Monday, January 2, 2012

Happy New Year!

I don't normally do resolutions. Or rather, I usually spend the entire month of December thinking of potential resolutions, and then I half-heartedly commit to some of them, but only in my own head. However, I really am a sucker for tradition, and I also have a real appreciation for the symbolic clean-slate that is a new year. As such, I've decided that, not only am I going to start really making resolutions, but that they're also going to be goal oriented, and that I'm going to write them down for accountability's sake.

So, with that, these are my resolutions for 2012. 
In 2012 I will:

Spend more of my life in the real world, and less of it on the internet.
Run
     -15 miles a week (minimum) for the first 6 months
     -21 miles a week (minimum) after the first 6 months, or once I've worked   back up to that mileage, whichever comes first.
     -Run at least five 5ks
     -Pick a half-marathon to run
     -Run (my first!) half-marathon
     -Weekly blog update about my running
     -Cross-train:
          Yoga 5 mornings a week
           3 fitness classes a week
           Wii fit. I have it, I should use it more.
Write
     -My thesis!
     -Three professional papers
     -Blog about my general life and my resolutions. Where noted I'll do updates on my resolutions on a specific interval.  I also plan to check-in here quarterly to do summary check-ins. I've already set my calender up to remind me.
     -Letters-- real letters, not just emails-- to people I love. Minimum of one letter a month, to each person on my list.
Read
     -I have 140 books sitting in my "To-Read" stacks. I will read 100 of them this year, plus whatever I'm assigned for school. I will write reviews of each book I read. 
     -Reviews will be posted on Goodreads, and cross-posted here.
Mealplan
     -Make a weekly meal plan for 5/7 dinners a week
     -Make at least 2 recipes a week inspired from one of the myriad cookbooks I have, but never use.
     -Grocery shop based on my meal plan, cut down on impulse buying food. (Even if it's beautiful, beautiful produce.)
     -Blog about my meal plan successes and failures. (Monthly?)
Simplify
     -Clean out my closest
     -Donate 2 boxes of stuff to Goodwill, twice this year
     -Clean and organize my hard drives
     -Get rid of books that I've finished reading and disliked (or didn't actively love.)
     -Get rid of any cookbooks I haven't used at the end of the year.
Create
     -Improve my sewing skills
     -Learn to knit (or crochet)
Finish Anthropology MA, graduate
Begin Master in Nursing Science

Maybe I'm being unrealistically ambitious, but I don't think so. We'll see.

I'm counting on you to help hold me accountable. What are your resolutions for 2012?

2 comments:

Elizabeth said...

I love your purging of books and cookbook ideas! I should add that to my list of simplifying. My main goal is to clean out those dreaded under the sink cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms and purge anything I haven't used in a year no matter how much I paid for it!
Good luck to you, especially with the half marathon :)

Kim said...

Thanks! I've been a horribly inconsistent runner ever since I started grad-school, so I'm excited to have a goal to get me not just back on track, but also to push myself further than I have before!

We moved this summer, and I made myself do a purge of the cabinets prior to packing everything else up. It's amazing the products we acquire, and just never use.