Happy March everyone! March is definitely coming in like a lion for sure as the wind is howling and it’s currently snowing outside my window. I’m hoping the snow/wind are going to stop this evening so we can get some good time on the slopes this weekend. And then after that, I would honestly be fine if the snow went away and didn’t come back until 2013. But…we’ll see about that.
Anyway, since today is the first day of March, I thought it would be the perfect time to check in on some of those New Year’s Resolutions I made back in January. Remember them? The goals that we all set starry-eyed when we’re sipping champagne, watching the ball drop, and the coming year is yet to begin? They’re easy to lose sight of after a few days or weeks, but my intentions when I came up with the list were good, and I don’t just want to let them fall by the wayside. I’ve definitely done a better job of staying on track with some goals then others, but that’s ok. Life is a work in progress, but I think just taking the time to check and see which ones I might need to focus on a little more is great for helping me make sure I accomplish them.
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1. Get more sleep
I feel like this is an area where I’ll never be a good as I’d like becasue I’m a night owl by nature, but Cam and I are working on it. If we didn’t have to get up the next day, we’d go to bed at midnight or later but we’re trying to work on getting in bed by 10 (or 11 at the latest). It definitely hasn’t been happening every night, but last night I was in bed at 10:43 which is definitely an improvement for me! I’m really hoping to try just pushing it back 5-10 minutes each night until getting in bed by 10 is my new normal.
2. Read more
Again, I haven’t quite been reading as much as I’d like, but I have read a few books so far in 2012. I am actually going to be posting a book review about my 3 most recent reads next week, so stay tuned for that! (And if you haven’t read this book yet, you totally should…it’s awesome!)
3. Become a good skier
While I’m not exactly a good skier yet, I feel like I’m improving a little bit each time I go. The conditions in Tahoe have been terrible this year, and a few of our days on the mountain have been really icy. Last Sunday, it was really icy in the morning, and I pretty much told Cam after one run that I wasn’t having fun and was probably just going to go chill in the lodge. He encouraged me to stick with it and do a few more runs, so I agreed. The conditions ended up improving and I had a really great time, so I’m glad I didn’t quit. I’m excited to get in a few more good days of skiing this season!
4. Kick the sugar habit & eat cleaner
This is an area that Cam and I have both started to focus on a lot in the past few weeks. I’m not going to get into it too much today because I want to dedicate an entire post to it next week, but yeah, let’s just say there are some major changes going on here that I’m excited about!
5. Take an international vacation (or two)
This is still happening, although I don’t know where we’re going or when…yet. The first half of the year is going to be pretty busy with visitors and more domestic travels including weddings and weekend trips to explore California. Things are still a little up in the air about whether or not we’re going to be staying here or moving after Cam finishes his rotation in June. We’re probably not going to find out until May at the earliest, and so we’re just waiting to get all that stuff figured out first before we really think about seriously planning a trip. But one will happen this year…mark my words!
6. Learn something new
Ehhh, I’ve been lazy in this area. Still just pinning away without actually learning any new skills. Definitely need to work on this in the coming months.
7. Be a better blogger
This is also an area I’m still struggling with. My blog has grown quite a bit in the past two months, and I’m really thankful for all the new faces around here! I feel like I’ve been more active on commenting on other blogs as well, mainly because I realized that I really do enjoy when people comment on my posts and share their thoughts with me, so why don’t I do that for others? I figure if I take the time to read someone’s entire post and enjoy what they have to say, why not tell them? However, I still need to work on setting aside dedicated time for blogging and not let it interfere with other, more important, areas of my life like work, making dinner, spending time with Cam, etc. I’m still working to find that balance.
8. Be wise with our finances
Cam and I sat down the other night and took a good look at our mint.com account (which is an awesome tool btw!) and I appreciate that he really wants me to be involved and take an active role in our finances. I’m really thankful for his stewardship in this area of our marriage because it’s definitely not my strong suit. I feel like I kind of justify some things in our spending by saying “well at least we’re doing better than so-and-so” because overall, we really are doing pretty good. But I know we could do better. We talked about our goals for the future, with the largest one being buying a house, and what it’s going to take for us to get there. We have money saved now, but we need to work on saving more because we want to be able to put down a good down payment without completely wiping out our savings. We talked about areas we can improve and I’m excited to work on doing a better job of staying on track in this area. The fact that I’m working from home is also helping our spending a ton because I’m not really using gas, going out to lunch, going to the mall on my lunch hour (because I totally used to do that!), so it makes it easier to justify taking all of our weekend trips.
9. Try out a new dinner each week
We’ve been pretty good with this so far, and a lot of it has to do with some changes we’ve been making to our diet (see #4). I’ll be sharing a new (or rather a variation on a dinner we eat a lot) next week!
10. Be more green
This is one area I really wanted to focus on for 2012, and although I haven’t done it so far, I’m planning on doing a series of posts for the month of March where I dedicate Fridays to talking about eco-friendly changes you can make in your everyday life. I’m really excited about this, so be sure to check back tomorrow!
11. Run a half marathon
This goal is definitely on hold for now. The desire is still there, it’s just not realistic to start training when there’s snow on the ground and I don’t have a gym membership/I hate running on the treadmill. The roads around our house are crazy steep and windy, so it’s going to be much more of a challenge to run. Once the weather does warm up, I’m planning on checking out some nearby trails and places to run where there are actually sidewalks. I think I’ll be more motivated once the days are longer and it’s not freezing out, but for now, running is just not happening. And that’s ok with me.
12. Take my faith more seriously
This is another effort that Cam and I frequently talk about needing to make more of a priority. It’s easy to let work and day-to-day things be the focus during the week, and then we go out of town so often on the weekends that we haven’t really put a lot of effort into finding a church yet. But the desire is still very much there and I’m excited to continue to grow in this area.
(You can check out my original post here)
As you can see, I haven’t accomplished many of my goals yet, and honestly, I think in all of these areas there will always be room for improvement. No one is perfect, and personal growth is a life-long journey. I just like checking in every now and then and reminding myself what I really want to be focusing my energy on and assessing what things are creeping in (Facebook, celebrity gossip, etc.) and filling my time that aren’t important. Spring is such an awesome season of newness and I’m excited to keep working at this list in the months to come.
Happy March everyone! Xoxo