Planning 2017!

Welcome to 2017 everyone! I can't believe that we are celebrating a new year already. 2016 was a crazy year for the world and a busy one for myself. I spent a lot of time on personal things and very little time blogging. What have I been up to in 2016?

- I quit a job for the first time ever

- I started a new job with a company that I have been impressed with since I was a graduate student

- I traveled over 50,000 miles in the air and visited ten countries

- I focused on spending time with the boyfriend and strengthening our 13 year relationship

With each new year I like to look ahead and make plans and goals for the next 12 months. I'm happy to let you know that I already have some trips planned and I will be sharing those adventures here. I would say that this year is going to be super busy again, but I wouldn't want it any other way. I'd hate for a year to go by quietly. Here are some goals that I have for 2017...

Personal Goals...

1. Eat the groceries I buy - each week I buy aspirational fruits, vegetables and grains at the grocery store and they inevitably go to waste and into the garbage. I hate the idea of contributing to food waste. Tied in with this goal will be to try out meal planning. I've bought this refrigerator menu planner to help out with the weekly plan.

2. Run 3 half marathons - Last year the boyfriend joined me for a half marathon and has decided that he also likes running! We are planning on doing a few local races and I'm hoping to go to Florida for the Disney half in the fall! I'm also trying to complete the MapMyRun 1000K challenge, I believe that I can do it this year!

3. Keep Learning - I really enjoyed taking all of the courses last year! In addition to practicing my calligraphy and night photography, I'd love to take another course or two. I think that I need to get some cake decorating skills.

4. Travel and plan ahead - In the past, the boyfriend and I haven't really been planners. We would schedule our vacations a maximum of three weeks ahead of time and just wing it. Moving forward, because of our jobs, we feel that it is necessary to schedule our vacations at least two months out. This way we might get better deals? Who knows. We will definitely still have impromptu weekend getaways though.

Blogging Goals...

5. Complete my WITK 2015 challenge (I know, it's already two years old) and work through my candy making challenge from 2016. This challenge should be much easier to complete now because my new company has hundreds of employees to feed sugar! I'm also trying to decide if I want to attempt a true 2017 challenge, let me know your thoughts.

6. Catch up on travel blogging here at WITW! I actually have several trips that I have never posted here. If you follow me on Instagram, you will be aware of all of my trips from 2016 but I have some knowledge that I would love to share with you!

So plan A will be to catch up on back-logged posts. Plan A+ will be to increase blogging overall here and get back into the swing of things.

Random Goals...

7. Renovate the powder room - It's the only room left in our house that needs to be completed. We have been living in our townhouse for just over two years and we haven't gotten around to renovating that room. We have some ideas for decorating, but can't agree on wallpaper, a mirror or sink. We did buy some art for the room. Baby steps.

8. Donate unused items - I hate clutter! Now I'm not planning on completing a Marie Kondo challenge and getting rid of all of my things, but there are plenty of things just sitting around the house. I have already done a lot of closet cleaning out, getting rid of my grad student wears, now it's time to tackle the boxes!

There we have it, my main plans for the coming year! Time to print it out and put it on the fridge. I'm a visual person and I think that I need to look at my goals every once and a while to ensure that I stay on track.

What do you have on your goal list for 2017? Maybe there are some things that we can work on together!