Personal: August Update of My 2022 Goals

So it seems that White Cabana has evolved into a goal update blog! Here we go with my August update:

  1. Write with my fountain pen. Yes! I still love this pen. I haven’t used it for my every day note-taking, but I do use it regularly. I love it especially for card writing!
  2. Complete house projects. We didn’t have much on our to do list in August. We maintained the garden. That’s about all.
  3. Stay active. I’ve just been walking here and there.
  4. Host people. People drop by all the time, but we didn’t host any specific events or large gatherings in August.
  5. Travel. It seems that August has just come and gone so quickly. We barely made it to the cottage. We’re postponing/cancelling our fall trip, which is a bit of a bummer, but it’s for a good reason.
  6. Read more. Sort of. On audio, I listened to Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang. It was great. I also listened to I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, and it was wonderful. Angelou narrated it, and her voice is so powerful.
  7. Tame garbage. Reduce waste. Heck no. Who has a solution? I very much dislike our indoor and outdoor garbage sorting processes.
  8. Floss regularly. Yes. On it!
  9. Stop procrastinating. Yes. Like Juy, there has been no time to procrastinate this month. I have too much on the go!
  10. Have fun! Yes. Work life and family life have both been fun…even among the stress of busy days getting ready for fall activities and work!

Previous updates: January, February, March, May, June, July.

Design: How to Organize a Pantry in an Antique Armoire

By now, many people know that I’m collecting antique armoires for our new home. I have a beautiful Italian armoire in my office that I use as my bookshelf. In the kitchen, we recently added a large French armoire (one of the ones that come apart…a knockdown armoire) to use as our pantry (which replaced an open bakers rack that came with the house). This very old piece of furniture has travelled from France to Switzerland to Guelph and now it has a new home with us in Waterloo.

It brings me joy.

You know what else brings me joy?

Organizing it!

After a bit of inventory analysis, I stocked up on supplies at Homesense (yes, this kind of organization system is an investment of time and money). I opted for white plastic baskets to house categories of items (e.g., pasta, crackers, tea & coffee) and OXO Pop containers for decanting items (e.g., flour, sugar, oatmeal). Then, of course, I labelled everything!

yes, I know, we have a lot of vinegar and oils

On top of all of this goodness, we have made friends with the previous owners of this armoire. What joy!

Personal: February Update of My 2022 Goals

We’re at the end of the month which means I’d like to share an update of my 2022 goals.

  1. Write with my fountain pen. Yes. I use my fountain pen daily for both mundane notes and important correspondence.
  2. Complete house projects. Yes. Our second TV area is coming together, and we made progress on our main floor powder room.
  3. Practice yoga. No. I did well in January, and then I took a complete break. No bueno.
  4. Host people. Yes. We continue to host quite regularly. It’s been fun to spend time with friends for short and long visits.
  5. Travel. No. Not this month.
  6. Read more. Sort of. I’m just slow-going these days. I read Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro Memoirs by Beth Ann Fennelly, and I laughed out loud.
  7. Tame garbage. Reduce waste. Sort of. I’m definitely more aware of our waste production, and I’m doing better at minimizing food waste, too.
  8. Floss regularly. Yes. Daily. I still don’t know why I waited so long to get into a daily flossing habit.
  9. Walk regularly. Sort of. I’m so tired of winter that these days the weather has to be just right for me to go for a walk.
  10. Stop procrastinating. Sort of. Going into the office has helped me to get my marking done in a reasonable time frame.
  11. Have fun! Yes! I’ve had a really happy month, and there have been many days filled with laughter. Hooray!

Previous updates: January

Personal: January Update of My 2022 Goals

We’re wrapping up the first month of 2022, so this is the first check-in of my 2022 goals.

  1. Write with my fountain pen. Yes! Using my fountain pen daily.
  2. Complete house projects. Yes. I made good progress on my office this month. We also started working on a second TV area thanks to friends who gave us a TV they no longer needed.
  3. Practice yoga. Yes! I completed 24 days of yoga this month. I followed Yoga with Adriene‘s MOVE series this month, which I enjoyed.
  4. Host people. Yes! We’ve hosted several impromptu dinners this month, and it’s been really great to spend time with people in person on a small scale.
  5. Travel. Yes! We traveled outside of Ontario this month. Our short getaway gave me so much energy! And it was a very safe – not scary – trip.
  6. Read more. Sort of. I’ve started a few things, but I haven’t finished anything yet (besides magazines).
  7. Tame garbage. Reduce waste. No. Not really. I am conscious of our waste production, but I haven’t taken any concrete steps to reduce waste.
  8. Floss regularly. Yes. Daily. Why haven’t I done daily flossing ever before? I can’t wait to go to the dentist next and when they ask, do you floss regularly? I can finally say, yes! (Fun fact: Only 43% of Canadians age 12 and older reported that they floss daily.)
  9. Walk regularly. Yes. While we were on our trip, we walked 20K km every day. It was amazing. Back home, I’m walking generally everyday, too.
  10. Stop procrastinating. Sort of. Work was quite busy this month, but I packed it all in, and I reduced opportunities for procrastination.
  11. Have fun! Yes! The most fun days were the ones when I imagined we’re not still living a pandemic, lockdown life.

Personal: Goals for 2022

Last year, I drafted a list of goals, and I checked in monthly about my progress (or lack thereof). I liked the exercise, so I’m going to repeat it for this year.

Here’s my current list of goals for 2022 in no particular order. I may add or delete goals as the year moves on.

  1. Write with my fountain pen. It’s so beautifully designed, and it writes so smoothly. I’m going to try to use it as my regular pen, so that my mundane notes (e.g., weekly to do lists) are prettier.
  2. Complete house projects. I’m drafting an evolving list of house projects for 2022, so the aim is to complete them. Obviously.
  3. Practice yoga. My back has been sore for several months now, so one of the things I’m doing to improve it (and hopefully my general health) is yoga. I’m going to stick with Yoga with Adriene for a while and see if I notice any changes in my back and general flexibility.
  4. Host people. We love having people over, and we did a good amount of entertaining since we moved into our house, even with ever-changing restrictions. We’ll continue to do so.
  5. Travel. I am really hoping to travel outside of Ontario in 2022.
  6. Read more. I will aim for 1-2 books per month, I think.
  7. Tame garbage. Reduce waste. One of the things that I noticed early on in my days of cohabitation was the increase in garbage production. Oh my goodness. There’s just so much garbage (compost, recycling, regular garbage, yard waste). I’m going to try to reduce the garbage we produce (and get the rest of the household members on board, too). I don’t yet know how I’m going to put this goal into action, but I’ll use this month to brainstorm some steps.
  8. Floss regularly. A couple of months ago, I started to floss every day. Every day! Who flosses every day? Now, I do. I feel like this is a very responsible goal. I use disposable flossers, which is great for function, but terrible for waste (see #7).
  9. Walk regularly. I’m not going to worry about how long and how much, but I’m just going to walk regularly.
  10. Stop procrastinating. This goal mostly relates to when I procrastinate on marking my students’ work. Some weeks are just so slow going!
  11. Have fun!
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