Happy New Year!

I hope everyone rang in the New Year with a Bang!   In case you didn’t catch it that was a little reference to my Christmas card which, by the way, not many people inquired about.   To fill you in, the photo of Tom and me with shotguns was taken on my family’s farm in Iowa.  We were skeet shooting over Thanksgiving, which was a blast.

Anyway…..  I figure I better acknowledge that a new year is upon us.   I’m not much for New Year’s resolutions but I do think it is important to set goals.   So I’ve decided to take the quarterly approach to goal setting this year.

By April 1, 2011, I hope to achieve the following:

1)      Lose 5 lbs.  I’m still working on 10 but figure it will help to be realistic and gradual.

2)      Get to know myself better.   This may sound vague but I think it is very important to be in tune with yourself and know what you want, what you need, what you will and won’t tolerate, etc.   I need to listen to my mind, my gut, and my body more. 

3)      Get to know YOU better.  I want to take more time to get to know the people in my life better; on an individual level.   As I mature, I am more interested in meaningful conversations.  No more talk about the weather and celebrity gossip.  I want to know what experiences made you who you are, what makes you laugh, what keeps you awake at night, and what you are passionate about.  

4)      Learn the basics of Spanish.  In three months I hope to know enough to get by, but eventually I would love to be bilingual.  Italian was my first choice in languages but I’ve decided that Spanish is more realistic and I have way more people to practice on and converse with.   Any Spanish speakers out there that want to practice with me (over some tequila, of course)?

5)      Take better photos.    I took one, short photography class this fall and I need to practice what I learned and continue with my education, practice, and learning.   I might also have to invest in some new equipment now that I’ve seen the difference that lenses and flashes can make.  

6)      Catch up on photo albums.  I used to be a scrapbooker.  (I actually still need to be to finish up those half finished albums from a couple years ago.)    I’ve run out of room (and patience) for traditional photo albums and in 2009 I decided to start doing my albums online.  They save space on the shelf because they are much smaller (book size) and they save space in my house because I can get rid of all the glue, stickers, paper, scissor, etc. that goes along with scrapbooking.   In the digital age there are so many more photos to weed through and organize that I really need to stay on top of it before my memories are lost.   I guess to quantify it; I would like to finish 2-3 online photo albums by April 1.

7)      Tone up.   The older I get, the softer I get.  I need to stay ahead of this trend and try to firm up with more strength training.  Hello tank tops and mini skirts!   On an un-vain note, I’m also doing this for health reasons because weight training is really good for maintaining bone density, and I want to feel strong well into my 90s.     

That should keep me busy for the next three months.  I would love to hear some of your resolutions/goals???