things I’m trying out, in no particular order, to say goodbye to 2023 & usher in 2024:
writing a “ winter happiness list”, a la Amelia from
(see section below).printing out
’s end-of-year reflection prompts, and setting aside the time to work on them in a few consecutive therapy sessions, knowing I would not set the time aside to do them on my own and I would feel bad about that.roughing out my budget for 2024 & noticing where there is room to invest funds in my local community.
small businesses in the town where I live come and go a lot. I’m writing a list of the ones I particularly want to see thrive and making plans to support them with dollars and word of mouth. In particular, I want you all to know about Apt 1 (16 Miles St - across from 10forward!), which is a wonderful queer-owned clothing store. Jess has excellent taste and is SO kind. If you’re local, let’s go on a date there. If you’re not, you can shop via her instagram! win-win.
looking up contribution limits for ROTH IRAs in 2024 (it’s $7000 for 2024 if you’re under 50-yrs-old, in case you also are wondering).
spending a morning at a coffee shop with Josh roughing out the next 12 months: travel for work and love, visits from friends (!)
starting
’s new book, A Year in Practice. I’ve only read the forward so far and I’m already very into it.listening to the audiobook of
’s Enchantment, particularly resonating with this line:
Our bodies have answers to questions that we don’t know how to ask.
lighting candles at night to work by.
leaving the solstice tablescape (see below) out, editing it ever so slightly for subsequent meals with friends, feeling proud that my janky little tablescapes are getting just a little bit better every time I let myself practice them.
enjoying my newfound attention to library books, and continuing to collect a large library hold list for my future self’s attention.
lighting little spell candles in outdoor locations (a gift from dear one,
)reorganizing my closet by color, and giving my brain a new vantage point to make different outfit combinations I hadn’t thought of before.
enrolling in a 4-week evening class at the Y to try out something new & to have somewhere to go after dark once a week!
doing our seasonal clean (this involves taking everything out of every cupboard & drawer in our house, assessing its utility, wiping the inside of the space clean, and putting it all back/re-homing what we don’t need), Particularly enjoying that we ended up scheduling it the same weekend as “Frau Perchta”, a particularly ghoulish tale about household tidiness. I learned about this in Heidi Iverson & Dani Burliston’s winter solstice zine.
“winter happiness list” (credit to
), a concept I enjoyed because it’s more like a “menu” of offerings than a “to-do” list.have a snow/ice picnic (vibes)
go ice skating (maybe on a pond, but also our nearest rink is within walking distance!)
make marshmallows (with beef gelatin because why not!)
take a solo date somewhere (bookmill? Mass MoCA? cinema?)
go to Magic Wings on a particularly cold day
try leaving my phone in the studio at night to charge
little walks, always, but especially in the snow
(This is in addition to my winter routine (the bare minimum of keeping the wheels on the bus for me) which involves 2-3x/week ymca classes, cold dips, a new class at the hill institute (if I get into class! they can be popular), wednesday night choir, and friday 6pm-sat 6pm without internet.)
Love this step into the new year Ani!!! You’ve inspired me to do a clean out too- maybe for a garage sale this summer? What is this… planning ahead!?