2017 Goals

Happy New Year!  I don’t usually make New Years Resolutions, not out loud anyway.  Every year when my Mum asks me, my go-to comeback is the oh so not hilarious “My resolution is to quit making resolutions.”  Ha.  I’m firmly of the belief that a new year doesn’t necessarily need a new me. That being said, behind the sarcastic eye-roll I can’t ever help having a few secret hopes and plans for the year ahead rattling away in my head.  No diets, no calling things quits – just a few ideas about how I want the year ahead to look. 🙂

▲ Put down the phone. For a long time I was the girl who was “useless with her phone”. I used to say that I’d happily live without a mobile phone, and I pretty much did. I forgot to charge it, didn’t answer it or respond to texts. All that changed when I got a smart phone (…and started blogging…). Now the damn thing never leaves my side. On New Years Eve my Dad took a few family photographs and there I was, glued to my phone in pretty much every single one. Awkward.  Uh, what the hell happened?

▲ See my name in print.  Writing more is always a return headline act in my new year goals; it’s what I do. I’ve written a book (…edited it and submitted it… and then edited it again and submitted it again…) and this year I’d kind of like to see it finally go from Word Document to bookshelf.

▲ Cook out of my comfort zone.  You know me, I love cooking, but the thing is I’m one of those people who’s got a handful of recipes down and sticks to them.  This year I want to mix it up a little and add to that handful.  My sister-in-law got me the Orange is the New Black Cookbook for my birthday and I can’t wait to dive in and try a few recipes (like “Red’s Parozhki” and “Pennsatucky’s Beer-can Bird”) 🙂

▲ Start running again.  Everyone was surprised when I took up running last year (I’m a confirmed lazy lady), and no one was more surprised than I was when I actually started to really enjoy it.  But, then we moved house and I sort of fell out of my running “routine” (…if you can call dipping in and out of the Couch to 5K app a routine…).  Now that we’re all settled, I want to find a route I like and get back into it.

▲ Read 12 books (at least!)  I’m terrible at making time to sit down and read, but towards the end of 2016 I got a lot better. Finding time to read a book a month should be more than doable. 🙂

▲ Spend more time exploring Cardiff.  When Sunny and I lived in London we were terrible at getting out of the flat. We were always too tired from working and commuting, and everything was just too expensive and always so busy. Nowadays we’re lucky to live in a city that’s so easily accessible but sometimes we still have to force each other out the front door. We saw and experienced so much in 2016 since moving and hopefully that’ll continue into 2017.

▲Carry on “nesting”.  We’ve been in our new home for nearly a year now and it’s finally starting to look lived in (…in a good way, I hope!).  Last month we started putting a few pictures up and chose the last few pieces of furniture we were hunting for.  Sure, there are still boxes in the spare room, there’s still one set of curtains to put up and a few bare walls – but, phew, we’re getting there.

▲Get a dog.  Sunny and I have been planning to get a dog pretty much since we got together (some 11 years ago…), but the timing was never right. Since settling into the house we’ve been looking up breeders and researching a little about adopting a rescue dog. Hopefully it’ll happen this year, but it’s not something we’re about to rush into 🙂

▲ Eat more Doughnuts.  Ahem.

What goals or resolutions are you setting for yourself this year?  (or not!)