Naturally Optimistic

I have lofty goals for 2013. No, I don't. Not really. Basically since having kids my goal has been to survive. BUT....that being said, I did take the GoodReads 2013 challenge & signed up to read 50 books. Now, in my previous life, (post kids, pre-library) that never would've happened...BUT....since I do work at a library now, I feel I can extend my reading goals.  So we'll see how it goes! My retrospect for 2012 is as follows as I am removing it from the sidebar to make room for 2013 today! Yeah! 1. A Clash of Kings (okay - I'm actually still reading this....) 2. Unbroken 3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society 4. How Green Was My Valley 5. The Memory Keeper's Daughter 6. The Hunger Games 7. In the Woods 8. His Favorite Wife 9. After Long Silence 10. People of the Book 11. Catching Fire 12. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks 13. Mockingjay 14. Fifty Shades of Grey 15. Gone Girl 16. Bloom 17. We Bought a Zoo * 18. Below Stair...

I am a little belated in doing this....and a little light on subject matter this week so... Here we go - let's see how I did in '07: Health/Body 1. Ski/Hike a couple times a week, or at least go for a walk outside. [ Mostly... ] 2. Sit ups/arm weights [ Not so much - I blame the pregnancy ] 3. Stop eating so much. [ Yeah, I did better on this one, blame the GD! ] 4. More water!! [ Yup!! ] 5. More salads, less chips. [ Still working on this one ] 6. Ride my new bike more. [ I did good on this one til my center of gravity shifted! ] Travel/Adventure 1. Lots of camping! [ Some - more this summer! ] 2. Visit a trail you’ve never been on before at least once every other month. [ I did pretty good on this one including hiking in the mountains of Sweden! ] 3. Keep writing in hiking journal/add digital pictures [ No, didn't do this... ] 4. Go to Sweden [ Check! ] Arts/Crafts 1. Knit lots of baby blankets [ Accomplished...5 baby blankets last year. Whew! ] 2. Make more gifts instea...

I tend to make a big list of goals instead of "resolutions" each new year. They sort of give me a direction, a "to-do" list, some guidelines. Last year I did okay in some areas and horrifically in others. This year I'm including less but trying to make them more do-able and more meaningful. Health/Body 1. Ski/Hike a couple times a week, or at least go for a walk outside. 2. Sit ups/arm weights 3. Stop eating so much. 4. More water!! 5. More salads, less chips. 6. Ride my new bike more. Travel/Adventure 1. Lots of camping! 2. Visit a trail you’ve never been on before at least once every other month. 3. Keep writing in hiking journal/add digital pictures 4. Go to Sweden Arts/Crafts 1. Knit lots of baby blankets 2. Make more gifts instead of buying. 3. Finish a project in a timely fashion once you’ve started. 4. Make lots and lots of greeting cards Money 1. Save More 2. Stick to budget. 3. Keep putting money into savings every week. Social/Activities 1. Be more tim...

Lately I have been consumed with daydreams. Good, wonderful, optimistic, creative daydreams. It's obvious to me that I have to make a change in my life. There are so many GREAT things in my life, so many wonderful things & people that I am very grateful for...but alas what I do every day leaves me unfufilled, bored, depressed, unchallenged and uninterested. It's hard to spend the bulk of my LIFE where I do. That being said - it's not terrible...there are good people, I have some fun and heck, it helps me pay the mortgage so it's not all bad. It's just not what I think I *should* be doing with my life. It's a rut. It's where I am right now. So, there are some super-secret ideas brewing. Some are dreams I've been chasing for many many years...some are new ideas that are intriguing and exciting to me. And scary. Heck it's all scary. It's hard to give up what you have but sometimes you have to to make things better in the long run. Nothing is DEF...