New year, new you.

Happy New Year! With a new year, comes new goals. I had high hopes that I would do 12 resolutions for 2012, but then the realistic side of me kicked in and I figured I would be happier at the end of the year if I only failed at 4 or 5 things instead of a full 12. A friend of mine tries to stick to doing a physical, spiritual, and intellectual goal to keep life balanced so I figured I'd try to stick to something similar to that. I've never really put my resolutions out there for public viewing before, but I figured by telling my 2 or 3 readers my goals, it might hold me more accountable. Here's a recap of previous NYR's...

2010
Run a race (5K, check...and no, I'm not counting the Irish 5K!)
Go on a mission trip (Guatemala, check)
Eat healthier (did well til I got pregnant and hungry, half-check)

2011
Eat healthier (hello gestational diabetes, check)
Lose the baby weight (check...now to maintain)
Handle stress at work better (quit my job, half-check)
Find time to read (thanks book club, check)

So here goes another list of resolutions...
2012

1. Read 12 books - One a month can't be too hard, right? I have been working my way through my top 100 book list and have decided that a lot of the classics are too difficult to read whilst balancing my current life. I hope to stick to some interesting reads. Gabriel Garcia Marquez...I think we're breaking up.

2. Go/run 365 miles - I stole this from another woman who did it and I thought this might be the perfect motivation to run, while giving me the freedom to workout in other ways as well. I can't commit to a race this year...except for maybe the Irish 5K. :)  If I run for too long, I dehydrate and Norah's tummy suffers. Maintaining a balance of working out without drying up her food source is a tricky balance. Notice I put "go" instead of run because if I run a few miles and then walk a mile, you better believe I am going to count it! I'm still lapping everyone on the couch.

3. Get out of my recipe rut - I stick to the staples when it comes to cooking...fast, healthy, and inexpensive. Though it sounds good, it doesn't lend itself to much creativity in the kitchen. I would like to not repeat a recipe for at least a month at a time. New recipes, here we come! I also inherited many cookbooks and recipes from my grandma...hopefully this will help me test some out and organize my current mess of a recipe box as I go. Plus, with my little chef by my side, I can blame her for any bad recipes!

4. Stop being a people pleaser - I have decided I spend far too much time apologizing or feeling bad when people aren't happy. I am hoping to spend more time reflecting on what makes me happy instead of what makes everyone else happy. I am taking a page out of my friend Anna's book... I want to give the free time that I have to the people that fill my happy bucket, to the people who listen to me, love me and support me, not the people who constantly poison me with complaints about how I don’t give them enough of me.

5. Do 12 things to improve my marriage - Just to preface this...I love my marriage. Though I'm sure he wishes he would have taken my uncles advice to "run like the wind," marrying Mark was the best thing I've ever done. With our 10 year anniversary quickly approaching (gulp) I feel like I owe it to our marriage to invest a little work. The last 9 years have been quite effortless. It seems as though once a month I could find something to do that puts our marriage at the forefront. We tend to choose our children over each other (date nights as a family, staying home instead of going out, etc.) I don't see this as a bad thing since we both still find a way to have a great time, but I truly believe one of the best things that you can do for your children is to model a healthy, loving relationship, so putting our marriage first is really a win-win for all involved.

Okay...lots of work ahead of me this year. Hopefully it will balance out my intellectual, physical, and spriritual self.