Episode #11: New Year’s Goals

Elsie: You’re listening to a A Beautiful Mess podcast. With the New Year upon us. We thought it might be the perfect time to share about our New Year’s goals, resolutions and maybe a few things that Emma doesn’t love about the tradition. We’re also going to share another embarrassing story, and this time it’s Emma’s embarrassing moment. So Emma is going to start us off with a little Scroogey Scrooge moment about what she doesn’t like about New Year’s resolutions, which I feel like a lot of people will relate to this.

Emma: I don’t think it’s very Skroogey, I think it’s very logical. But no no, for real. So I love goal setting, just like Elsie we’re big goal setting people, self-help people, I mean we’ve already shared like our self-help books we love. So you get it. We are very into goals. So you would think New Year’s would be one of my favorite holidays. But I have noticed over the last few years myself just getting kind of annoyed with it. And I kind of get almost a little bit anxious on New Year’s Eve. So I was like, all right, what’s up with that? Maybe I should think about this a little more rather than just, oh, that happened. And it kind of sucked. And I just keep going. Like, maybe I should, like, think about this and maybe there’s a way I can improve it. So as I’ve done that, I’ve thought of two main things that kind of bother me about New Year’s. First of all, I feel like the way we celebrate New Year’s Eve and the idea of goal setting are so incompatible, at least in my life, like a lot of times, New Year’s Eve is very much a: Okay, I’m going to go out with my friends. We’re gonna have drinks. We’re gonna stay up late, which to me staying up till midnight is quite late. I like to go to bed at 10.

Elsie: In Missouri, the way you celebrate New Year’s Eve is like alcohol, alcohol…alcohol.

Emma: Get a Uber home. That’s pretty much New Year’s Eve. Yeah, and it’s right after Christmas. So there’s just been a lot of like eating sugar cookies, drinking with your family. And if you don’t drink that’s cool, but like as you can tell, I’m a drinker. So it’s just like doesn’t feel to me like, oh, this is what I want to be doing the night before I start a big new 12 month goal. I want to stay up late and drink. I’m like, no, that is the opposite of what I would do normally right before starting like a big goal setting time in my life. So like this is just a strange and I think that’s part of..

Emma: I do agree with that especially it if it’s like a fitness related goal. And you’re gonna wake up hangover. That is like, kind of a no no.

Elsie: But almost any goal to waking up hangover is just like, oh, I’m not going to get anything done today. Now I’m in my 30s, so if I wake up hung over, that day is just useless. So…

Elsie: That’s why a lot of people have a day off.

Emma: Yeah. Yeah. But so that makes me kind of anxious. I feel like on New Year’s Eve, I’m always like, oh, I need to be having fun with my friends. I don’t want to be a downer. But then I’m also like, I just want to go home and go to bed because I got stuff to start tomorrow. I can’t be up late, but that’s what we’re all doing. This is weird. And I think I just never really articulated that in my own mind before. So now I’m like, okay, that is something that kind of feels weird to me. Good to know. So there’s that. And then the second thing is New Year’s Eve happens very close to Christmas. So I celebrate Christmas. And New Year’s Eve is like one week after it or so. I think it’s pretty much always one week, but maybe it’s one…

Elsie: Yeah the week after Christmas is like the strangest week of the year.

Emma: Yes.

Elsie: Because a lot of people have work, most kids have off school. Like you’re waiting for New Year’s to begin. So it’s just kind of like yeah, like a week long Christmas hangover.

Emma: Right. And I’m very. I know you’re like this too Elsie, I’m very like routine. And I’m not very type-A. Like, I can be a flexible person, but I like to have a kind of routine life. I like to wake up on Monday morning and it’s time to work. I work hard and I get done by 5:00 or 6:00. And then I have things I do in the evening. I just have kind of a routine and I like that.

Elsie: It’s comforting.

Emma: Yeah, that I know what to expect. And I I know when I’ve had a good day because I accomplished the things I needed to do in my routine anyway. So that whole week after Christmas. Things are kind of thrown off. And I just feel like there isn’t enough time for me because it’s…Christmas is such a busy time of year for me at work and it’s a busy time personally. I love Christmas. I celebrate it all the way. There’s just not enough downtime for me to really evaluate the previous year. And…

Elsie: That’s why you have to do it now. Like, you have to start ahead of time.

Emma: Yeah, you almost need to start before like…to me, I feel like I almost need to start before Thanksgiving. And if I don’t, then I’m not going to have the time because there’s just so much like, our blog. There’s so much going on for the holidays. It’s just a big time of year for most bloggers career-wise, which is great. And love it. And then you have family in town or you’re making dinner, a big dinner for your family, or maybe you’re traveling some. I’m doing all of those things for Christmas. So it’s just like, I just don’t feel like I really give myself the time to sit quietly and think about what did I love about the previous year, what worked well, what didn’t work well, what do I want to repeat? What do I definitely not want to do again? Like just really take the time to celebrate what I accomplished and then think, how can I improve for the next year? So that bothers me, too, where I feel like there’s not enough good downtime to really evaluate. I don’t love to like barrel through life not, I just think if you don’t, like, take a minute to look back at what you did. How do you really know what goal to set next? Because you’re just sort of like never evaluating anything. So anyway, I don’t love that. It makes me feel kind of like stressed to come up with a goal. So those are like my little things that have kind of bothered me about New Year’s and New Year’s Eve in the past. And now that I feel like I’ve identified those things, I can better handle them.

Elsie: Yeah. So what are you going to try differently this year to give yourself a better New Year’s experience?

Emma: OK. So this is my plan for this year. So I’m going to celebrate New Year’s Eve to the fullest extent. However, I feel it doesn’t necessarily mean I’m going to like drink a ton because I’m not really in that place in my life. I’m too old. Get the hangovers. Can’t do that too much. But anyway, I am just going to have fun with my friends and I’m not going to view it as tomorrow I start my goals. Nope. I’m just going to have fun with my friends. It’s the last big holiday of the year. Obviously, it’s the last day of year and that’s it. Just going to have fun. And the next day I’ll probably wake up late because we stayed up late and just clean a little bit or whatever. But I’m not starting my goals. And then I’m going to spend the next couple weeks after that evaluating the previous year, 2019. So it’ll fully be over. So I feel like at that point I can really look at it and I’ll do that for our business because our fiscal year for our business is the same as the calendar year. So I have that and then my own personal life stuff and whatever so we do that. And then my birthday happens to be January 21st. So it’s only obviously 21 days after New Year. So I think I’m going to make that my starting line for my New Year’s resolutions and consider that my new year.

Elsie: That’s I love that idea. And it’s perfect. I mean, if your birthday’s not in January, maybe this doesn’t work for you, but for you, it’s perfect.

Emma: Yeah. If your birthday’s in June. I’m not like trying to give you advice.

Elsie: My birthday’s in November. So..

Emma: Yeah. So that’s how I’m going to solve those issues for me. But I don’t know. Is that all weird to you? Are you like, I love New Year’s or are you like, no, that all makes sense.

Elsie: Ok. So I think it makes sense for you. And everyone has to do what works for them. Right. But for me, I like New Year’s. I like, I would rather…

Emma: What do you guys usually do?

Elsie: Oh, OK. So the last couple years, like last year, we had a dinner party at our house with our kids.

Emma: That’s cute.

Elsie: Yeah. And Laura came over and they stay up. No, no, no. They all went to bed. Yeah. It was awesome. And so, yeah, we kind of had our little New Year’s party the last couple years. We’ve had a dinner party at our house. Yeah. Because I don’t like going out on New Year’s because it’s like the worst menus of the whole year. You know, like the tiny little menus where you order or the same thing and it’s like double the price. It’s just not my favorite night. Kind of like going out on Valentine’s Day. We don’t do that either. But anyway, I love New Year’s goals. So, yeah, I’m excited about this episode because this was the first year of my whole life that I made New Year’s goals. I made two and I did them the whole year and never stopped. Which is so crazy because I’m, you know, the the Enneagram seven, like I have a very hard time following through with things. And I’ve made lots of goals in my life that I did for like two days or four days or two weeks, you know, and then stopped. So that was a great feeling.

Emma: I think that’s most people, too. Like I think a lot of people do that.

Elsie: Yeah. Oh yeah. And there’s no shame in that. Like whatever. I always think of it as like, at least I did two weeks of something good instead of nothing, you know. But yeah, this was kind of like a breakthrough for me because I actually finished them so I want to talk about them in this episode and then set a new goal cause I’m feeling a lot of momentum right now.

Emma: Yeah. Because you had success. Yeah. So we’re both going to talk about some of our new goals, but let’s do that first. Let’s hear about what you did last year for the full twelve months and your experience of it.

Elsie: Okay. Like the recap.

Emma: Yes.

Elsie: All right. So we made two big goals in 2019. The first one was to do a music jar, which we actually started right before the new year. And we’ve done it every week, all year. There have been a couple weeks where we like spent two weeks on an artist or where we had an artist that kind of didn’t work out and we just moved on to the next one. But for the most part, it has been a big, big win for us because people with little kids understand like you…it’s so easy to get stuck in a loop of listening to the same, like the Frozen soundtrack or, you know, whatever songs that they think are fun from school or things like that. So our kids have been listening to a different artist each week. Sorry, I should explain what it is. The music jar is just a jar that has 52 artists written in it on a little piece of paper. And each week we draw one out and spend the whole week listening to the artist. And for the most part, we do it when we drive in the car. And then depending on how fun the artist is, sometimes we’ll do it for like a dance party at home or, you know, something like that. That’s fun. The big win from it is that Jeremy posted an Instagram story recently where he was kind of quizzing Nova about music. And she’s just so literate on old music, like she knows the difference between like Billy Joel and the Beatles and The Beach Boys. And it goes on and on and on. And we’re just really proud of that. It’s cool. Like she can hear songs when we’re going through the grocery store and say who it is. And she really just generally has a very open palate for different types of music, which is really special.

Emma: Yeah, and she’s four. So it’s funny to watch her kind of have her own opinions about what she likes and doesn’t like, which mostly she likes kind of everything. I think you’ve shown her, I think you had one week that was definitely a fail at least that I remember you told me.

Elsie: We had a couple that we like kind of skipped through because they were just she just wasn’t that into it.

Emma: Mm hmm.

Elsie: Yeah, I think you said White Stripes, which obviously they’re amazing, but didn’t work for her.

Elsie: White Stripes, Alanis Morissette, and one other one, I am having to remembering…

Emma: Alanis Morissette, interesting she didn’t like that.

Elsie: It’s kind of hard to listen to first thing in the morning. Like I love it. It’s very nostalgic, but it’s definitely like a mood food.

Emma: Hmm. Interesting. I mean, obviously, I’m sure you put all the artists you like on the pieces of paper, but it’s just it is interesting to see the ones she really take too. I don’t know. It’s just fun to watch someone’s little opinions blossom.

Elsie: That’s true. So, yeah, it’s really fun to ask her what her favorites are…

Emma: Well, halfway through the year. Marigold joined the family, too. I’ve seen her dancing along to some of the music and she also has music you play for her like often. But…

Elsie: Yeah, they both listen to ABBA religiously because that’s kind of our palate cleanser. Like if someone’s crying, you know, that…

Emma: Changes the mood.

Elsie: Yeah. Yes. It’s our special music. We dance to it all the time. And right now we’re listening to lots and lots of Christmas music because it’s almost Christmas at the time we’re recording this. So yeah, those two things…magical. So in the show notes at abeautifulmess.com/podcast, we will put a link to my list of all the artists we included last year. That’s like a question people DM like every day because I think it is kind of intimidating to think of 52 artists. We did mostly old music and I will say this coming year we’re gonna continue the music jar because we have loved it so much. We’re going to put more new artists in it as well because yeah, I I did kind of realize at a certain point that it was like 95 percent old music, which I’m really glad that they know of that. But I also, you know, want them to know about Lizzo and stuff.

Emma: So you had two goals that you did this past year that you stuck to. So you told us about the music jar. Let’s hear a little about the other one.

Elsie: Yes. OK. So my goal at the beginning of the year was to go one whole year, only buying used clothing. And I did stick to it 100 percent. I’m really proud of myself because it was very difficult at times. And I learned a lot. But I will say a lot of people are asking me now, are you going to keep doing it forever? And I’m like, no, oh, I’m so excited to be able to shop, especially with like small shops and, you know, local stores. It felt kind of weird not to be able to shop anything new at all all year long.

Emma: What was the inspiration behind it? Because I love it. I love the idea of only buying used clothes for a year. Or I could see a lot of benefits. But what for you made you decide to start that?

Elsie: So what inspired me ended up not being what I got out of it, which happens sometimes, but what inspired me is that I wanted to put a lot more vintage into my closet. And I still do. I think that, you know, in home decor, one of my big things is that, you know, you have to put a little bit of vintage in every room or it just doesn’t feel complete. It doesn’t feel finished. It’s not charming enough like, and it can just add so much. So I wanted to do that with my closet. And I honestly didn’t really get there. I didn’t add that much vintage this year as I thought I would, but I learned other things that were really beneficial. So I guess it was still a win.

Emma: Yeah. What were some other things that you learned? Because you I bet you you saved a good amount of money. Because…

Elsie: I definitely feel like I saved money, which we were saving up this year for a downpayment for our forever home. And that was like pretty significant, scary large amount of money. So it was kind of nice to just not be shopping online at night at all. So wait, did you ask me what I learned?

Emma: Yeah.

Elsie: Okay.

Emma: Yeah, I kind of threw out the money one because that’s probably what, I don’t know. I always think about that. But yeah. What else?

Elsie: So I definitely saved money. The other thing that I feel like I really learned. OK. Well, let me just say, first of all, I imagined when I started it that I would be going to thrift shops and vintage shops all year long, that, you know, just not being able to shop at all the places I normally shop like Madewell or Nordstrom or whatever would motivate me to go to these used shops more. But in January, there’s no way we could have known this. We were matched with a baby and then we were traveling to China to adopt her. And then I’ve had a new baby in my life for the past six months. So I honestly didn’t have any time. I barely went to thrift shops in person at all. It just wasn’t the year I thought it would be in that way, which is fine, obviously, but I did learn…a really positive thing is how easy it is to shop used on Poshmark. And I used Poshmark a ton, and I also bought some stuff on Etsy and eBay. But for the most part I would buy, you know, a couple things each month from Poshmark and I really felt like…There was a few times when I ordered something and it didn’t quite fit right. And I had to like kind of resell it or whatever or give it away to a friend. But for the most part, I found things that I would have paid way more for new. I was buying stuff from a lot of the same brands where I shopped before and, you know, good prices and it felt good buying something used, you know, that was helping clean up someone else’s closet and adding to mine.

Emma: I think a lot of times, too, when you’re shopping used or vintage that, I mean, not always. And this is a little bit of a generalization, but I do think a lot of times the return policies aren’t, as, you know, fluid as when your shopping new. So I do think I would wonder if at least for me, I could see it kind of changing how I evaluate buying something because…

Elsie: Definitely.

Emma: I think a lot of times I’m like, oh, I’ll just buy this. It looks cute. It’s on sale. Whatever. And I’ll just return it if it doesn’t work out. No big deal. And I do return stuff. But I like the idea that you would have to a lot more be like, well I can’t really return this. I’m going to have to resell it or give it away. So do I really need this in my closet? Will I really wear it? Does it seem like it’s really going to work for my body type? You can’t always know if something’s going to fit. And you could do your measurements and, you know, try really hard. But sometimes you can’t tell until ou try it on.

Elsie: Yeah.

Emma: So there’s that piece. But I just, I kind of like that idea. I think it makes it where you have to. I just think anything that makes you pause a little bit more and evaluate what you’re doing in life is sometimes a good thing. Obviously, you don’t want to stop living your life. But I’m always kind of on hyperspeed. So I think anything that makes me pause and be a little more thoughtful isn’t a bad thing.

Elsie: That’s true. So like returning, obviously it is important and you have to do it if you shop online a lot, but it is kind of wasteful. And when you develop a habit where like, what I used to do is just order like a huge amount of clothes from a ASOS you know, every month or so and then return like 75 percent of them. And I don’t know, I think it’s, I’m glad to be out of that habit. But I do think that if anyone out there listening is like thinking about doing this challenge, if you’re in a place in your life where you could, like get your ass out the door to Buffalo Exchange, you would get more out of it than I did. Like I didn’t go one single time this year to Buffalo Exchange, just because, like, my life wasn’t conducive.

Emma: You had a baby.

Elsie: Right? Yeah. Yeah, but it was still worth it to me. And it is still a great challenge. And I definitely feel like I’ll be checking Poshmark more often next year, even though I could shop new. I still think I’ll want to shop used and I still have a goal of adding more vintage to my closet. It just didn’t happen for me this year.

Emma: Well, let’s talk about some of our New Year’s goals for 2020.

Elsie: OK. Do you wanna go first?

Emma: Yeah. Yeah. And this is probably obvious, but I do think part of the fun. I love hearing other people’s goals because not because I’m necessarily going to do it. But a lot of times it sparks other ideas for me. So I do hope that this episode does that for people because it can be so easy. I don’t know about you, but I start to see all the little jokes and memes at New Year’s time where everyone’s like, I got a gym membership and used it one day and everyone kind of wants to just like shit on goals. And I’m like, hey, now, don’t do that. Goal making is awesome. It can change your life. But yes, it’s hard. And you know, if you OK, let me just say my things, because I think you’ll maybe know where I’m going with this a little bit. So unlike Elsie, who successfully did two goals for 12 months, I have a hard time with that. Twelve months is just a very long time to stick with something. So, one, I just don’t have a lot of ideas that will take me 12 months. A lot of them could I could kind of do it and then be it be completed, if that makes sense. And then the other thing is something in my mind, if I am all of a sudden like, okay, you now must do this for 12 months, a little piece of me immediately wants to rebel and be like, oh, yeah.

Elsie: Ohhh.

Emma: I don’t know why. I don’t know why. I’m a rule follower when I understand the rules and agree with them. But if I don’t agree with them, I’m definitely the kind of person who’s like, yeah, I’m not going to do that. I’m going to pretend like I’m doing it. But I’m not because I don’t think this rule is worth it. So anyway, I have to really buy into a goal in order to do at 12 months. So what helps me is if I kind of make more like shorter timelines. So I think that’s what I’m going to do this year for New Year’s slash/it’s really more my birthday goals at this point because I’ve started at already told you I’m doing it for my birthday. I’m going to make three to four goals for the year and kind of do them as quarterly goals. Now, that’s my thing for the year. And if you’re like,.

Elsie: I think that’s a great plan.

Emma: Yeah. Obviously, you can stick to something for twelve months, you just told us how you did that, which is rad. But if you’re like, I don’t know, I don’t have any ideas for that or I in the past have been really disappointed by that. And it’s soured me on. If I’m the person who can achieve goals and I’m like HEY, do this instead. Because you definitely are a person who can achieve goals. Never say that to yourself that you can’t. So here are mine. So I’m doing, I so far only have three ideas. I have a feeling I might add a fourth or I might kind of let myself off the hook for Q4 because this holiday season. We’ll see. But so my three are number one. I want to work on my personal style. I feel like…

Elsie: A great goal.

Emma: Yeah, I read like half of The Curated Closet years ago, which Elsie talked about that book in a previous episode, but we’ll link it in the show notes.

Elsie: Can I say something?

Emma: Yeah.

Elsie: Okay. So I just started doing The Curated Closet Workbook.

Emma: I was gonna ask you about that.

Elsie: And I highly recommend it if you want to do that. I mean, obviously the book is great just to read, but the workbook, it kind of gives you homework. And right now, I’m on the second week of like documenting my outfit every day and how it made me feel. And I feel like, yeah, I started it early to kind of get into the new year because I know that I’m gonna be like off my challenge. And I didn’t want to just, like, start shopping like unaccountably? Like, I wanted to still say, like, very conscious. So anyway, it’s great for that if you want to build up your wardrobe in a very conscious, like, thoughtful way.

Emma: So my question is, should I finish reading…I’ll probably start over because it’s been too long now. But should you read Curated Closet first and then do the workbook or can you just do the workbook? Obviously The Curated Closet…the book is great, but just tell me for real, could you just do the workbook?

Elsie: You can just do the workbook because a lot of the same information is in there and it gives you…it’s a workbook. It gives you places to fill in things and homework to do so if you kind of already get the idea of what The Curated Closet is, then just go ahead and jump in.

Emma: Well I might do that then because. Yeah, I want to work on my personal style. I just feel like…so I work from home. There’s lots of days where I don’t see anyone except for like the good people at Walmart or whatever.

Elsie: Same, same here. Yeah.

Emma: I just don’t…or I see no one. It’s just my dogs. And so I don’t really feel motivated to put together cute outfits like that would feel like a waste of time. And I know I’ll never get myself to that. But also, I don’t like to just feel like I haven’t tried at all. I like to feel like I put myself together and I’m good with how I look today, even though I might not spend 30 minutes…

Elsie: The workbook will be perfect for you because I have the same exact issue and I kind of have like developed a plan for having more thoughtful work day options, you know, like just a whole little drawer just for working at home.

Emma: Yeah.

Elsie: That feels just a little bit better.

Emma: I want like a cute uniform.

Elsie: Yes.

Emma: Just have that…

Elsie: That’s what you need.

Emma: …three to five of them. And then I wash them on the weekend and that’s it, you know, because I just don’t want to think. I want to feel put together but I don’t want to have to think about it all the time. So anyway, so that’s part of my goal and it has to do with clothing. But it also has a little bit to do with like makeup and hairstyles and, you know, little things like that, too. I’m not really planning to buy a ton of stuff. I’m hoping to more pare down what I already have. I’m sure I will buy a few things. thrifted or new or whatever. So. Yeah, that’s pretty much the goal on that one. So that’s one. My second goal is I want to take some kind of online cooking or baking class. I’m leaning towards baking. Basically, I love cooking. Elsie and I have a cookbook out Weekday Weekend, check it out if you’re interested. But I love cooking. I’ve always loved cooking for a long, long time. I still do. But in the last like year or so, I’ve noticed that I am just a lot less motivated about it. I don’t feel very inspired about cooking. I have been making a lot of the same things and it’s fine. But that’s just like a piece of my creative life that I really enjoy. So I just want to get back into it. And so I’m thinking I’m going to take some kind of online course that I’m, what I’m aiming for is I haven’t picked out a course yet once I pick it out, I’ll share it in case anyone else is interested. But I’m wanting something that gets me to make things that I wouldn’t normally make, like I’m not necessarily looking for easy weeknight meals, I feel like good on that. I feel like I know how to make that kind of stuff. I know how to make that stuff up. And that’s great. And that’s what I use most of the time. That’s great. But I’m really wanting something that’s more like some kind of weird pastry or I always see these cakes on Instagram — my discover page is all cute animals and food. The algorithm knows what I like. So there’s these cakes. I don’t know what they’re called, but they basically look like a big bundt. They look like a donut. And people do these videos all the time where they put this like very shiny looking glaze over the cake. And it ends up looking like very hard and almost like it would crack when you cut it. I don’t know what they’re called, but I’m always like, that’s a weird cake.

Elsie: Donut cake. Yeah, it’s called donut cake.

Emma: So I don’t know. I’m interested in something like that that pushes me to get some new skills. I don’t really want to buy a bunch of new kitchen equipment. That’s the one thing I’m like eh, we’ll see. But I am interested in like learning some new stuff and hope that, you know.

Elsie: That’s so fun. That’s inspiring. I love it.

Emma: Yeah, so I’m gonna do that. And then my third one. You could probably guess if you’ve listened to past episodes is I’m going to finish my novel that I’ve started and I’m going to do something with it. I don’t know what that means. It might just mean sending it to our agent. It might mean self-publishing. It might mean just putting it online for free. I don’t know. I don’t really have a strong what I’m gonna do with it at the end, but I’m just gonna finish it and do something with it. So…

Elsie: Hell, yes. Sister, you can do it. So you wanna hear my goals?

Emma: Yes.

Elsie: Well, actually, I do have a bunch of like mini goals like how you were just saying. But I decided this year. So we are going to continue the music jar. But I don’t feel like I really need to, like, make it a goal because I already know that we can.

Emma: Yeah, you’re like, this is part of my life.

Elsie: It’s a part of our life. Yeah. That feels so good to say. So what I’m gonna do this year. I thought a lot about this. And this is I think that something…I wanted something challenging. But also I think the key to what I did last year, is something that I could really do. So this year, I’m going to take a photo every day.

Emma: Oooh. That’s fun.

Elsie: Yeah. And I’m thinking like I kind of want to get into like black and white photos, I don’t know. But to take a photo, I should say, not with my phone. A photo. Not with my phone everyday. And yeah I’m excited to do it now.

Emma: Not with a phone? Oh…

Elsie: Yeah. But like over the past couple of years I have not used my camera much at all because we have a photographer and she comes over to my house twice a month and I shoot basically all my blog photos with her and then I shoot basically everything of my kids with my phone. So, yeah. I just was kind of feeling like that was something creative that I wanted back in my life. Like I still am one of those people that misses, like the old Flickr days and stuff. So, yeah. So that’s going to be my goal for the year. And then, of course, I’ll have lots of little other goals along the way. Like I mentioned, I’ve already started The Curated Closet. I also wanted to get more into cooking like what Emma was talking about. But yeah, this also…

Emma: I’ll send you how to make the donut cake once I figure it out. (laughs) So the photos, are you going to do anything with them like are listeners gonna see these or is this really more just for you or like how is that going to work?

Elsie: Uh, I don’t know.

Emma: Sometimes that ruins it for me. If I have to show people…

Elsie: I’ll probably share some of them, like on Instagram and stuff. Just, you know, if it makes sense. But yeah, it’s…it’s more of a personal goal. It’s just something I want to do. Like, I don’t even care if I, like, put them all in an album or anything. I just want to, like, know that I’m doing it every day.

Emma: Yeah.

Elsie: Maybe I should keep a folder of some kind. I don’t know. I hadn’t thought that part through, but I just want to be using my camera again and that is really why I’m doing it.

Emma: Is it also that you’re going to edit the picture? Because to me, photography is very like taking it in camera settings if you’re using a DSLR or whatever, and then editing is another side of it to me.

Elsie: That’s true.

Emma: So are you doing both or is it more about the taking with the camera settings and all that? Or is it you’re going to do because if you’re already going to edit, it can save you really easy to just throw it into a folder on your desktop.

Emma: True. But I actually think I am going to get one of the SD cards that connects with your phone because I really don’t use Photoshop anymore and I…I really just prefer to edit with A Color Story. I just don’t give a shit about Photoshop. So yeah.

Emma: Yeah. I’m kind of the same.

Elsie: I’ll probably send it straight to my phone or if I don’t get a card maybe just email it to myself, whatever, like the good old days. But yeah, I’m excited to do…

Emma: Airdrop. Airdrop it.

Emma: I really am like a big believer that you know, even if I don’t do it perfectly every day, if I keep doing it all year, it’s going to make a big difference in my life. I just know it will. So I’m excited.

Emma: Yeah. Oh yeah…

Emma: Yes okay. So do you have any other small goals? I feel like a kind of interrupted you to ask about.

Elsie: I have a ton of small goals. So in our episode next week…

Emma: New segment 50 small goals Elsie has for the new year.

Elsie: There’s at least fifty. In our episode next week. I have a big announcement.

Emma: Oh!

Elsie: So, yeah. We’re not gonna talk about that today though. That’s for next week for the first week of January.

Emma: What a tease!

Elsie: So that is like consuming a lot of my brain right now. And obviously, like New Year, new blog posts, you know? Yeah. There’s so many things that I want to do better at, you know? Yeah. I was telling Emma yesterday, I kind of I think I want to run a half marathon again.

Emma: Yeah. She was asking me if I could do it. And I was kinda like. Mmmm…because we did one years ago.

Elsie: Yeah.

Emma: I have this thing where when I go on walks now I’m only 33 years old. I do a lot of jokes on here about how I’m mold. Actually, don’t think I’m old. Please don’t. You don’t need to write me an email telling me I’m young. I really appreciate it. I’m good. These are jokes, but my knee pops when I go on walks like sometimes so much that I have to listen to something while I’m walking because it’s so gross sounding

Elsie: What!?

Emma: Yeah. And I’m like, what does that mean? So I’m I’m a little fearful of running. I think working out is very important. And I definitely have some goals around that all the time. Not even just New Year’s. Just all the time. Need to move. Don’t want to sit at a computer all day. Yeah, but I am like I don’t know if running’s for me. I hate to be that way, but I’m like, I don’t know, man. I think my knees kinda. I don’t know.

Elsie: I’ll find someone. It’s okay. And honestly, it’s also something I could do alone because when we did our half-marathon last time…

Emma: You can face time me and I’ll be like “Good job. You’re doing it!”

Elsie: That’s true. I was gonna say, we did run it, like in the race together. I don’t even really care about doing a race. I just want to do the training, though. And the training you do by yourself anyway.

Emma: Training’s kind of the whole thing.

Elsie: For the most part anyway…So it’s just you and your podcast.

Emma: You do get a medal, though, you know the little medal.

Elsie: Oh yeah, I don’t care about that. I don’t even know where my old one is. I probably threw it away.

Emma: Yeah, I don’t either.

Elsie: I just want to, you know, run. What is it like twelve or thirteen miles.

Emma: Thirteen point one. I want to say.

Elsie: Yeah, I just want to do that because I haven’t been into running for a while and I just thought it sounded like a good thing to do. And recently since we started the podcast I’ve gotten so many more podcast like I just think it would be cool to have like a part of my day…

Emma: That’s listening to podcasts?

Elsie: Right!

Emma: I agree. I sometimes will be like what tasks are on my list where I could listen to a podcast and then I start to move those up a little bit, which is not always the most efficient thing to do. But yes, I totally know what you mean because I have a lot of like gotta listen the new episode of this that’s out, so. Yeah. Run sister! Run Elsie, run!

Elsie: I’m going to do it. OK, so now it’s time for Emma’s embarrassing story. And this story comes from Emma’s first. This is so crazy how it happened this way… Her first day of high school and then her first day of college. Take it away, Emma.

Emma: And they’re very similar stories. Oddly enough, I think I’ve learned my lesson. But no. Also, if you’re like, what is this segment? We’ve only done it I think one other time and Elsie did her ghost toilet story. So…

Elsie: It’s just a story, or it’s just a story time of embarrassing moments.

Emma: Well, I just really want to bring up the ghost toilet again, basically, because it’s very funny.

Elsie: I’ve gotten a lot of messages about ghost toilet. And…

Emma: Yes, she sends it to me sometimes and I’m like, “oh, people are into this”. Who doesn’t like a little potty humor mixed in with the supernatural.

Elsie: Yeah, I feel very related with.

Emma: Anyway, my story has no ghosts and no toilets, unfortunately, but it does happen on my very first day of high school, which if you’re listening from another country, that means I would have been, I think, 14 years old. So at my high school, it was a different building from my junior high or middle school, sometimes they’re called. So the high school building just had freshmen through seniors. And so I’m basically the youngest part of the group of the youngest people in this building and a lot of people I didn’t know. So the sophomores who are a year older. I knew some of them because they had been 8th graders when I was a seventh grader. But all the other kids, like, look a lot older than me. And I feel a little bit intimidated. Like there are boys who have beards, you know, and you’re just like, well, I thought I was a kid still, you know? So that’s that’s the first day of high school anyway. So it’s already an awkward time. And I’m from the Midwest, Springfield, Missouri. So it’s still warm when we start school. It’s still kind of like summer’s just ending. So I was wearing like shorts and sandals doing my first day of high school and I go to gym class. And how our gym class worked was part of the class there are days where you’re like doing book work. You’re learning like what a metabolism is or I don’t even remember what we learned, honestly. Stuff, health stuff. And then other days are like a gym day and you change into your gym clothes and you probably play dodge ball. You know, you have to run a mile and different things like that. So it’s the first day of school. So it’s it’s basically a sit in the classroom and get your syllabus day and they tell you like that’s all you do all day on your first day of school is they tell you like what you can expect. And you’re really, I’m just trying to like figure out the building because I’m like, I’ve never been in this building. And now I have to figure all my classes are and everyone looks older than me. So we’re in gym class and my teacher, he finishes up the syllabus and talking about what we’re gonna do that year. And he’s like, all right, let’s go ahead and do one little exercise. We’re going to walk up and down the gym bleachers and we’re going to find our resting heart rate and then our target heart rate or something. I don’t even know the right terms for it, but it’s basically getting your heart rate up. Like when you do cardio. And our gym was an older gym, so it had these wooden bleachers that would kind of push out when it was time to like have a game and people needed to sit in the bleachers and then they would push up against the wall and kind of disappear and look just like a wall of wood. They’re very old, very creaky, just old timey bleachers. Like I said, I’m old. Just kidding. So I’m like, okay, well, that doesn’t sound too bad. We’re just walking up and down these bleachers. So we’re all doing it. It’s kind of loud because again, they’re like these old creaky bleachers and I’m wearing sandals. So of course, when I get to the top of the bleachers, I turn around to go back down. And I’m trying to move fairly fast because we’re supposed to get her heart rate up and my sandal catches into one of the little wooden bleachers and it’s so loud, like I fall all the way down the bleachers and it’s like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And I hit the very bottom and it really hurt. But it definitely hurt my pride even more than my body. And as I kind of pick myself up out of this pile of a human that I’ve fallen into, I see that not only did my class see me fall down these bleachers, which is embarrassing. I know all these kids have gone to school with them for years, but I see that also this like junior and senior class of high school boys is like weightlifting class. So it’s all these like boys who are athletes. All the cool guys are like in the gym because their class got out. And so they all saw me fall all the way down the bleachers to which I’m sure was a very attractive look for me. And it was a very like, anytime I’d watch those like high school movies, like 90s movies that are like, you know, the dorky girl and all that. I was like, oh, my God, I’m that girl. God, I hope I turn into the pretty girl by the end of this movie. Because it’s like right now, I’m definitely the dorky girl. And that was my first day of high school. You’d think I would have learned from that because what happened my first day of college was I was running to class. I went to Missouri State and it has a fairly large campus. I mean, not huge, but it’s big enough that you sometimes have to almost jog from one class to another if your classes are across the campus. Easy. Yeah. So I’m doing that, rushing to class. I don’t wanna be late my first day. It’s embarrassing to walk into a class late, I don’t like a lot of attention. I don’t really like a lot of eyeballs on me. It’s awkward. So I’m like rushing. I don’t want to be the last person to walk into class. And of course, my classes at being on the fourth floor of this building. So I’ve already jogged across campus and I’m trying to like run up the stairs to not be late to class. And I trip, but I’ve learned a thing or two about falling hips. So when I trip, I just kind of like stretch out my body instead of curling into a ball. So if you curl into a ball, here’s what happens. You fall all the way down the stairs cause you roll. And if you stretch your body out like one of those squirrels…

Elsie: Like a spider monkey!

Emma: Yeah, that’s trying to fly. Then you then you kind of stop yourself because you like, you know…

Elsie: Good job.

Emma: Yeah. Oh yeah. So I stopped myself. So I just I fell and just sprawled out right on the stairs. And I’d love to say like, oh, the kids were so nice and they picked up my books for me. But no I had a couple people who literally stepped over me who were like rushing to their class.

Elsie: Go to hell! Like what ever.

Emma: And yeah, that was my first day of college, which was marginally better than high school because less people saw it, but. Yeah,.

Elsie: That’s such a funny coincidence. And I’m glad you told your…okay. So I guess if you have a story about falling really bad and embarrassing yourself then you can send it to Emma…

Emma: Or if you have any tips about falling. I just shared with you mine. Just sprawl out. Don’t ball up. Especially on stairs.

Elsie: That’s cute, Emma.

Emma: Thanks so much for listening. If you have a couple minutes, it means a lot to us if you share our podcast, you can post about it on Instagram or Facebook. We see when you do this

Elsie: Thank you!

Emma: It means a lot. And if you have a couple more minutes and you want to leave us a review, that means a ton. And truly, it really does help podcasts grow. So also, by the way, if you have other podcasts you love, take a minute to leave them a review, too. I know that doesn’t benefit me in any way, but it really does help podcasters grow. So if you have a moment and you’re not driving, do that and it’s really helpful and we appreciate it. Thanks!

Elsie: You’re supposed to say see you in 2020, bitches!

Emma: See you in 2020, bitches!