12 Goals for 2012

I know, I really should be posting my birth story or telling all of you curious people all about my Peanut, but since we are now 3 days into 2012, I feel like I should really post my resolutions. I'm stealing the number symmetry from another blogger, but I'm sure she won't mind.

1. Pay off half my student loan debt
Only my husband and I can appreciate what a hefty goal this is, but I think that making it is necessary. We need to get out from underneath these loans in order to start moving forward with our lives and careers. I thought about saying we wanted to pay off half our debt, but then I remembered that we have a 120,000 mortgage. So, for now, this will go a long way towards making us feel better.

2. Read 100 books
Ok, I know that I've already made this goal, but I feel like this year could be different. For one, I'm not putting the stipulation on myself that I can't have ever read it before. I'm also not going to make a list and then check it off; instead, I'm going to write the books down as I read them, so that I can read whatever happens to come into my hands. I'm excited about this goal.

3.  Make the Monte Carlo last through 2012
God bless that Monte Carlo. My mom bought it new in 1999 and it has seen 185,000+ miles. Our intention was to buy a new car for me sometime this month. I'm realizing, though, that it's really not necessary at this time. We paid off the husband's car last year, and I just hate the thought of putting another payment on us. Actually, what I would rather not buy a car until all my student loans were paid off, but who knows if my car will last another year. Bless it.

4. Have a full time job in my area of expertise
 I have wasted a lot of time since being married moping around wondering when I will get the chance to act again. No more. I'm taking action. Starting in January, I will be starting some voice/acting/piano students. I'm hoping to have enough students by the summer to quit my full time job and just teach what I love. I think that would mean having about 20 to 25 students as well as working part time at the clinic. Even if that doesn't happen, I think I can have enough students by the end of the year to tell people proudly that I have my own acting studio.

5. Return to pre-baby weight
Pre-baby I weighed 135 pounds. I reached 180 pounds at my last weigh in at the hospital. In the two weeks since I gave birth, I've lost 26 pounds... which is mind blowingly awesome. So current weight is 154 and I need to lose 19 pounds. Obviously, this is totally doable in a year. I hope to get it done early so that I have some momentum to keep going the rest of the year. 

6. Run three 5ks
I had started running right before I got pregnant, and that obviously got put on hold for 9 months. I'm excited to start up again- I've really missed it. I think that 3 races is a really reasonable goal. 

7. Go on vacation
We have gotten in the habit of taking quickie vacations that end up being more stressful that anything because we haven't saved for it or planned well. I hope to end that this year and take a nice vacation as a family. 

8. Read my Bible daily
I'm not going to waste time trying to figure out exactly how much I should read or what precisely it should be or split hairs over whether I should journal it. I'm going to start small and say that even if I only have the strength or sanity to read one verse, that's ok. As long as I crack open my Bible at some point in the day, that's enough.

9. Have $10,000 in savings
I don't know if this is realistic with the previous monetary goal, but I'm going to do my darndest to make sure that this happens. If we can accomplish this, I would be ok buying a car next year because we would have a considerable down payment. 

10. Keep up with my house
I am a terrible housekeeper. I'm not going to say that my house will never be dirty, because it will. But I do want to make sure that it doesn't stink... which it does from time to time. I want to make sure that I never feel totally overwhelmed.

11. Write to Yanci once a month
We adopted a child through Compassion International in December. I want to make sure that she knows how special and loved she is by us. She is really so precious. I fell in love with her the moment I saw her picture.

12. Cook more
This goal shouldn't be hard, considering that I never cook now. That's all I have to say about that.