2015 // Happy New Year & Resolutions

Happy New Year!!

January 1st - a new year is upon us, and with that comes NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS! I already talked about my big, crafty, general resolution for 2015 yesterday. Today's post is about my 5 specific, measurable, and relatively attainable (I hope) resolutions. I've always been not so great terrible at keeping new years resolutions. I get really excited and determined for about a month or two tops, then I slowly go back to my old habits. This year I'm trying something new in the hopes that I'll get through the year with something to show for it. Why blog about it, you ask? Make it public, make it happen.

I started reading Elise Blaha Cripe's blog this year, and it's been a tremendous source of inspiration for me to stay motivated and flex my creative muscles. This December, she released PDF and letterpress versions of this SUPER helpful tool for tracking your new years resolutions. It's a one sheet with a circle for every day of the year. In her words: "This calendar's goal is to encourage you to pick ONE THING for the year. Something you can attempt to do everyday. And then this calendar will help you track it and hopefully remind you that there is a much larger picture to see here." So smart! I'm such a visual person, I think this will be just the thing I need to stay on track.

The letterpress version was sold out, so I got the printable PDF version instead. Since I already knew I would have more than one resolution, I printed them at half the size on different colored pieces of paper - one for each resolution. 

Without further ado, here are my five 2015 New Years Resolutions:

1. WAKE UP! Those that know me even a little bit know that I LOVE my sleep. However, I've realized that by sleeping in every morning I'm missing out on prime productivity time. So I've decided to try and get up at or before 8am each day. That might not sound very early to you, but let's remember, these goals are supposed to be attainable and realistic for me.  Maybe it'll give me a little extra time to work on the rest of my resolutions.

2. READ! I really want to make an effort to read on a consistent basis this year. My problem with reading is that once I start a good book, I can't stop until I finish. I have zero will power when it comes to that. I will read through meals and sacrifice sleep in some cases. As a result, I rarely start a book unless I know I'm going to have abundant free time to finish it. This year, I hope to read (or listen to an audio book) for at least 15 minutes a day. If I have time to read more than that, great!

3. MOVE! This one is tough. Since my work schedule changed to 10am-6pm, I find it harder to incorporate a workout routine that fits my day. By the time I get home from work, make dinner, and eat dinner, it's too late to exercise (especially with a full belly). We've also covered that (up until 2015) waking up early is a challenge for me, so exercising in the morning hasn't been easy. This year's goal is to incorporate some form of deliberate movement into each day. I'm leaving this purposely vague because I don't want to over-commit to running every day, or yoga every day. I'm thinking more along the lines of taking Akira on a 30 minute walk instead of 10-15 minutes. Doing a yoga video in front of the TV. Taking a walk after dinner. Actually using that PopPhysique groupon I bought a months ago. Things of that nature. It just has to be deliberate - meaning, I can't walk to the bus and say "ehh, that counts". 

4. SUPPLEMENT! This one is easy, I just want to be better about taking vitamins and supplements every day. The vitamin C in our medicine cabinet is expired. I've had Cod Liver Oil capsules in my Amazon cart for months. A couple times a year I'll buy a bottle of multivitamins, take them intermittently until they run out, and forget about it for another few months.  This year I want to try and take at least a multivitamin every day. Also apparently cod liver oil is good for your teeth, so I'll be trying that out as well.

5. DOCUMENT! Another one that I've tried to do before on several attempts (since grade school) without success. This is why I'm altering my previous resolution from "journaling" to documenting. This can mean writing a sentence or two in my planner about the day, taking pictures more often, or even writing a blog post to remember something important. While Scott was in Greenland, I started a blog for just the two of us where I would upload pictures and tell him about my day. Since we had opposite schedules and limited internet, it was easier to put together and access then sending a lengthy email with several attachments. Even though it only lasted a couple months, it's fun to look back on it and see what was happening at that time. I want to have a way to remember more or less what was happening on a day to day basis in my life during 2015. 

That's it! If you would like to purchase your own bubble calendar, click here. Here's to seeing lots of filled in circles this time next year. Happy New Year!!