The Change I Need

Soo....its close to the beginning of the year, and in honor of the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama taking place here on Tuesday (at least I think I may have heard somewhere there's an inauguration happening) I'm going to list my goals for change in the New Year. Some are continuations of last year's goals (in italics)...I'll make comments to those in red, and add additional goals at the end because who can have too many goals?

These aren't exactly New Year's Resolutions, per se, but rather where I see my life 12 months from now.

1. Find a new job. That didn't happen. However, I say this with all sincerity, by 2010, I will have moved on. I am going to spend at least 4 hours a week from here on out job searching. I did have two interviews in 2008, but nothing I really wanted. I've decided to focus on federal government jobs.

2. Develop a five year plan. Nope, didn't happen. I still want to develop longer term goals, but this is not quite as vital right now as goal #1. I would like to figure out whether or not I want to go back to school by the end of this year.

3. Run a few races. I passed this one with flying colors (and didn't pass out in 2008!) I did the Cherry Blossom, Annapolis and Army 10 milers, decreasing my time throughout the year. I also did the Turkey Trot 5 miler. In 2009, I'd like to run at least 4 races again.

4. Look and feel better physically than I do now. I can say I accomplished this goal as well. I'm down about 15 pounds from my high, and lost over 10 pounds in 2008 and kept it off. I would like to lose 10-15 more, but I'm not that worried about how much time it takes. I'd like to be at my "ideal" weight by my 30th birthday March 31, 2010 :)

5. Get organized. I realize this is too general, but basically I want/need to get my new room at my new residence in order, keep my finances in check, and keep up with stupid mundane tasks like laundry. I'd say this was a success. My room got messy a lot, but I saved money last year, I bought an expandable file to organize all of my paperwork, and I did laundry a lot more often than I used to :) I would like to keep this up (and improve on keeping the room clean) in 2009.

6. Read. I did a fairly good job of reading more this past year, which was one of my goals, and I'd like to continue that trend. I read several books this year, and enjoyed many of them. I have a lot waiting for me at home to read, so I'd like to read at least one book a month in 2009.

7. Visit one place I've never been before. Could be a new state, could be a new country....stay tuned to figure out where! 2008 was the year of the weddings; I went to six including 3 weeks in a row in May (New Orleans - second visit of the year, Chicago, Baltimore, Columbus, Richmond and Sandusky); I also went to Vegas for work, and we went to California to visit MG's bf, NYC, and Kentucky for the Derby. None of those are places I hadn't been before, though. I did go to the Outerbanks for a week, though, Miami for work, Charlottesville and even though I'd been to the states of North Carolina, Florida, (and obviously Virginia) respectively I'd never been to either of those locations so I'm counting them :) There shouldn't be a problem with this resolution in 2009, because in honor of Grammy, we're going to Germany in the summer since she never made it there and always wanted to see it. Of course, there will also be several other trips, which I'll be sure to blog about here :)

8. Post on this blog weekly. This really didn't happen, esp. toward the end of the year, but here's to a clean slate! Postings every Friday in 2009!

And now for the new additions:

9. Go to church once a month. MG and I are trying to get into the habit of going to church. I'll go this weekend while I'm in Cbus, so January will be checked off :) I think MG and I are planning on going the following weekend, though (the once a month is a minimum :))

10. Wear my jewelry. I know this sounds dumb, but I have some nice jewelry, and I always wear the same stuff. This will also apply to clothing - wear it or give it away is going to be my new motto.

11. Be less judgmental. I'm not sure how I'll measure this one, its just something I need to do. Less judgemental of myself mainly, but others as well of course :)

12. Get more sleep. I'm sure half of my sicknesses this year were caused by lack of sleep. Seven hours a night average is a must.

13. Try new classes at the gym. There are several classes I would like to try, and by the end of the year I will have at least tried them, hopefully put at least a couple into the regular routine. Some that I want to try include: Body Flow, Cycle, Body Attack, Body Jam, Yoga, and possibly Pilates and Zumba...as well as others!

Phew. That should be enough for now! I'll try to see how I'm progressing once a month or so!