New Years Resolutions

It's that time of year again. I love The start of a new year, it always gives me focus and clarity and the feeling of having a fresh start is something I treasure. 2014 was a year of emotional highs and lows and it's looking like 2015 will bring with it a whole new set of challenges. Now is a time for me to reflect on the past year and reorganize my priorities for the year ahead. I like to record my resolutions, or as I like to call them "things I want to work on" here in the blog as a way to solidify my goals and hold myself accountable. Whatever comes my way in 2015 I am so incredibly blessed by my amazing support network and so lucky to have a life I love. So here is my list of things to work on for the coming year. I may need to refer back to it often so having it here will make my life a little easier :-)

1. Number one for me this year is to take a little more time for myself. As a wife and mom it is so easy to put everyone else's needs in front of your own. Sometimes I feel like I am working non stop and never get to spend any time on the things I want to do. A lot of this has to do with having two very young kids but I also have an amazing network of people who are more than happy to watch the kids every now and then so I can have a little "me" time. I really want to focus on my mental, physical and spiritual health this year and take time to start a yoga class, read for pleasure, visit with friends, and even just have a little quiet time. I think that by making time for myself I will be an even better wife and mom for my family.

That was the big one, now on to the smaller, more manageable goals.

2. Use the Library more. This is a great resource for both the kids and myself that I totally under utilize. Specifically I want to learn how to check out books for my Kindle.

3. Start Journaling. This is something that gets talked about a lot in the project based home schooling book that I mention so much. Now that Echo is getting old enough to really display certain interests journaling will really help me focus in on what she wants to do so that I can help her explore her areas of interest in more depth. I also want to journal as a way to keep track of both kid's milestones and document my thoughts and feelings. The blog is great for a lot of things but sometimes I want to write down things that are more private and keeping a paper journal will let me do that.

4. Set up Epay and Auto Pay for all my bills. There is really no excuse for mailing paper checks in to pay my bills in this day in age. I have a lot of things set up for auto pay already but I want to get everything done this way.

5. Update framed photos. Poor Clover is massively underrepresented in our framed family photos. Putting up new photos is one of those things I keep putting off that never seems to get done.

6. Hike weekly. Echo has made it abundantly clear that she is an outside kind of gal. I feel like I haven't done as good of a job of giving her outside time as I could have (even though that was a resolution from last year). I think if I pick a day to take her hiking once a week and have it be a standing thing we do I will stick to it better. She is getting old enough to really enjoy exploring nature and there are an abundance of short trails that are just perfect for a two and half year old near by.

7. Eat mindfully. In November of this year I started counting calories using an app on my phone. I wasn't very strict about it but it is a way for me to be mindful of what I am putting in my body and not make myself feel miserable by over eating. I want to continue to be conscious of this in the new year, I really do feel better when I don't go overboard on the junk food.