Welcome 2013!

Happy New Year Humble Readers!

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I hope that you enjoyed your New Year's Eve celebrations, whether they were raucous or serene.  We had a quiet evening here in the hobbit hole... both wee-lings were snuggled under their blankets by 8:30, and my Beloved and I passed the evening playing video games (me - SuperMario Paper on the Wii) and fiddling with the new computer (my Beloved - the new laptop is for his course work as the software he needs won't run on his ancient desktop.  Can we say tax write-off?). 

My Beloved asked me a few days ago if I thought that 2012 had been a good year.  Without hesitation I said yes.  2012 brought us Pip.  None of the ugliness in my family or our financial struggles can overshadow the joy that our wee little mister has brought to our lives.  And Ginny just keeps on surprising us every day with her capacity to learn and to laugh.  In 2012 we ended our journey to build our family, and as I look ahead I can't help but wonder what this new year will bring us.  Undoubtedly, there will be new joys and new challenges that come our way, but today, as the sun shines and a warm chinook wind blows, I feel optimistic about 2013.

I'm not one for New Year's resolutions.  At least not in the usual sense.  I've never liked the vague "be better to myself" or "lose some weight" types of resolutions.  Being the to do list addict that I am, I need to have things that I can measure, things that I can cross off my list.  So instead of resolutions, I find setting specific goals tends to work better for me.  Some of my goals end up taking longer than a year to accomplish, but I like to be able to see measurable progress being made.  The tough part is always making the list achievable.   

So here's the list for 2013:

1. Health - Continue the good habits that I developed in 2012 (drinking 2-3 liters of water a day, not drinking my calories, cinnamon tea every morning and evening), only step on the scale twice a week (rather than every day), gradually add in physical activity (twice a week in January and February, then increase it for March and April and so on)
2. Self-care - Colour my hair every 8-10 weeks, get a haircut 4 times throughout the year (build it into the budget), buy new capris for the summer (build it into the budget),
3. Household - Strive for at least one meat-free dinner each week (was about 60% in 2012), keeping up with my weekly/daily to do lists, purge cds, re-work household budget (January), do mending weekly (as needed)
4. Learning - Read an average of 3 books a month with at least one of them being a new to me title, build up repertoire of meat-free recipes, learn a new crafting skill (very vague, but I don't know what I want to learn yet.)
5. Family - Attempt potty-training again with Ginny in January, Transition Ginny to her toddler bed by end of February, send out extended family birthday cards ON TIME, come up with a better way of sharing photos with far-away family.
6. Creative Endeavours - write in my "One Line A Day" journal every day, creative writing (using prompts or working on 'the story') for at least 15 minutes every day, maintain a regular blogging schedule

I know that seems like a lot.  Much of it will simply require being added to my daily to-do list.  Other than that, I think I can manage this list this year.  And it's always a given that some things simply won't happen.  Life gets in the way of the best of intentions, but every journey needs a map to point the general direction. 

What are some of your goals for the new year?