Goals

How very, very basic of me. Here it is, New Years Day 2015, and I'm about to publish a list of goals for the year. Which-let's be honest-is basically just a trick of wording to deny I'm making New Years resolutions.

Certain people are awesome, ready made adults. I was never one of these people. I swear I was better at adulthood at fifteen than I am now. It's depressing. And it can feel impossible to really fix your broken disaster of a life. But that's exactly what I've spent the last couple of years doing-fixing my broken life. It's never to late to get it together.

Some of these goals are carryovers from last year and some specific things I've been working on steadily over the last few months. Knowing I've been able to make and sustain these changes gives me confidence I'll be able to attack more areas of my life. And it seemed right to start documenting my attempts at being a real, functioning adult {way, way late in the game} because as I was starting the process of getting it together I kept looking for a blog detailing a similar journey. I didn't really find it {although I do love Adulting}. So why not chronicle my experiences?

These are the fifteen in fifteen I'll be working on this year. These aren't in any order of importance, by the way.

1. Read more. Everyone who knows me in real-life just laughed out loud. I'm a voracious reader. The last year, though, I've really struggled with finishing books. Part of it is a time crunch, part of it is I'm just distracted. So I'm setting a goal of reading twenty-five books this year, which sounds doable {I'm trying not to overwhelm myself}. You can follow along and make fun of my book choices at Goodreads.
2. Socialize. This is basically my life. I get up, go to work, come home, hang out with J and the furs {which I love}, go to bed, do it again. For many reasons I severely pulled back from the world but it's time to rejoin fully. My own lameness keeps me from lots of fun social things-last night my best friend texted me to come to her party, but I was already passed out at ten o'clock. On New Years Eve. Must work on this. I've joined a book club and the first meeting is in a few weeks {and a book club will also help me work on goal one. Yay for efficiency}.
3. Money, Money, Money. This is one of the goals I've already started working on. I'll do a big post soon. 
4. Cook. I love cooking. I've written before about struggling to kick the take out habit. It's time to take my own advice and reboot my kitchen habits. Eating at home will also support my money {i.e. have more of it} goal.
5. Do one new thing with J each month. Maybe it's playing a new board game, checking out a museum, trying a new cuisine, making something together...no rules, other than doing something new together monthly. 
6. Walk. Here's another area of my life where I've gotten lazy. Here's an area with a simple fix available. At least three times a week I'm going to put Emily on her leash and walk around our {wonderfully walkable and scenic} neighborhood. I want to get into better shape without making a big deal about it. This will help.
7. Drink Water at Work. I can have coffee when I get to work, but I'm giving up keeping a two-liter of Coke under my desk. Water, water, water. I'm not going to say I'm giving up soda all together, but not drinking it at work will help keep it under control. 
8. Keep on keeping on at work. I love my job. I feel lucky to have it. I actually thinking working on my other goals will help me be better at work.
9. Calendar my life. This one of those areas I'm already working on. I found a system that really works well for me. Now I need to consistently work the system throughout the year.
10. Blog weekly. This is part of the accountability factor of working on my goals, but also I actually enjoy writing and blogging and have missed it. 
11. Unf?ck our habitat. We've lived here for four years. It's amazing the amount of sheer nonsense you can accumulate in four years. Weirdly, this is one of those areas where working on our money helped our house. I'll explain more later. I've been decluttering, organizing, and scrubbing all week.
12. Make home home. Again, we've lived here four years. We're going to live here at least another year. Time to really make it work for us, and to invest in things that will work for us no matter where we live. A great kitchen cart. Matching plates. Eventually a new sofa. 
13. My poor car. I love my car, so why do I let it deteriorate into a trash heap? Yes, I have a long commute. That's not a good enough excuse. 
14. Use my degree. Yes, I love my job but I miss working on genealogy and historic preservation projects. There's a chance I might get some freelance work this year in these fields, but even if I don't I need to plan and work on some projects.
15. Remember why I'm doing this.

This is what I've learned over the last couple of years. Start where you are. Is your whole life one big mess? You can't fix it all at once. I found a great job. My self-confidence started to increase. I had more disposable income. I started working on really getting on top of my money situation. Etc. 

My life isn't perfect and even if I work hard at all these goals all year it still won't be perfect. It will be better, and it will be better for J and our beloved furs.

So. What are you working on this year?

Christmas Isn't Christmas Without A Monorail

Guest Dog returned to her owners Sunday night, and we are very happy they are reunited for the holidays!

My particular historical interest is post-WWII America, particularly as it relates to the built environment and the experience of everyday life. The Greatest Generation saw such incredible technical and lifestyle change over their lifespan (my grandparents were born when home telephones were still relatively rare amongst most Americans, and all lived to see the invention of the internet. I don't think ANY other generation ever saw so much change in their daily lives).

ANYWAY. Shopping became an EXPERIENCE during this time period, and the baby boom made merchandisers realize the power of children. Marketing to children became a thing. Part of this was making children enjoy the act of going shopping.

What kid doesn't want to ride a monorail through the toy section of their local department store? This made the kid excited to go to the store and turned shopping into an experience for the entire family instead of just another errand. Making the downtown department store into a destination became critically important as their core customer bases moved to the suburbs and branch stores (often in new shopping centers and malls) opened.

I mentioned my love of the Pink Pig (named? Priscilla) in the post about family history projects. The Pink Pig was a monorail that originally circled Atlanta's Rich Department Store's toy section. Originally built in 1953 at some point Rich's moved it to the roof.

Picture from Atlanta Journal Constitution Archives

I love this picture because it encapsulates my experience of riding the pig perfectly. It swayed over a very tall building, with the street seemingly hundreds of feet beneath you. I loved it. It was also slightly terrifying.

In the best possible way.

The Ping Pig closed in 1991 (sniff), but when Federated decided to retire the Rich's nameplate in favor of making every store they owned a Macy's, they decided to throw Atlanta a bone and bring back the Pig.

Photo From the AJC

Yeah...not so much, Federated. There's no slight thrill of danger. It's not a monorail. They pretend it's always been the Macy's Pink Pig. Why not just restore the monorail and hang it up at Lennox, Macy's? Why? Actually you can visit parts of the original Pig at the Atlanta History Center, one of my favorite places in town.

Awhile ago I stumbled upon The Pink Pig Flyer and learned Atlanta wasn't the only city with a magical department store train. I'm not sure why I never pondered the idea that Atlanta just isn't that special.

Picture from K Transit

This is the Meir and Frank Department Store in Portland, Oregon. Apparently their monorail, the Santaland, still ran as of 2005. However, that's also the year Federated turned all their stores into a Macy's and it sounds like the Santaland was a victim of the switchover. (Thanks for ruining EVERYTHING, Federated!) Love seeing one running through a toy department!

Photo from The Post Standard

The Edwards department store in Syracuse was graced with the Rocket Ship monorail which circled Toy Land. The Rocket Ship last circled Edwards in 1972 when the downtown department store was demolished.  I found multiple articles discussing resurrecting it in the Victor Gruen designed local mall. Sounds like an awesome idea to me!

Photo From Michigan Live

I think I love this monorail the best because it reminds me of the Pink Pig's face. This, apparently, was the latter day appearance of the Santa Express. It started out resembling the Meir and Frank train and went through various appearance changes. The monorail outlived the department store, Herpolsheimer's, that brought it to Grand Rapids. After the department store left the downtown area the ride continued to operate as various government and civic groups used the building. It now resides at the Grand Rapids Public Museum.

Photo From The Monorail Society

Remember my spiel about how Christmas monorails helped downtown department stores compete against fledgling suburban malls? Yeah, well. The Christmas Express at Rochester's Victor Gruen designed Midtown Plaza began and ended its life in a suburban mall. The Christmas Express last circled the plaza in 2007 and the mall itself was demolished in 2008. The Christmas Express is currently in storage.

Picture from Humanities Magazine

From my research I believe Philadelphia's Wanamaker's department store debuted the first toyland monorail, the Rocket Express, in 1946. The train ran until 1984. It is now on display at Philly's Please Touch museum.

Does anyone else have memories of riding department store trains? Or know of any I missed? 

I am taking a break from all things house related until after the new year. The rest of this week/start of next will be all about the other things I find fascinating. I'm sure you guys are all super excited to learn about what I read/where I go/other stuff I love! 

However I'm busy WORKING on house projects. Follow me on Facebook and Twitter for sneak peaks.