New Year, New Resolutions

It's that time again! That magical time of year when everyone makes resolutions about how they are going to be better in the year to come. Everyone jumps in with both feet, heart brimming with the best of intentions, but, if you are like me, they often find, come year's end, that they have fallen short. Again.

Last year's resolutions seemed attainable to me when I wrote them. Some of them were achieved, some of them weren't. Some of them, whether I achieved them or not in 2013, are on the list again this year. This year I wanted to be even more realistic in hopes that I could achieve my goals.

• Back up my pictures once a month every two weeks.
• Tucked away safely in a drawer in my desk is a hard drive. An external hard drive that had been our back-up, and which fell to the floor exactly two days after my laptop crashed in January 2012, which was before I'd had a chance to back-up my back-up. On that hard drive are the first 6 months of Sebastian's life, none of which had been put on disk yet due to the exhaustion of a new baby, the excitement of Michael coming home from Afghanistan, and medical issues of my own caused by my gallbladder and pancreas. One day I will save up the money needed to send that precious hard drive away to (hopefully) be fixed by a man (or woman) in a white lab far away. Until then, it will be safely packed away and I will be anal about backing up my pictures. I take so many a month though that I really need to do it at least every two weeks or it takes several hours.
• Blog more.
• This was on my list last year too, and I don't think I can say I achieved it. I had more going on this year, but did less blogging about it. I really enjoy blogging. It's a wonderful outlet, and I love having my blog as a way to keep family up to date on our going ons. (It's more fun than e-mails.) It's only the second. I will blog more this year. I would like it to be at least three times a week, but giving myself a specific number like that is like setting myself up for failure, so I will just say that I want to blog more, and I will see if I can do that.  
• Write more.
• Once again, not just blogging, but writing. I did NaNoWriMo again in 2013, but I don't just want to write one month out of twelve. I have always been a writer, and I need to take time for me to do it. I can't get anything published if I'm not writing it. Stories do no good if they are stuck living forever in my head.
• Keep getting healthy.
• Yet another resolution making an appearance from last year's (and many other year's) list. 2014 will be the year I continue to get healthy in. I started running last year, and can now do more than I ever would have thought, though not as much as I'd like. I lost some weight in 2013, and hope to lose more, though I am trying to concentrate more on the health than the number on the scale. I know I can do it. It's important for me, and it's important for my family. I made a good start of it in 2013, and I'm not going to stop now.
• 2014 Jar of Greatness
• Sometimes days and weeks and months can go by so quickly, and can be so overwhelming, that you forget the little pieces of normal that happen in your every day life. I want to keep better track of those little moments. I'm going to get a huge mason jar this year and keep it on a shelf in the living room. Every time something wonderful, sweet, funny, or special happens, no matter how big or small the moment is, I am going to write it down on a piece of paper and put it away safely in the jar. Then, on the last day of 2014, we will open it up and read through the moments of greatness, reliving the amazing memories from 2014. I like the idea and hope to make a family tradition of it that will last for many years to come!
• Make a Colorado Bucket List.
• We're leaving Idaho this year. After six years in Idaho, there are still things that I'd wanted to do that we never got to, and I don't want to have the same regrets when it comes time to leave Colorado. So Michael, the boys, and I are going to sit down together as a family and make a Colorado Bucket List: The things we want to be sure we do while living in the "Centennial State". (What a lame state name.) 
• Get all my pictures hung in the new house. 
• This seems like a really small thing, but it's not! I have this stack of pictures that I want to have hung up in different parts of the house that never made it to the walls in our Idaho house. Before long I will be taking the pictures that did make it up off the walls, preparing for our big move. When we get to Colorado, I want the new house to feel like home as quickly as possible, because that is certainly the feeling we will be leaving behind in our home in Idaho. I think having pictures, all the pictures, up will help with that. It could very well take way, way too long for me to get that done, but I am hoping that this resolution will help me get our pictures up withing a month or two! :)
• Family game night/movie nights at least twice a month.
• We already have movie nights fairly often, but I think it will be easy for them to get lost in the hustle and bustle of moving several states and trying to get settled into a new home. I want to make sure that we don't lose sight of that in all the changes that are coming up. Also, this gives me an excuse to buy more new board games. I dream of one day having a closet just full of board games to choose from! Maybe I should add buying a new board game once a month to my list of resolutions...
• Have an "unplugged" day once a month.
• I first read the idea on Kelle Hampton's blog, Enjoying the Small Things. (If you haven't, read it! It's my favorite blog out there!) Way back in 2011 Kelle did an Unplugged Day during a blog series she did sponsored by Hallmark. I love the idea, and have decided that I am going to have an Unplugged Day once a month. Last year I resolved to spend less time on the internet. I can say that I failed miserably, but I think that doing a 100% unplugged day twelve times this year might be a resolution I can stick with. We'll see. ;) 
• Finish my first novel.
• Back in 2012 I participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time. Not only did I participate, but I finished my word goal for the year, writing over 50,000 words towards my first novel. Even though I exceeded my 50,000 word goal, my novel was left unfinished. I would like to finish it, at least the original draft, this year. Hopefully before I start NaNoWriMo again in November. 
• Send pictures every day at least three times a week to all family.
• I used to be very, very good at sending regular e-mails filled with pictures to all of our distant family. During Parker's first year of life I sent several e-mails a day. It's something I have been slacking at lately, and I know that our family, particularly members of our family who have never actually had the chance to meet the boys in person yet, appreciate more frequent updates. I'm going to make the time to send pictures out at least three times a week this year.
• Send hard copies of pictures to our family every two months.
• The same family members who enjoy regular emails also enjoy having hard copies of those pictures to hang or carry around. We even have some family members who don't have email at all (Yes, those people still exist.), so the only pictures they get of the boys are photographs I send via post. I really, really need to get better at sending those out, so I'm setting a goal to send those out at least every two months. 
• Run my first 5K.
• I started running this past year, and planned on running my first 5K back in August. I was unable to participate in that 5K, but I want to run at least one in the next twelve months. I'm a littler nervous about running in Colorado Springs, several people have warned me about the difference that the change of elevation will make, but I am going to run a 5K in 2014!
• Eliminate the Negativity.
• I don't want it. I don't need it. I'm cutting it all out in 2014!
• Have a baby?
• It was on my list last year, not so much as a resolution, but it was a huge goal/dream of mine in 2013. Since I was a very little girl I have always known that I would have a baby in 2013. Well, I was wrong. It was a long year of trying, hoping, praying, brainstorming with my RE, and trying strange, mystical potions that I found in an ancient book deep within the candle lit back room of our local second hand book store. (I am kidding about that last part...maybe...) Unfortunately, it was not our year. I very happily helped several friends and my own brother welcome new littles this past year, and I am hoping and praying that 2014 will bring us another little of our own. 

Wow, that's quite a list this year! I know it's only the second, but I feel like we're off to a good start. I told Michael that I feel really positive about 2014. This is going to be our year! Big things are happening in the Gordon family this year, and we are going to rock this year! Michael always gives me these pleasant smiles and nods, though I am pretty sure that he thinks I'm just a little crazy when I get these big ideas and talk like I'm ready to take over the world. That's okay. Maybe I am. But I have a good feeling about this year. 2014 is going to be a good one.

What are some resolutions/goals you have for the upcoming years?