vacation
: start learning code
: improve my word working skills, aka: acquire some.
: pay off our credit card by my birthday.