2012 Goals

Okay, I've had some time to think about what I want to accomplish this year...

1. Health & Fitness
The last two years I've lost about 10 pounds. The difference was early last year, I put most of it back on before I took it off again. This year, I don't want to do that. Instead, I want to continue on my current path of weight loss and lose about 10 more pounds. My ultimate goal is to lose 15 pounds, though 20 would be perfect.

I started taking a Zumba class last fall, and I love it! It starts back up this Wednesday evening, and I plan to get right back in the swing of things. When Zumba's not going on, I need to find something else to keep me moving.

2. Personal Organization
I decided about a month ago that 2012 would be my year to get organized. I think the main thing that got me started thinking that way was Pinterest - and the many organizational tools I found there. My first project in that area is making a wipe-off calendar to match my bedroom. Since that's where most of my "work" takes place, I thought it would be nice to have a color-coordinated calendar to hang permanently. I'm also making a coordinating wipe-off to-do list to hang next to it.

Also in this arena, I'd like to get back to my menu planning. (And in conjunction with my health and fitness goals, plan healthier meals. I really need to work more vegetables into our meals...) Every month, I've been printing off a calendar and writing in our meals a week or so at a time. I'd like to make another wipe-off calendar or something similar (I've seen several on Pinterest...) for the kitchen for just that purpose.

I'd also like to get my house-cleaning schedule more organized. For a while I was doing great with following along with The Flylady. I like her weekly cleaning zones, but I wanted to do some other things on my own. And, through Pinterest again, I've found several websites to help with that.

3. Photography
Yes, photography is here again, in spite of my complete failure in that area last year. I can't help it. It's something that I love to do. I want to get back to participating in the Photo Friday challenges and I want to keep up in my photo blog that I started last year (I think) and only posted 3 or 4 things to... I want to use the photographic technique books I've gotten for Christmas the last few years.

I also need to finish organizing the 15+ months worth of photos that I've downloaded from my various cameras and get them edited, renamed, and filed away into our iPhoto program. Maybe that should be one of the first things on my new to-do list for January...

4. Reading
I don't want to set a number of books to read this year. If I happen to come across something that's good but slow, I don't want to feel like I need to rush through it to reach my goal. That happened last year with George Bush's Decision Points.

I also don't want to set some parameter like reading one classic each month. I'm not always in the mood for a classic, and if one classic takes me a long time (like Jane Austen's Emma), I don't want to feel like I have to jump into another one just to keep up.

What I do want to do this year is read some of the books I have here at home. Usually, once I buy a book, I put it on my shelf and forget about it until some much later date. If I check something out from the library, I'm more likely to read it because I have a limited time to keep it. Another reason I want to do this it to clear off some of my shelf space. I have some books that I haven't yet read, and I don't know if they're worth keeping or not because I haven't read them. What I'd rather do is read some good ones and pass them on to friends to read and pass on to someone else. Then there are those that aren't worth passing on..., but might sell in a garage sale. :o)

5. Jewelry Business
For the last two years, I've been slow about getting my jewelry business off the ground. I've read several books about how to turn a hobby into a business or how to start your own small business, but a lot of what's there doesn't really apply to what I want to do. Several weeks ago, I was browsing the jewelry book shelves at Half-Price Books and came across one that had lots of promise, though: How to Start a Home-Based Jewelry Business by Maire Loughran. I started reading it from the start a few weeks ago and I'm planning to work through the step-by-step process to get things going. Part of that involves setting up a schedule for working on the jewelry pieces, which has now been delegated to Saturdays because of all the "normal" busyness. Maybe if I get myself organized, I can work in a few other times each week.

6. Bible Study
I started this year reading the Bible through chronologically with a group on Facebook. Each day, we can post our thoughts, discoveries, questions, encouragement, etc. My new friend Julie Black put out a request for an accountability partner to help her on her journey through the Bible in a year, and several of her friends said they'd like to do it with her. She started a private group, and there are now close to 15 of us participating. I've always wanted to read it chronologically, and I think this is a great way to go about it!

7. Blogging
Here's another thing I say every year: I want to blog more. Sometimes I do, then other times I don't. It's not a matter of having time to do it. It's a matter of making the time to do it. I've realized just how much time I waste online and I'm trying to use that time more wisely to get other things done (personal organization, jewelry business,...). Blogging would fill some of that gap... And there's also my recipe blog and my photo blog that I want to keep up with... (Everything's related, right?)

Well, I think that's enough to work on this year. It's the same as always, but always a little different, you know? We'll see...