Monday, December 31, 2012

Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013

This year has not been particularly bad to me.  I completed a year of marriage, as well as a year of being a dog owner.  I went on my first real road trip.  My daughter got older and smarter.  I saw the Pacific Ocean.  I discovered some kick ass blogs.

I mean overall, who can complain about that?!

And so for the first time in a long while I can look back on a year and actually feel happy and nostalgic.  I am definitely looking forward to some of the things that will be happening in 2013, as well as dreading a few other things.  I will be moving.  I'm not yet sure if it will be to another rental apartment, or to a place of my own.  A little more time will tell.  I will be traveling overseas again, and if I'm really lucky maybe I'll catch some aurora action.  And these things will all be happening in the first quarter of the year.

But at this same time however, I may be giving up my wonderful handsome pug Hamilton.  That's going to tear my heart up.  My brother will also be getting deployed to Afghanistan for the first time.  That isn't going to be easy on anyone in my family.  So yes, new year, new experiences, new emotional challenges.

With challenges in mind however, I decided that for the first time in my adult life I'm going to try setting a sort of resolution set.  As I love reading A Beautiful Mess (those girls have changed my life!) I was inspired to set 4 simple goals for the year.

1 A pie a week challenge -  I love baking things.  Baking is actually quite a stress reliever for me.  The things I bake may not always look beautiful, but the are delicious 99% of the time.  I decided that I'm going to try to bake at least 1 pie a week.  Sweet, savory, both, the world is my oyster.  I'll pick a few recipes each week, and Gil and I will agree together on which to try.  My munchkin is mostly crust crazy so she could care less what's in them.

2 Move more each day  - I sit in an office most days.  Literally staring at a screen.  This is really not much of a way to live.  I don't intend to lose weight, or go on any real diets this year.  I just want to make it a goal to get at least 30 minutes of some sort of exercise a minimum of 5 days a week.  Maybe the treadmill, maybe a workout video, a dance class, a pole class, just a regular walk, a park outing with the little one.

3 Expand and explore my professional life -  I haven't been satisfied with my current job in a long while.  I wanted to become a Registered Nurse, but since I have the munchkin and Gil doesn't have a set work schedule I can't do this in the foreseeable future.  Thus I plan on taking some time this year to explore my career options.  I want to find something that I can be passionate about.  Depending on the circumstance I don't mind making a lateral move financially, or even taking a bit of a pay cut.  I just need to explore what I find stimulating and rewarding and take things from there.

4 Make quality bonding time - I love hanging out with my daughter and she generally finds most things I do interesting.  She wants to help me cook, but I don't let her for fear of cuts and burns.  She wants to help me sew but again, similar fear of harm.  I want to take her to cool places, but she tends to get herself grounded often.  Lately for stealing electronics, and lying.  So generally weekends are spent either loafing around the house, running errands like grocery shopping, laundry, or me scolding her about needing to read more.  This year I want to spend some quality bonding time with her.  Especially since she'll also have a hard time if/when we re-home our dog.  Maybe I'll get her a mini sewing machine, or I'll let her mix and measure ingredients in the kitchen.  Maybe I'll find a craft project that we can work on together.  This year, I want to make a lot of memories with my honeycake.

So that's that.  Those are my 4 goals for this upcoming year.  Unofficially I'll also work on blogging consistently   This can also help me keep track of and monitor the success of these goals.  Happy New Year Everyone!!

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