2011 New Year's Non-Resolutions

I could make a list of resolutions, it is the season to do so after all, but I promise you this:  I will break every single one of them.  For some reason, I hear New Year's Resolutions and it screams, "Break me, break me, break me" over and over in a a really loud and obnoxious voice.  So I will not make New Year's Resolutions, but will make some non-resolutions or goals that I would like to work at or accomplish in 2011.  You see, I like to actually think up things that are possible, realistic, and attainable.  I did this last year and to be honest with you, they did not pan out how I thought they would.  While last year's goals were attainable, they just did not happen to the extent that I would have liked them to have.  This thing called life happened, things changed, and now I am re-prioritizing what I am humanly capable of attaining.  If you read this blog much, you may see some repeats from years gone by...it just means that it is still very important to me and a focus again in 2011.

So here they are in no particular order....

• Read for pleasure.  I think I actually started and completed a whole whopping 3 books last year...and I have one book I have now been reading for over a year.  Reading is one of my greatest pleasures and I am not finding the time to make it happen. 

• The year of finances, finances, and finances.  It is a slow, sometimes painful, tedious necessity in life and one that I hope to better wrap my arms around this year.
• Improve church attendance this year and join a Bible study of some sort through the church or outside of it.
• Be a better friend.  I truly treasure the friends that I have in my life but know that I can do a better job of nurturing those friendships.
• Update my iPod more often!  I know that one seems a little silly but it is amazing how a little tune up once a month or so could really make it the most precious of possessions (not that it is not already).
• Have a date night with my husband once a month.  They truly do refresh us as a couple.
• Exercise.  I am always willing to exercise my mind but when it comes to the body, I just can not find the motivation.  I need to.  I want to.  Now just do it.
• Find me some me time and not squander it.  I recently realized that I have not had me time in quite awhile (no husband, no child, no other people, just me) and I need some of that just to stop the endless chatter in my head.  Just like a date night with my husband will refresh our relationship, the one I have with myself would improve as well.
• Yoga and/or pilates.  I tried a beginning yoga class a few years ago and really enjoyed it.  I want to start up again and it would probably help my back out a whole lot too.
• Purge.  I have "stuff" all over the place and am very much into decluttering my life and surroundings this year.  It is just stuff and stuff I will never use or go back and look at.  This will be an on-going battle as I am a pack rat.
• Continue on my diet...it works, it really does, just  gotta keep at it!
• Get a new couch.  Hint, hint, husband.
• Be the best wife I can be to my husband.  He deserves everything that I can give to him.
• Cherish every single little moment that I have with Elizabeth.  She is growing up and changing so fast and one day I will look back and realize that she is a teenager.  I want to soak in every single one of those moments--even the not fun ones, they are still moments with her.

“May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you’re wonderful, and don’t forget to make some art — write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself.”- Neil Gaiman