On My Mind Lately: NYE Edition

Shot of Murphy and I from our shoot with Reformation Brewing!

The New Year starts tomorrow and my brain is full to the tippy top. Dusty and I took a week off from work and I’m feeling refreshed. Perhaps this is a byproduct of working from home, but I swear it takes the first three days of any stay-cation for me to adjust. It’s so unlike me to not have a list for the day.

I don’t have that problem if we’re headed out of town. In those cases, the second we hit the freeway I’ve peaced out. Christmas break is special because a lot of it centers around family. Also, heads up: Christmas with a little niece and nephews is so fun. They get really fun presents and are adorable when trying to open them.

Here's a few things on my mind lately.

Kombucha

I started my first batch of kombucha! My mother in law gave me a starter kit for Christmas and I cracked it open the next day. Dusty got me a giant book about brewing the bubbly stuff, and I keep reading it and finding things I've missed. It’s like science, having a pet, cooking and growing plants combined. I’ve never been great at growing plants, but those first three I am pretty good at. It’s been fun to track the brew’s progress and dreaming up flavor combinations for bottling time.

Tests

My mom gave me a box of Christmas decorations and tucked inside was one of those career tests you take in school! (8th Grade!) I was put in the “applied visual arts” sector and “working with ideas.” I remember hearing that when in doubt, go back to what you loved as a kid. Which is great advice, but what you really loved as a kid can be hard to remember sometimes. That little test was so affirming and encouraging. A sweet reminder to stumble upon. Thanks mom!! :)

Loops

We started and finished Westworld over the break. SO CRAZY. I won’t spoil it, but if you want to talk about it let me know. I can't stop thinking about which loops I'm caught in. And how and why I'm making decisions. I need to watch the whole season over again and catch all the things I missed.

A Show

I’m starting a series of work for a show opening at the end of January! It’s kind of intimidating to create work for a show. I haven’t really submitted work for show since school, and that was over 5 years ago. I have had a few ideas rolling around so when the invite came in, I thought this might be a good opportunity to work through them ideas. Dusty and I picked up canvases and panels last night, so now I have no excuses. Still scared though. :)

Money

At the end of the year, Dusty and I take a look at our spending. We use Mint and a good ole fashioned spreadsheet to track our budget throughout the year. Our cost of living is overall pretty low. In 2016 our biggest expense was housing with health insurance right behind. Dining / groceries came in third. There’s not much we can do about the first two, though we did choose a slightly cheaper insurance plan for 2017. We can definitely find ways to lower our cost of eating. :) So that’s our plan for 2017. We’ve also set a goal to pay off the student loans this year, so apologies in advance if we are even more boring than usual.

NYE Plans

Tonight is the big night. Dusty and I are celebrating with Overcooked Holiday Edition, champagne and maybe tacos. 

What’s on your mind, friend? Got anything planned for the new year?