21 for 2021

Intentions for 2021

I’m a follower of Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness podcast and have adopted her practice of setting intentions for the year. So instead of New Year’s resolutions, I have written down 21 things I want to accomplish. Here is how I thought about this list:

1) My one word theme for the year (also inspired by Gretchen’s approach) is discover. I want to discover new experiences, grow into new habits, discover new approaches to problems, discover more empathy to people around me and so on.

2) I continue to focus on health and fitness, so you’ll see that empathized

3) Add items on the list that I want to do - rather than dread to do

So with that, here is my list (not in prioritized order):

1) Watch 1 MasterClass a week and try to put it into practice. So far I have been watching Thomas Keller’s cooking lessons and have cooked 4 new dishes (Scrambled eggs, Blanched Asparagus, Baked beets salad and Red wine braised short ribs)

2) Learn to pipe frosting on cakes/cookies. I got into quite a bit of baking last year, so next step is to decorate. So far, I have purchased Jenny Keller’s Cookie Class book and have received a variety of piping gift over the holidays. So I hope to be posting my progress on this.

3) Adopt 2 new recipes into regular day to day life (so far, Thomas Keller’s way of preparing scrambling eggs is looking promising)

4) Re-discover piano - we purchased a Yamaha upright in December to enable the kids to learn piano. I haven’t set at one since my tortured lesson days (age 6-10), so looking forward to giving it another shot.

5) Grow an herb garden - this is definitely a stretch for me as I do not have a green thumb, however, as I’ve been cooking more, I see how many herbs I’m unable to use since store quantities do not align to recipe needs. So I’m going to give this a try (in the spring) and see how it goes.

6) Do yoga/Pilates once a week. I want to bring some of the stretching back into my fitness routine. I originally wanted to commit to a daily routine, but decided that was too hard and opted for weekly (thanks to my trainer’s recommendation)

7) Continue with in home/virtual personal training - I need an external accountability mechanism to stay in shape, so I’m a big fan of group fitness classes. Alas, those are still on hiatus with COVID-19, so personal training (virtual and in home) has worked really well last year, so I want to keep it up.

8) Figure out gut issues - I have had stomach issues for as long as I can remember and have been putting off dealing/learning more about it. This is the year, I’m going to tackle this, starting with seeing a naturapathic expert.

9) Self-care: Daily glass of water a day + multi vitamin for self-care - I have really found the NuEthix Nu-Multi helpful this past year.

10) Discover new jogging path - I jog in the Kirkland corridor but looking to expand my horizons with a new park/place to keep things interesting

11) Get a COVID-19 vaccine - no explanation needed

12) Onboard and set up a new nanny - new year, new nanny (our previous amazing nanny got a job in localization at Microsoft), also as we transition to more school hours, our household needs are changing. So setting us up with an eye to the future is really important.

13) Book 2 family photo shoots - We have been doing 1-2 photoshoots a year ever since our eldest daughter was born (working with Hannah Marie Photography) - so a goal every year for me is to ensure we have a couple of these shoots organized to capture us as a family.

14) Plan a trip for our family - we are fortunate in that we get away to our mountain home quite often as a family, but this intention is to get on a plane and go on a vacation as a family (Hawaii, San Diego, LA, etc.). I am not fully in control of this goal, but it is really important psychologically to plan for an adventure, even if we have to cancel due to the pandemic.

15) See my best friend - same as above, but I really miss my best friend who lives in London with her husband. In 2019, we met in Montreal as a halfway point and if we are able to do something like that again in 2021, that would be amazing

16) Update photos in my locket - Adam got me a locket 6 years ago which my youngest daughter points out, does not include her. So need to do a refresh of the photos.

17) Walk once a week with a friend - I’ve always enjoyed doing this and in the pandemic, this became even more important. I have walked with co-workers in person, and with friends and family while talking on the phone.

18) Keep up the new blog/newsletter with Adam - This is our new project for the year. Share tips and tricks and reflection on how we live with our community. Adam and I haven’t worked on a project like this together, so we are excited to try.

19) Spend 21 mindful minutes a day on self - I thought I would commit to reading 21 minutes a day, but a more reasonable goal for me is to spend 21 minutes on something with a purpose for me (such as practicing the piano, reading, blogging). This is my attempt to do less mindless phone scrolling and be more intentional with my time.

20) Renew my passport - simple, tangible and necessary as it’s expiring in the fall

21) Meet a new person a month - I love meeting new people, COVID has artificially slowed me down as it felt less natural to meet people virtually. But this activity brings me so much joy, that I really want to recommit to this.