A New Year, New Resolutions

I know I say that my favorite holiday is April Fools Day.  But really my favorite holiday is New Year's Day.  I started planning my resolutions in November, people.  I just love the idea of a holiday that encourages people to start healthy habits and break unhealthy ones!

I stuck with last year's resolutions pretty well.  That is, when I re-read them a few minutes ago, none of them surprised me.  I actually remembered these throughout the year and consciously tried to do better.  I think I'd give myself a B-.  I did great with wearing skirts in the winter (but I discovered I also love black skinny jeans), I went to the gym 3-5 days a week for my mental health, and I met my financial goals...sort of.

I did pay off my car this year (hooray!), but the same day I met my emergency fund goal, I immediately had to withdraw a big chunk to buy a new furnace.  Bummer.  Oh, well!  That's what an emergency fund is good for!  I think I'm still on track to finish paying off my student loans this year and then I'll be debt free (you know, except for that little thing called a mortgage).  Heck yeah!

I could have done much better with integrating more music into my life, though.  I didn't really have a backup plan for when music club fizzled out.  But at least I'm still listening to music most mornings at the gym and I'm working on converting all those CDs to mp3 format.

All in all, this was an okay year.  Short recap of the highlights/lowlights: My partner completed his grant work and released an awesome CD and we celebrated 10 years together, my stepsons reached a major goal by becoming black belts in tae kwon do, I finally ditched my bank for a credit union and I messed up my pinky pretty bad.  Hmm.

Let's move on to 2013, shall we?

I have a lot of resolutions this year, but I think they're all reasonable.

1. Keep in touch with my Texas family more by sending little photos and things about my day to them by email.  When people communicate only every few weeks, it can be hard to think of the highlights or big things to talk about from your life.  But within each day there's always something interesting to pass along- and for me that feels like a more authentic way to communicate.  And then I don't just say, "there's nothing new going on here."

2.  Listen to music everyday.  Yep, even at home.  For some reason I just don't think to turn on music.

3.  Complete a project with Mike.  We both want to learn woodworking, so there might be a new table in our future?

4.  Pay off that student loan!

5.  Print off some favorite photos from the computer and get them framed.  Then switch them out occasionally.  There's not doing any good just being stored away.

6.  Track my personal care routine.  This one's a big one since it involves a lot of items.  Here they are:

• Drink at least 8 cups of water a day.
• Floss my teeth every day.
• Use my neti pot at least 3 times per week.
• Take my vitamins every day.
• Wash my face every day.
• Do something active every day.
• Do my pinky massage and stretches twice a day.

For tracking these, I downloaded a very simple and utilitarian app called Habit Goal Monitor Pro ($2.00) and I love it.  I can quickly log each time I drink a glass of water and it shows me how I'm doing with a progress bar, recap of the last week, current streak of success and personal best.  I've only been using it for a week now, but it has really helped a lot.  I've taken my vitamins every single day this week AND flossed more than I usually would in a month! 

Note: I do other personal care things, too, like take showers, get 8 hours of sleep, and brush my teeth.  But I don't need help remembering to do those.  

That's all!  I can do this.