The Milam's 2011 List

       The baby is sleeping. The dog is curled up on the couch. The fire is burning. The house has already been vacuumed and the dishes are drying, so I have a few wonderfully quiet minutes to myself. You should feel honored that I'm spending that time with you. Seriously though, I have about 10 other big items on my to-do list staring me down, but a cup of coffee and some blogging seemed to call my name.
       I realize that we're already knee deep into 2011, but better late then never? At least that's what I tell myself. Our goals for this year are by no means brief as we're hoping that we can bring about a good deal of change in our lives over the next 12 months. I'm sure this list isn't comprehensive, but it will give you and idea of what's going on around Casa Milam. 

So without further ado, here's what's keeping us busy. 

1.  Purchase Megan an adult car

I realize that this one seems pretty materialistic and superficial,

 but I think it's the easiest on the list, so I shall start here. 

I've been VERY fortunate to have a few hand me down 

vehicles that have wonderfully served their purpose, 

and I've never had to buy one of my own. 

Cars are not important to me, they simply get me from 

point A to point B. But I'm turning 30 pretty soon and with 

the big 3-0 comes an adult car.  What I've decided on is the Volvo XC70. 

Oh, and here she is now.

It will be used, hopefully it will be white, and it will be paid for in full. 

It will also mean that my precious cargo will be 

getting around in a very safe auto-mo-bile.

2. Pay off Jon's truck

Really going to have to work hard to make this one happen, 

but we know it will be worth it in the end.

3. Move ourselves to the big city: Truckee

Tahoe City has been very good to us over the past nearly 4 years.

We live just a few blocks from the lake, we are within 

walking distance to town, 

and we have some great neighbors. But, it's time to move on. 

We have a lot of friends (and friends with babies) in Truckee, 

there's more of a sense of community there (ie, year round residents), 

and there are some nice childcare options there.

This one could take a while, as finding a good rental around here

is like locating Blue's tennis ball in 3 feet of fresh snow. 

But it will happen.

Bye, bye beautiful lake.

4. Get Nolan settled into a new daycare

You might have seen this one coming. Our current daycare 

situation is working out just fine. Nolan's getting socialized, 

it's just a few minutes past our house, and they've been 

working with kids for a very long time. But do to some scheduling

conflicts, the fact that Nolan has had a cold for 2+ months, and

our desire to have him receive more personal care, we're

hoping to transition him into a smaller, more private daycare in the next

year or so. 

5. Career adjustments

This one is probably obvious because it's not the first time

 that I've mentioned it here. Jon continues

to work very hard to secure a full time fire position and this remains 

one of our biggest goals.  While the process has been long and 

has required a lot of time, we realize that anything worth achieving 

is worth sacrificing for. So we're keeping our eye on the prize. This remains

one of our biggest goals, and if we don't achieve it in 2011, we'll continue

working on it into 2012. 

6. Take a little risk

I need to pull up my big girl pants, and take a little risk.

I'm not talking about sky diving or riding a bike with no hands. 

I'm talking about rolling the dice on some ideas that I have 

bouncing around in my little head, and seeing if they turn

into anything. I'll let you know how that goes.

And here's the rundown on some smaller things 

we have on our minds set on this year:

1. Running the Reno & SF Half Marathons.

2. Get started with Paramedic School.

3. Get our new toys up and running 

(more on these new toys very soon).

4. Continue to save, save, save.

5. Learn how to use this beautiful new camera of ours.

6. Enjoy where we live just a little bit more.

7. Keep the blog alive.

       In case your wondering about our New Years resolution, I think it has unofficially been to stop having ice cream in the house. And you know what, we've actually succeeded for the first month of 2011. One month down, eleven to go. Because of it we're feeling a little less soft around the midsection and that makes us feel a little bit better. Truth be told however, we tend to snack on any random pieces of chocolate that we can find in the house after dinner in place of our ice cream fix, so I'm not sure if we should totally be patting ourselves on the back. 

       How's your 2011 shaping up? Getting yourself where you're wanting to be and enjoying the process along the way? Do share.