2012: Goals

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HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! It's that time of year again... we all start thinking about ways we'd like to improve ourselves, our lives and the way we live them. I've been racking my brain trying to think of things I really want to do with my 2012. So here's a few improvements, and goals I'd like to share not only to hold myself accountable for but also so I can have it in writing.

PERSONAL GOALS:
Find more reasons to celebrate.
I saw this listed on an ad, for what company I can't remember but it really stuck with me. All too often I let life pass me by and only celebrate really huge milestones like birthdays, weddings, anniversaries. Why not celebrate that it's Monday night and you didn't once say "Is it Friday yet?".  Mike and I have a long standing "date night" type tradition. When Fall shows start every Thursday night we cook a fun dinner, pop open a bottle of wine and relax watching our favorite shows. I want more nights like this for us and for our friends. It's Tuesday, let's party!

Live in the Present.
All too often I find myself thinking about the past. Or fantasizing about the future. I think it's great to look ahead, to make plans and to be hopeful, but if you spend every moment thinking about what could have been or what might be, you miss out on what you have in front of you. I want to be more present in my day to day life and enjoy this first year of marriage, and enjoy everyone after that as well. Live in the now!

Blog more.
2011 was a whirlwind for me. Since the day I got engaged my life was consumed by planning our wedding and while I should have documented more while the planning process was happening I just didn't have the time, or energy to do so. I will however do a full recap of the events. A subtitle to this is blog more HERE. I started to spread myself too thin thinking it was wise to start a weight loss blog, as well as joining a blog community and then also trying to blog on my wedding website. It was too much, instead of doing it at all I dropped them, missed deadlines and that only made me feel worse. I decided this year I will take down Cocktails and Cardio, and focus my energy on D2BD. And that way I will have more time to talk sports over at the fabulous community over at From the Sidelines. Along with blogging more I fully intend to get back into the swing of not just reading all your blogs but commenting too. Don't worry I've been lurking like a stalker, totally.

Do less, focus more.
As stated above I often get overwhelmed. I want to focus more on myself, and my relationship with my husband in our first year of marriage. This falls in the lines of doing less, to focus more on him and myself. I need to be better about asking for help. I think I try to take on too much sometimes, and need to do less to get more out of life. With all this free time, I will be able to find more reasons to celebrate! ZING!

Be the best wife I can be.
I have an amazing husband. But first he was an amazing friend and boyfriend. That hasn't changed but I need to remember that even though we had the beautiful wedding, the marriage needs to be just as beautiful as that special day and that takes work. All too often I think people slack in their marriages and I don't want to be that person. Mike lost his great uncle this past holiday season and the one thing I have noticed about him and his great aunt is their love for each other. They have been married for a very long time but you still saw the love they shared. Seeing her without him this weekend broke my heart and made me think and hope that I can be as lucky as she was to live with the man I loved for as long as she did. This is an on-going goal but one I wanted to have in writing.

Become Healthier.
This is a huge one - as most of you know I have been on a roller coaster of workouts for about two years now. P90X, ChaLean Extreme and TurboFire. All of which are amazing programs... and I saw results but, what isn't so amazing is that I'm right back where I started. Not feeling better, but worse about myself. I busted my ass to get in shape for the wedding, only to be not 100% pleased with how I looked and then let it all fall apart with the looming holidays. Instead of working for a goal of being X lbs. or Size Y. I want to instead keep up with my workouts but try to focus on how I feel, what I'm eating and how it fuels my day, my life, my mentality and my relationships.  In this quest I want to test myself to see just how clean I can make my diet. Most of my downfall wasn't my lack of effort in sweating, it was my lack of eating foods to fuel my workouts, my body and also my health. Apparently pizza n' beer aren't great workout fuel. I eat entirely too much junk, plain and simple. What good is it to push my body just to maintain the weight I'm trying to get rid of. I'm tired of lying to myself. So this year I will strive to be healthier and see where that leads me. I need a life change, not a quick fix. As stated I will blog about it here.

Try New Food.
I've been truly inspired lately to try new foods I never thought I'd want to try before. It could be my crush on Anthony Bourdain, or maybe it's in reading so many fun blogs like Omnivore100Project [love her blog!] but in the end I think expanding my taste might also help me discover healthy foods I never thought I'd want. I will also blog about this. I also think this will help me expand my diet and try new healthy foods.

Spend less, save more.
I am working on handling my debt, spending less [needs only, not wants] and putting the rest into savings for our future. It's plain and simple. I am going to try my best to only purchase NEEDS in this year, not wants. This will be difficult with our looming travel plans [see below] but I know if I set my mind to it, I can make it work.

Travel more.
This will most likely happen this year. SO it isn't really a goal - We have lots of plans to visit family and celebrate milestones such as weddings and the holidays. I look forward to visiting new places I've never been before!

Drink more wine.
You didn't think I was going to say quit drinking did you? Come on, I have to have SOMETHING I know I'll achieve on this list! ;) It will all be about moderation!

These are the items I find more important to me at this moment. The best thing about a list of goals is that it's always evolving and there is nothing wrong with adding more to the list. I am excited about 2012 and look forwarding to improving myself and my over all outlook in my life.

What are some of your goals?