13 for 13 (Happy New Year!)

Wishing you all love, laughter, adventure, and rest in 2013! Happy New Year!

I usually don't do New Year's resolutions, but because I am at home with lots of time on my hands (ha! more like lots of time semi-awake boob out in the middle of the night keeping a kid alive), I decided to really think about my goals for this coming year. I usually feel so silly making up resolutions in January just because an artificial date on the calendar says you should. If I did make resolutions or goals at all, I usually made them around Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, since I was starting a new school year anyways. This year at New Years; however,  it seems less artificial and more appropriate to think about what I want to do, who I want to be, and to try to be very strategic with my time and energy. I've put together a meaningful list of goals for 2013 and plan to reflect on them at the end of the year. Help me stay on track! 

 Here they are in random order.

#1. Be a great mom, a great teacher, and find a great balance between the two. 

#2. Give my class the smooth transition they deserve come February and continue to teach to the standards I've had in the past, while working a few less hours each week to ensure time with my little guy!

#3. Improve my blog: layout and content. I'd like to expand my readers and get more action on my comments section.

#4. Improve my photography for the sake of the blog: use photography to enhance my posts instead of using many posts to enhance my photography like in the past.

#5. Get published! While I would rather get published writing a fun memoir or personal narrative, I'll start by working on last years action research paper.

#6. Celebrate my 30th birthday in style and have fun, fun, fun!

#7. Don't forget about me/maintain a healthy and relevant appearance. I don't want to become one of those moms who prioritizes everybody else but her to the point of needing a complete makeover (or maybe I do since those makeovers always end up way better than anything I can think up!)

#8. Work out. I see this being the hardest goal with all of my other responsibilities. I am going to need a workout buddy to keep me motivated and perhaps a race or two to look forward to (rock and roll half in June anybody?)

#9. Decorate our house using mostly second hand items and stop my addiction to Ikea!

#10. Turn the camera on me more. It's funny that some people used to describe me as a social butterfly and outgoing (I still agree with the outgoing part), but I really like to be behind the camera and often shy away from the other side of the lens. I'd like Micah to be able to look back on what his mom used to look like (crazy fashions of the time and all), thus the desire to be photographed sometimes too (no Dad, this does not give you permission to take pictures of me in the mornings pre-shower!).

#11. Do monthly menu plans with weekly grocery lists and cook more!

#12. Get organized and stay organized. Everything should have an appropriate home within our home.

#13. Minimize the "stuff"! My dream is to take off on a year long road trip in an old VW van. While this is very unlikely that we will uproot ourselves in this manner (uh...helloooo....GrowingSound Roots!), I do ponder why I keep things around when I'd be very willing to part with things for said trip. I mean, really? Do I really need to keep that Aqua Barbie Girl cd from the 7th grade? I think not. So, #13 is to minimize the "stuff".

Wow...would you look at that?! I have 13 goals for the year 2013 and I didn't even do it on purpose! It was truly meant to be!