I love taking photos with my iPhone, especially since I started using Instagram to put cool filters on my photos. I have so many on my phone I wanted to share them with you guys. I’m going to start doing a “my week in photos” post on Fridays that I will put up all of my random photos I take during the week. This set is actually from the past couple of weeks. I took lots at Christmas and them several after so I wanted to show those off too.
I had so much fun doing last years goals list that I have decided to do it yearly. I feel that if we don’t keep learning and accomplishing things we can become stagnant and that’s the last place I want to be. Once again I encourage everyone to put together a goals list for themselves. I promise you will be amazed at the things you can accomplish. I do have a couple of tips for you guys if you are just starting to think about a yearly goal list. First, share it with others. Nothing like accountability to push you to reach your goals. I didn’t want to have to tell everyone that I didn’t try to didn’t get to one of my goals. By telling all of you, it pushed me to get to them quicker and better. Second, don’t make them all too hard. If you try to accomplish all of your hard life goals in a year you will get bogged down, pick a couple of hard ones and several fun, easy ones. Third, have fun! Don’t take yourself too seriously. You will feel like an idiot sometimes when you are learning new things. You might even look a little silly, laugh it off, learn all you can and have as much fun as possible!
Here is my 2011 goals list
Learn to drive a standard transmission (back on the list from last year).
Get a new tattoo.
Learn more about nutrition.
Be more grateful for the things I have been blessed with.
Run in a 5k.
Take about 15-20 minutes a day to do nothing.
Just like last year I will keep you updated as I go through these. Good luck!
This is my first meal plan of the new year!!! I am very excited about the meal plans this year. I plan on doing lots of new recipes and fun stuff. Also, I know of several people who are starting to do weekly meal plans so I would really like to make this more of a community where we can bounce ideas off of each other and get help with meal plans. I know some weeks can be hard to come up with a list of things to eat so I think it could help to get some ideas from other people.
Here is this weeks plan.
Tonight: sauteed chicken and lemon thyme rice
Tuesday: sichuan-style chicken noodle soup with (hopefully homemade) french bread
Wednesday: grilled sandwiches and chips
Thursday: take out after praise and worship practice
Friday: date night
Happy eating!
We have made it to a new year, and I can’t believe it is already here. A lot has been going through my mind today. Some big things happened in our lives in 2010. It was so great I almost didn’t want it to be over. We went through construction and purchase of our very own house, moved in and got everything settled. I still don’t have the house fully decorated, but it feels like home and that’s all that matters. We traveled a lot more this year than we normally do and went to some places we have never been to before. We went to Florida, South Padre Island, Dallas and Georgia and had a great time everywhere we went. We did lots and lots of cooking, got to know some amazing friends and got closer to each other in the process of all of this. I’d say it was a pretty good year. The Lord has definitely blessed us with an amazing life and I don’t think I would change a thing.
The other thing on my mind is this new year. I have lots of goals and resolutions for 2011, but there are a few big ones that all the others just kind of fall into. My first resolutions is to get healthier. I got a treadmill for Christmas and I want to lose the last 5 pesky pounds that keep hanging on for dear life. I plan on continuing with my meal plans and sticking to them instead of getting too lazy to cook. I also want to feel healthier. I may have almost lost all the weight I wanted to lose, but I still feel very sluggish and gross. I want to feel good about my body inside and out. Not only do I want to work on my physical body, but I want to work on my spiritual body. I want to study more and learn about what I believe in and why. I’m tired of just floating though the motions.
Second, I want to learn to be still. I have to be doing something at all times or I feel worthless and like a bad wife and housekeeper. I know in the back of my mind that I’m not a bad wife because I sit and watch a couple of tv shows, but all I can think of are the things I could be doing while I am sitting there. I want to be able to enjoy il dolce far niente or the sweetness of doing nothing.
Have a blessed and happy new year everyone!
Back in May I put together a list of goals that I wanted to accomplish by the end of the year. I think I did pretty well for myself! I accomplished most of them and ended up enjoying some more than I thought I would. You can click on the titles and see the photos of all the things I have accomplished.
Read more books
I have read tons of books since May and have become an avid reader. I can hardly go to sleep without reading at least a chapter of something that is sitting around. I have a bad habit of going to Barnes and Noble and picking up two or three books at a time and I end up reading most of them eventually. I started reading books on my iphone but I realized that I didn’t like not having a hard copy to put on the shelf or let someone else read.
Learn to drive a standard transmission
I have yet to accomplish this one due to the lack of a vehicle with a standard transmission. I’ll put it back on the list for next year.
Bake more breads
I now love to bake breads but I also hate baking breads because you have to eat them after you bake them. I try not to eat too much bread and when a loaf of home made bread is sitting on the counter it’s hard not to devour the entire thing.
Learn to shoot (and look like Angelina Jolie doing it)
Shooting has become something that Jace and I really like doing together. We both got guns for Christmas and even though he is much better than I am, I’m having lots of fun learning. It is also something I enjoy because It makes me feel like a stronger woman. I never want to feel weak or powerless and this is something that I can do to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Learn photoshop
I still haven’t learned Photoshop. I’m still editing in iPhoto and I’m OK with that.
Climb the alpine tower at Lone Tree
This was something I’ve wanted to for years and have turned into a chicken every time we were out there ready to climb. I’m so stinkin proud of myself for doing it and I’m ready to do it again.
Eat more candlelit dinners
I finished this one up about a week ago. I lit all the candles in the house and the Christmas tree and we had pizza and watched a movie. Very romantic!
Find a piece of seafood that I can stand to eat
So, I’m still not eating much fish. But I’m not afraid of eating it anymore.
I think I’m going to do a new set of goals for 2011. It pushed me to do things I would have never done if it weren’t for a set list and I have come to love some things that I never thought I would ever try much less learn to love. I encourage everyone to begin thinking about your 2011 goal list and hopefully we can accomplish them together.
