The Holidays and the aftermath were so crazy that I never really sat down to reflect or set goals for the new year. I never seem to stick with resolutions so for the past few years I haven’t really made any. But this year I just wanted to make a note of a few things I’d like to stick with or try to do better.

Reach my next goal weight.
I have been such a slacker on working out for the last few months, that I haven’t lost any more weight toward my newest goal. In fact, I gained 3 or 4 pounds back over the Holidays from eating too many baked goods. Heh. I really want to get some workouts in before the big move, but it’s tough with all of the stuff that has to be done before then. Regardless, I’m going to start making myself get my rear out of bed and workout at a minimum of 2 or 3 mornings a week. I would LOVE to be able to start walking again, but the cold kind of deters me. I’ll probably be doing more than enough walking to make up for it once we’re living in Japan so I try not to beat myself up to much about it. If I can just get motivated to workout those few times week, I know it will do me a world of good without being too unrealistic of a plan. If I have to workout every day, I won’t. I know this about myself. I won’t lose the weight as quickly this way, but I’m much more likely to stick with it and keep it off as I’ve already proven up to this point aside from the Holiday baked goods binge.

Continue to make healthier eating choices to build even better habits.
Diet wise, I’m still doing pretty well now that I’m back home, though I’m always striving to be healthier. We’ve already gone completely organic for any meat or dairy that comes across our table at home, usually only eat red meat when we go out a few times a month, and we try to buy as much else organic as we can, mostly our snacks and convenience foods that are already processed to death without any help from extra additives. We eat a lot of fruit, and we try to get our produce organic when possible. This year I’d like to incorporate more vegetables into my family’s daily diet, even if only in small doses at first. I’ve even started eating broccoli! Which for me is kind of like a sign of the End Times or something. So one recipe at a time, I hope to add in the nutrients I know we are missing from a lack of vegetables and at the same time replace some not as healthy alternatives we’re currently eating – even if that means pureeing cauliflower into our lasagna.

Continue to study Japanese and improve my proficiency.
Having two courses under my belt from last semester has helped tremendously in heading toward this goal. I unfortunately have to skip a session because the class I had registered for was canceled which means I won’t be picking back up with official schooling in the language until March, but I’m hoping to stay motivated to go over everything I learned last semester and be fresh and ready to go when the class does start. I’m determined to be confident enough to speak with the natives while we’re living in Japan, and to know enough that I don’t need to be afraid to go places or try things because communication shouldn’t even be an issue. As long as I don’t make excuses never to get out there and practice, living in Japan will further my fluency more than any book study I could ever do.

Get back a little piece of myself.
I haven’t done anything related to the creative hobbies I used to love so much in years it seems. I let it all fall by the wayside in place of school and being a stay-at-home mom. But I really don’t want to lose that part of myself. I would like to begin by at least picking up with my scrapbooking during Anya’s naps once all of my homework for the given week is completed and see where it goes from there. At least that way I can trick myself by feeling like I’m being productive at the same time by getting those scrapbooks caught up that I haven’t touched since Anya’s first birthday. Once we’re settled in Japan I will revisit this goal and come up with a way to motivate myself to draw and/or write again. Maybe set a goal for so many doodles a week or something. We’ll see what things look like when we get there. Don’t want to make any unrealistic goals that I’ll have no way of reaching. (And when I finally get back around to drawing, I’ll be sure to post the results since I have more than capable scanning software.)

Read more.
Reading is another one of those hobbies that fell by the wayside when the amount of time I had to myself was drastically reduced by motherhood. I recently read a book after being motivated by all the good things I’d heard during the hype for the release of the upcoming film version, and I just felt so relaxed and refreshed after a good reading session. I feel that it would be really good way for me to de-stress without having to actively be involved in something like I would for creative endeavors. I would like to read at least one book a month for now and go from there.

Next year I hope to look back and see some of these things accomplished!