New Year's Stuff...

I know, I know, probably not the post you were hoping for. I actually have a ton of posts waiting for pictures and finishing touches so I can add them and I am so going to get those up by Sunday night -- mark your calendars.

So, with that out of the way...

Happy new year everyone!! I mean that sincerely. For some reason, the start of this year feels very different. I feel so motivated to be better, more than ever before. I don't know if it's because my family moved away and I feel on my own again or what. But this is going to be a changing year, or at least a bettering year. And I don't like making New Year's Resolutions because it's just too cliche for me. I prefer to make goals for myself and the New Year feels like a good time to do it. Maybe I'm just playing with rhetoric -- whatever.

So here they are, in no particular order.

{Nina's Goals For 2008}

• I will lose weight this year. I don't know how much and I don't particularly care, but I will do it. I'm sick of feeling the way I do, I look in the mirror and I know this is not me, I feel trapped in a body that isn't mine.

• I want to be more crafty. I seriously love crafts. I decided I'm going to complete at least two crafts per month. I love being creative and thinking about projects and finishing them. So this year I will be more crafty.

• I will eat healthier. I eat fairly healthy now. I try to feed Max and Tyler good wholesome foods. Occasionally I will cook something not so healthy because I'm lazy or tired, but this year I'm going to make a very conscience effort to buy healthy snacks and eat healthy snacks and cook healthy meals.

• I will have a consistent exercise routine. I'm not going to kick myself in the butt, but I will start out slow and build up to something bigger. I think that this will give me more energy to carry out all these goals.

• I will continue to declutter my life. I will purge as much as I can whenever I can. Clothes, shoes, cards, toys, papers, random crap under our couch (you wouldn't believe what the space under our couch seems to collect!).

• I will spend more time on photography -- learning it, taking it, loving it. I will take pictures of whoever, whenever and however I can. I will put a lot of work into getting my photoblog looking spic and span, too!
  

I may add to the list as I think of things I want to try to accomplish in the future. As you can see, these goals are personal, they have nothing to do with wifery or mothering (two very important things that I strive to do better at daily no matter what). One of my heroes, Dr. Phil McGraw (right) said that goals should be attainable and personal, things that you and you alone can control. So saying "I want to have a happier marriage" is not a good goal because you can only control half of that relationship. You can say, "I want to be a better wife". That you do have control over. (So some clarification added here -- Dr. Phil is not actually one of my heroes. Just wanted to make that clear for those of you reading who don't know me as well or my sarcasm. Although I do think he has a valid point about goals).

Anyway... I feel really motivated to do this. For some reason I feel I've been handed another chance or another page of life. Like I've been stuck in a funk for a while and I'm finally crawling out. Geez, I hope I don't screw this up!