New Years 2014: A new beginning, a walk and a book list!

New Years is one of my favourite times of year, quite uncharacteristically, because it involves the solitary task of self-reflection and evaluation of the year passing and hope renewed for better, brighter performance in the new! Funnily enough, I've taken a lot of different routes to resolutions over the years, I've set very SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time bound - thank you Doran, G.T. (1981), I've chosen poems and quotes to live by and embody attributes of, I've set the grandiose and ridiculous, the self harmful and self defeating goals too! All of this said, the consistent benefit of goal setting and goal review are a very real and important aspect of my year. This year was no different! 

For 2014 I set 26 goals, that sounds like a lot, yet so many of these goals have been continued from year to year as I've noticed how my life has been enriched or my long term goals have been hastened by the addition or subtraction of behaviours experimented with in the year! I watched this great video presentation on youtube by Dr. Mike Evans about the benefits of setting goals specifically at New Year:

 In reviewing my successes and failures in 2013 it made me wonder how dreadfully I'd perform if I didn't set goals each year being that I'm 10 times more likely to be successful setting these goals at the New Year! Hmm, Visiting Teaching would be a thing of the past and without doubt I'd currently weigh the same as an African Elephant (average weight 15,000lbs) instead of the Elephant Seal I currently resemble (average weight 6,600lbs)!
Yup, without doubt, goal setting is a good task to focus on my priorities and also praise myself for the work and tasks accomplished in the year past!
So with this work accomplished, New Years Eve was upon us, we had a couple over for some chatter and games (though, true to form didn't manage to do more than take them out of the cupboard).

We enjoyed our traditional Tuna Vol-au-Vents, Cocktail Sausages & Cheese on sticks and fruit accompanied by clinking and Happy New Year at the strike of midnight. Swiftly following this tradition is another, covering everything over with cling film and heading to bed as soon as humanly possible!!! Party animals we are not, not sure if it's the effects of aging, the bearing of tiny humans or the distinct lack of a social circle in our present habitat that most impedes my celebrations and riotous living, but one thing can be sure, boring could be my new middle name!

Notwithstanding our low-key celebrations, we were really delighted when at 11:58pm Skype started to ring... and we got to say Happy New Year to Dad/ Granda Coull! Bridget was very excited to see him, she was smiling up a storm and very much enjoyed showing off the drinking of posh juice from a glass!

Cheeky Monkey at 11:45pm - Sleepy? - What do you think?

 Yes that is a Cocktail Sausage - after 14 months of attempting to convince Bridget that meat is not in fact for spitting, she has decided that her chosen meat product is Beef Sausages called "Little Smokies" which funnily enough are her Daddy's favourite too! Jared actually reserved a small squeak and cheer for the days I come home from the shops with a package of baby sausages!

Yum Yum Yum!

Hmm, what else could I stab with this small stick?

 

Mummy and Bridget at 11:56pm!

Bridget's face when she heard Granda Coull calling on Skype!

So off to bed we went ready to make our trip up to Burney Falls on New Years Day, you'd think that after a full day of playing and an evening of entertaining, lots of yummy foods on sticks and excitement, perhaps a baby might get straight to sleep... you'd be wrong!

This is a very rare sight shown above, no, it's not a comment about Daddy- Daughter time, or the rarity of seeing a leopard wearing stripey pink tights, no, it's a Jared willingly wearing a jacket! The temperature at Burney Falls is always (year around) at least 20*F cooler than Anderson, CA, this meant jackets, ice and even some lingering snow!

 Bridget insisted that Baby Cat make the trip too - she held on to her and showed her the view... Jared and I kept holding our breath hoping Baby Cat didn't try to jump in...

Snuggles with Mummy

Snuggles with Daddy

Cute monkey!

Cold Monkey!

First family shot of 2014

Beauty spot complete with freezing spray from the falls!

Bridget enjoyed climbing up the rocks and showing Baby Cat the many types of moss and pine needles!

Shortly after this, having walked about half a mile on rather little legs, Bridget decided she would be carried by Daddy for the rest of the walk

 I thought I'd drop in my 2014 reading list....

1. Pride & Prejudice – Jane Austen
2. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy - Judith Beck
3. Birdsong – Sebastian Fawlkes
4. Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde
5. Birth Order Blues – Meri Wallace
6. The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency – Alexander McCall Smith
7. Mrs Dalloway – Virginia Woolf
8. DSM-V - APA
9. The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society – Shaffer & Burrows
10. The Worry Cure – Robert Leahy
11. The Angel’s Game – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
12. Inferno – Dan Brown
13. The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy – Susan Johnson
14. Dream Babies – Christina Hardyment
15. A Moveable Feast – Ernest Hemingway
16. Momfulness – Denise Roy
17. The Psychopath Test – Jon Ronson
18. Cormoran Strike Book 2 – Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling)
19. My Cousin Rachel – Daphne du Maurier
20. The Secrets of Happy Families – Bruce Feiler
21. A Room with a View – E.M. Forster
22. Let’s pretend this never happened – Jenny Lawson
23. The Secret of Play – Anne Murphy
24. An Assembly Such as This – Pamela Aidan
25. Hold me Tight – Susan Johnson
26. Persuasion – Jane Austen
27. And the Mountains Echoed – Khaled Hosseini
28. Jim Henson: The Biography – Brian Jones
29. Hyperbole & a Half – Allie Brosh
30. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – John le Carre
31. Life & Laughing - Michael McIntyre
32. Teach me to Do It Myself – Maja Pitamic
33. The Birds & Other Stories – Daphne du Marier
34. Old Testament (Sunday School)
35. Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith (Relief Society)
36. Sycamore Row - John Grisham
37. Let's explore Diabetes with Owls - David Sedaris
38. The Panopticon - Jenni Fagan
39. How the Light gets in - Louise Penny
40. The Goldfinch: Donna Tartt
41. Me before You - Jo Jo Moyes
42. Daughters in My Kingdom - Relief Society

 After Bridget fell asleep, Baby cat was moved to a new location and enjoyed the sights on Bridget's behalf!

 And so ended the adventures of Bridget & Baby Cat - we wandered back to the car (coughing all the way... I can't wait until this stupid cough departs). After driving a little ways down from the falls to the little town of Burney we finally regained cellphone service and were reminded that we'd better hustle home because we would be feeding the Sister Missionaries that night! Oops! Pregnant brain is so much fun!
An excellent start to 2014, family, service, exercise, nature, goal setting and snuggles with an adorable leopard clad monkey all in one wonderful day!