Wine Down: New Year, New Goals

Happy New Year everyone! Can you believe that it's already 2015, y'all? I remember ringing in the New Year at the end of 1999, thinking that the world was going to end at midnight and we were all going to die or something. Well, we all survived and here we are 15 years later. Fifteen! I'm so excited to see what 2015 has in store for our family, and I've got some new personal goals to go along with this fresh new year!

Every year I make New Year's Resolutions and typically by February, I've already given up on them all. In going back and re-reading all of my previous resolutions, I discovered that they are always too open-ended and vague, which is why I never keep them. I tend make resolutions like "exercise more" or "eat healthier", which is basically impossible to measure. How do I know when I've exercised enough to meet my resolution? Therefore, I decided that there will be no resolutions for this upcoming year. Simply goals. Measurable goals. I am a list person. I make to-do lists and I check the boxes on my lists. That's how I function. Therefore, in order to hold myself accountable to something I have to be able to see what the end result is going to be and check the boxes as I go along. Hence, the goals. I need short-term goals in order to be successful. Saying, "I'm going to start exercising" with no end goal to actually achieve in sight, is probably not going to work for me. So without further adieu, here are my goals for 2015. Be sure to follow along with me on the blog this year as I complete my goals!

Health Goal: I will run the Gate River Run in March. Even if I have to walk some of the race, I will participate and finish the entire 15k. I hope that this goal will get me on the right track to exercising and being healthier in general. I realize that this goal will finish in March, so once I complete it then I will set a new follow-up goal dealing with health and exercise for the remainder of the year. But remember, I'm doing baby steps here...measurable, attainable, short-term goals that hopefully can lead to long-term lifestyle changes.

Spiritual Goal: I will participate in a Scripture Memorization challenge and memorize 24 bible verses this year. Some of my girl friends from church and I will be participating in this goal together and I'm really excited about it. We will memorize a bible verse (everyone picks their own) every two weeks for the entire year, resulting in 24 memorized verses by the end of the year. Of course, I will be posting my verses here on my blog as well as an explanation as to why I chose each verse. So feel free to follow along with me on this spiritual journey! If you are interested in participating in this challenge too, check it out here: Scripture Memory Team 2015

Mommy Goal: I will take Peyton on a local "field trip" at least once per month. Even though I know she won't remember or actually understand any of these outings, I want to expose Peyton to something new in our community every month.

Reading Goal: I will join a book club this year. If I can't find a book club to join, then I will get some girls together and start my own. I haven't read a book since before Peyton was born and this makes me sad. I love to read and I want to get back into reading for pleasure this year. I feel that joining a book club would help me stay on track and accountable for actually making time for myself to read.

Networking Goal: I will attend at least one play date or event per month in my new community. I want to meet my neighbors and get to know moms who live in this community. Our new neighborhood has a great mom's group with tons of events and play dates available every week. I want to attend at least one event per month to help Peyton and I get to know some neighborhood friends.

I'm sure that there are plenty of other goals I could make to further better myself this year, but let's start small and see how this goes. Maybe I'll even add some more goals throughout the year if I'm feeling really ambitious!