operation: recharge, reevaluate, reconnect

the holiday season wears me out, plain and simple.  and each year i seem to add more to my plate, as if it isn't already chaotic enough with seven christmasas to attend.  this year, for instance, i decided it was absolutely necessary to meticulously wrap all of our gifts with plain brown paper, ribbon, cinnamon sticks, and greenery - all of them!  i also thought it imparative to make a ton of homemade goodies and stay up late at night to do my shopping online, thinking that it would somehow save me massive amounts of time - false!

needless to say i wanted to spend the first part of 2014 enjoying a little r&r.  i wanted to get back to spending time at home, spending one on one time with my husband, saving a little money, and planning for 2014.  for the last two weeks that's what we've been doing.

last weekend we had a spa night, at home.  i transformed our spare bathroom into a calming oasis complete with candles, massage oils, champagne and fruit and enjoyed a long bath.  it was incredible!    i can't remember the last time i've spent a weekend relaxing, only relaxing.  actually, i don't think i ever have.  after that Cody and i treated each other to massages then...let Allie in to sleep since it was negative one bazillion.  just call me Casanova.  this is as romantic as it gets.

feeling exceptionally energized at work this week i attended a training session on financial planning and stayed focused the entire time!  a large part of my job is that i plan and coordinate training for our employees (600+).  the best part of my job is that i get to sit through several training sessions and as someone who likes to learn i get a lot of satisfaction from attending.  pretty nerdy, i know! anyway, this week's session got me thinking a lot about planning for retirement.  here were my big takeaways:

1. retirement happens when the 'pain' of going to work intersects with contentment
2. determine your own level of contentment - then plan accordingly
3. over estimate: plan on living to be 100, calculate higher than average inflation rates, and lower than average returns
4. a little more now goes a long way in the future. as in many more years of living 'contently' in the future
5. have the conversation.  have it with your spouse, significant other, kids

at the end of the class we were given an envelope and a piece of paper.  the purpose was for privately writing down a financial goal and sealing it up.  the goal is not to be looked at for six months.  everyone in the class sealed their envelope and i now have the pleasure of mailing the sealed envelopes back to employees in June.

this class got my wheels turning.  i wanted to write down some goals for 2014 but, i wanted to do it with Cody.  i liked the envelope idea so i stole it.  this past weekend Cody and i enjoyed a long dinner out at The Cheesecake Factory. (nice dinners out don't happen very often; we're Quiznos and sports bar kind of people.)  our dinner conversation included us writing out our goals, together, in the following areas for 2014: personal growth, relationships, health and fitness, financial, and career development.

we put our goals in an envelope and will open it again in December.  i'm excited for what we have planned and even more so to see how this little experiment helps us grown in each of the areas.

until next time.