Wednesday, December 29, 2010

2011 Goals, part 1: Non-Bookish Goals

I love the start of a new year. I love being able to leave behind what already happened and love being able to look forward. And I love making lists of what I'd like to accomplish. :-)

I expect that 2011 will be pretty busy. Here are a few things that I'd like to get done:
  1. I'll be getting married in 2011 and I'd like things to go smoothly. If all goes well with documents, translations and other administrative things, our civil ceremony will take place in February. Our handfasting (a pagan wedding ceremony) will be in June, provided we can find someone to perform it - our party will celebrate that as well as Joe's 50th birthday. We're really looking forward to our marriage and to the related celebrations.
  2. I'll be turning 35. This milestone won't happen until December, but I'd still like to keep it in mind throughout the year and mark it by growing, both spiritually and intellectually. To me, life makes sense as long as I'm learning something and sometimes that requires more of an effort than I like to admit. Also, I understand that spiritually 2011 will be the year of embracing those unique attributes that make you YOU. Learning more about myself and accepting what I find are definitely on my to-do list.
  3. 2011 will be the second year of Baby S's life. I want to cherish the times we'll have together and stop whining. He's a baby and that means he acts like a baby. Seriously, I need to focus on the huge positives that he brought to my life. Sometimes I loose myself in the little things that don't matter and lose sight of what's important.
  4. Get in shape. This has been a goal of mine for soooo long and I soooo want it to be done. I will eat healthy and I will excercise and I will be fit by the time 2012 rolls around.
  5. Get finances in order. Even in these tougher times, I remain a big spender. I want to become better with money, there's no other way of saying it. Grocery shopping is my downfall so I guess that's where we'll start.
  6. Travel. I already have a few trips planned, but I wan't more... I just want to take advantage of the holidays we get and make sure I start visiting some of the countries I've been wanting to go to. There's no time like the present, right?
  7. Cook more. I love cooking and I have a about a million cookbooks. I want to make time on the weekends to cook meals for the week so we end up eating pizza less often!
  8. Chill out. I want to be balanced and zen, not stressed out and crazy. Any tips on how to get to my goal?

8 comments:

Ana S. said...

Congrats on the upcoming handfasting :D I hope 2011 brings you everything you wish for, Joanna :)

Tasha said...

Your goals all sound great!

Iliana said...

Those are wonderful goals and I wish you all the best in reaching them!

The only thing that has worked for me for quieting the monkey mind and chilling out is yoga. I practice hatha yoga. Again good luck finding the right thing for you. It's tricky but you can do it :)

joanna said...

Nymeth - thanks! :-)

Charley - thank you!

Iliana - I've tried yoga soo many time and it just doesn't do it for me! :-(

Carl V. Anderson said...

Congratulations on the upcoming wedding. I hope it all is able to happen when you want it to and that all goes smoothly with the prep, planning, etc.

I have some very similar goals as you here. As far as finances go I couldn't think of a better recommendation than Dave Ramsey's book, Total Money Makeover. You may not need all the info in there, but it is such a common sense, no trickery way to budget your money, pay off debt, save for retirement method that is all about taking control of things yourself and not falling for gimmicks or get rich quick ways of doing things. You can probably find a copy in your local library and it is a fairly quick, easy read.

joanna said...

Carl - thanks! :-) I'll check out the finance book, we don't have a local English-language library here in Belgium, but I'll see on Amazon!

Trish @ Love, Laughter, Insanity said...

Chill out! That's at the top of my list. Congrats on the upcoming handfasting!!

joanna said...

Trish - hope you learn to chill out before the baby comes, it'll come in handy!! :-)