2014: First quarter goals

I’ve never been the type to make New Year’s resolutions. I tend to associate them with forgetting and failing, which is probably not the best way to start the year.

Goals are different. I don’t think I set goals as often as I should. When I do, I end up pleasantly surprised for having achieved them somehow, even when I haven’t been all gung-ho and determined.

In setting my goals for 2014, I’ve divided the year into quarters. I find this helps to keep me from feeling overwhelmed. It also gives me the flexibility to change my plans and be open to opportunities.

I have three things I want to accomplish in the first three months of the year. I wrote them on my window in pink window marker, so I’ll always have my goals in front of me!

I want to level up in Dutch. Marlon and I took 30 hours of basic Dutch when we first moved, care of his former employer, but our language skills quickly atrophied as we settled into an English-speaking expat bubble—too easy in this cosmopolitan capital. We speak English and Tagalog at home, Marlon speaks English at work, and all my friends are expats. And the Dutch—well, Amsterdammers at least—speak excellent English, although kids only start learning it at school from about age 9.

That’s why, after three years of living in the Netherlands, my Dutch has remained at the “Albert Heijn” level—Albert Heijn being the ubiquitous supermarket chain, meaning I can only just about do groceries in Dutch. I can read and understand more than I speak, and I speak better than Marlon. But it’s still woefully basic.

Tala is my motivation to change that. She’s going to pick it up really fast, especially when we put her into the Dutch school system (starting with peuterspeelzaal or playschool at age 2, then basisschool or primary school at age 4). I need to get a head start on her! So I took Basis I last fall at the Volksuniversiteit, and enrolled for Basis II this January. Basis II and IV will follow in the spring.

As Tala grows, she will start tearing down my English expat walls. I’m going to start dealing with teachers, parents, even kids at the playground—and I need to do it with confidence, making no apologies for myself or the language I speak. What kind of mom would I be if I can’t tell a five year-old to quit pulling my daughter’s hair?

I want to redesign Currystrumpet. Don’t worry, I got the message from last year’s reader survey—no drastic changes. Since migrating to WordPress two years ago, my aesthetic and lifestyle have shifted, and I’ve been feeling the need to rearrange my online “home” to reflect that. Time to refresh and reorganize!

My goal is to end up with a blog that’s cleaner, simpler, more readable and better organized, but still me. I also hope to be able to start using the blog as a writing portfolio. This time, I’ll be working with Katherine Elliott of Rive Gauche Craft. Check out her site to get an idea of her style and aesthetic, and why I’m so excited to begin the redesign process with her.