Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Welcome to 2012 or, as I like to call it, Year of My Wedding as if nothing else important is happening this year :P. As much as the typical new years posts kind of bore me (come on, it's the same thing every year!) and I try to avoid writing them, I feel like it's very relevant this year and documenting them will hopefully keep me organized and moving in the right direction. I won't call them resolutions that I have, but rather goals.

We aren't drinkers, so we opted for a sparkling apple juice for our 2012 toast. It looks so pretty in the "glass"!

Blog goals:

• Continue to grow my readership.
• Continue to seek out blogs of people living the way I am and/or the way I want to for encouragement, support, and ideas.
• Meet the local bloggers.
• Make, and use for inspiration, a list of post topics I want to eventually write.
• Review some products (one book review in the works but I need to give myself a deadline!). But also only review products that have something to do with my blog! 
• Do a few more guest posts and eventually host someone here (I have an idea I'm throwing around... we'll see.)
• Not let my love of reading and writing blogs get out of hand (in other words, if I am neglecting household chores or, uh, late to work in order to read blogs, I need to reel it in!). 

Health goals:

• Get my recipe book together so I quit using my phone in the kitchen to look them up! Flour embedded phones aren't that easy to clean.
• Continue to add more whole grains, lean protein, fruits and veggies; continue to reduce empty calories, unhealthy carbs, and sugars/sweeteners.
• See the NaPro dr (already scheduled).
• Continue charting and meeting with our NFP practitioner.
• Exercise 5 days per week (doing this now for the most part, but sometimes have slack weeks).
• Explore the greenway past the two paths I've taken so far.
• Buy us bikes to use on the greenway.

Personal/Faith goals:

• Learn to sew, knit, and crochet (at least elementary knowledge of each)... I'm already signed up for a knitting class (after debating for a week whether to take the knitting or crocheting class first)! 
• Finish my 2010 and 2011 scrapbooks.
• Attend all holy days of obligation.
• Continue celebrating the liturgical seasons at home.
• Pray the rosary more often.

Finance goals:

• Develop and use a joint budget (we have separate ones til we get married).
• Combine bank accounts the week or two before the wedding.
• Get back to substantially saving after the wedding .
• Continue to find ways to save (free entertainment, good deals on the foods we buy, re-purposing things, thrifting).
• Make a plan for the future regarding living on one income (books reserved at the library!) and the smartest decision to make regarding my student loan.

Relationship/Marriage goals:

• Finish our pre-marital workbooks... we have lots so we will have quite a bit left to do after we get married, but we really enjoy them and I think will be glad to have them through our first year of marriage.
• Begin our prayers for couples book.
• Continue to improve our communication through new communication techniques we have learned.
• Pray the rosary together more often.
• Continue to read and discuss daily Mass readings together.

Future goals:

• Continue discussing where we want to live long term (the options we are considering is staying here or moving closer to Charlotte- not in Charlotte, but somewhere like Kannapolis or Concord) since we need to decide soonish if we will buy a house or not (no sense in buying if we are moving in the next 3-5 years). We are pretty sure we want to stay here, but need to really flesh it out.
• Continue researching things like homsechool curriculums (yes, I know I won't have a 5 year old for a long time, but I am so much less stressed in life if major plans are made way ahead with tweaks where needed, rather than put off until the decision needs to be made... I pretty much know the curriculum I want to use, but I want to have an arsenal of information book marked for me to go through when it comes closer to the time), and how I want to live life as a stay at home mom/wife so I don't feel lost when I wake up one day and my home and family has become my job.