Obligatory 2010 Goals Discussion

So it's that time of year when resolutions are made and new ventures are begun.

I've never been a big fan of new year's resolutions-I prefer to make the change when it needs to be made, not save up all your changes for some big push that will fizzle sometime in February. However, this year the timing is perfect for making resolutions, as Jer and I are working on establishing a new schedule and budget now that I am feeling better and we've worked through wedding and holiday craziness. Therefore, I give you some of my short and long term goals:

For the year:

1. Implement new schedule. Jer and I worked on this to incorporate some of our individual and mutual goals, such as getting in daily exercise and giving each other good personal de-stress time. Jer needs his techie creative time and I need my literary creative time or we both go a little nutso. Things might need tweaking as we go along, but I think we can find a good rhythm that works for both of us.

2. Regarding literary creative time, I will have an hour every night that I want to spend reading and writing. Getting into a regular practice of writing, whether it be blogging, journaling, story creation or freewriting, is definitely one of my goals this year. Hopefully the practice will get me ready to try out National Novel Writing Month in November.

3. Budgeting. We've got a few things figured out but still need to cement a final structure on this. Depending on bonuses and raises, I'm hoping that we can have all the debt outside of the mortgage paid off by the end of the year, March 2011 at the latest. This will be slowed down by our plans for house projects, furniture, and travel.

4. Take one fabulous trip. October will be a great month to take a wonderful overseas vacation for our anniversary. I have already reserved the last half of the month off, and we are talking about places like Australia or Spain or somewhere equally wonderful. We both love international travel and experiencing new places, and it will be awesome to do that together.


So breaking it down to this month's goals:

1. Eat from the Pantry Challenge. I did a lot of grocery shopping in November and December, what with stocking a new kitchen and experimenting with holiday recipes. I probably bought way more food than I needed-we are only two people after all. So I am going to do my best to not go to the grocery store except for perishable items like dairy and produce, and basic ingredients as they run out, like flour and sugar. I'm making bread, experimenting with soup recipes (a lot of pasta and beans in my pantry!) and cutting down portion sizes to stretch leftovers. We also signed up for a CSA so we would get fresh organic produce every week that would force some creativity into our diet (which worked wonderfully last week as I found the most delicious way to eat chard).

2. Workout 3 hours a week. The new schedule gives me about 45 min every afternoon for working out. I plan to alternate cardio and strength training and start getting myself back in shape. Three months of medications that make you gain weight and an extended illness that leaves you too exhausted to do much more than collapse when you get home from work have led to a change in my body shape that I do not enjoy. I'm hoping to lose 20 pounds in the next three months.

3. Finish the living room. We almost had the living room done and then decided to rearrange some other rooms, and the living room again became a receptacle for random stuff. By the end of the month I want to have it DONE. No more stacks of boxes, find a place for everything and put it there, put up shelves and pictures on the wall and get our couch and loveseat moved in. That way we could actually start having people over!

4. Mail Thank You cards. I know that technically I have a year after the wedding to get cards out, but I really wanted to get them out in November. Illness ended up foiling my plan, and prevented getting any Christmas cards out as well. So by the end of the month I want to get all my thank yous mailed. Oh, and all the gift cards used!

I think that's enough for now. I tend to overcommit myself at times, so I think I will save the rest for next month. Being well again has given me both physical and emotional energy now so I look forward to getting into a good rhythm and checking things off my list. Here's to 2010!