The more things change the more they stay the same

Here I am, the last day of 2014.  At the rate I was headed it would have been two years before I blogged again.  Except that I don't want to keep that habit.

A multitude of wonderful things have happened in 2014 and I have to rely on just my brain to keep it all. Lord knows I'm forgetful!  I can't let that happen for another year.  

So here I am, yet again trying to put together my 4 simple goals for this upcoming year, in the middle of a housing limbo as I have to move in three months (See that I mean about things staying the same?)  This time I'm sure that we're renting for at least another year.  We keep trying to save money but every time we do, we wind up having to spend a couple of grand on some sort of emergency.  Hopefully that gets better this year. 

Proposed Goal #1 for 2015 - Become Stronger

     I mean that in every sense of the term.  I want to become physically stronger.  I want to be mentally stronger.  I want to be emotionally stronger.  To that end I have a couple of plans (5x5's, weekly bootcamp, subtle changes in diet) that I'm going to implement for the physical aspects of this goal.  I'm going to continue to increase my jiu jitsu training as this helps both my body and my mind.  I'm going to set some time to meditate.  I'm going to communicate my feelings.   I'm going to try to squeeze in some more yoga.  

Proposed Goal #2 for 2015 - Write more

     I feel that this ties in closely with my first goal.  I want to write more here, not just to help with documenting memories, but challenge my mind to find the words to properly convey ideas and emotions.  I want to write in a jiu jistu journal, so that I can keep better track of my progression, as well as to help me address what I need more work on.  

Proposed Goal #3  for 2015 - Continue to challenge myself

     2014 was a year that I filled with personal challenges.  I wanted to do new things to start of the decade of my 30's so I signed up for a Spartan Sprint.  In order to get my body ready for the physical demands of the race I looked into Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and I discovered that the art not just prepared me physically, but also mentally to face the challenge.  Although a broken and displaced finger caused me to delay my Spartan, I did take it on and finish the race with only 4 sets of 30 penalty burpees.  I also had to face my fear of competition.  I hate (still do) the idea of having to compete with someone for something, however my husband entered me in a BJJ tournament and I actually won gold!  I spoke to my boss to express that not only did I feel ready, but I wanted to take on additional responsibilities.  

     So with all of that being said, 2015 I would like to challenge myself to complete a Spartan Trifecta, and have already signed up for my next sprint.  I would like to challenge myself into learning enough so that I feel that I deserve the four stripes on my white belt.  I'm going to challenge myself to trust my instincts.  I'm going to challenge myself to sign up for a BJJ tournament on my own.  I'm going to continue to learn new aspects of the business that I work in and push towards being efficient, effective, and confident enough to renegotiate my salary.

Proposed Goal #4 for 2015 - Make more quality time

     I had a similar goal back in 2013 and I think it's a good goal to always work towards fine tuning.  We started having a bi-weekly family game night this year.  I would like to continue this growing tradition.  With work and gym etc, I tend to spend any extra time doing chores, trying to sleep as much as possible, and sitting in front of a television.  Although I want to dedicate some weekly time to blogging and writing, I also want to make more time doing things with the people that are special to me.  Taking my daughters to museums, family date days, brewery visits with friends, game nights, family cooking etc.  Although idle time is important, making quality time needs to also be a priority for me.  

Also, not a goal but something that I would like to do is take more pictures.  When my daughter was born I took over a hundred pictures of her.  Slowly but surely as time went on, it has significantly dwindled.  This year I may have 30 pictures and most of them are selfies.  I feel like this is a shame.  Granted Monday - Friday I don't really get to spend time with my children, (one of the reasons quality time needs to be one of my goals), I would like to have pictures to frame, or to reference.  So many great things can be captured in photos.  So maybe a weekly photo round up.  Our mornings, our weekends, something that made us happy, something beautiful, something that made us think or discuss, something we've made.  

So that's part of my plan for this upcoming year.  I can't wait to get started.  

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!!