dip N dollop

Now that we're a good two months in to 2013, I'm finally ready to commit to my goals for the year.  I've got a few this year, and I'm really hoping I can stick to them all.  I've got big plans.  Big plans.

None of my goals are fitness or health related.  I've got enough health problems going on that I didn't think it was fair to myself to say "Oh, I want to lose 25 pounds" and then get my medication switched back to one of the evil medications that made me puff out like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

Attractive, is he not?

I wanted to set myself on a path towards actually being able to achieve my goals so that I feel accomplished at the end of the year, rather than feeling like a big fat failure.  So, my goals for this wonderful year.

Source

1. I want to send greeting cards to friends and immediate family for occasions like birthdays and anniversaries.  We spend so much time wishing people happy birthday through Facebook, Tweets, and other electronic formats that it's routine now.  Getting a card in the mail is so much more fun!
2. I want to stay more organized.  I used to be super-hyper-crazy organized and felt on top of everything.  Once my life became a swarm of doctor visits and days on the couch, everything started slipping.  I want to work back towards being as organized as I once was.  I'm well on my way towards this with the consistent use of my fabulous planner, which I will blog about one of these days.
3. I'm only going to work on one big project at a time.  (Insert gasp here!)  I read so many amazing blogs and spend so much time on Pinterest that I get all of these amazing ideas and great inspiration, so I start ideas, end up partway though, then I get inspired by something else and move on before I finish the original craft or project.  No more.  I need to finish what I start.  For example, I'm in the middle of redecorating two rooms right now and have about five different craft projects in progress.  I feel so overwhelmed by what I have going that I'm not sure where to start to finish everything.  So in the end, nothing is getting done at all which is completely unproductive.
4. I love to read.  Most of what I read is romance, mystery, or my absolute favorite, romantic mysteries. I'm addicted to authors like J.D. Robb, Lisa Gardner, Lisa Scottoline, Kay Hooper, Janet Evanovich, Harlan Coben, and Nora Roberts.  I'm also totally guilty of judging a book by its cover.  I've gotten several books by Laura Lippman because the covers look interesting (that's also how I "discovered" Lisa Scottoline).  In order to broaden my horizons, I've committed to read a "Top 100" book and/or a classic (think Little Women, To Kill a Mockingbird, Pride and Prejudice, Anne of Greene Gables, Great Gatsby, Anna Karenina).  I read many of these books when I was younger, but I think it would be a good experience to re-read them as an adult.  I learned that I need to give Top 100 books a chance as well, because I learned I loved books like the Steig Larsson trilogy and The Hunger Games trilogy, which I thought I would hate. Yes, apparently I'm a slave to pop culture.  And I'm okay with that.
5. Restart scrapbooking using the Project Life method.  I blogged about this the other day.  I'm really excited about it.  I've found dozens of adorable printables online, and the Recollections brand sold at Michael's has a new line they call Creative Chaos that's very similar to SMASHbooks and Project Life, and they had some really cute cards that I picked up as well.