reflections

Did you ever keep a diary when you were younger?  Was your favourite part about that diary going back and re-reading some of your old entries?  That was definitely my favourite part.  It's also the reason that I've been going through and re-reading a lot of my old blog posts lately.

You really learn a lot about yourself by doing this. For example, I realized that I was a little baby crazy last year. Oh man, I had the baby fever and I had it BAD! I also got to see how, through writing down my thoughts, I was able to work through my feelings. In the end I realized that it wasn't that I wanted a baby last year, it was just that I couldn't stop thinking about what life with a baby would be like. Kind of neat.

One of the posts that caught my attention was my Baby List post. I thought it was neat to see things on the list that I had accomplished and things that were no longer important to me. Here's what the list looks like today:

• travel to Europe  - this item will be crossed on in 23 days!  We're SO excited about our upcoming Europe trip!
• take a road trip to the Okanagan and "winery hop" for a weekend - haven't done yet, but still want to do. 
• teach Hubby how to make some of our favourite meals (Amanda) - completed, sort of.  Now that we have a BBQ, hubby actually does a lot of cooking, so we each have a lot of "go to" meals.
• dress up and go out to eat at blue water cafe, le crocodile, and yew (different nights, of course) - I don't care about this one anymore.  So I'm crossing it off the list.
• visit somewhere hot where all we do is lay on a beach and drink boozy drinks, possibly with friends or family - as snobby as it sounds, I'm actually planning on going on three trips next year, so I have no doubt that at least one of them will actually happen and this item can be crossed off of the list.
• get rid of all our "bad debt" (almost there, just a few more years) - we're in a really good place financially.  We've sorted out all of our spending habits, are living on cash only, and have set ourselves up for financial freedom - yeah!
• spend an ENTIRE day at Spa Utopia (Amanda)  - haven't done yet.  It's not really that important to me anymore, and might actually be better to do AFTER I have a baby for some "me" time.
• buy a second car - we're totally fine with being a one-car family.  Plus it's better for the environment and saves us lots of money.  Win/win!
• buy a bike (Amanda)  - done!  I got my Oma's old bike.
• buy a motorcycle (Hubby)  - done!
• dress up, eat a fancy dinner, drink too much, and dance until 2 am with my girlfriends (Amanda) - done, sort of.  There have been lots of nights where Hubby and I have stayed out until 2 am drinking too much with lots of our good friends.  I feel I'm growing out of this stage of my life.
• maintain my regular exercise plan (Amanda) - I was doing well with this before we moved.  I need to find a new routine again.  However, I am taking lots of advantage of the great trails that are so close to our new place, so I'm active, I just don't have a routine.
• get a promotion to Paralegal (Amanda) - done, sort of.  I'm officially a "Junior Paralegal", which is actually the best job for me right now.  I'm getting the work, without the insane amounts of pressure, and I'm only $2,000 off of the salary goals that I set for myself last year.  I'm in a really good position career-wise.
• sell our condo and buy a bigger place - done!
• go on a road trip down the Oregon coast  - I don't care about this one anymore. So I'm crossing it off the list.
• successfully make a full turkey dinner  - not yet.  We always end up going elsewhere for our turkey dinners.
• spend an entire day in bed watching movies and eating take out - sort of.  This past weekend Hubby and I spend a good amount of time in bed watching a million episodes of Breaking Bad on Netflix.  I'm counting it as completed.
• host another wine tasting night (and possibly a beer tasting night?) - I don't care about this one anymore. So I'm crossing it off the list.
• take a road trip across Canada - I think driving across British Columbia and Alberta was good enough for us last year.  This one is considered done.
• take a trip to Disneyland - I've FINALLY convinced Hubby that our next trip to Disneyland should be with our little babe, so this one is off the list.

Such a neat little exercise, and I'm actually surprised at how many of the things we've accomplished just by having this list in the back of our minds.  I'm so glad that we're taking this time in our lives to focus on us, and to do things to help us celebrate such a fun time in our lives.  Now we just have to finish the rest of the list!