I’m not one for New Years Resolutions. I never keep them, so I stopped making them. But, I do think that a new year is a great time to make plans for a new season of life.

With that in mind, there are a few things I’m prioritizing for 2014.

– Working on de-cluttering, purging, cleaning, and repairing/replacing around our home. Living in an old (over 100 years old!) home means constantly keeping an eye on repairs and updates. Our house is, thankfully, in good condition structurally-speaking. But it needs many cosmetic and comfort updates. This may be the year we get new couches and central air conditioning! Whoo-hoo! And there are about seven million things I could get rid of right now if I got serious about it.

– Hosting more events. Long before we were married, my husband and I realized we were a great event-planning team. In fact, one of the reasons we chose our first apartment and our first home was that they both offered space for hosting events. We’ve been using our house as an independent arts venue since we moved in and I’m hoping to continue doing so. On the top of my list of people to host? These guys.

– Setting things in place for a more structured homeschool schedule in fall of 2014. This means: initiating a more structured family life with loosely scheduled waking, cleaning, eating, outdoor, and reading times. As a mostly un-structured person, this will be a challenge for me, but I’m going to make it happen for the whole family’s benefit. (I’m really excited to add tea time–yes, I said “tea time”–to our daily routine.) I’ll also finish compiling my library for Grades 0-1 (see: Ambleside Online) and starting Izzy on his nature journal. For a kid who loves to read and draw, this is going to be a fun year.

– Writing more music. Did you know I’m a songwriter? Yeah, me neither. Who would have known that child-rearing would suck all of my creative energy? I’ve taken up blogging since having children, but I haven’t written a song in years. I’m hoping that 2014 is the year I re-learn the art of songwriting as an adult/wife/mother and see where it takes me. If I can’t write anything new, I hope to at least master some songs that are new to me, some of my favorite folk songs, hymns, and lullabies.

– Being a better wife and friend. Relationships have never been “easy” for me. As a very self-aware introvert, any level of social awkwardness or emotional vulnerability gets me running in the opposite direction. My marriage, as always, must remain my top priority on the relationship front because, as my husband could tell you, my relational dysfunction affects him the most. Also, during the past few years, I’ve tried to hone in on my “girl friend” issues (i.e. why it’s so hard for me to have female friends) and I am going to work really hard on developing and maintaining relationships with women I love and trust. I have made many wonderful friends here in Cincinnati and I need to work on making those relationships prosper.

– Learning how to dress myself. What is second-nature to one person is a foreign language to another. And, in all seriousness, fashion has become a foreign language to me and I need to learn how to speak it. This is the year that I learn what is appropriate for an articulate, semi-creative, 31 year-old, urban, mother of three to wear. I got some killer shoes for Christmas, so at least that’s a start…

– Getting more sleep. (Maybe.)

Wish me luck!

(What about you? Have you made any resolutions??)