2015 Goals

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Resolutions, Goals, Intentions, Plans…..they all mean the same thing and many people make resolutions at the start of the year, only to break them and fall off the wagon within a month.

I used to be part of this group, but I have decided to make my goals more attainable and work on progressing them forward throughout the year. For example, weight gain doesn’t happen in a month, so you can’t expect to reverse the holiday affects completely by the end of January. But if you stick with it, you will see progress that should keep motivating you to go further.

I’m not going to layout all my goals for 2015 in the blog, but I will mention a few that I hope to work towards in 2015.

1) I hope to continue to live my healthy lifestyle. I really kicked it in gear and figured out what worked for me starting at the end of June. I made attainable goals and kept working towards smaller goals to get to that main one. Anytime you complete a goal, I feel a reward is due and I gave myself small rewards along the way. The holidays were tough for me, but I’m excited to get back at it!

2) In conjunction with the healthy lifestyle, I hope to continue my running and working out. I really got into a groove and made amazing progress on running a faster 5k. Then a miserable cough (and a possible asthma diagnosis) took me out of commission for a few months. I didn’t let it completely stop me, and I now know what I can do to keep working at my goal.

3) I want to continue to eat and cook healthy. I hope to cook more at home and received some great cookbooks for Christmas. My guy likes to cook too, so I hope we can blend our flavors together and come up with some really great dishes that we will then share with all of you.

And I won’t stop the recreations of my area restaurant favorite meals. The duck confit flatbread from Bernie’s will be accomplished this year….thanks to finding duck breasts at Woodman’s (I really didn’t want to buy an entire duck and fear having to clean it!) But don’t worry this won’t deter me from coming to the restaurants downtown – not even a little bit.

4) I hope to grow my blog. I have a few things already in place to make this happen, but I hope that I can grow my readership and one of the best ways to do this is word of mouth. I’m out of business cards and I hope to get some new ones made so I can pass them out around the city and get them in the hands of more people. But I also would love the help of my existing community of readers to help me get new folks on board by sharing my blog and Facebook page with your friends.

5) Renovations – My condo is great and I am very happy with it as my first home. But with all things that are almost 30 years old, some work is needed. I am hoping to renovate a bathroom and get the basement back into shape after the Great Basement Flood of 2014. I also am going to rip out some plants and do a little landscaping so I can enjoy my outdoor space more this summer. Other areas to renovate include the kitchen, deck and shower, but I won’t put too much on my plate for one year!

Oh if only! Maybe in my next house!

6) Try more new things. My family already tells me that I am someone that always is on the move and trying new places to eat, checking out new stores, trying a new drink, making new recipes, going to shows, networking and meeting new people. I love that I do this and I hope to continue it. I hope to try at least one “new to me” place, thing or idea a month.

6) And overall, I hope to be a more positive person. I think that moods are contagious and no one wants negativity to spread. I know that not everyday will be sunshine and rainbows, but after completing the 100 Happy Days movement on social media, I can definitely notice a difference in myself and how I view the world. My friend gave me a jar for Christmas last year to put your happy thoughts in. I read them back and it made me really happy to reminisce. I will continue to fill that jar this year!