2012

Every January people either make New Years Resolutions of make fun of those who do.  To me, the new year is like that first day of school.  You have your new notebooks, your new pencils but you also have all of these ideas of what is going to happen that year.  Then as the semester goes on you get bogged down in the paper you writing or the project you are working on.  The school year doesn't have that magical feel anymore.  Same with the new year.  So right now is my time to pull out my new planner and plan the year.  What I've learned though is that it doesn't always go as planned.  My best goal you can have for a new year is to flexible, go with the flow, and deal with what the Lord puts in your path.

That being said lets look at my 2011 goals and how I did not accomplish things as planned.

2011 Goals

Get my email under control- ha! If I was a teacher I would give myself a big fat red F... minus.  I'm not going to tell you the number of emails in my inbox right now. Think of the biggest number you can possibly think of. Got it? Ok double that and you might be close

Be more organized- such a broad goal. All those years of learning to make measurable goals for patients obviously didn't pay off. If I had to subjectively judge myself on this one I'd say I'm was maybe slightly more organized in 2011 than 2010.

More recipes!- I started off ok with this one but then taking 4 classes and working full time in the spring but a damper on that goal.  We did a lot of pasta (so easy) and salads (even easier) in the spring. Then once we got our house in July we had no stove until December. Although JP proved a toaster oven is more functional than you think, the new recipes tried were limited. I did develop a new way of keeping up with recipes so technically I have more recipes, I just didn't use them.

Get money consolidated- This one I did, but mainly because buying a house required it.

Now for the new year.  This is what I think I would like to do with my time in 2012.  We'll see a year from now how that goes.

2012 Bucket List

Lift weights at least 5 times/week.  I'm weak. Just ask my husband, my sister, and my mom.  I have to keep up with my push up doing husband, my 12lb weight lifting sister, and my daily weight lifting mom. Plus I should probably help my bones out so they will be strong when I'm old.

Run a 5k.  Notice on my 2011 list there were no exercise related goals.  Well to bad there wasn't because I ran a 5k- nonstop- in 2011.  I want to run another one, because I know I can.  And if I want extra credit, I'll run something that is even farther.  So this will involve some sort of regular running schedule.  Haven't gotten that figured out yet.

Keep a list of things I'm thankful for- 3/day.  Whenever JP is going through a rough time, every night I will ask him to tell me three things he's thankful for.  Then, I learned of the book that everyone is reading- One Thousand Gifts- which gave me the idea to write down these things that we are thankful for.  If I do 3/day I'll have just over a thousand.

Send notes- 3/month.  Real mail. You know the kind you have to wait on the mail truck to bring.  The kind you have use your hands to open.  It is always so fun to get real mail that is not junk mail.

Read 12 books.  I've made similar goals before, but this year I think I can do it.  2012 will be the first year since I started kindergarten in 1990 that I will not have school.  I will not have any assigned reading, so I will assign my own.  To bad I can't count December 2011 towards this. I read the 3 books of the Hunger Games series in like a week.

Expand my world view.  This includes but is not limited to learning more about people that are different than me and understanding major world events that I don't know much about now.  I'm not sure of a way to measure this right now or even exactly how I plan to tackle this, but I've realized how I easily get trapped in my own bubble. 

Memorized 2 Scripture passages/month.  Maybe if I make everything into a song I'll be able to memorize better? I totally can sing you songs from when I was in 5th grade VBS.

Improve Food Intake. Try two new recipes a month.  Create a recipe book.  Identify foods I frequently eat that have preservatives etc. and try to replace.  

Scan Pictures.  I have been wanting to digitize all of our childhood family photos and possibly make a photo book.

Blog Once a Week. I really do enjoy blogging but for some reason I have let 2 months pass between posts. Surely I can achieve this or even exceed this goal.  Why do I blog? Mainly because I like looking back and remembering things.  Its hard to look back though if there isn't anything there to look at!

Drink 64oz of water/day.  I don't drink much besides water but I don't drink enough at all.  This is the opposite of my husband who literally drinks water by the jug.  No normal glass for him.

Go somewhere I've never been.  I have no idea what I will see in 2012 but I want to see something new.  It could be somewhere in California or somewhere right here in Birmingham.  Hopefully I'll experience more than one new place!