Earlier this year, I created a list of 19 things I wanted to do in 2019. As of mid-June, I’ve scrapped one and completed about three of them, so I guess I should probably get on that. Here’s a recap of what I’ve done so far.
1. DIY a big boy bed: SCRAPPED.
We decided to scrap this one. When our floors flooded, we had to devote most of our time and energy to replacing them. Afterward, we just didn’t have the brain power to try to build a bed so we bought one instead. And it’s a good thing, too, because we finally hit a sleep milestone where Sebastian is sleeping through the night in his own bed in his own room!
2. Attend a wine tasting: CHECK!
In April, Nick and I visited our favorite local wine bar, Bar Brunello, in downtown Durham to learn all about – and taste! – orange wines. We’re definitely a fan. Bar Brunello has an awesome series where they choose a theme every few months and offer tastings. When we saw the orange wine tasting about a month ago, we jumped at the chance to attend and we were NOT disappointed. The thing about orange wines is that they can be a little funky. Rosés, I think, are typically sweeter and/or on the dryer side but orange wines tend to be more acidic/sweet-sour and actually remind me a little bit of sour beers, so if you’re a fan of sour beers like Nick and I are, then you’ll probably enjoy orange wines! Below is a bottle of orange wine we purchased to enjoy at home.
3. Complete one big house project: CHECK!
After our floors flooded back in February, we replaced them with beautiful new (water-proof) luxury vinyl plank. They look great – they’re more of a gray-brown color instead of the cognac-brown, which will go nicely with the walls when we repaint them light gray someday. We still have to put down the quarter round along the baseboards, but all in all, we have beautiful new floors!
Before & After!
4. Go camping.
5. Volunteer.
6. Read a classic.
7. Complete a landscaping project: IN PROGRESS
We’re currently trying to fix up our backyard. It feels like we’re always doing this because our yard floods almost every time there is flash flooding in our area and every flood further damages our fence. We have to figure out how to control the flooding before we spend time and money on repairing the fence, but we still want to use the yard in the meantime so we’re working on some temporary solutions. I’ll share more on this one later.
8. Participate in a yoga challenge.
9. Host a small, fancy dinner party.
10. Paint/renovate the laundry room: IN PROGRESS
In February, we painted the laundry room and put up new shelving. I’m still looking for bins and storage pieces for the shelves, so for now, I’m saying this activity is still in progress. The original walls were light beige, which we repainted light gray. We also had to get a new washer and dryer, and we extended the new flooring into this room so I’ll share the real after once I’ve picked out bins and have everything back in place.
Before & After-ish!
11. Konmari my closet.
12. Bake a fancy cake: CHECK!
We ventured into the world of fondant and molding chocolate for Sebastian’s birthday when we made him a fancy Octonauts– themed birthday cake. Not to bad for a couple of amateurs who spent way too much time watching baking competition shows on Food Network! We watched several tutorials on YouTube and finally just went for it. As a confession, this is the second fancy Octonauts cake we made. We had planned to make and eat the fancy cake at Sebastian’s original birthday party but he was sick so we had to postpone it. Instead of waiting, we decided to do a practice version and the three of us enjoyed it once Sebastian was feeling better. Then, when we finally were able to have his real birthday party, we made a second cake. Practice makes perfect!
13. Do at least 3 new things.
14. Create a new family tradition.
15. Take a photography/Photoshop class.
16. Catch up on my scrapbooking.
17. Plan a weekend away/staycation.
18. Send a hand-written letter/card to one person each month.
19. Write a short story.
Hopefully in the coming months we can knock a few more of these out. But I’m happy with how 2019 is going so far, despite a couple of times where we’ve had to look for the silver lining instead of dwelling on misfortunes.
