The Annual Review: A time to talk to myself about myself, again.

The Annual Review:

A time to talk to myself about myself, again.

 We did it! We finally closed out 2023 and boy am I ready for a fresh start! This year has been quite the rollercoaster but to be completely honest, what year isn’t? Even when we have amazing years/seasons in our lives, it’s typically in retrospect that we admit we wished it lasted longer. No, I find that human nature is to simply complain about everything and act like we live in a perpetual dumpster fire. It’s like when women say, “I wish I was as thin as I was when I thought I was fat.” We’re such a bunch of whiners!

 I for one am so happy to be back here with my Riveters and am enjoying taking stock in 2023. I tried my hardest to stick to the goals I set for myself last year and in reviewing this I’m feeling a lot of pride. If you have no idea what I’m talking about then please click the link for 2023: The Year of the Productive Slacker and feel free to browse through my other entries as well (and make sure you subscribe and share and so on, please and thank you). This year I’m treating this process as my own little Annual Review where I go over personal successes from last year and determine new areas for improvement. While I still feel a bit like “everything to everyone” when it comes to my family, I have slacked-off in so many new ways that bring me joy!

 A Review of my 2023 Resolutions

1. Take back my workouts.

   Oh man, did I ever! This past year I kicked things up by playing twice as much tennis, committed to weekly golf and consistent weight training. Not only did I take back this important time for my mental health, but I also managed to lose 21lbs and bring my cholesterol down by over 50 points! My husband and I have made a weekly commitment with our daughter to take her to the gym with us every Saturday so she can see how Mommy and Daddy thrive in group fitness at our gym. One of the greatest moments of pride for us in 2023 was when she told a friend of ours, “It’s definitely better to be strong than skinny.” I intend on continuing this new healthy pattern this year and am committed to setting the right example for my kids.

2. Go out to dinner with the family at least once a week so someone else can do the damn work!

   Yeah, I didn’t get this done for a good 70% of the year. Old habits die hard, and I really do love the kitchen. However, I did commit to ordering pizza every week, fritanga is a monthly staple (Nicaraguan cuisine) and I recently found a new Chinese place that makes HONEY CHICKEN FRIED CHICKEN WINGS that will change your life! I need to commit to going out with the kids more often so my son’s restaurant behavior improves but yeah, baby steps. Meh.

 3. Let the other classroom parents handle the work!

I sort of did this but yeah, not really. Ha! I stepped back from volunteering to be Room Parent for my son’s class but I’m one of two Room Parents for my daughter’s class. However, my counterpart has done this a few times before and is giving me all the guidance I need from behind the scenes so I’m not actually stressing out over anything…except for the huge school fundraiser I volunteered to Chair this year. You know, an event for 285 people on a miniscule budget. No big deal. I’m never going to change!

 4. Feel free to bake less for classroom functions!

Yeah, nope. I’m still feeling quite free to bake my ass off for classroom functions and am just going to have to embrace this part of my DNA. Since I’m not a Room Parent for my son’s class I have doubled down on baked goods to relieve my guilt and just stop judging me, people and enjoy the cupcakes!

 5. Get more sleep!

This! I’ve slept so much more this year than I have in the last five years because my son finally sleeps through the night in his own bed without aggressively snuggling into bed with me each night. I no longer need depuffing eye cream on a daily basis and am consuming slightly less espresso each day. Triumph!

 6. Ask for help!

Oh man, I really have improved on this one! I’ve surrounded myself with teams of friends to help support me in all my endeavors this year and learned that I’m actually able to take on more challenges as long as I’m always supported. This year I ran the smoothest kitchen ever at Cancer Camp because I brought in my friend Adam to manage things with me. As I mentioned before, I have an all-star partner Room Parent, my friend Libby, and we really have made things seamless for each other this year. My Co-Chairs for Winter Social, Lourdes, Mirels, Jenny, Kali and Monica are phenomenal women and we cared for each other from beginning to end. I’m now co-leading my daughter’s Girl Scout Troop with my friend Jessica and our personalities totally fill in each other’s gaps. I’m also Co-Chairing the Events Committee and Art Show for our club with my friend Samantha (305Hive Founder) and our friends Brian, Monica and Tarin and it’s a dream team. Does this list of activities make your head spin? Welcome to my ADHD and need for constant activity because this insanity feels just perfect for me!

7. Take time for a little adult recess!

   Yeah, I misunderstood the assignment. I’m very good at going out for drinking and foolishness but I think I meant to engage in activities that feed my soul. Maybe foolishness is what feeds my soul? Food and wine certainly do so I may be on to something here.

8. Seek out new opportunities to learn and grow!

   While I haven’t taken many classes this year (although all the courses I completed did in fact have to do with food and booze) I did launch a freaking blog and am now a wiz with Canva! I also have become more of a reader again this year and did you not read items 1-7? I’m just going to keep this momentum going as I continuously pat myself on the back. Yay me!

9. Feel free to cancel or adjust plans!

   I did this one! I’ve been canceling shit left and right and it feels fantastic!

 Before you go, here’s a few things I’d like to commit to for 2024 in addition to maintaining the good work from 2023:

1.    Spend less. That’s it. I’m the Queen of Consumers and this will add years to my husband’s life and save the earth hundreds of trees from all the Amazon shipping cardboard.

2.    Spend more time on adventures with my family. Both kids are at an age where we can engage in more and more fun adventures and South Florida certainly provides!

3.    Spend more time alone with my husband. We tend to go out with other couples or friends often and while it’s so much fun we need to make sure we reconnect weekly. We’ve been much better about this in 2023 but in 2024 I’d love to kick it up a notch.

4.    I’m never giving up exclamation points or lists. This isn’t something I need to work on, I’m just owning it out loud. Yay!!

I’m coming for you, 2024! Everything’s coming up Rosy this year!

 Quick Recipes for Busy Bitches

I originally posted this recipe last April (see the link below) but the format for the recipe wasn’t in a tidy recipe card like I do now. This is the first “from scratch” recipe I’ve ever learned, and it was taught to me by our neighbor, Grandma Helen. She was one of the wisest women I’ve ever know and a true Queen of Common Sense. Our family spent part of Christmas break at my dad’s house this year and I always feel compelled to bake this cake when we’re all together. One bite always takes me back to my childhood and to baking this cake over and over with my mom. She used to serve it up to us with sugared strawberries and Breyer’s Natural Vanilla ice cream (the only vanilla ice cream as far as I’m concerned) and called is Strawberry Shortcake. It’s an extremely simple recipe and Emilia even won the 1^st grade bake-off at school last year with this gem.  Enjoy!

 https://rivetingrosy.beehiiv.com/p/gather-around-children-tale-generational-learning

A Few Final Thoughts

 The 2024 Bingo Card is absolutely wild this year! We’ve got interdimensional beings shopping in Miami’s Bayside Marketplace (not completely off-brand for this location), airplane panels being sucked off the aircraft shortly after takeoff, cell phones surviving a 16,000 ft fall during this same incident (mine can’t make it past the kitchen counter), freaky secret tunnels beneath a New York synagogue and the Pope is blessing gays whilst condemning surrogacy. I don’t think we even need a free space in the center of the card this year!

 Kourtney Kardashian and Nimrod Barker finally had their baby and they named him Rocky Thirteen because that makes sense. I’m assuming they chose Thirteen because that’s how many braincells they collectively share.

 It seems Smokey Robinson recently released a new album called “Gasms” and yes, that’s a reference to exactly what you’re thinking of. When an 83-year-old man releases an album dedicated octogenarian sex it gives me hope that one day I too can be an old lady who makes the younger generations cringe. #goals

 My extremely adorable daughter is selling cookies for our Girl Scout Troop and now you have an opportunity to buy some! Please click the link below and enjoy this cuteness as her smile guilts you into buying way more cookies than you need! Reminder, if you’re local in Miami, be sure to select “Deliver in person later” to save on shipping. Thank you for allowing me to use my platform to shamelessly hype up this cutie.

 https://digitalcookie.girlscouts.org/scout/emilia364194

Be Cool xoxo