Well, here we are at the end of another year.  2017 has not been an easy one – not from the global perspective, and not from the personal perspective either, actually.  Much of the year has felt like a long uphill slog, and I’m not entirely sure when I’ll get to the payoff – such is life with small children and a demanding job.  But I’m doing my best – at work, in parenting, and as a family member, I’m doing my best.  As I look back over the year that is ending, that is what stands out.

Major Goals

Get with the program.  At the beginning of the year, I expressed the opinion that success in all of the things that I have to juggle would depend on getting and staying organized.  I wanted to devote some significant thought to routines and to creating for myself a personal program that would help me keep up with everything I have to do.  That didn’t really happen – or at least, not quite to the extent I’d hoped for.  I still feel like I’m surviving, instead of thriving.  Such is life with small children.  But I am trying.

Make room for me.  I’m happy to report that, while I thought I was failing at this goal back in July, I have done a better job with this in the latter half of the year.  I joined a yoga studio and have been going to classes there a few times per week, and I finally checked out barre3 as I’d been wanting to do.  I’ve also been making a point to read while the kids play, instead of mindlessly scrolling my phone – far better that they should see me with a book in my hand (and of course, I put the book down to read to them or play with them).  It’s still hard for me to carve out time for myself while the kids are awake, but I’m working on it.  The older and more independent they get, of course, the easier it will be.

Get my confidence back.  Hasn’t really happened.  I did get back to my running shoes and ran a few races this year – a couple of 5Ks, a five-miler and a 10K, not bad – did a couple of Whole30s and got into the group fitness scene.  But I’m still not where I want to be.  I’d like to be more toned, feel stronger, and just have more confidence than I do.  This will be a continued focus in 2018.

Trust in abundance.  I have made a point of working on this, this year, and I think it’s going well.  This goal has meant both small and big actions on my part.  On the small side, I have been working on using up what I have – cooking through our pantry and using up bath and body products – because I want more breathing space in my home, and those things will always be available to me.  And of course, I have been using my library and gifting through my buy-nothing group.  More metaphysically, I have been trying to trust in the abundance all around me – the abundance of family love, of resources, and of time – all of which seem scarce sometimes.  Some days, I am good at this, and some days, not so much.

Revive the 12 Months’ Hiking Project.  With our December hike on the books, I can call this one – DONE!  This is an easy goal to commit to, and an easy goal to achieve, because Steve and I both love hiking so much that it takes no motivation at all to get us on the trails.  In fact, if we go too long between hikes, we both start to get antsy and need some outdoors time.  The only thing about this goal that can be a challenge is finding new places to hike each month.  (And that’s why I was only able to do this one year in Buffalo – I ran out of trails!)  This year, we managed a good combination of hikes close to home (like Riverbend Park), hikes a little farther afield (such as Shenandoah), and hikes in other states while traveling for vacation (Giant Mountain; Joshua Tree National Park).  We also didn’t only hike twelve times – there were plenty of days on the trail that I recapped for you here but didn’t include in my hiking project (either because I already had a hike for the month, or because it wasn’t a new-to-me trail and so didn’t count) and plenty of hikes that I didn’t blog at all.  We just love hiking and nature so much – they’ll always be part of our lives.

Things To Do This Year

• Use my dSLR camera more (like, lots more). And along the same lines, improve my photography skills – particularly outdoor photography.  I did use my dSLR camera more, toting it along to the sunflower field and around California.  Would love to use it even more than that; it’s always a goal.

• Plant another container garden with Peanut – and try not to kill it this time.  Done!  We planted our garden last spring and kept it alive(ish) until the first frost.  I’m nowhere near my friend Jenny, whose extensive garden is a thing of beauty, but I tried, I learned stuff, I had fun with the kids and I rarely bought herbs or cherry tomatoes all year.  A few of my heartier herbs are still going strong, and I’m going to try to keep them alive through the winter.
• Hang a birdfeeder and start learning to identify our neighborhood birds. (Do we have neighborhood birds?)  We did hang the birdfeeder and are now the most popular hangout spot for the neighborhood birds.  It’s a lot of fun to watch them!  We get a lot of sparrows (I think?) and the occasional cardinal – as you can see, the learning to identify part is taking longer.  Googling “little brown birds northern Virginia” isn’t actually all that informative.
• Get back to the yoga studio, and take up barre3.  I definitely did this, and I am so glad that I did.  Even if I did get attached to a particular yoga instructor, only to have her move to Africa (I swear it had nothing to do with me!).  I’m definitely in the habit of carving out a few mornings a week for yoga, and I’m working on getting there with barre3 – I did find a class I really like at a time I can go, so it’s just a matter of making myself do it, and it still seems to be the first thing that drops off the agenda on busy weeks.

• Run a longer distance race (I’m already registered!).  The race I had in mind was the George Washington Parkway Classic (a 10-miler) and I didn’t end up running that.  But I did run the MCM 10K in October, and after several years of running only 5Ks, if that, I think a 10K is a good distance to aspire to.  And I ran a five-mile turkey trot on Thanksgiving morning, as well.  I think I’m finally starting to get my running legs back and I’m so happy.

• Spend more time in Barsetshire (both Trollope’s version and Thirkell’s version).  Check and check!  I read Barchester Towers this year – the second in Trollope’s Chronicles of Barsetshire, and quite a fewThirkells.  I have more to read in 2018 and I’m looking forward to them with great anticipation.

• Bag another ADK peak. (I’m thinking Giant of the Valley, but haven’t made up my mind…)  Giant it was!  Steve and I had such a great time on the mountain in July.  We both agreed that although it’s supposed to be a “more challenging” mountain (they’re all challenging) we both preferred Giant to Cascade.  We liked the trails better, and it was more scenic – especially the Giant’s Washbowl halfway up, and the better views on the way to the peak.
• Clean out our basement until we aren’t storing anything except holiday decorations and furniture.  Well, this didn’t happen at all.  Maybe in 2018?

• Read diversely again – at least 33% underrepresented voices.  I haven’t done my final tallies for this year, since we still have another week to go, so I can’t say for sure, but I expect to not only meet, but exceed this goal again this year.  Making the effort to read diversely has been really personally rewarding and I am hoping it’s also making me a better citizen of the world.
• Incorporate memory-keeping into new areas of my home.  Well, I tried, although life is so busy that it’s hard to put much thought into a goal like this.  I added new memories to my Christmas tree, with ornaments I collected at the national parks we visited this year (although the ornament I bought at Channel Islands seems to have vanished – grrrrrr; it’ll turn up as soon as I take the tree down and pack away the decorations) and photo ornaments I made using pictures of the kids.  I also hung up my grandmother’s paintings, putting some in rooms that I wouldn’t normally consider for them (I have a big one in the kitchen).  Other things I wanted to do – a shell jar to display our collection; framing the kids’ Christening outfits – didn’t happen.

• Travel. Someplace amazing. Maybe a few someplaces.  Done!  Didn’t get to travel as much as I’d have liked to, but that’s the case every year.  (I could travel eight months out of the year and still think it wasn’t enough.)  We made it up to the mountains over the Fourth of July; to California for a fabulous family vacation with my parents, brother and SIL, and aunt, uncle and cousin; to New York City to see Hamilton in October; and out to Little Washington with my parents for a quick getaway after Thanksgiving.  I haven’t turned my attention to 2018 travel yet, but I’m sure it will be another year of wonderful experiences.

One Word

I have to be honest, I completely forgot about my word in the second half of the year.  But it sure didn’t forget about me.  The word I chose – or, to be more accurate, the word that chose me – was gather.  At the beginning of my first year back home in D.C. after three long, cold, and lonely years away, I really wanted to be with people again.  Steve and I spent a lot of time feeling isolated and cut off when we lived in Buffalo – as my friend Zan has eloquently mused, it’s not easy to make friends there.  And so one of the main reasons we moved home was that our people are here.

In some ways, gather has worked out just as I had hoped it would.  There are two new baby boys in the world, and I’ve held them and rocked them and covered their sweet little man faces with auntie kisses.  I have hosted birthday parties with old friends, met former colleagues for lunches around town, and joyfully wandered zoo paths and trails with people as dear to me as family.

There have also been pleasant surprises that my word has brought to my life – surprises I should, perhaps, have anticipated – but I didn’t.  Peanut started a new school, which has meant new friends for me, and we’ve forged close bonds with a few families.  She has a talent for finding the kids with the coolest moms, and we’re having the best time as a result.  We’ve filled the past year with playdates – picking blueberries, riding carousels, jumping in bounce houses (just the kids!) and watching parades.  There’s so much more good to come – we’re planning to camp this coming summer with Peanut’s BFF, S, who has the coolest parents, and we have playdates in the works with new friends.  I’ve made friends at work and through my Buy Nothing group, and – it’s just surprising.  I moved home because I wanted to be with my old friends, and I didn’t realize how many new friends would be in my life in such a short time.  It’s been a 180 degree flip from Buffalo – where I was lonely and bored – to home again, with so many old and new friends that I almost feel over-social.

Another aspect of gather that I wanted was to gather my home around me and create a sanctuary, a safe space from the craziness of life outside.  I think that’s happened, too.  We’re unpacked – although the basement is still horrifying – and just living, for the first time in three years.  We’re not going anywhere; we’re not looking ahead to the next move.  There will be another move, at some point.  But I’m not thinking about it.  I’m not worried or anticipating it.  I’m just shoring up the borders of my current space, gathering the walls and setting my burden down a bit.  I know – that doesn’t make much sense.  It makes sense in my head, though, and that’s the best I can tell you.  I needed some time to sit and exhale and be, and this year has provided that.  We’re starting to look ahead to the end of our lease – it’s still more than a year and a half away, but time is flying – and I think we might renew, rather than jumping into the market again.  I just don’t feel ready.  I’ve gathered these borders around me and my family, and I’m not ready to drop them yet.

Gather was the right word for 2017.  It was the right word for the first full year back at home, back where we belonged and among the friends that love us and support us and want us near them.  I don’t have a word for 2018 yet.  It’s a big undertaking, choosing a word – or allowing myself to be chosen.  I have a few possibilities and I want to sit with them, but I expect that if I do end up with another word of the year, it will happen the way my previous words have happened – like home, hitting me like a bolt of lightening as I dodged icy puddles in a parking garage, or gather, touching my shoulder and saying here I am and this year you will feel loved again as I drove across the Potomac on my way to hold a friend’s baby boy.  Something will come again, I think.  Or it won’t, and that will be okay, too.

Did you make resolutions for 2017?  How’d they go?

Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king:
Do you know what I know?
In your palace warm, mighty king,
Do you know what I know?
A child, a child, shivers in the cold,
Let us bring him silver and gold.
Let us bring him silver and gold.

If you’re celebrating today, have a warm and wonderful Christmas!  And on Earth, peace.

It’s been a long time – years, maybe? – since I’ve done a day-in-the-life style post.  I can’t even remember the last time, to be honest.  But now seems as good a time as any, and as luck would have it, #OneDayHH 2017 just took place.  So what better day to feature?  (For those not familiar, #OneDayHH is an annual social media event, hosted by Laura Tremaine of The Hollywood Housewife, in which participants are challenged to capture and share snapshots of an entire day’s activities.  It’s always in early November, and always on a weekday, because the idea is to encourage people to look for the little moments that are worth preserving in their everyday lives – not just the big events or particularly photogenic shots.)

Anyway, #OneDayHH took place on November 9 this year – a regular Thursday for me.  Here’s what I was up to.

6:20 a.m. Nugget is up and therefore so am I.  It’s a workout off day, so I try to maximize my sleep, since it has been so crummy lately, thanks to a bad cold going around the house (anytime anyone has a cold, it means less sleep for Mom).  I didn’t set my alarm, so I just wake up whenever my human alarm clock goes off, which is 6:20 today.  I get him out of his crib, change his diaper and let him play for a few minutes while I get ready for my day, until Peanut gets up and we go downstairs.  I set them up at the kitchen table with their breakfast and “Doc McStuffins” on the iPad, then make Nugget’s lunch.  He is getting soup, green beans, cheese, a blueberry breakfast bar, and homemade plum applesauce, plus a yogurt for his “second breakfast” once he gets to the nanny share.

7:15-7:30 a.m.  Back upstairs and it’s time for Nugget to get dressed for the day, which he does not want to do.  Peanut is already dressed and ready to go – as is the rest of the family.  I chase the lone holdout around his room until I finally catch him and wrestle him into sweatpants and a cozy long-sleeved t-shirt.  Then we’re all out the door together.

7:45 a.m.  Steve, Peanut and Nugget drop me off at the Metro station – I’m the first stop in the morning circuit.  They head onward to Peanut’s school and then Nugget’s nanny, and then Steve will go back home to work (he works remotely from home).  Meanwhile, I wait on the platform for my train into D.C.

8:15 a.m.  I’m off the Metro and back above-ground at Gallery Place.  Normally I would go straight to work, but I need to make a stop first.  In the hustle of getting everyone ready this morning, I forgot to eat.  So I head for Bakers & Baristas, the neighborhood indie coffee shop, to grab a quick breakfast to bring to my desk.

8:20 a.m.  In line at Bakers & Baristas.  I order a London Fog (half vanilla steamer, half Earl Grey) and a pastry to take to my desk.

8:25 a.m.  Tea in hand, walking to the office past a row of Capitol Bikeshare bikes.

Still 8:25 a.m.  On my other side, the National Portrait Gallery is looking lovely under the grey morning sky.

8:30-11:45 a.m.  I’m at my desk.  This is my favorite corner, which I decorated with some of my favorite pictures and mementos – Instagram prints, birthday party invitations, and Adirondack 46 mountain patches from the peaks I’ve bagged.  I can’t show you the rest of my desk, as it is (neatly) piled with confidential client documents.  Anyway!  I fire up my computer, read news alerts and emails, and then look over the pleadings in a case that I’ve just been pulled into – getting up to speed on the issues so I have a better sense of what documents are going to be relevant.  Three hours go by in a flash.

11:45 a.m.  I am starting to get a headache (something is going on with the generator, and it’s making our whole hallway smell electric).  I decide a pick-me-up is in order, and use my favorite teapot to brew some “Earl on the Beach,” a loose tea my BFF, Rebecca, sent me from her local tea shop in Virginia Beach.  (Later, I will be dismayed to discover that the brand-new replacement basket I ordered for my tea leaves has a hole in the mesh.  Grrrr!)  Back to my desk, and my reading.

12:30 p.m.  Lunchtime.  Normally I would walk outside to either pick up lunch or just get some fresh air, but today we have a CLE (that’s “Continuing Legal Education,” for my non-lawyer friends) program scheduled – and lunch is provided.  I eat a cheese and veggie wrap while listening to a presentation on best practices for crafting and managing litigation holds.  In my day-to-day world, this is very important and high stakes stuff – mistakes can be very costly, and we are extremely serious about getting it right.  I found the presentation really informative and interesting – good use of my lunch hour!

1:30-2:15 p.m.  I work on some administrative tasks that are not a lot of fun, but have to be done.  My headache is coming back, so I decide it’s time for some fresh air.

2:15-2:45 p.m.  I feel my headache coming back, and I think fresh air would help, so I decide to walk to the courthouse – might as well make productive use of the time – and pick up a form I need for the Virginia Bar.  (I am licensed to practice law in New York and Washington, D.C., but am in the process of applying for a license to practice in Virginia, too.  Virginia requires a huge stack of forms and documents, so I’ve been on a bit of a scavenger hunt to gather everything I need.)  When I get to the courthouse, I put my bag down to be scanned, and tell the security guard, “I’m here for a–” and before I can finish, she interrupts me: “Certificate of Good Standing?”  I laugh and ask how she guessed, and she said, “You were just too poised when you walked in here.  Usually people look nervous.  I though, either she’s here for Good Standing or she’s filing something.”  Ha!

I walk through the metal detector and down to the Attorney Admissions Office, where there is no line – so I am out the door, my Certificate of Good Standing in hand, in less than five minutes.  (For my non-lawyer friends, a Certificate of Good Standing is a piece of paper from the powers-that-be in a jurisdiction, saying that my license to practice law in that jurisdiction is active and current – meaning I haven’t been suspended from the Bar or gotten behind on my dues.  I need them for both of my states in order to submit to the Virginia Bar.  For New York, I have to write a letter and get the Certificate mailed to me, but for D.C. I have the luxury of just walking down the street.)  On my way out the door and back to my office, I look around at the courtyard, which has been improved since I was last here a few months ago.  I particularly like the quote: “All citizens are equal before the law.”  I think of Tuesday’s election results in Virginia and smile.

2:45 p.m.  I am back in my office, and I have a text from our sweet nanny.  Every day, she sends me the pictures she snaps of Nugget and I save them to my camera roll (one reason my phone storage is shot).  Seeing his little face always brightens my day.  Today she sends a bunch of pictures of Nugget with the other kid in the nanny share – they’re such good friends!  So cute.  I spend the rest of the afternoon working on my Virginia Bar application, including making a 30+ minute call to Virginia Bar IT Support.  Oof.  (They’re very helpful, and it turns out I alerted them to a problem with a hyperlink that could have impacted 500 people, so I guess that’s my good deed for the day!)  I spend most of the time drafting answers to the Character & Fitness questionnaire, update my scavenger hunt spreadsheet (where I am tracking the status of all of the documents I have requested) and chat with a partner who stops by my office just to say hello (so nice).

5:15 p.m.  I save and close my Virginia Bar application and head home.  I am not loving how dark it is, but I do like the pretty twinkle lights that the vendors have strung up in the Thursday afternoon farmers’ market that I walk through on my way to the Metro.  I always think I should stop and buy something, but I am always in a hurry to get home – today is no exception.

5:50 p.m.  I’m home!  Peanut and Nugget are finishing their dinner in the kitchen.  Every day when I walk into the house, they scream with joy – it’s the best way to be greeted, EVER.  Today, after they finish shrieking their happiness, Peanut goes back to the lolly she was working on, and Nugget asks for “uppy!”  Of course, at that moment, I get a work email that needs an immediate response, so I jump back on the computer and quickly take care of it.

6:25 p.m.  I take both kids upstairs to get ready for baths.  Peanut plays contentedly in her room, but Nugget – the Pisces – has to be involved in any activity that includes water.  Somehow, I manage to get the bath prepared.  He almost falls in (fully clothed) three times, but this is not my first rodeo, and my bathtub-dive-rescue instincts are sharply honed.  I bathe both of the kids while Steve is downstairs taking care of his own urgent work email.

7:10 p.m.  Both kids are clean and cuddled up in their coziest jammies (our upstairs Thermostat was on the blink yesterday, and it got kind of cold overnight – Steve fixed it, but I still wanted the added insurance of fleece pajamas).  It’s time to start winding down, but Nugget is in hardcore bedtime-avoidance mode – running around, wearing Peanut’s hat, and playing “picnic.”  Eventually I get both the hat and the basket away from him.  He’s not very happy about it.

7:25 p.m.  Ready to read!  Nugget chooses “A-B-C-3PO” for a bedtime story.  Usually, we do two or three – or sometimes more – but he did so much stalling that we only have time for one story tonight.  Fortunately, “A-B-C-3PO” is a long one.

7:35 p.m.  See?  Still reading.  It’s a really funny book that we all enjoy.  My favorite parts are the breaks I get every few pages, because whenever Darth Vader appears (quite frequently, as it happens) Nugget must sing the Imperial Death March, shout “Luke, I am your father!” and profess his undying love for the Sith.  After we finish the story, I tuck him in and Steve sings to him while Peanut and I start reading in her room.  We are reading Mr. Popper’s Penguins – a chapter every night – and after we finish our chapter for the evening, she gets to pick out a picture book.  Tonight, it’s “The Princess and the Pea.”

8:00 p.m.  Both kids are in bed, and I am downstairs and STARVING.  I heat up a bowl of homemade vegetable soup with pinto beans, and stir in plain yogurt for extra protein and creaminess.  Meanwhile, Steve shows me the treat he bought for us to enjoy after dinner.  Yum!  He sits at the table while I eat my dinner and we talk about our days.

8:35 p.m.  Couch time!  I cuddle up under my favorite blanket to finish The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou.  I’m almost done, so I wrap it up after only a few more minutes of reading, then turn to Jane Gardam’s The Flight of the Maidens, which is out of renewals at the library.  About an hour and a half of reading and sipping the stout we are sharing, and then it’s time to turn in – I have early morning yoga tomorrow.

10:00 p.m.  Lights out!  All too soon, my alarm will be ringing and it’ll be time to get up and do it all again.

Hello, August!  (Well, it’s been a little over a week, but…)  The other day, an Instagram post popped up in my feed with the caption “August is the Sunday of summer.”  In some ways, here in Virginia, it’s more like the Saturday evening – we’ve got another few months of warm weather and long days (which is just fine by me).  But there’s no denying that August is the last month of high summer.  Back-to-school is only a few weeks away now – and we’re on the later side; we go back after Labor Day.  We’ve still got plenty of summer fun, including our big vacation for the year, ahead of us.  Still, I’m also finding myself nostalgic, looking around me and trying desperately to remember the little things about this season that will escape me, that may be different next year.  (At the very least, the little water shoes and sandals will be another size or two bigger, even if everything else stays the same.)  And because this blog is at least partly about capturing the small things that are mattering to me right now, here are the places that have meant “summer” to me this season.

This back step is where so much of the business of summer happens.  Beach towels and water shoes dry on the mat out here every weekend.  I snapped this picture earlier this summer; all three pairs of water shoes – the kids and mine – are considerably more faded now.  And the back step is covered with a film of sunscreen, since I like to use my Pacifica spray out here on the way to the pool.

Reach out a hand from this spot, and you’ll open the back door.  Just inside is another of my summer spaces.  I call it “the command center.”  It’s actually a key rack, but it’s become the gathering place for all of our summer essentials.  The basket holds three bottles of sunscreen – my Pacifica, mentioned above; Steve’s Coppertone Sport (no chemicals for me, please!); and the kids’ Babyganics.  Hanging from the basket is a little row of hooks where – in addition to our keys – we collect hats (Peanut’s floppy white sun hat, Nugget’s navy bucket hat, and my blue baseball cap), sunglasses (there is always at least one pair of Wayfarers) and Peanut’s camp tote bag, stuffed with beach towel, bathing suit, tie-dye shirt, sunscreen and pine needles.

More often than not, when we head out that back door, lathered up with sunscreen, we’re headed for the neighborhood community pool.  We can walk here, and I cherish our evening strolls to the pool – Steve hand-in-hand with Peanut, me with Nugget.  We have to stop to smell all of the neighbors’ flowers (it’s Black-Eyed Susan season!) but we get here eventually.  The baby pool is the preferred splashing spot.  Peanut has learned all kinds of water skills at camp, and she loves to be independent in the water.  When did she get so big and grown-up?

The pool is only open in the afternoons, so for morning water fun we’ve been loading up the car and driving about fifteen minutes away to our local splash pad.  Splash pads are hugely popular in the D.C. area, and we have found one that we love.  We’ve been here nearly every weekend since it opened.

With the splash pad discovery came the discovery of a new playground.  Of course, the kids love our neighborhood playground most – but the nature and pirate themed playgrounds next to the splash pad have been big hits.  Sea monsters were just made for climbing on, right?

Another summer favorite – we’ve recently discovered Fletcher’s Cove, which is the perfect boating launch point for our family of kayak enthusiasts.  More to come on this soon, but we’ve driven into D.C. twice now, duffers in tow, for serene mornings paddling the Potomac.  Fletcher’s is already becoming one of “our places” – and I look forward to many more summers watching my little paddlers grow into their boating skills.

Further afield, this summer wouldn’t have been complete without a visit to Aunt Rebecca and Uncle Eric in Virginia Beach.  They’re moving soon, so I don’t know if Virginia Beach will be part of the fabric of our summers after they depart for sunny Florida.  But this summer, and last summer – it was.

Of course, at the end of the day, there’s no place like home – right?  I’ve spent quite a few afternoons and evenings relaxing under my big market umbrella, watching the kids dig in their sandbox and the bees buzz around my mint plant.  Living in an area where the summer season is so long, we’ve been able to use our patio as an outdoor living room – and plenty of living has happened on these bricks.

What are your summer spaces this year?

As of a few days ago, we’ve been back in D.C. for one year now.  In some ways, I can’t believe it’s already been a year.  In other ways, it feels as if we’d never left.  I expected this.

In some ways, it’s strange to be back.  We don’t fit into the life we left behind here.  There are new people living in our house (our beautiful house!) and after the first time driving through my old neighborhood, I have not been able to bring myself to go back there – although we have been back to Mount Vernon many times, and to the garden center near our old place.  There are new babies that weren’t here when we left – which is a joyful change! – and new friends that we’ve met through Peanut’s school.

We’re different, too.  While we were away, our family grew by one person.  When we left, Peanut was just a little baby; now we’re home with a big kid and a toddler, and it’s a whole different experience, living here with little ones.  It’s almost as if we are learning the city again, finding the activities and experiences that we can do with them.  I hope they know how lucky they are to be growing up in the nation’s capital.

As the one-year mark ticks past, we’re content.  It hasn’t been a perfect year – there’ve been bumps, and stressful days, and some tough moments.  But neither Steve nor I have ever regretted the decision to come home.  And it’s nice to finally exhale.  We have a multiple-year lease on our townhouse, so we will be here at least two more years – if not longer – before the moving boxes come out again.  It’s nice not to be planning a move, to have some breathing room and a chance to really think about what we want, instead of buying in a hurry and then regretting it.  And it’s wonderful to be able to relax and know that we will be here for a little while, and that when we do leave this place, it will be for a local move.  No more leaving – this is home.

I can’t believe that 2017 is (more than) halfway over.  It’s certainly been an eventful year in the world – overwhelming, actually.  When I travel out of town, people invariably ask me, “What’s it like in D.C. right now?”  I usually reply that it’s exhausting.  Honestly, we’ve become so on edge, waiting for the other shoe to drop, that I think most of the city is just burnt out.  On a more personal note, I’m feeling burnt out, as well, from the daily grind of parenting and lawyering, day in and day out.  I’ve been coping with the first half of 2017 the way I cope with everything else in life – by diving into comfort reads wherever possible, and hitting the trails on weekends.  What I have not been doing is focusing much attention on the goals I set at the beginning of the year.

Get with the program.  At the beginning of the year, I told you all my intention to get and stay super-organized.  I do think that the more I have a handle on the routines of daily living, the easier daily living will be.  The problem is that getting a handle on those routines initially requires a process of trial and error, and I think I’m still in that process.  We made a financial decision that will have the ancillary effect of making my mornings a bit easier (while saving us money – yay!) and some other unexpected but welcomed shakeups are already providing some relief.  But I have a lot more work to do on this, if only I could find the time and energy to do that work.

Make room for me.  I’m sorry to report that I’m pretty much failing at this one.  Other than evenings with a book (when I don’t have to work) and the occasional sneak-off-for-a-workout-during-nap, I’m still so overwhelmed with my responsibilities as a parent and an attorney that I don’t know which end is up most of the time.  My main complaint is not having enough time to work out.  I am not good at “putting Mom first” even though I know that I can take better care of my family (and my clients, for that matter) when I take care of me.  The things that don’t take much time – like drinking lots of water – I am baller at.  The other stuff is still falling by the wayside.

Get my confidence back.  Another one that – tied to the above – is not going super-great.  I do a decent job of eating healthfully (most of the time) but workouts just seem impossible to schedule.  I know all of the conventional wisdom – you have to exercise for you; put it on the schedule and treat it like any other important meeting – blah blah.  It’s just not as easy as those platitudes make it sound.

Trust in abundance.  I think I am actually doing a decent job of this!  I’ve been consistently donating things all year long – whether to Goodwill, or by passing baby hand-me-downs along to friends – and every time I open up a little more space in my home, it feels even better.  I’m also making an effort to use up the stuff that I have rather than “saving” it until it goes bad.  We’re drinking our nice California wine instead of continuing to store it in boxes and never even look at the bottles.  I’m working on cooking through the pantry and fridge more consistently (this is a process).  And I’m weirdly most proud of the fact that I’ve gathered up all of my bath and body products in one spot in the bathroom – right down to hotel toiletries that I’ve snagged on trips – and am diligently using them up before I buy anything new for myself.  There might be a more metaphysical component to this goal that I’ll think about in the second half of the year, but for now I’m pretty much focused on minimizing clutter and saving my pennies.

Revive the 12 Months’ Hiking Project.  This goal was my gift to myself – an easy goal to achieve, because I love hiking and I love exploring new trails.  June was actually a bit of a challenge; it was such a busy month that I squeaked in just under the wire.  But we never let a month go by without hiking at least once, and our kids are growing up on the trails.  I’m even more excited that this is a project I’ll be able to keep going for quite some time, since the DC/MD/VA area is rich with hiking opportunities.

Things To Do This Year

• Use my dSLR camera more (like, lots more).  And along the same lines, improve my photography skills – particularly outdoor photography.  This hasn’t happened – still relying on my iPhone for almost all of my pictures.  I’m determined to dust off the dSLR before our big summer vacation, though.

• Plant another container garden with Peanut – and try not to kill it this time.  In progress – and things are actually growing!  This surprises me daily.  We’re definitely learning some good lessons this year, but we’ve eaten six little red tomatoes and four green beans, which already makes this the biggest success we’ve ever had.
• Hang a birdfeeder and start learning to identify our neighborhood birds.  (Do we have neighborhood birds?)  In progress!  Bird feeder is up and the birds have finally discovered it after a few weeks of ignoring it.  I haven’t gotten any good pictures yet, but I hope that soon we will start identifying the birds as they come to the feeder.
• Get back to the yoga studio, and take up barre3.
• Run a longer distance race (I’m already registered!).  I was planning to run the GW Parkway Classic in April, but I ended up not running.  I just wasn’t properly trained for it.  Something this fall might be possible, but I think it’s more likely that I will just be a 5K and 10K runner until Nugget is a little bigger.

• Spend more time in Barsetshire (both Trollope’s version and Thirkell’s version).  Check and check!  I’ve read several more Thirkells, and finally made time for Barchester Towers, all of which I have thoroughly enjoyed.  I wish Barsetshire was real…
• Bag another ADK peak.  (I’m thinking Giant of the Valley, but haven’t made up my mind…)  Stay tuned…
• Clean out our basement until we aren’t storing anything except holiday decorations and furniture.  I was hoping this would be a winter project, but it took so long to get the living areas of the house habitable (and they have an annoying habit of not staying that way…) that it hasn’t happened yet.  Soon, I hope.  I can’t wait to get some stuff out of the basement and have more space to move around in there.  It would be so nice to have a pleasant path to the laundry machines and even – dare I hope – a little workout corner.

• Read diversely again – at least 33% underrepresented voices.  I am trying, although I’ve fallen off the wagon a little bit (with all of the stress lately – personal and political – I’m craving mid-century British middlebrow more than anything else, and that’s not a particularly diverse area of fiction).  I’ve read some really wonderful books by authors of color this year, and hope to add plenty more before the year is done.
• Incorporate memory-keeping into new areas of my home.  Working on this.  I love being surrounded by stuff that means something to me (the flip side of minimizing – the stuff you keep has real emotional value) and over the course of the year I’ve added a handmade pillow with Outer Banks landmarks, as well as a little candle screen in the shape of Mount Vernon – both places that have great personal meaning for me.  What I have not done is print and swap out family photos, so that’s next on the agenda.
• Travel.  Someplace amazing.  Maybe a few someplaces.  I’m just returned from back-to-back weekend getaways (first to Virginia Beach, and then to upstate New York and the Adirondacks for an extended Fourth of July visit).  Both trips were wonderful and refreshing!  Now we’re on to a stretch of quite a few weeks and weekends spent at home, which is fine by me, before our big trip later in the summer.

One Little Word

Just a few little words about my word for the year, gather.  At the beginning of the year, I didn’t know what it was going to mean, but it seemed fitting for a full year spent back in the place where so many of our friends live.  And it’s been wonderful so far.  In the spirit of gathering together with family and friends we love, we have:

• Had a zoo playdate with my dear friend Carly and her family.
• Hosted a raucous party for Nugget’s second birthday.  (There were seven kids there, including Nugget and Peanut, and it was chaotic and delightful.)
• Met up with a new school friend of Peanut’s for many playdates, including excursions to parks and paint-your-own studios, and a Moana-viewing brunch party in my living room.
• Sent Peanut off to multiple birthday parties and a “just because” movie night at a friend’s house.  She has her own social life now!  Hold me.
• Been lucky enough to get another visit from Zan and Paul – who are moving back to D.C. this fall!
• Visited Rebecca and Eric for a weekend on Virginia Beach, just a few weekends ago.  The next time we see them will be for THEIR WEDDING!

We have even more gathering in our future.  There are friends here that we haven’t even had time to see yet, since moving back almost a year ago now, and I hope to correct those omissions as soon as possible – although summer is busy for everyone, so I may have to wait a bit longer.  We also have planned trips on which we will see my parents (multiple times), dear Albany friends, and my brother and sister-in-law.

Actively seeking out people and opportunities to socialize is not something that comes naturally to me.  I am a homebody and an introvert, and my first impulse is usually to decline invitations.  But the fact is – after I’ve actually done the socializing, I’m always glad that I did.  I never come home thinking, “I wish I hadn’t agreed to meet so-and-so for lunch,” or “I should have never agreed to that playdate.”  We moved back to D.C. because we missed being surrounded by so many people we loved, and I definitely don’t think we have squandered that opportunity.

Did you set goals or intentions for 2017?  How’s it going?

Happy Monday to my friends, and happy birthday, America!  I hope my American readers are enjoying a glorious holiday weekend and that my Canadian and overseas friends are rested and ready for a wonderful week.  As for me, I’m taking this Monday off from both working and blogging, and instead will be soaking up time with loved ones and spending quite a few hours outside – hopefully in the sunshine.  Regular posting resumes on Wednesday with my June reading round-up, so do check in with me then!

It’s been awhile since I did a brain dump on here – or have I ever? – but today seems like as good of a day as any, and there are lots of things that I’d like to tell you, but that aren’t major enough to warrant their own post.  Here we go…

1. I just realized that it’s vacation season.  I was talking to a co-worker who said that she was “in vacation mode” for her fourth of July travel, and I replied, “Yeah, but that’s not for, like, a month,” and was shocked to hear that it’s only a little more than two weeks away.  Seriously, where is the summer going?
2. There will be a bigger update next week, but I’m surprised every single day that my garden is actually growing.  It hasn’t been without its hiccups (aphids – ugh) but I have a few little green beans, lots of tiny tomatoes and buds, and one red tomato already.
3. Nugget has developed an intense fear/hatred of “fluff.”  In his little mind, “fluff” is not only actual fluff – dust bunnies or bits of fluff from the dryer clinging to his clothes – but also stray pieces of hair, dirt, crumbs, you name it.  (Hair “fluff” is a particular problem, because Peanut has long hair and both she and I shed regularly.  And if his nanny’s ponytail gets in his face, he admonishes her, “Kelly, your fluff!”)  He comes running up to me or to Steve at least twenty times a day, crying, “Get the fluff!  GET THE FLUUUUUFF!” and we have to then find whatever piece of “fluff” is bothering him and eradicate it.  On Wednesday night, he even had to be convinced to sit down in the bathtub – usually he sits immediately and starts splashing happily.  When I asked him what was wrong he pointed at the tub and said, in real distress, “There’s a fluff down there!”  Poor little guy (also it’s kind of funny).  But he has to learn to live in a fluffy world.
4. I have a new hobby: shopping for white tulle dresses and for toddler bowtie-and-suspenders sets.  Did I tell you that Peanut is going to be a flower girl in September?  She’s beyond excited – she talks about her dress and her “flower headband” constantly, and every time we walk down King Street, we have to stop and look in the window of the bridal boutique and speculate about Aunt Rebecca’s dress.   (Well, I know what it looks like, but I’m not going to spoil Peanut’s fun.)  At four-and-a-half, she’s plenty old enough to know exactly what’s going on when a wedding takes place (and she’s already been to two weddings – her Uncle Dan and Aunt Danielle’s, and my college friend Betsy’s) and to actually be in the wedding is a major thrill.
5. Steve couldn’t believe this when I told him, but I have no books checked out from the library right now – not even any picture books for the kids.  I’m down to Inbox Zero and loving it.  It’s been so long since I’ve seen many of my own books that I am enjoying having the freedom to read from my own shelves without library deadlines bearing down on me.  But that’s about to change, because I just got a notice that Lincoln in the Bardo is waiting for me on the holds shelf.

There you have it – five random things that were bumping around in my brain.  What’s been on your mind lately?  Do you also hate fluff?