Happy New Years everyone! I hope the new year will bring you, even more joy and prosperity. Approaching the new year often brings up ideas of resolutions, of things we can eliminate or change in our lives going forward.

Have you made any New Years resolutions? Do you ever stick to them?

I find that I don’t stick to New Year resolutions. I usually forget about them, just like I forget to continue writing in my new day planner or diligently sticking to a new diet. So instead this year I am going to share with you my plans and goals for the new year. The plans are set in stone, but the goals are suggestions that I hope in begin when the time feels right in the new year. So there won’t be any pressure to start completing these goals as soon as New Years celebrations have concluded.

 

New Year Plans

Singapore trip

My first plan for January will actually be another overseas trip. I will be visiting Singapore for 10 days and the end of January. I didn’t expect to go on any more overseas trips for a while. Since we had Octavia we have been to New Zealand, USA, Italy, France, Serbia, Sweden and Belgium. I thought we were done for a while. However, we built up all these points on our credit card and Marco has been able to take a bit over a week off, so why not.

We chose Singapore because of its close, amazing food and attractions, good hygiene, clean water and safety. I haven’t spent time in Singapore for at least 8 years. So my memories are a little fussy. I remember that I found it so liveable. I loved the shopping, the food (especially Hokkien mee), the public transport, the cleanliness of the streets, the variety of cultures and that everyone spoke English. The only thing I didn’t like was the heat, but on the plus side, it didn’t burn. So I’m very excited for our upcoming trip. I also can’t wait to explore more of Sentosa and go to my first Universal Studios theme park.

 

A licence for freedom

I will be finally going for my car licence. I hope I don’t jinx myself for writing this. Hopefully, I will be getting it in January on the first go, but I’m not too worried if I need to go again.

I have held a learners licence since I was 16 years, but I have never really had a car of my own to drive or had my anxiety under control enough to feel like I can drive. I would often start driving one of Marco’s cars and then he would go to sell it and the new car was too fast, too big or too new for me to keep driving in. I always got around fine on my own and often felt very nervous as a passenger. However, when we bought our home, which is closer to the city, it had terrible public transport. It made it even more difficult when I had Octavia. Trying to organise a life around a shift worker is really challenging. We became very secluded at home. I can not get to playgroup, music class, ballet lessons, take her to daycare or even go to visit a friend. I then also doubted if I could drive with her in the car. However, my health nurse told me I was probably wrong about that and I looked into it and sure enough, I can drive on a learners licence with my toddler. So soon after I began driving our family car, bought my own little black Polo and I have been driving it every day ever since.

My car is new, so all the little bad habits and worries I had when I drove older cars, big cars or Marco’s prized cars have all melted away. Its taken a while but I now drive on highways, merge, change lanes and park very well. I also am able to take Octavia to Kindy, which I organise with a family member or my nice elderly neighbour. I have recently taken a few lessons with a new instructor, who I really like, and at the end of every lesson, he tells me any examiner would know how experienced I am at handling a car. So very soon my life is going to be very different, so I’m looking forward where I will take myself. Octavia’s just excited that when I get a license we are going out of ice cream.

 

Going back to School

In February I will be going back to university to complete my Post-Grad studies. I started post-grad when I was pregnant. After my father died, I took a couple months of stress leave and decided to leave my mundane call centre job to go back to study. We had already been trying for a baby and I ended up finding out I was pregnant within a few days of quitting. So I started my first course in Museum Studies when I was pregnant. I really enjoyed it and ended up with a High Distinction despite my baby brain. I really found it hard to follow conversations, I had just terrible short-term memory.

I haven’t been able to return to finish my course because being a stay-at-home mum with a breastfed baby (until a month ago), who is very clingy and never naps and living so far away, just seemed to hard. Now with Octavia in Kindy since May, we are over the bouts of sickness, she is getting less needy at home and my car license it all seems possible. Hello world and adult conversations. I’m nervous, but can’t wait to exercise my brain.

New Year Goals

Getting personal

Something that I have struggled with launching this new blog in 2017 was getting personal with my readers. Before I had Octavia I was running my blog, Live Blissful. However, after having her, I really struggled to find time inspiration to post. When I started this blog I also struggled to find my own identity and voice. I was worried to tell everyone what was going on in my life. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to give life updates, opinions or advice. I don’t live a perfect vegan life or up-to-date with all the latest health trends. I didn’t want the judgement and I really didn’t know if anyone was reading what I was writing at all. However, recently I have been feeling like I get back to who I was before baby and I have gained a lot more followers in the later part of the year as well. So be prepared to see a lot more posts about me, what I think and what I’m doing.

 

Filming videos

Something that I have been wanting to do for a while is filming my own colouring videos and flip-throughs. I would like put my videos on youtube and to add to my book review and galleries Eventually, I would love to film speed-colouring and perhaps tutorials. My biggest thing that has held me back was getting a phone ideal for filming. I recently got the new iPhone. I’ve never had an Apple phone before so I am still learning to use it. I also need to allocate time to film, so I will probably start small videos and go from there. I don’t think I will be doing a vlog though. My voice really doesn’t sound good recorded. I sound like a little girl. I am usually mistaken by telemarketers as a child, and they ask to speak to my parents. So my videos would just have musical in the background.

 

Recipe Creating

Something that has suffered on my new blog is my food section. I miss creating new dishes and photographing them. Octavia was never a baby to sit in her high chair quietly and play. I usually had to cook when Marco was home so that I could cook with two hands. She has recently become a lot better when I cook and she eats just about everything that I eat (with the exception of salad). She loves to help me in the kitchen as well. So expect to see more cooking and recipes this year.

 

Getting healthy

I am already pretty healthy compared to normal standards. However, these past two years have really taken it out of me. I don’t feel so great anymore. My goal is to optimise my health and fit in my exercise. That means green smoothies, juices, remembering to take my supplements and walking. It also means cutting out dairy and less animal products. While I was pregnant and breastfeeding dairy didn’t give me pimples or sinus problems at all. It didn’t seem to matter what I ate either. I managed to get back to prebaby weight and maintain it. However, I haven’t been breastfeeding for nearly two months now and my skin is breaking out and I have been getting rounder. I am also very tired, due to a low iron. It’s time get back into a healthy lifestyle and start saying no ice cream and hello to sorbet.

Get organised

I am really bad at with any type of routine and I am prone to procrastination. In the past, I have been able to train myself to get my assignments done ahead of time and prep my kitchen to have lots of healthy foods ready to go. I’m hoping it’s going to be easy get back to doing this with an older toddler. So I know it won’t happen overnight but it is a goal. I also need to decide how I am going to get back into the workplace. My course does offer work placement and volunteering is recommended. It’s just a matter of making sure someone is able to look after Octavia so I can pursue other things.