2009 Goals Summary

All right. A week into January and I'm finally ready to post my New Year's Resolutions. But first, a post to conclude my last year's goals and reasons why I did or did not accomplish them.

1)Become more involved in the ward
Moving into a new ward, I was actually able to accomplish this goal. Our stake does volleyball on Tuesday nights, so the volleyball enthusiast I am, I went to play my first week in the new ward and quickly made some new friends. One in particular, has become one of my absolute best friends and I love hanging out and doing things with her and her family. It's easier to go to all 3 church meetings when you have friends in your ward...and if you have an intensive calling that requires you to be there all 3 hours. But with these successes, I'm still a crappy visiting teacher and Ry and I may have accidentally let our temple recommends expire. We're currently working to remedy that situation. The temple recommendation situation, not the visiting teaching situation. I still hate it!

2)Run a 5k
While I never actually ran an official race last year, I don't consider it a failed goal. I finally buckled down and got back to the gym and way into running. And now that I'm training for a marathon, running 5k is like a warm up. In my training, I'm actually up to running about a 10k. So, I consider this goal met!

3)Manage a healthier lifestyle
Well, the no soda thing was definitely a monumental fail. Diet cherry Pepsi is just too good! And, making a weekly dinner menu and shopping list? Yeah right. I barely have time to cook, let alone plan an entire menu. Though, if I planned a menu for the week, that probably would actually save me some time...hmmm. And I did track my calories for a pretty long time. But did I stay between 1200-1500 calories a day? Not likely. And especially now that I'm running so much, I eat ALL the time because I need to replenish my depleted calories. But for the record, I have been making healthier choices as to the foods I'm choosing to get my calories from. I've made it a point to eat breakfast everyday and to have 2 additional square meals during the afternoon and evening. I've also been more conscious of the snacks I eat between meals. Lean Cuisines have actually turned into my best friends. MMM! I think I'll go eat one now...

4)Save money
For Christmas this year, I'm happy to report that I didn't buy anything on credit. I couldn't. I cut up my credit cards. Instead, I took advantage of Kmart's layaway plan and paid for my entire Christmas with cold hard cash that I earned from donating plasma. I continue to pay above the minimum payment each month on my credit cards, and Ry and I hardly ever eat out anymore...except when it comes to Five Guys, then we're kind of suckers. When it comes to tithing, though, we've struggled. If we want to get our recommends back, we've gotta start getting in the habit of putting money directly away for tithing the second we get our paychecks.

5)Implement more constructive family time
Does watching Baby Einstein together count? Ice Age? Lolli watches WAY too much TV and Ry and I need to be better about engaging in constructive activities with her. We also need to get back in the habit of family prayer and reading the scriptures. Still, we did teach Lolli to fold her arms and say "Amen" so we're not complete failures as parents.

Overall, I don't think 2009 was such a bad year for goals. I'm not disappointed in myself, rather, I'm extremely happy for how much I actually accomplished. 2009 was definitely a difficult year for us and I could have done a lot worse in trying to accomplish my goals. I have high hopes and expectations for 2010 and I hope to complete the goals I failed to last year.

I'm more positive about our situation and our future, whereas last year, things were very shaky and unpredictable. Granted, life will always be unpredictable but at least now I've got more faith and confidence than I did before.

So, here's to giving 2009 the boot and welcoming the craziness and challenges 2010 is sure to bring!