Welcome 2014

Happy New Year!

res-o-lu-tion

1. The state or quality of being resolute; firm determination.

2. A resolving to do something.

3. A course of action determined or decided on.

How many of you made a new year's resolution this year? Is it a resolution or is it a goal? A goal is something you strive for until you reach it with your focus being on the goal instead of the journey. A resolution is a lifestyle change where you enjoy the journey as you become a better you. So often we hear people state their new year's resolution is to loose X amount of weight, or get a promotion at work, or live up your summer with friends. As awesome as those things sound, they are more goals than a resolution. What happens once you loose the amount of weight you were aiming for? Do you make a new goal or are you done? What happens once you get the promotion? Do you strive for more or are you satisfied? What comes after your summer of fun?

This year I decided to focus my resolutions on lifestyle changes, or things that require me to continue working at them throughout the year and years to come. Most people set goals at the new year and forget about them by February, I am definitely guilty of that. I didn't want that to be me this year, so I decided to make some resolutions and stick to them. Here are some of my resolutions:

1. Become more Christ-like by saturating myself with Christ's Word more often than I have been. I am doing a Bible reading plan that puts me on track to read through the whole Bible in one year. I've tried to do this before, but it was more of a goal to read through the Bible instead of become a better Christian. This year I am focusing on Christ working in my heart and molding it to be more like Him. If I happen to read through the whole Bible in that process then cool! But if not, it will not matter if my heart it pointed more towards Christ.

2. Continue to grow and learn in my friendships and especially my relationship with Drew. I want to work on putting people and their feelings before my own. This is one area I know I will continually fail in, but by God's grace I know I will get better at it. I feel this is an area I can grow in my entire life. There is always new things to learn about people as they are always changing. I want to really get to know my friends and spouse better.

3. Become a healthier and better me by eating cleaner and working out regularly. I have been working out six days a week to get back into shape. Once I'm in shape again, I want to stay consistent with my workouts instead of being happy with how far I've come only to stop working out and loose it all. Maybe once I'm in shape I'll decide to run a race, or maybe I'll just keep working out to maintain a healthy lifestyle. We will see. I am also adding more and more paleo meals to our diet to work on clean eating.

4. Become more content with what I have. This last year I have been tempted way too often with email coupons from some of my favorite retail stores. Sometimes it would be such a good deal (50% off entire purchase) that I would find myself finding something to buy just to use the coupon, even if neither Andrew nor I needed anything. I have unsubscribed to these emails and will only purchase things this year that are a true need. If I find something I really want and it's in our budget, I will purchase only if I donate something in it's place. (Example: I find a shirt a really want, so I donate a shirt before I buy it.)

5. Become a more thankful and positive person. Last August I started journaling every single night before bed. In my journal I write down at least three things I was thankful for that day. I want to continue to do this throughout my life. It has been such a great experience. It has really pushed me to see the positive in the not so good days and have a more thankful heart. I have also found myself thanking Jesus more often throughout the day for the little things we would usually forget to acknowledge or not even notice. How cool is it to be able to have a written record of all you were thankful for that you can go back and look at too!?

Now that my resolutions are out there, feel free to check in with me and see how I'm doing. It's nice to have some accountability in life. What are some resolutions or goals you made for yourself in 2014 and the years to come? Hope you are all off to a good start in 2014!

My handsome new years kiss

2013 And Some Goals

I know we are over half way into our first month of 2013 already, but it's never too late to make goals for the upcoming year. It has been nice to reflect on 2012 the last few weeks and think of ways to make 2013 even better. I already got a good start on 2013 by celebrating my 24th birthday and cleansing my body with a good old head cold. But seriously, I want this to be a year of growth, learning, adventure, change, and love. I want to look back on 2013 and know that I am a different person because of my experiences and how the Lord worked in my heart. I want to be the best "ME" I can be this year.

Some of my goals I am striving to achieve this year:

1. I want to know the Lord in a way I've never known him before. I want to make it a point every day to spend time in His word. I want to practice being silent and listening to what He has to say. I want an intimate relationship with Him beyond what I have already. I know it will be a daily struggle -especially at first, but I know I can do it with help from Him. I found a Bible reading plan and I'm hoping to read some scripture daily so that I can read through the Bible by the end of 2013. I can do this!

2. I want to continue to learn more about my husband and grow with him daily. We decided to put aside one night a week for a date night with no phones, computers, or TV. I am super excited about this. We have been married two years now and have gone on dates throughout those two years, but we have one night now where we know nothing else will happen except date night. I am pumped for intentional time with my husband weekly!

3. I want to be healthy. After having my cold in the beginning of the month, I realized how important it is to do everything I can to keep myself healthy. I already take whole food vitamins every day to help my body get all the nutrients it needs, but I want to work out and eat healthy too. I have had a gym membership for a year now and I intend to put it to good use. I've been working out Monday, Thursday, and Friday mornings before work and I really like the routine I've started. I also have cut my sugar intake way down. It has only been a couple weeks, but I already feel better and I have more energy during the day.

4. I want to strive to be a morning person. The last couple of weeks I have been waking up at 7am. When my alarm goes off I almost get angry and think to myself is it seriously 7am already!? I want to develop a habit of getting up at the same time every day though because I think it will make it easier to get up the days I actually have to be up that early. I have done pretty well so far. I just wish the sun would come out earlier because I think that would make it easier to get up. I also have a lot more time in the am to get things done like devotions, a workout, and other apartment work. It really frees up time in my evenings when I get home from work.

5. Along with being healthier this year, I want to run another 5k or two. I've ran one in my life and that was back in summer of 2011. Last year I always said I wanted to run one, but when it came to signing up I always chickened out. A few on my list that I might check out are: The Monticello Riverfest 5K in July, The Color Run in July, The Monster Dash in October, The Turkey Day 5k in November, and The Reindeer Run in December. If anyone knows of any other fun runs in the Minneapolis area let me know! I'd love to look into a few different options that might be cheaper.

6. I want this to be a year of adventure. I want to take risks and try new things. I want to travel places and see new things. I want to be spontaneous and have fun and I want Andrew to be there trying new things, taking risks, traveling places, and seeing new things with me. I want to have stories to tell our future kids one day that start out with us saying, "Remember that one awesome time in 2013…"

7. I want to become more of a minimalist. This one will be especially hard for me because I have pack-rat tendencies. I always go into "spring cleaning" with the intention of getting rid of a lot of things, but instead I end up reorganizing my things so that I can keep everything because it "might come in handy one day." Well I am sick of having "organized clutter" and would love to live in a simpler environment. This will be a longer process, but I hope by the end of 2013 I can say that I've accomplished minimizing my things (especially my clothes).

8. Along with becoming more of a minimalist, I want to go through my entire wardrobe and get rid of at least a quarter of the clothes I own. I own way too many clothes and I don't even wear all of them. I love to go shopping and buy new clothes (clearance ones), but I have no where to put new clothes (and really no need for them). So after going through my clothes and getting rid of a bunch of them I am making a rule that if I want to purchase a new clothing item, I have to get rid of an item I currently own first. That way my wardrobe won't grow it will stay the same size.

9. I want to have a table at the Bethlehem Baptist Craft Fair this fall. Every year I always wish I would have had my own table to sell the things I love to create. This will be my year. I'm hoping to launch an etsy sight too around fall. I plan to sell knitted baby hats, washcloths, and headbands, hand crafted hair pieces and headbands, and baby quilts. Until then I will enjoy creating a whole bunch of merchandise to get ready and figuring out a name for my "shop".

10. I just want to enjoy life this year and live it to the fullest. I don't want to let the anxieties and stresses of life take over and rob the joy of living. I want to instead, lift those burdens to Christ on a daily basis so that I may be free to enjoy life and the little things every day.

Day dreaming about everything I hope to accomplish in 2013 makes me so excited to start the year! I can't wait to start organizing, creating, and accomplishing my goals for the year! Here's to a happy, healthy, productive year!