Thursday Thirteen

Everyone makes New Year's resolutions, right?

I make several... goals, really and here are thirteen of them:

1. To hydrate myself - I go all day only drinking water or a glass of tea with lunch... whether I was drinking soda or water, I definitely need to drink more fluids throughout the day!

2. To not skip breakfast - This is bad for so many reasons but mainly because I begin to feel faint around 10:30AM everyday and then, gorge myself at lunch time.

3. To read more often - I love to read, it's really one of my most favorite past times but I haven't made much time for it lately since I also love television and there's been so much to watch! hahaha :) I have made a hefty goal of 25 books in 2009 but I'm secretly hoping to read 50!

4. To introduce my separate circles of friends to each other - I have so many, it's complicated to run in all of them and I'm quite exhausted! I bet they'd all love each other, most of them are moms and most of them live nearby, this should have been done a year ago!

5. To not waste so much - it's astonishing and sickening how much American's waste: energy, time, food, emotions, money, those stupid plastic bags at Safeway... the list goes on and on and I'm guilty of throwing away stuff just to make more room for new stuff, stuff we don't need! There are so many people in poverty, some I drive by and see with my own eyes daily, and I just feel this burning desire in my heart to stop wasting what they would give anything to have. I'm not just talking about turning off lights when you aren't using them, either!

6. To find our family a church we all love, can grow in and can make new friends in. A place we can give back to, participate in the community with and grow closer to God with. People come from all over the bay to Alameda to attend church simply because of the variety and amount... surely I can find 1 for us!

7. To spend at least 1 night each week with the TV OFF - David and I want to start playing all those classic board games we grew up with, just talking and enjoying a bottle of wine and to beat each other's asses at his favorite XBOX360 games!!! I think it's good for everyone, for every marriage to be entertained by something other than the television and it's not like there's ever anything to watch on Friday night anyway. ;) Also see #3.

8. To start my own Bunco group - I love to play in my neighbor, Louise's group but I also want to host parties here at my house with my friends and I'm overwhelmed at the number of people interested!

9. To spend 1 night each and every week doing something for myself - not watching television, not reading, something new, like finishing Emily's 1st year scrapbook album (I'm so close!!!) and redecorating our hall to include our favorite family portraits and maybe even enrolling in the Pilates class at my Health Club! It's not that I'm unhappy, complete opposite, I just get too wrapped up in making everyone else happy that I tend to put me on the back burner.

10. To send handwritten birthday cards to all my friends this year, rather than the same old Yahoo ECards I normally send that I find to be so impersonal. My friends are wonderful, I love them dearly and they deserve a bit more of my time... the least I can do is to send them a heartfelt, handwritten card in honor of their very special day!

11. To remember to wash the make-up off my face every single night before I go to bed because I'm young and want to have really nice skin that lasts me a very long time. I also don't want to be that 65 year old that says; "I really wish I had taken better care of my skin when I was in my 20's"!

12. To hire the teenages that live across the street to babysite every single Saturday night - David and I deserve some time out, ALONE, to have fun, eat at a restaurant that doesn't "do" highchairs and to spend some money investing in our marriage. Also, to hire those teenages to go on vacations with us in the summer time so we can also enjoy some adult activities while on vacation!!!