New Years Resolutions

It's that time of year again and I totally pulled the stereotypical move of making a list of things that I would like to improve. I am a strong believer in trying to better yourself 365 days a year. There are many opportunities where we are tested and feel the urge to change something. It could be losing a few extra pounds, traveling more, or just simply learning the virtue of patience. I have a pretty elaborate list of resolutions, or we will call them goals, that I would like to achieve this year. I believe that I can make all these things happen, but have the horrible habit of saying I'm going to start doing this, that, and blah blah blah and a couple weeks after New Years it all fades from my mind somehow. 

1. Make Time For Travel
It has always been a dream of mine to travel the world. I daydream about all the places I want to go and am always thumbing through travel magazines and looking at deals on Groupon. Then come the excuses. "I don't have time to do that. I have to work." There are so many beautiful places to see in this world and I'm ready to embark on an adventure to see them. I would love to leave the country this year. Europe is on top of my list, but if I don't make it that far I don't mind exploring some places in the United States. I'm thinking Chicago or Boston next. :)

2. Save Money for a Rainy Day
If there is one thing I have struggled with in my adult life it's trying to balance paying a ridiculous amount of bills while trying to build a savings. I feel like anytime I have extra money it has to go to my car or some other odd expense that I was not expecting. Unfortunately these things happen to everyone and we are not always prepared for them. I was not ready for a $300 doctor bill when I had pneumonia a few weeks ago. I'm glad I have a very caring and loving man that had the extra money to help me out. Saving money is just good in general because you can also save it for fun stuff(like traveling!) and I plan to budget better and be prepared for whatever comes along. 

3. Maintain (mostly) Healthy Eating and Fitness Habits
One of my most stereotypical goals for the year, but hey, that's ok. I had a hard year last year and I am still trying to fix what was broken(my pants since I ripped one of my favorite pairs from gaining weight). I am not a health/fitness nut by any means but I have decided this year I am going to try to maintain some kind of routine to keep me going. Actually doing something and sticking to my guns is something that will help me in all fields of my life. I have my 28th birthday coming up and I will be in New Orleans and I want to look great. My ten year high school reunion is coming up as well. I know myself and I know that I will not stick to a strict diet and workout regime every day. Honestly, where is the fun in that. I did just say above that I am going to New Orleans for my birthday and you don't go there to eat salad. 

4. Dont Beat Yourself Up or Sweat the Small Stuff
This has been one of the hardest things for me to do and I am finally coming to terms with my bad habit and ready to face it head on. I tend to get a little emotional. I always have been an emotional, passionate person. I'm the girl who cries during commercials and heart-felt movies. What's wrong with this, you ask? It goes both ways. It might be "cute" to cry happy tears, but there also times when I feel personally attacked or offended I tend to lose my cool and feel like there is something wrong with me. I let things upset me way too much when I really should not care what people think of me. People are people and not everyone is going to like me no matter how awesome I think I am. I am an introvert, not a lot of people are and do not understand or care to try to understand. It's only going to make it worse if I make it worse in my own head. We are our own worst critics, and I have to remind myself that it's not as bad as my mind makes things out to be sometimes. 

5. Keep a Journal
Surprise! This is one of my goals for the year. I may not be the best writer, use perfect grammar and punctuation all the time, or have the greatest blog ever but I love to write and I love to go back and read what I wrote years later. I started this blog as a travel blog when I was 24. I opened this blog back up again as a little bit of everything. A little bit of travel, a little bit of journaling, and mostly logging important memories and thoughts. I keep a more personal journal at home, but maybe someday I can inspire someone through my words. 

6. Knowledge is Power. Read and Learn Something New
I love to read. It's one of my favorite hobbies. It helps me relax and learn so many new things that the TV might not teach. I have a whole wishlist of books on Amazon that I am going to buy in the next couple months and I hope to purchase a Kindle as well. My goal is to at least read 20 books this year if I don't read more than that. 


7. Take Some Classes
I have been out of the college scene for awhile now and am blessed to be working in the professional field without a degree. Sure I have my estheticians license and I'm doing a whole lot with that right now(sarcasm). A lot of people think it's crazy that I never finished college. It's not because I'm a quitter or because I'm lazy. College is not for everyone right out of high school; I know I definitely was not ready for it. Since then I have managed to take college courses over the Internet and continue to work my full time job. There are even free classes on Itunes and Coursera that you can take and learn a thing or two. I might not get a degree out of it, but I'm continuing to broaden my mind and learn new things. 
I have also been taking French lessons. I want to be bilingual so I better start practicing now(Notice how learning French is not on this list, I don't want to go too crazy, too fast) 
Let this be a year of learning for me. 

8. Go Play Outside
Having a puppy definitely helps with this because we are forced to go outside to let her relieve herself. There are so many trails to hike, beaches to explore, mountains to climb, lakes to fish, and so on. There is so much opportunity outdoors and a lot of these things don't cost a dime. 

9. Create
Thank you for existing, Pinterest. I get so many great ideas from you on how to cook chef-worthy meals, organize my cluttered closet, and make homemade gifts for people that come from the heart. 
There are so many things we can do to create. If anyone is reading this that knows me really well, knows that I SUCK at art. I cant draw, paint, or work with clay to save my life. When I took a high school pottery class, all my pots came out crooked, lopsided, or just magically cracked. It was artwork only a mother could love(You can ask her, she put it on a special shelf like I was in elementary school. Thanks mom for understanding) Those forms of creativity are just touching the surface of what you can create. I feel like I am pretty good at photography and I have an eye for things. I plan on getting a real camera and not being an Iphone photographer for the rest of my life, but until then I will work with the materials I have. 
There are also some Pinterest projects/recipes that I have my eye on. Stay tuned for a blog entry about them. 

10. Less Stress, More Zen
Stressful situations suck and they happen whether we are ready for them or not. It's how we handle these situations that matters in the end. 
I have always been a fan of Yoga and peaceful meditating. I plan to do much more of these things because they are so great for the body and the mind. Massages are also awesome for the stressful times. 

Instead of turning to the bottle of wine and thinking I need to drink when I'm stressed, I can just as easily turn to something that is good for my body instead of something that will temporarily mend the situation. Don't get me wrong, sometimes a girl needs to get buzzed on wine, just not so often. 

11. Me Time

I love being around the people I love and they make me happy, but I tend to forget about myself and my desires when I am trying to constantly please others. That's why this year I am going to try and devote more time for myself and not be afraid to do stuff alone sometimes. It might be going on a drive to organize my thoughts, going and getting a cup of coffee, or whatever comes to mind at the time. 

12. Be "Weird" and Do it With Confidence

Here is a fact about me: I'm weird and I'm a dork. There are so many mainstream things that I absolutely despise and there are things like Mystery Science Theater 3000 that I love. Sometimes I refuse to watch videos that are posted by so many people on Facebook or I refuse to like a song because I think it's just noise(which is how I feel about a lot of stuff on the radio.) American Idol? Don't like it. Glee? No thanks.  Duck Dynasty? Hell no. These are just examples. My point is: be yourself, like what you like, and don't feel the need to justify it to anyone. Have confidence in your weird "guilty pleasures." 

I like what I like, do what I do, and say what I say because it's part of who I am and it's time to embrace it. 

13. Come Up With a Bucket List and Start Crossing Things Off

I believe everyone should have a bucket list. I know I have a whole list of dreams I want to make come true, places I want to visit, and experiences I want to embrace. The more I find out who I am the more my list changes. It's such a wonderful feeling when you can mark something that you have always wanted off that list and have a story to tell. 

So there it is. A goal for every month of the year plus one. I feel like it's a reasonable list of goals that are easily reachable. I'm already off to a good start with number 5 because I have written three posts in a week. :) 

2013 Recap

Welcome to 2014! Whether you were ready for it or not, it's here and we already almost a week in. For me, 2013 had many rough patches but it also held some great times for me. I wanted to do a little recap of everything wonderful that happened during last year to remember, just in case I forget someday. :)

January 2013-The big move to Galveston, Texas. Traveled through Kansas, Oklahoma, and the desolate part of Texas where tumbleweeds are a major part of the population. I was not happy about this new change at all, but I knew it was something that I needed to do. Started a new job, lived on the Gulf of Mexico, met some new people that would test my patience, and learned some important lessons.

February 2013- My 49ers made it to the Superbowl and this year the Superbowl was in New Orleans. I made the executive decision that we would go to New Orleans for the weekend even though we were not going to be able to go to the game. We ate great food, drank a lot of delicious hurricanes and frozen, girly drinks(worst hangover of my life the next morning) and got to watch the game with a bunch of fellow 49ers fans. We lost the big game and I was pretty bummed, may have even cried a little bit. We ended up getting free tickets to see Journey(it's not the same without Steve Perry, I'm 27 and I know this). I also celebrated my 27th birthday. We went to a Burlesque show in Houston where the bar had all the drinks 1920's Prohibition themed. It was a great night.

March 2013- I started a new blog that showed my love of Happy Hour. We tried to go to all the Galveston bars and I would type up a follow-up of each one and what their specials were. It was fun while it lasted, but a couple months later I decided to take it easy on the drinking and spending money. My best friend came to visit and we went to Austin for a weekend. We had such a great time! We also went to NASA Space Museum. Celebrated St. Patricks Day in downtown Galveston which was the most boring holiday ever. There was nobody out having fun!

April 2013-This month was pretty terrible and uneventful. Just blah!

May 2013- I pushed my confidence to the next level and participated in the annual Bathing Beauties Competition. Everyone dresses up in their 1940's bathing suits and celebrates their love of vintage. I did not win this year, but I still had so much fun taking part of this awesome time and meeting some awesome girls with the same passion for vintage I have. 

June 2013-We finally moved off the Galveston Seawall into a much bigger, more quiet place on the water. We fell in love with our new apartment and it felt like something that was our own. In our previous place, we were in a 2nd floor apartment that was furnished by seniors. It was tiny and we had terrible, loud, nosey neighbors. Living in our very own place with our own furniture was such a relief. Moving is never fun, but this was a welcome change. 

July 2013-Celebrated the 4th of July at our new place with good friends. Grilled fish tacos, burgers, and fished. Spent a little bit of time at the beach and endured the tourist season with as much patience and grace as possible. 

August 2013-Got to see Dave Chappelle and Flight of the Conchords live at an outdoor venue in Houston. We had a great time but Dave Chappelle was not as funny as I thought he was going to be. 

September 2013-I realized that it was time for a lifestyle change. I realized that I put on some weight from the way I had been drinking, eating, and not exercising. My friend Libby got me started with Insanity and I started changing my diet around. It was time and it needed to be done. Football season started and I got involved in a Fantasy Football league again.

October 2013- At the beginning of the month we went to Denver. There were multiple reasons for our trip. We had to move all our stuff out of the condo I signed a lease on right before we moved here(I really didn't know that we would be taking these jobs till pretty last minute after I signed a brand new lease) so there was that. The other reason was we decided to volunteer our time at Great American Beer Festival. Thousands and thousands of beers to try and not having to pay a dime for admission. It was a wonderful, fun experience and I broke my diet to try all the wonderful beers. Got to see old friends and be in the city that I pretty much call home. We came back and it was time to celebrate Halloween and dress up like undead necks(aka zombie rednecks) for a party. I love being creative with costumes and makeup. 

November 2013- Oh the month of traveling. At the beginning of the month we went to Reno, Nevada to celebrate an early Christmas with my family, as well as attend my cousins wedding in my hometown of Chico, California. I got to spend a few days with my mom and sister which was much needed because I tend to get depressed if I don't see them for a long time. It was time to remedy that. We opened Christmas presents, drank white Russians, and pretended that it was the holidays. It really did feel like Christmas with all the family there and my mom's Christmas decorations neatly arranged in her perfect interior designer ways. A few days later, it was off to Chico to attend Kristin and Kevin's comic book themed wedding. I spent the previous night before this showing Nate, Sarah, and Jacob all the hot spots that Chico has to offer. We had a great time, drank a lot, and I even sang some karaoke. My sister did too, and she rocks a lot harder than I do. So, I did my cousins' wedding makeup extremely hungover but still had a great time making her look and feel beautiful on her special day. Then we traveled to Pennsylvania a couple weeks later to spend time with Nate's family and friends where we also celebrated Christmas and Thanksgiving. I got to drink a Christmas Ale in Ohio(awesome beer) and eat a great Thanksgiving dinner in Pennsylvania an hour later. It was part of the country I have never seen before and even though it was cold, we still had a good time. 

December 2013- This was a pretty relaxing month for us since all the traveling craziness was winding down. We adopted a puppy from the humane society here in Galveston. Her name is Lucy and she is an American Bulldog/Chocolate lab mix. She is the cutest, sweetest thing ever. She is a puppy and bites and chews stuff she is not supposed to but we are getting through that and she is learning fast. We love her and could not be happier with our new "child." Since we were spending Christmas alone we decided to make the best of it and make our own memories. We went to the Festival of Lights here in Galveston on Christmas Eve and walked around looking at the amazing light displays while drinking hot chocolate. We then came home and watched Christmas movies and ate cheese and crackers and drank Christmas Sangria that I made. We each got to open one gift. I bought Nate a charcoal grill and he got me a new peacoat. We woke up around 10 am the next morning and opened gifts. We each had the idea to make one gift homemade for each other. He made me these awesome coasters with our photos on them from different events in our relationship. I made him a canvas with maps from all the cities we have lived since we have been together and our hometowns with a saying from a song we both like that says "Home is wherever I am with you." I like this new tradition because it comes from the heart. I had decided that I did not want to cook so we had the wonderful idea of going out for Indian food. It did not disappoint at all! New Years came around just like that....

Last year was very eventful and I learned some interesting lessons. I learned a lot about myself and about others. One of the lessons I really embraced last year was time is valuable and it goes by so fast. We need to make an adventure anywhere we can. We are only a week in to 2014 and it's never too late to start living.