2019 New Years Goals

Happy New Year!

Every year we create a poster with our goals for the coming year. This is one of my favorite traditions! The rules for the annual poster are A) the goals must be achievable in one year, and B) they must be quantifiable, as in, they have to be things we can measure and check off. 

First, I like to review how we did on our goals for the previous year. To be perfectly honest, we didn't do so hot this year. 2018 was a year of upheaval for us. At New Year's we didn't know where James would be working post graduation, so a lot was up in the air. As things coalesced, some of our goals changed or fell by the wayside. 

James:
Did marvelously with his Duolingo study this year, he's been making great progress in Spanish. He did read (or listen to an audiobook) every day. He did obtain a post-graduation job. He did not practice the piano every day.

Joel:
Learned to read! Of course it's still a developing skill, but we love to hear him read beginning books to us, it's awesome. He's still working on his roundhouse. =)

Xander:
His goals were ones that we neglected this year.

Valerie:
I did not work on my novel "Allspeaker" this year. (Although I did make some progress on "The Seventh Guardian" fortunately.) I did pretty well with my photography challenge. Duolingo totally fell by the wayside for me. I did finish my poomsae challenge in time for my black belt test in October. Bike riding didn't happen as intended. But I definitely got pregnant!

Family goals:
We successfully moved to Utah, a location which meant we didn't need to find a new martial arts school, haha. We went on one of the two camping trips we'd intended. James and I did attend the temple three times. We are still working through the Book of Mormon together. We're terrible about walking our dog, but at least we've been on a date every week!

And now I present our goals for 2019!

James:
-Daily Spanish study
-Daily reading/audiobook
-Settle finances
-Create and follow personal exercise plan
-Weekly video journal
-Bake 12 new recipes

Valerie:
-Earn 5th Dan
-Finish "The Seventh Guardian" revisions
-Project 52 with Clickin Moms (ie weekly photography project)
-Journal weekly
-Read 5 new books
-Finish Duolingo Spanish tree
-Take a yoga class

Family/Couple goals:
-Successfully move to Colorado
-Family camping trip
-Go star gazing
-Find a new martial arts school
-Trip to Tennessee
-Create a family budget
-Attend the temple (number of times to be determined when we know what part of Colorado we're moving to)
-Weekly "Come Follow Me" family study
-Weekly date night

We also want to add "Plant a tree" if we end up buying a house this year. But we'll have to see!

We decided not to set goals for the children this year. We've decided  to wait until they're old enough to set their own goals. We feel like we shouldn't be forcing our ideas of what their progression should be, but should let them discover their own interests. Of course we'll be working on things together, but it's a little different when we're setting up checkboxes on their behalf. So we'll revisit those in later years.

We are excited about this coming year. We've got some big changes ahead for our family. Hopefully our move will go well; we are looking forward to settling down at last and hopefully not moving again for a while! =) 

We wish you a happy New Year and a great 2019!

2018 New Years goals

Hello, dear abandoned blog. I hadn't realized until I pulled up the blog just now that I haven't posted since June. Ooops! But, it's time for our annual New Year's post, so here we are.

Every year we create a poster with our goals for the year. This is one of my favorite traditions. The rules for our poster are A) the goals must be achievable in one year, and B) they must be quantifiable, as in, they have to be things we can measure and check off. Let's review our goals from 2017:

I will take a photo of our checked-off poster when I get back from Utah.

James:
He has not yet obtained a job for after graduation, but is in process. He has been applying, has had some interviews, and will be having more. We're still waiting to hear back from some of his first interviews. It's an involved process! James did not meet his weight loss goal. He did, however, complete Camp NaNoWriMo (twice)--he wrote 22,000 words of a story that he plans to complete after graduation. =P He has nearly finished his book-reading goal, and gave himself a grace period to complete his last book (he has a long flight this coming week with no kids!) He did not create something to donate. He has been very diligent about his daily scripture study.

Kids:
Joel potty trained this year! Yay! We tried early in the year, and it was a struggle, so we put it on hold until this summer. The timing was right at the end of June, and he did it! He night trained at the same time, which was extra awesome. He has not learned to read yet, but is in progress, and we are renewing that goal for this year, and doing the same for Xander's ABCs. Given that Xander is still learning to talk, that one turned out to be a bit ambitious for this past year.

Valerie:
I did indeed complete the first draft of "The Seventh Guardian" over the summer, which was a gigantic triumph. I did not meet my weight loss goal. I have also not completed the 100 Challenge yet, but I gave myself until Black Belt Testing in two weeks, and I'm on track to complete it. I did read the New Testament this year, and I won National Novel Writing Month in November. I completed a 52-week photography challenge, and I did read 6 new books this year. Yay.

Family:
We did not create a budget this year. =P We did go on a camping trip, to Falls Lake in September. James and I attended the temple 5 times this year. We did not walk Shadow twice a week, though we definitely have been walking him more than we had in the past. (We're terrible fur-parents.) We did go on a date every week this year. We did not practice taekwondo 2 hours every week, but we came pretty close.

Presenting our goals for 2018!

When we get back from Utah, we'll make an actual poster and update this. =)

James:
-Meet daily Duolingo goal
-Read 10 minutes daily
-Get a post-grad job
-Practice the piano 1 hour a week
-Secret goal that I (Valerie) am not allowed to know about yet

Valerie:
-Write the first draft of Allspeaker
-2018 Photography Challenge
-Finish Duolingo Spanish course
-New 100 Poomsae Challenge
-Weekly bike ride

Joel:
-Learn to read
-Learn to roundhouse kick

Xander
-Learn the ABCs
-Play a (very short) song on the piano

Family
-Move to: ?
-Find a new martial arts school
-Camping trips x2
-Attend the temple x3
-Read the Book of Mormon (nightly companionship study)
-Walk Shadow at least once a week
-Go on a date each week


We definitely have some repeats. Some, like walking our dog and going on dates, are important for us to maintain, and having them on our poster helps keep them a priority. We've dropped the number of temple attendances this year since we have no idea, as of right now, where we'll be living during the second half of the year and what our proximity will be to a temple.

Despite the uncertainty that our future holds right now, we are excited for whatever 2018 will bring! We hope that you also have a wonderful new year. =)

New Year Poster 2017

Welcome to our annual New Year's event at the Holley House!

Every year, we create a poster, and upon said document, we enumerate various goals that we hope to accomplish in the forthcoming year. (2016, 2015, 2014, which also lists 2013's goals.) The rules for our poster is that the goals have to be achievable in one year, and that they must be quantifiable--they have to be things that we can measure and check off. Let's review our goals from 2016:

James:

He obtained jobs for both his first and second summer (we're excited to be spending this upcoming summer in Utah!) He read 9 new books this year, so he's increased his goal next year to make up for the one he missed. He successfully changed the oil in both our vehicles, he read the Book of Mormon, and he joined the Duke Journal of Constitutional Law and Public Policy, which he is thoroughly enjoying.

Valerie:

I did not referee at the state championships this year (it was an overwhelming logistical nightmare, with a breastfeeding baby at the time, so I gave that one up). I read more than 5 new books this year. I successfully posted a photography blog each month this year. I read the Book of Mormon and taught Joel the alphabet. I also won NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNo in the summer, which was awesome.

Family:

We went on two family camping trips this year, as well as our trip to Washington D.C. We totally failed on making handmade blankets. :( We took Joel and Xander to two different zoos. We went on a date every week this year. We did attend the temple three times each, though one of those visits a piece were solo trips.

And now, for our 2017 goals!

Yes, it's blue. It was the only posterboard I could find at the time.

This is our first year including the children on our poster. We did talk to Joel about his goals, as far as he understands, but Xander's is definitely something we've chosen for him. It will be fun to include them more in this process as they get older. Presenting our goals:

James:
-Get a job for after school
-Lose 20 pounds
-Camp NaNoWriMo
-Read 11 new books (at least 3 non-fiction)
-Create a handmade item to donate to charity
-Daily scripture study of at least five minutes (He has committed to tracking this elsewhere.)

Joel:
-Read a book
-Potty train

Xander:
-Learn the alphabet

Valerie:
-Complete "The Seventh Guardian"
-Lose 20lbs
-Complete the 100 Poomsae Challenge
-Read the New Testament
-Win NaNoWriMo
-Complete a 52-week photography challenge
-Read 6 new books

Family:
-Create a budget
-Family camping trip
-Attend the temple 5 times
-Walk Shadow twice weekly
-Go on a date each week
-Practice taekwondo at home 2 hours per week


Obviously we have some repeats. Some of our goals, like attending the temple and going on dates, are so important for us to continue and hold ourselves accountable for. Some of our goals come from things we find ourselves slacking on, like walking our dog and losing weight. And some of our goals are true aspirations that we hope to achieve in the coming year.

For me personally, I'd consider my "big" goal of the year to be finishing my book. It's been a long time coming. If you look through our posters of yester-years, you'll see that it's been a goal of mine for a long time. Between new motherhood and post-partum depression, my progress on the book has been wretched, up until the past six months or so. But I am now ready and committed to finishing "The Seventh Guardian." I've set the goal with Sam, my co-author, to finish the first draft by summer. It's going to take a lot of my time and energy over the next few months, and I am excited for the challenge.

Bring on 2016

We are a little late this year with our traditional New Year's poster. What with our trip to Utah and then getting settled back in afterward, we waited until tonight's FHE to assemble our goals for the year.

Each year, James and I set individual goals, and we set goals for our family. We require our goals to be quantifiable--they have to be things that we can check off. We also try to create a mixture of mental, physical, and spiritual goals.

First, let's review the past year. Unfortunately, I threw out our 2015 poster before remembering to photograph it with the accomplishments checked off. But here's the photo from the beginning of our year:

We were about halfsies on our goals this year. James started law school, earned his 3rd Dan, and read 6 out of his intended 10 new books. As a family, we moved to Durham and went on a family camping trip. James and I went on a date every week, and met our temple attendance goal. As for me, I earned my 4th Dan, read 5 new books (+started a sixth) and learned to make sushi (simple rolls, at least). Plus had a baby!!

This year, I feel like our goals (mine, at least) are a bit more modest, and at the same time, a bit more realistic. I present our 2016 poster:

For James:

• Obtain a 1L job (aka legal internship this summer)
• Obtain a 2L job (for next summer)
• Read 10 new books
• Change oil in car
• Read the Book of Mormon
• Join a legal journal

For Valerie:

• Referee at the NC State Championships
• Read 5 new books
• Create a photography portfolio, utilizing monthly blog posts
• Read the Book of Mormon
• Teach Joel the alphabet
• Win NaNoWriMo (aka write 50,000 words)

For our family:

• Family camping trip
• Washington D.C. trip 
• Donate 4 handmade blankets to a charity
• Take Joel & Xander to the zoo
• Go on a date every week
•  Attend the temple at least thrice

It promises to be an interesting year! Candidly, the main focus of my life right now is my children. Mothering is a full-time job for me, so anything else I get done on the side is a major accomplishment. Still, I look forward to 2016. I can't wait to see what it offers us.

Holley House tour!

As I have mentioned before, I really enjoy unpacking. I have found that I am fairly unusual in this regard. There is something very satisfying, for me, in organizing and finding the new "homes" for all our belongings. In all of my past moves, I have never taken very long to unpack and get everything set up, and I didn't really expect this move to be very different.

That said, about three days into unpacking, James and I had gotten all the necessities squared away, and there was definitely a "hump" feeling--nothing else needed to be unpacked, and it would have been very, very easy to delay dealing with the rest. It certainly didn't help that the Little Monster sooooo enjoyed putting things back into the boxes as we tried to get everything out. It was at that point that I gave myself a deadline: every box to be unpacked by Saturday. Otherwise, I fully expected that we'd be moving some of the same, unpacked boxes three years from now when James graduates.

We did it! We weren't quite finished by Saturday, because we still had to hang some of the artwork around the house. And then I was just a slacker about taking photos of everything. But, at last, I get to present to you, the Holley House at Stoney Drive.

Exterior at sunset

Front door + little greeters

When you walk in our front door, you can go one of three directions. If you turn to the left, you will enter our comfy living room:

Living room (view from the front door)

TV in the living room, on the interior wall

Mantle (I love actually having a mantle for the first time in my life)

Living room (view from the kitchen)

Upon entering, if you turn to the right, you will enter our cute little sitting room. The previous owner used it as a formal dining room, but I am enjoying my little "formal" area very much. I would say this my second-favorite room in the house.

Sitting room (view from the front entryway)

Sitting room

If you proceed straight in from the front door, you will traverse a little hallway, with stairs to the right, and a half-bath to the left. You will then enter our kitchen!

Kitchen (view from the living room)

That doorway straight ahead leads into our garage. PS: Parking in a narrow one-car garage can be a little scary.

Just outside of the sliding glass door in the kitchen is our little covered porch, which we LOVE. It leads into the backyard.

View of the backyard from the porch

Our backyard

Incidentally, James and I have decided not to build a fence, which was our original plan. (The fence you can see in the pictures is actually our next-door neighbors'. Our yard is not fenced.) However, given the expense involved, and the fact that fences are actually really unpopular in our neighborhood, we reconsidered. Fortunately, Shadow doesn't tend to wander, and he minds well. Our children will be so young while we are here, that I don't really envision them playing outdoors unsupervised, which would be another reason to have one. It's a bit of a pain not being able to let Shadow out unsupervised, but it's working okay so far, so we're going with it for now.

Now, the upstairs!

Stairwell

At the top of our stairs is a small landing. Straight ahead is our laundry closet. To the right is Baby X's room, which shall remain unphotographed until I figure out what I'm doing with it. :P To the left is Joel's room!

Admittedly, we miss the ninja chibis very much. However, Joel still has a strong ninja theme going in his bedroom. It's a good-sized room, too, which is nice. We only decided to separate the boys' rooms because we have the space in this house, and might as well.

Down the hall from the boys' rooms is our guest bedroom. It's a bit full with all the furniture, but it works great as a guestroom.

So...if any of y'all want to come stay...you're invited!!!

If you go back down the hall, you'll pass the second bathroom (already known, in my mind, as the boys' bathroom). It is what I consider to be a standard bathroom.

Boys' bathroom

To be compared with our lovely master bathroom:

View from our bedroom

Dual sinks! This is a favorite feature of James'

MY GLORIOUS TUB

Huge walk-in closet, which you get to through the bathroom, which I find a little odd.

Re: the tub. So, I don't normally take many baths, EXCEPT when pregnant. Especially toward the end, my back just kills me, and hot baths really help. My parents have a jetted tub that I made frequent use of during my pregnancy with Joel. Knowing I would not longer have access to theirs, I was really hoping we could find a house with a nice big tub. (Our house in Orem had a standard tub: see the boys' bathroom for reference.) I am SO HAPPY with our tub! I have already used it a couple of times, and it's wonderful.

And, last but not least, our master bedroom. Easily my favorite room in the house.

View from the hallway

Our bedroom has taken over as our Taekwondo shrine, and it makes me pretty happy:

We got new sword racks so we didn't have to pound a gazillion holes into the wall. With 8 swords apiece on the wall, almost all of our swords are hung. ;)

That's about it! We are thoroughly enjoying our new home. It certainly has little quirks. But overall, it's feeling very comfortable for us. It's nice to feel as though we are settling in. It lets us start really figuring out our new life here in Durham!

Check!

Saying goodbye to BST :'(

I'm feeling rather emotional today.

This is my last week of teaching at Beyond Sports Taekwondo.

We'll be there for color belt testing next week, and the Leadership Retreat the following week. So there will be chances to say our goodbyes before we move on the 8th of July.

But this is my last week of teaching. I have been teaching at BST for nearly 6 years. I took over my first class as a head instructor in August 2009. Two other instructors were getting married and so weren't going to be teaching anymore, and there was one class that Master Sorenson didn't have anyone to teach--so she asked me. I was a first degree black belt, I had just come back from a 3+ year hiatus, and I had only ever assisted other instructors a handful of times. When I think of the trust that she displayed in me, I am so grateful.

Since then, teaching Taekwondo has become an integral part of my life. In addition to my own training, there were several years in the middle where I worked full time at the studio--teaching a lot, plus managing the office. I cut back when James and I started preparing for our family, and cut back a bit more when baby Joel arrived. But my heart has been invested at the studio, more than may be usual for a place of employment.

I have fallen in love again and again with my students. I have trained for them, cheered for them, studied for them, sweated for them, cried for them, prayed for them, and done everything in my power to help them become the best Black Belts--the best people--that they can be.

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work at BST. I am so grateful for the people I have worked with, and the students I have trained. Every year at Black Belt Testing, every quarter at Color Belt Testing, every tournament I attend with my students, I see their growth and achievements and I feel grateful all over again for the privilege of working with such amazing individuals.

This is definitely the end of an era, for me. While I know that there will be other studios and other students, the last 6 years have had an immeasurable impact on my life. I love this place, and I will miss my students dearly.

My Newest Hobby

A few weeks ago, a special package arrived at our house with my name on it. This newest arrival to the Holley household brought with it great excitement and anticipation:

My camera is a Canon Rebel SL1 Digital SLR. I currently have just the one 18-55mm lens, though I anticipate eventually getting more, when funds allow and my skill level has increased to the point where it would actually be worth spending said funds.

I have been taking an online class (which I got for half price--win! My sister-in-law ended up paying even less for it. The power of coupons!) and I have been thoroughly engrossed in learning how to use my DSLR. I'm still VERY new at this, but I am loving it.

It makes me a little nervous sharing my photos, which seems silly in a way, seeing as how I post photos I've taken all the time. However, there's something about having a "nice" camera that seems to raise people's expectations. I feel like my photos will be judged on a whole different level than when I was just snapping shots with my phone, despite the fact that this is my first genuine foray into photography. (I don't really count the one photography class I took in school, though I enjoyed it, because that was about 15 years ago!)

Still, this is an exciting new experience for me, and I don't want to keep it to myself. So, without further adieu, I present my earliest works with my Rebel SL1.

(Incidentally...none of the photos have been altered, cropped, or photoshopped in any way.)

One of my rosebushes started to bud last week, and when I walked out and saw the first blooms, I had to capture their fresh beauty.

This afternoon, Shadow was dozing on the couch wrapped up in one of our blankets. I just loved the way his head was poking out. The lighting was particularly nice for capturing his features.

I've had a lot of fun over the past couple of weeks practicing with my camera at taekwondo. This takes a whole different bunch of settings, to capture the high-speed motions of the students kicking and flipping.

Obviously I'm still working on it. But I feel like my ability to capture these moments is rapidly improving. These photos were all captured in the midst of regular classes, which makes it hard to get clear shots at the action without the background clutter. That too I will keep practicing.

 

Naturally, my favorite subject to photograph is my little Smush. I absolutely treasure these photos.

 

This has brought me so much joy just in the short couple of weeks I've had my camera. I can't wait to continue learning and experimenting! 


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