New Years Resolution Time

Happy New Year!!

Is everybody ready for 2015?  I know I am!!  Last year was a good year with lots of good things that happened, so I'm excited to see what 2015 holds.

For those of you who don't know (which is pretty much ALL of you, even family members), 2014 was a tad bit juicier "behind the scenes" in the Simington household.  And no, I don't mean anything dirty (get your minds out of the gutter!).  I mean that it almost included the decision for our family to move to Nashville.  So "almost" that we were even house hunting.  Several months ago, Lucas was given the heads up that he would be offered a position in the Nashville office with his current employer.  A guy in that office had decided to step down from his position and the top dogs decided that Lucas was the perfect man to replace him.  Long story short, when it came down to the money, it just wasn't enough to get us to move.  The official offer finally came in a couple of weeks ago and it was a very nice offer, and we talked about the pros and cons, but it just wasn't nice enough to make it worth it.  Here in Chattanooga we have a nice, big house with a nice, big yard (that includes a giant wooden shed/barn that is perfect for the dogs) with a nice, tall 5-foot fence in a nice, quiet neighborhood.  I have a good thing going on with my independent contracting gig as well as my bartending gigs, and I have my mom here to help out with the kiddos pretty much anytime that I need her.  Plus my family's here.  Lucas already makes a really nice salary in his position now, he likes both his coworkers and his employees, and the office here runs pretty smoothly. 

If we moved to Nashville, I would still be able to keep working as an independent contractor just as I am now, but I would (obviously) have to give up my two side bartending jobs.  We would move away from MY family and friends, but we would be moving into Lucas's home town with HIS family and friends.  His mother would be available just like my mom to help out with the kids if I needed her, so I wouldn't lose that family benefit, which is an awesome thing NOT to lose.  But the standard of living is a lot higher in Nashville, and Lucas would be walking into a position where he'd have to spend months cleaning up a cluster of messes.  For those of you who are ex-Chili's servers, I call it "pulling a Tom Brantley".

That's right, Tom.  I stole your photo from Facebook.  Don't look so surprised.

Overall, our current life here won over.  :)  So that's the big news that isn't actually news at all, since it didn't happen.  We didn't decide to move.  But we could have.  ;)

As far as New Year's resolutions go, I think mine are basically the same as last year.  You know, the ones I never got around to doing.  I couldn't actually find a list of resolutions for 2014, but I did find this blog post from October 2013 that lists a bunch of projects on my to-do list that are STILL on my to-do list, so we'll just consider the ones I haven't completed as part of my current resolutions.  And while we're at it, I guess we should go ahead and include the incomplete projects from this December 2012 blog post.  But this time, let's make a list.  An official list of resolutions.

From 2014........and 2013.......

 In 2015, I hope to accomplish the following:

1. Lose 20 lbs (I know, I know.....so cliche.  But it's in my plan and has been ALL YEAR.)
2. Run more frequently (4 times a week EVERY week is my goal - right now I average 2)
3. Build my mileage back up to half marathon runner status
4. Be READY TO OWN the Scenic City Half Marathon at the end of February
5. Create photo books (I've already done a few) and shadow boxes for past vacations and memorabilia
6. Print photos (and/or make photo books) from all of my pictures over the last few (SEVEN) years
7. Print the currently missing photos for the kids' baby books and add them in where they're supposed to go
8. Order more photo canvases for the walls
9. Go through/toss/organize the pile of crap that came out of my downstairs desk (that I no longer even own)
10. Paint the dog room to see if I like painted paneling (it will determine if I will paint the den paneling or not)
11. Paint and decorate the office, which is now Lucy's room
12. Make it through more of my magazine stash

So there we go.  That should do it for 2015.  If I can accomplish those things, then I should be caught up! :)

Bye-bye, 2014!