New Year’s “Resolutions”

I meant to post this on or at least around New Year’s Day, but alas, things got crazy and this post sat lonely in my draft section…oops!  Better late than never right? ;)  I’m backdating this so that it is on the date it was meant to be posted :)  Enjoy!

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Happy 1/11/11!! :)  Crazy right?

I know the whole idea of New Year’s resolutions is a bit cliche, but as an extreme OCD planner and list maker, I do like to set goals for myself just to hold myself accountable. 

Although I’m good at making goals, I’m not always good at sticking to them, partly because the goals I usually make are a bit unattainable…for example, I will write down that I want to clean and organize and my entire apartment in a weekend, on top of reading 200 pages of articles for class, grading papers, writing lesson plans, and minor things like sleeping and eating…yeah not going to happen.  Please tell me I am not the only person who does this? ;)

So, I am going to set my goals a little lower for the year so that I won’t get completely overwhelmed and down on myself for not being able to accomplish  them (but not so low that they are a joke..I mean, I have to have some sort of a challenge ;))

So, without further adieu, in honor or 1/11/11 here are my 11 resolutions, or goals if you will, for 2011

1. Exercise at least 3 times a week, emphasis on the at least and preferably closer to 5 times a week. – Despite the whole “weight loss" side of it (which I’m getting to in a minute), exercise makes me feel so much better, so this one is a gimme. :)
2. Lose Weight – My best friend is getting married in March, so that leaves me about 2 months to get the rest of my weight off.  During the spring/summer, I did pretty well with this and dropped about 10 pounds and although I haven’t gained but maybe 3 or 4 pounds of that back, I just don’t feel as “in shape” so definitely working on that.  If I can lose about 10-15 more pounds, I will be back at my HS weight and back in my “dancer body”
3. Get a good start on my dissertation – I’m down to my last three classes, 2 of which I’m taking this semester, so if all goes well, I will be starting dissertation hours possibly as early as this summer.  In both classes, we have research assignments and many of my “colleagues” (as in the people I’m either in the program with or ones that just graduated), have suggested I use this time to get a good start on my dissertation.  Unfortunately that means I need to nail down a topic ASAP…no pressure though right? ;)
4. Declutter and simplify – My mom recently bought me a cute door mat that says, “Live Life Simply”, however, that is so far from how I tend to live my life.  In fact, I usually try to make everything more difficult than it should be.  So, in hopes of simplifying my life and all things in it, I am going to do my best to declutter my house and my life so that I can do just that.
5. Cook More – Since I cooked more over the holidays, I have gotten much more comfortable with being in the kitchen.  Not that I was ever that horrible (I honestly have never made anything inedible…except a gallon of kool-aid my freshman year of college, but minor details ;)), but I just am not confident enough in my cooking to do it often.  I would love to say that I want to try a new recipe every week, but with my school/work schedule…I just don’t see that happening so instead I’m just going to shoot for trying out a new recipe when I get the urge to cook so that I can build up my cooking repertoire.
6. Scrapbook – I have gotten so far behind on my scrapbooking…so much that it is a bit overwhelming!  My goal for this year is to start with current events and keep that up, and work on finishing my 2010 album.  We’ll see how well that goes :)
7. Stop stressing so much – I am a worry wart and anyone that knows me is constantly telling me, “Maegan, calm down…it will all be ok”  So I’m going to learn to take a deep breath and “Keep Calm and Carry On” as my new poster tells me
8. Shop smarter – Saying that I won’t shop is difficult, but I am going to try and purchase less memorable pieces so that I can mix and match.  Right now, it is so stressful trying to get ready and in my process of simplifying, I want to simplify that part of my life as well.
9. Make more time for my friends – Last semester was so crazy, that I rarely got to hang out with friends.  I vow to do much better this semester since my class schedule is a little lighter.  This includes going to visit Alex more :)
10. Blog more – I want to make sure I keep my blog up so I don’t have 10 posts to write every time I sit down.  This includes writing other posts besides just the “event recaps”
11. Live in the moment – Sometimes I get so stressed out about the future or the little details that I forget to enjoy the moment.  I’m going to try to do my best to stop, take a deep breath, and soak it all in :)

So there you have it…my 11 resolutions for 2011! :)  We’ll see how well I do with them! ;)