New Year, New Goals...

It has taken me a couple of days to sit down and write out my goals for this new year. Many of them, I've found, are based off of my 25 Things Before 25 list, which will continue on until I turn 25 in August. 

.....get out of debt......buy a car.....buy a camera.......record a new album......record an album with my  husband.......have a garden.....love my husband.........prepare us for having a baby (hopefully we will start trying in 2012!!! )...........lose the rest of the weight, only 20 lbs more to go........run a 5k........go on a trip or two......have more quiet time......make our house a home.......read "What to Expect Before You're Expecting".........Book Club.....Do more yoga.....become a vegetarian.........cook more.......bake more..... advance at my work ........learn to love my job more than I do.......map out a business plan for some of my dreams jobs............go to Mexico with my work.....actually write a song to/for/about my husband...... continue working through the Artist's Way......try something new........take a class...........buy local and organic.........stay organized........take a real vacation......learn to brew beer with my dad.....take more photographs just for fun........paint some walls........blog more......actually use my typewriter and sewing machine.......

This list is massive, but I am overwhelmed with excitement for this new, fresh year. Looking back at 2010, we actually accomplished a lot of what we set out to do, with a few unexpected turns as well. We bought a house, played a lot of good music with many wonderful people, took lots of photos, grew closer to each other,  released a new album with my band, got a cat (who is a pain in the butt most of the time), took a trip back to the northwest,  I lost 30 lbs!!!!!, had a family get together at our new home, etc, etc, etc. 

Happy 2011. I'm ready for the best year yet. 

Obligatory Christmas Post

Our Christmas weekend was wonderful. Full of family and food. 

For the very first time, we held Christmas Eve at our new home. I piled everyone downstairs into our practice space to devour chili after our candlelight service at church. Surrounded by guitar amps and pieces of scattered drums sets, we came together as family and enjoyed each other's company. 

(The Chili Masters) 

The next morning, Ryan and I awoke early and the festivities soon followed. We began at my parent's house, then on to my grandparent's house, then on to my aunt and uncle's house (where a massive feast was held), and then on to Ryan's parents for swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes. 

I really don't have any need to eat for a while after this weekend. I dearly wish I would have taken a few more photos, but these will do. 

  (Stew Man) 

Ryan's parents framed one of his paintings for us for Christmas. 

I love the holidays. 

The Pack A.D: Chick Rock with Guts

Music to my ears, quite literally. As a chick musician, I do my best to stumble across bands that are woman fronted or include female musicians that I can actually respect and appreciate. I have nothing against the poppy acoustic driven chicks out there (at least they are doing what they do and are rockin' it), but that is about as far from my taste as it gets. Enough of the sugar coated butterflies and four chord wonder songs. 

Play some music with some guts. 

Today, I was enlightened. While listening to Pandora at work, which is probably the best website I have ever discovered while being stuck in an office all day, I heard a band pop up on the mix I was listening to. 

Case and Point....The Pack A.D. 

(Image Source: The Coast) 

( Image Source: Shaun Stander) 

Awesome two piece band of two women that actually play their instruments and do so with rock n' roll to the core. I'm hooked. 

They remind me a lot of the Black Keys or the White Stripes, both bands I love and adore. 

Take a listen. 

And Ladies, let's do more of this kind of rock n' roll. 

I declare at this point to NEVER have a soccer mom haircut......

I’ve been greatly pondering the idea of what it means to be a wife, a homemaker, and someday a mother. Daily, as I sit at my neatly ordered desk at my place of work, my mind is swept off with ideas of what’s for dinner, the lack of a maternity leave at said place of work, and the cost of the Kitchenaid mixer that I just can’t seem to get my hands on. 

What’s happening to me? 

These new thoughts and occurrences have lead me to question...

At what point does a girl become a wife? A mom? Suzie Homemaker? 

It’s as if a switch that was once buried deep inside of me has been turned on by some unknown force. As of late, my mind has been filled with decorating my house or making zucchini bread. The simple joy of leaving my work everyday and driving back to our home to spend time with my husband is reason enough for me to simply love my life. 

My desires seem to be changing overnight. I am known to be a driven individual. Always dreaming my way into the next course of my life, swiftly riding upon a wave a music, photography, and an entrepreneurial spirit. I am always seeking, always searching, always striving. Those things will always be a part of me, but not the biggest part, as I am coming to find. 

There’s something else. A spirit of legacy and family. Of banana bread and vacuuming. Of coming home to cuddle with my husband on the couch and talk about all of the business ideas that have been running through my head. 

Yet, many of those ideas seem outlandish compared to what has been placed on my heart. 

And strangely enough, I becoming alright with all of it. Almost. 

For so much my life, I have been consumed with doing, doing, doing. Working, working, working. I was in a place where if I wasn’t moving, I felt lifeless. I wanted to be a successful, creative individual that would do anything to get where I felt I was supposed to go. There was always a song to write, a practice to go to, a photo to take, a connection to make.  

Now my thoughts are filled with a very different picture. I see myself as a stay at home mom/working part time, learning for the first time what it is to truly care for another human being in a way that I have never known before. I would bake that banana bread, have a garden out in our backyard, and go to those play-dates with those so-called soccer moms (although, I declare at this point to NEVER have the soccer mom haircut). The music and photography would still be there, in some form, but not in an all consuming one as I have seen in the past. 

Someday. 

Someday, we will grow a family and a home.