New Year's 2014

We are now in the second week of the New Year, so I hope everyone is still going strong with those resolutions. We had a really low key celebration at home. We decided to just eat a lot of the traditional Japanese foods and hang out inside. It was snowing and cold...story of our lives recently....and Ten only had one day off, so we just relaxed. 

Here are some of the pics of what we devoured over the holiday.

New Year's Eve Dinner: mikan, tomato and cucumber salad, fried ham cutlets (trying to get rid of Christmas leftovers), and soba (cold because easier for Mia).

On New Year's Day we had osechi, and you know what...it is not nearly as bad as what Ten said it was. Seriously 90% of it was quite enjoyable.

Ozoni that I made that morning. Mochi, naruto, carrots, spinach, and chicken in a nice broth. This is easily our favorite part of New Year food.

Yum.

Mia unwrapping the osechi.

Lots of really good food...and some that wasn't so good. Mia especially loved the fish eggs. She called them "snacks."

In other news, I've decided that this year I wouldn't be making any specific resolutions. Don't get me wrong. I have a big list of things that I would like to get done by the end of the year, but they aren't necessarily resolutions. They are things like finish Mia's baby book and register our second baby at the Japanese embassy. Things like that.

I have, however, decided to pick a theme word for my year. This seems like a pretty popular thing to do, and I like the idea that you can choose a word that you can use to improve all aspects of your year. 

Anyway, so I was thinking hard and kicking words around like "happiness," "focus," and "self-discipline." However, none of them felt right. They weren't what I exactly wanted to achieve this year. Then while I was up way too late last night, I finally came up with my word.

It is "simplicity." I love the simple life, and I think that that is something that we have gotten away from here. We are gaining clutter, we were eating quite unhealthy, and spending a little bit too much. I mean if I look at Mia's toys alone, she has toys that are basically the same thing but just different versions. If I look in my closet, we have DVDs that we don't watch. We own 5 cutting boards. All of these are symptoms of a life that needs to be simplified.

So, that is what I want to focus on this year. I hope to report back in a few days with the first part of my project to simplify things.

Anyway, Happy New Year!

So how are those resolutions going...

I thought that I would attempt to do a monthly update on the progress/or lack of on those brilliant New Year's Resolutions that I made about a month ago....so here is the honest truth.

1. Lose 10 kg: Well, I lost like 1kg. I still have 11 months to go, so not a complete failure....but let me tell you...I didn't do a whole lot to try to accomplish this one. I think I may have gone to the gym maybe 4 times .... so... work in progress. 

2. Read 3 books: I easily got this done this past month. I knocked off Sutton, A Game of Thrones, and The Year of Living Biblically. They were all pretty good books, but I especially liked A Game of Thrones. Now, I'm usually not into fantasy novels (like at all), and the part where the girl was breastfeeding a dragon kind of (well totally) grossed me out....but I'm hooked...and can't wait to start the next one. 

3. Family Outing: Well we went to the Children's Museum of Manhattan, so we did actually go do something new....but otherwise to cold to go out and do much. 

4. Vacation: The wheels are turning...where to go where to go....So, here is what we are thinking...We may go to DC or Boston for a short trip relatively soon. Also, we are thinking of visiting Tokyo and Singapore (well I'm hoping both) later in the year....this will be amazing....but I haven't really gotten the go ahead from Ten....but fingers crossed.

5. Spending active time with Mia: I'd say we are doing really well with this one. Every day I do activities with her through a company called Mother Goose Time. Also, we still go to story time, play groups, classes, and all of that great stuff....plus all the unstructured sillies we get into.

6. Find our new home: I do not even want to think about this daunting task...so I'm going to give myself a big fat F. Tis all for now on that one.

7. Make Ten's lunch: They've gotten a lot better...and should upload a picture to prove it...next time my friends.

8. Charity Walk: Ten is on board for this one....but I haven't quite found what I'm looking for just yet...so still in progress.

9. Blogging: Well if you are reading...you may have noticed that this is only the 4th post this month...so epic fail here....but I did go through the blogs I read and deleted those that haven't been updated in months....baby steps people.

10. Grown up appearance: You be the judge....

11. Money: I've got my usual couple of hours a month deal working for a professor....but I wish I could continue more with this online thing I'm doing... more to come on that later.

 12. Loose ends: I've made a giant list....and currently I'm working on Mia's baby book...so getting there.

Anyway, this post was way too long...so will need to change the format a bit I think....but overall making slow progress.  How are you doing on your resolutions??

Happy 2013!

I hope all of you celebrated your New Year's holiday in ways that set the tone for 2013. Here in NYC we did a whole lot of just eating and playing....you know....things we excel at.

We started New Year's Eve with salads, twice baked potatoes, and hot wings. The wings were divine...and so spicy that they burnt Ten's cheeks...so pretty much perfect.

Lunch the next day was udon, sauteed cabbage, salads, karaage (Japanese fried chicken), and some left over bits of things. We decided not to do osechi because Mia is too little this year...same goes for soba...so udon it was....and it was so good.

The weather was so cold, and with the sickies going around (and we've each battled them over the past few weeks) we decided to stay indoors...and made our own version of confetti for our daytime countdown(s). Mia couldn't quite understand why she wasn't allowed to eat it.

So, I have been trying to come up with some resolutions for 2013...and I have nothing groundbreaking or unique...but here we go.

1. Lose 10 kg. Though I would also be happy with just 5kg...but 10 kg would be best.

2. Read 3 books per month. I think that by the end of the year...I should be able to average this.

3. Plan one family outing per month....this can be anything from a trip to the zoo to a weekend away.

4. Vacation! I would love to plan a weekend or two away and maybe one bigger vacation...but we shall see how this works out financially.

5. Continue to make sure we spend active and engaged time with Mia everyday....you know... no staying parked in front of the TV...not that we do this anyway.

6. Find our new home. Living in Manhattan is great...but not when it comes for Mia to start school... so the hunt will be on.

7. Make Ten's Bento (lunch box) everyday...and not only that...but I'd like to make them something he looks forward to.

8. Enter a walk for charity. I would really like to do this with Ten and Mia...but getting fit while supporting a good cause would be so much fun!

9. Blog more consistently and update the blog...I believe you may know how much I dislike the look of my blog...so this is the year I spend a few hours to fix it...I hope.

10. Try to make myself more presentable... you know pluck the old eyebrows....make sure my hair is all in the same color range...not go out in sweats....yes indeed it is time to dress like an adult....when needed.

11. Helping out financially. Each year I make a few small bits of income, and I'm hoping to continue this...somehow...while not taking away from my house duties of course.

12. Finally, I want to catch up on projects I have going on like photo books and baby books...I also need to get some things sorted out with hotel stays and frequent flier miles...you know...tying up loose ends.

So there are my goals for 2013. I think they are all realistic. What are yours?