Where did you even come from? I know everyone says this in the days leading up to the start of a new year, but you completely snuck up on me. One minute I was lamenting our lack of a summer vacation and the next minute we were bundled up in scarves and coats and tucking wrapped gifts under our tree. Last year certainly held some wonderful memories, but I’m predicting you will be even better. I’m not sure you’ll remember our “theme” for last year, but we far surpassed our goal to be more intentional lazy!
When I told Josh that I was blogging about the new year today, he just rolled his eyes and begged for me not to include anything about our diet or exercise routine. He pleaded with me not to be “those people.” Let’s just agree those goals are pretty much understood and cover all of the other things we’re predicting for the new year. Mmmmkay?
First up, our theme for the year. Josh has been trying to get a head start for the last several days and I keep reminding him that we can savor the last few days of lazy. He has already declared 2015 as “The Year of the Happening” and we keep butting heads at every turn. Although our lazy year began with good intentions, we finished it up with lots of sleeping in on Sundays, Netflix marathons and excuses to order take-out for dinner. We took lazy to the extreme and although it was much-needed and appreciated, the Year of Lazy has worn out it’s welcome.
We fully intended to see ourselves in a new-to-us home by the end of this year and it just didn’t happen. Since our super-cool dream isn’t going to pan out now, I guess I can share with you how it died. We spent the first half of the year looking at a big house on the market that met our every need and while within our means, it exceeded the budget we had set for ourselves. After a low ball offer, it sold to another family and for a few weeks we wallowed in our misery and wished we had made a higher offer. Then Josh had this pretty fabulous idea. There was a huge metal building {think 5000 square feet} on 14 acres that had been on the market for years. It was once a local industry, but could have easily been rezoned for a single family home. We visited it several times, had a floor plan drawn to convert it to an industrial living space, got quotes on renovations and planned to live in our RV for a year while we converted it. The only problem was the bank didn’t quite see our vision. We could have built a new house on the same piece of property and secured a mortgage no problem. Lenders just didn’t see the value in our zany idea. They were worried it wouldn’t appraise for the cost of renovation or that there wouldn’t be a market for the home if ever decided to sell. It wasn’t easy driving by and seeing that the for sale sign was gone and knowing that maybe we didn’t do everything we could have to make it happen. We’ve recovered now, but it’s almost six months after our first walk-through and it’s hard to put something to bed after thinking about it for that long.
We’re back to a place where we’re doing some small renovations to the Rockin’ House in preparation to sell her and, in the meantime, trying to hone the dream for our future. Do we want to buy another old house and renovate? Do we want to give up our industrial dream in favor of new construction? Do we want to buy my parents house and make it our own? Or do we want to build another industrial building from the ground up and hope we can work it out with our lender? There are so many options, but it isn’t clear yet which one is the right one. Either way, Josh has decided that the Year of the Happening means “all the things” will happen. We’ll make the little projects at our current house happen. We’ll make our dreams happen. We’ll make a new house happen. It all sounds so big and lofty, that I’m comforted by the fact that as long as I make something happen, I won’t be a complete and total failure!
Now for a few less life-altering things I’m predicting for the new year…
- I’m predicting a faster half-marathon time than last year. Yes, I know that I haven’t trained as much, but I’m determined to get myself together this week and I have almost 8 more after that left to train. The goal is to get as close to 2 hours as humanly possible, but anything faster than 2:10:33 will do.
- I’m predicting that I’ll look more like my 2013 self in a bathing suit than my 2014 self {sorry for the fitness prediction, Josh}. Work, plus a sprained ankle did me exactly zero favors the last half of this year and I’ve got a lot of time to make up for. As much as I like Josh’s theme for the year, I wish I could declare this the “Year of the Abs.” Ha!
- New York and San Francisco will be tough to beat, but I’m still looking forward to our fifth annual weekend away this summer. It’s hard to believe it’s been almost five months since we were in California! We will celebrate our thirteenth wedding anniversary this year {and have almost completed our 17th year as a couple} and I can’t wait to decide where to visit! I was leaning towards Chicago, but Josh really has his heart set on Washington D.C. He’s never been and I haven’t been since I was twelve years old. It *would* be pretty fun to explore together. Any other suggestions for travel without crossing an ocean?
- I’m predicting, that even though it’s hard and we don’t really know where God wants us just yet, that we’ll find a fabulous new church family in the new year. We’ve already visited another local church and have been talking to each other and to the girls about what it is we want from a church and how we want to serve in the new year. It might not be resolved as quickly as I wish it were, but I know that God has something huge in store for us this year.
- Last up is the blog. I’ve been blogging for almost six years, but I’m predicting this will be my best year yet. I’ve already gotten posts scheduled and drafted for January and I’m moving on to February now. Yes, there will be some real-time blogging, but just deciding what to blog about and when is half the battle. For the last several months, I’ve been using my Life Planner to plan out a few weeks in advance and it has helped so much. I’m more likely to post at least three times a week and I don’t have to guess or worry about what to share when. I’m planning to stick with my three-day posting schedule for now, but I’m hoping to introduce a few other features each month to keep you coming back for more.
Pretty much, I’m thinking 2015 will be the best year ever. What are your plans and predictions for next year?
Amber’s blog is one of my favorites, so I was excited to see she was hosting a link-up today. Let’s predict the future for 2015 and make all sorts of plans for the new year!
