Goals for 2012

I actually usually don't set goals for the year, or have any resolutions...but I have grown a lot this year, and I think 2012 will be even more crazy, exciting and awesome than this year and I want to look and back and feel completely great about it. So I've thought of a few goals that I think will help me achieve that :) I may add more later, or adjust these a little, but this is what I've got so far (feel free to comment on what you think. i.e. realistic/unrealistic, good/bad, suggestions...):


-Keep up with my 365 blog. The main reason I quit last year is because I was insistent on writing something with every picture, and didn't have time to do that every day. This year, I will not even worry about it. If it's a picture of my daughter or my dogs every day, with no caption, I'm okay with that.

-Be a good wife: see the best in my husband, pray for him daily, be respectful and thoughtful, control my complaining (it's so easy to complain to your absolute BEST friend...but sometimes you really shouldn't complain to your husband so much...maybe I just shouldn't complain so much) communicate my feelings openly without fear or reservation, (which also goes along with this last one) don't hold things in, i.e. "what's wrong?" "nothing"...I'm going to try and eliminate that conversation from our lives this year :)


-Teach my daughter something every day. I think this is realistic because I will be teaching her with my actions most of the time anyway. I should have that in the back of my mind always, so that my actions teach her how to be a Godly, honest, loving, humble, kind and generous person.

-Sing more. I know this sounds silly, but I love to sing (even if I'm not that great) and have seriously been missing this in my life for the past few years.

-Grow in the Lord. More specifically, I would like to have a better relationship through reading the scripture and prayer. I feel like I've grown in my desire to do that in 2011 (as well as cutting out a lot of hindrances that kept me from it before), but haven't really gone much further.

-Go to church at least 3 times a month. I would like this to not even have to be a goal or something I think about, but just something I do. It has sort of turned into a chore to get up and go on Sunday morning. But, I miss that in my life too. I enjoy going to church, learning and socializing with other believers, and I need it.

-Call my family every week. I am THE worst phone caller. So, I'm going to make a list of people I want to call on a regular basis, and call them. Even if it's a 5 minute conversation about the weather, I SHOULD be communicating with them and I feel bad that I'm not, so I'm going to do better!

-Send birthday/occasion cards...on time. This is just something I want to do. I love making cards, and I love sending them. I am actually pretty thoughtful, and I think about who's birthday is coming up in the next month (without a calendar or anything!), but I also procrastinate....I wait until the week before their birthday to make a card, then something comes up, I put it off and then it never gets done. Then I beat myself up about it. Not because they were expecting something from me, but just because I wanted to send something and didn't. So I'm going to do better this year :)

-Create a monthly photo book (of some sort...either scrapbook, or otherwise) for Annabelle. This is for her, but it's more for me. I want to take a picture of her in the same place (same general background) with the same outfit on (preferably a onesie with the month on it) and write down all the milestones from that month, as well as have pictures for them (if I can). I may keep this small, and then create a bigger scrapbook later...because I've heard you don't have much time when you have a baby :)

-Save money. For me, this means spend less. I'm still trying to adjust to one income, after 10  months of not working. I'm starting to get it, but I still need to do better. It doesn't matter if Sean is promoted and/or becomes a Warrant Officer...I do a lot of extraneous spending, and it really affects our budget in a bad way. My sweet husband is not one to stress, or let our finances get to him (even if we have to wait to buy groceries until next paycheck, his composure never changes..even if he's freaking out or stressed to the max on the inside..it doesn't show, and it makes me feel so much better. And he never makes me feel bad about it. I love that about him.  BUT, that doesn't negate the fact that my habits still need to change. Not drastically or anything, I just need to be more careful, and go without a few things that I want (and don't need) every month. Easy (right?). :)

-Keep my car clean. When I got a new car, I thought I would NEVER let it get dirty. This fall was so busy and I got so uncomfortable that I really let it go. It honestly isn't even that bad, but it's been several months since I've even vacuumed it, and it's driving me nuts! I would love it if this was something Sean enjoyed doing, or at least made one of his regular chores, but we're not quite there yet, and since it bugs me (and I'm the one driving it!), my goal is to keep it clean.

-Loose my baby weight and get back into RUNNING shape!  How long will this take? all year? a few months? I have no idea, but I want to enjoy being a healthy 24 year old and really cherish the fact that I am able to exercise and eat good food......we'll see how this goes. I'm not really going to make any specific goals except that I want to be able to run several times a week before summer starts (because lets face it...I just don't run when it's 100 degrees outside).

-Eat less sugar. Okay, I should have cut back this whole year being pregnant, but I have SUCH a sweet tooth! I'm pretty sure it's where my extra 10+ lbs came from these past few weeks :) I don't know what happened...for so long, I really didn't even eat desserts. Or, if I did, it was in almost extreme moderation. I didn't even keep candy in the house.....but NOW! I have no self control. I need to cut it out.