What do we hope to do in 2025? We look at the realms of personal, work, relationship, and home goals. Then in the Q&A we discuss how often we review our lists — seasonally, or more? Please give the episode a listen!

Since I didn’t manage to get a blog post up last week, I’ll also use this one to tout last week’s episode: our “2024 in review” episode, reporting on highlights, lowlights, and our 2024 goals. How did we do on those? Listen to this episode and find out! And then you can listen to the episode that will come out at the very end of 2025 to find out how we did on this year’s ideas.

Thank you so much for listening! It’s been a great year for Best of Both Worlds. We’ve also enjoyed having our Patreon community, and have lots in store for that in 2025. See you in the new year!

I truly loved this project. I enjoyed it in a way that I have to say I didn’t love my Jane Austen project (sorry!) or even Shakespeare. Bach is truly my favorite composer, and it isn’t even close. Also, the way I did this project felt different than my past reading ones. Because I was listening to Bach, it massively upgraded the sound track of my life. I was sitting in my office reading Shakespeare but I was listening to Bach while shuttling my kids around or running errands. The opportunity for improvement in this time was just much greater!

I definitely feel more familiar with Bach’s work as a result of this (of course). From my years in choirs I was familiar with some of those masterworks (like the Christmas Oratorio, or the B-Minor Mass) but less so with his instrumental works. I think there are lots of ways one could construct this project, but since I listened to the major vocal works after listening to 200+ church cantatas, I learned more of Bach’s themes that he would re-use, and some of his favorite ways of composing multi-part vocal pieces. I was also reminded of some of the pieces I’d heard before but enjoyed getting to hear again (like the Brandenburg Concertos).

I have also found myself feeling grateful for the internet! When I started exploring how I would do this project last fall, I wasn’t entirely sure how I would find all of Bach’s work to listen to. I’d found a boxed CD set that one of the classical publishers put out there back in the day, so that was my back-up, and I sort of assumed I’d find performances of the major works on Apple music. But then I realized that the best source for performances was YouTube AND that the Netherlands Bach Society had done a project called “All of Bach.” I am not sure if they actually hit all of Bach, but they’d done enough of the more obscure works that I was only really hunting around for a few.

I’ll now spend the last weeks of the year revisiting favorites. Specifically, I’m listening to the B-Minor Mass on repeat as I’m planning to perform it with a local choir in late December. I’ll listen to the Christmas Oratorio too, just to celebrate the season. And I’ll try to figure out what project I’m undertaking next year. I’m not sure what I’ll come up with that will be as exciting to me as Bach, but I’ve got time to figure this out.

(When people have listened to your podcast for years, they know you well.)

It was a good retreat. We brainstormed our Lists of 100 Dreams, and we figured out goals for the next year, and created a template for an ideal week. My goals are still a work in progress (I have a bit of time before we have to do our annual Best of Both Worlds goal episode…) but I had a few ideas. For instance, I want to go to three professional sports games next year: A Sixers game, Phillies game, and an Eagles game. I may attempt a healthy eating goal, such as eating produce at breakfast, but if I am going to take on a healthy eating goal, it needs to be easy. This is not an area I wish to put a whole lot of thought into.

Other highlights included running along the beach promenade twice, going on a few walks on the beach, and doing beach yoga (though I’m pretty sure I slipped a little on the sand and my ankle isn’t happy about it). It was a lot of fun hanging out with friends old and new. It seems likely that Sarah and I will host a similar retreat next year, though we haven’t figured out the exact details.

I love the beach, and seeing the ocean, though it was then also nice to be driving around in this part of PA yesterday and seeing the amazing colors. The sky was overcast (it finally rained last night for the first time in ages) and so the bright yellows, reds, and oranges just dazzled against that muted backdrop. I wish I could have been out in the leaves more (it was a busy day of driving kids and getting caught up on things) but even just seeing them through the windshield was lovely.

In this episode we discuss the planners that we are both using (and have used). A planner on its own won’t change everything, but if a pretty planner nudges you to plan more regularly and thoughtfully…that’s not a bad thing!

In the Q&A a listener asks what the highest costs are in raising teens. There are the obvious ones (college? Or private school for folks who go that route…) but there are also things to consider in terms of lessons/contests/trips/etc. These are all optional, to be sure, but we’ve also realized over the years that we want to be able to provide a lot of these things. That’s something to think about when making financial choices (to the extent that people are able to do so).

Please give the episode a listen. And please consider joining our Patreon community. We have a great discussion going this week of jobs that are both flexible and high-paying. Membership is $9/month, and includes access to monthly online meet-ups where we discuss all things work and life.

But months? I just don’t really consider them all that much!

It’s an interesting question why not. While various financial things are on a month-long cycle, I tend to live my life in weeks and seasons.

In any case, though, it is a new month. October has a lot of good things going on — a kid birthday celebration (yep, another one), two trips to points north where leaves will likely be seen, hopefully some pretty walks/runs/bike rides. I will be playing a supportive role for my eldest, who is deep into college applications, though we got some good news there. One of our big state universities has rolling admissions, so he got his application in early and we just heard back that he had been accepted. The upside of this is that it makes the whole process feel much less stressful. We know he can go somewhere good.

I have definitely been enjoying fall-themed magazines. Real Simple, Better Homes & Gardens, and Southern Living all showed up recently, with their Halloween/fall content, and I am here for it. I’m probably not going to make it through any Halloween-themed books, so this is the next best thing…

In other news: In a recent Before Breakfast episode, I talked about a saying I’d heard from Kristen, The Frugal Girl, about work: “I’m here to make money, not to spend it.” The idea is to avoid letting work becoming an unintentional cost center in your life (apparently Kristen was quoting the Non-Consumer Advocate). Kristen heard the podcast and did a whole post on how to spend less on getting to/being at work. Please check it out! There’s an interesting dichotomy in the comments (which I note some in the episode too) — some folks note how silly it is to pay $$ for terrible vending machine food and the like. Others point out that going out and getting a hot meal or a really good coffee from a coffee shop makes a stressful/boring job feel a little less terrible. Both are valid. I think the key is not spending money mindlessly. When you know you’re treating yourself, it’s all good.

I also listened to the Christmas Oratorio this week. I wound up listening more than once because the first video I’d chosen wasn’t really my favorite. It’s a frequently performed work so not everyone does it as well as it could be done. I wound up settling on the JS Bach Foundation version. I’m a big fan of the opening chorus to the 5th part. So catchy. That powered me through a strength training session the other day. I should be going to a Bach concert this weekend put on by an early music group, so I’m looking forward to that.

Meanwhile….I took my 14-year-old (almost 15-year-old!) to a running store last night to get fitted for better running shoes. He’s been running on the high school cross-country team for the last few weeks and his coach pointed out that he was over-pronating so we went to get some more stabilizing shoes. It was quite the involved experience (he tried on like 8 pairs!) but we left with one he liked. And several pairs of running socks because, hey, we were there.

It’s been fun to watch him do this sport, which I’m now realizing would have been a fairly accessible high school or middle school sport to do. Like on an average day they do some warm-ups then go for a 45-minute run. That sounds like a very pleasant way to end a school day! Not that dissimilar to what I do now.

Although I’ve actually been running in the morning more lately. Now that no one usually needs to be up before 7 a.m. if I pop up early enough, I will go run 2 miles on the treadmill. I’ve been aiming to do some speed work during these sessions. I’m really, really slow (my “speed” is like 7 mph) but hopefully it will help. I do another long run this weekend, but probably not quite as long because I’m planning to do a hike with an area trails association too. Hopefully tonight will be fairly chill (such as it ever is) because it’s been a long week. I went to two back-to-school nights this week, but those are now over. We hit all four! I also feel like I’ve been doing a lot of paperwork. The two high school kids will go to NYC with their school music program this spring and I need to register for that and I was somewhat blindsided by the paperwork volume for an activity for the 9-year-old. I signed him up for an after-school robotics activity, but since it’s run by the official aftercare provider, I had to do everything to register for that as a childcare agency – like the various agreements, vaccination record, getting the app from the childcare provider with a pin to check him out (as did everyone else who might check him out), etc. Whoa.

In the meantime, here’s this week’s content… Over at the Best of Both Worlds Patreon community page, I just posted the recording of our book club discussion on Jodi Wellman’s You Only Die Once. Membership is $9/month and we have multiple discussion threads going each week on issues related to work and life. Please check it out!

The Before Breakfast podcast featured my longer episode where I interview Sarah Hart-Unger about mornings and routines. I also have an episode advising to “Check if you’ll need to reschedule” and one on the idea to “Start a goal club.”

At Vanderhacks I wrote that “Complaining is boring.” I suggested that one might “Map out a busy season.” And behind the paywall I noted that “Procrastination happens” — but here are my tips for getting things done anyway. Next week I’ll be starting my video posts (I believe usually on Tuesdays but we shall see).

Thanks for reading!

This year I am aiming to listen to all the works of Bach. By doing a little bit every single day it’s never overwhelming.

Now, into August, it’s kind of amazing how much music I’ve listened to! For instance, I have listened to all 200+ cantatas Bach wrote. I listened to one a day, and we’re 200+ days into the year, so there we go. I also listened to all of his organ works. Many of these were quite short, but still, hundreds of pieces. That took us from BWV 525 to BWV 771.

August is going to be a fantastic listening month. Bach’s famous masses and oratorios are all coming up. My calendar has me starting the B-Minor mass tomorrow. Of course I’ve listened to this work dozens of times, but it will be cool to do in the context of listening to everything else. I have heard snippets of the B-Minor mass in lots of the cantatas that Bach wrote before it. Just because of the way I structured this listening I’ll also have the Goldberg Variations coming up this month, right after the St. Matthew Passion.

I’m still writing a sonnet a week too. This pace of two lines a day feels quite doable. Here’s a sentimental little one I wrote called “Peaches.” We didn’t wind up picking peaches this year, but oh well…

Remember, now, the walk into the field?
A basket in the hand, the blazing sun…
The orchard waits — what have the trees concealed?
I peer into the branches, first see one

and then another: peaches, plump and ripe.
We twist the stems, so many, stacking high,
as through the leaves the sunshine, in a stripe,
illumines all this flesh. A butterfly

drinks deeply, and we taste this sugar too,
on peaches, and each others’ lips. A while
will pass — and in the grocery store a few
new peaches, stacked, will conjure up a smile.

Remember now, the shade of summers past?
A kiss, that in the taste of peach, can last…

Among the topics: School choices (especially given the logistics of larger families), date night babysitters, wanting to stay in bed all day, procrastination, goals vs. to-do items (and making space for the former), sleep and hobbies with young kids, and so forth.

Please give the episode a listen! And as always, we appreciate ratings and reviews. They really do help convince new listeners to give us a chance.

In this week’s episode, Sarah and I revisit the goals we set at the end of 2022 for 2023 (you can listen to that episode here). Many things have happened. A few things have not, for various reasons. We talk about what we plan to continue for the rest of the year, and what we plan to pivot on.

Please give the episode a listen! And let us know: How are you doing on your 2023 goals? If you made a list, but haven’t revisited it since January, now is a great time to do so. This isn’t about feeling “bad” if something hasn’t happened — there are lots of reasons things change. It’s more about reminding ourselves of what we thought we’d like to prioritize or plan, and seeing if that still works with life now. And hey, if there’s something new you’d like to do, feel free to set Mid-year resolutions!

Anyway, today was novel day. I was excited to dive into my manuscript and…it was also the day that a lot of other stuff seemed to be happening at the house. Let’s just say the doorbell rang several times, stuff needed to be tracked down, various things needed to be delivered to the right places, and then it turned out that a child had forgotten a school laptop at home and desperately needed it by 10:30 a.m.

So…a lot going on. As I’ve written numerous times on this blog, sometimes I fantasize about a cabin in the woods where I would work uninterrupted. But I will take a writing retreat this summer to finish my edits; this current round is about getting the manuscript into a state where it is close enough to finished that an immersion in it is helpful. Everything did quiet down reasonably after 10:30 a.m. or so and I was able to work through the chapters. Later in the book it’s a lighter lift — as I’d more figured out characters by that point in the original writing, and I am keeping most of the later plot points from earlier iterations. The biggest change today was probably deleting a whole section. That I could do even with the leaf blowers going.

I do wait for reasonable conditions (see: the open day) but if I waited for perfect conditions I’d never get anything done. As I do want to write this story, waiting for perfect isn’t an option. Maybe someone reading the novel will think “hmm, it really feels like she was writing that section with a leaf blower going outside.” But we shall see!