New Year's Resolutions

Happy 2013! A few days late, but better late than never, right? We've been moving everything out from our Tampa house and back up to our new place in Atlanta for the last few days. It was a LOT of work, but we did it and we're settling in nicely here.

By the way, notice anything different? New look for a new year!

2012 was a crazy year for us. Lots of ups and downs, but it also gave me a chance to think about how I can change things for 2013. I decided that this year, I'm going to focus on ME. I know that sounds selfish, but that's not at all what I mean. 13 has always been my lucky number. I was born on October 13, so I guess it just always stuck with me, so 2013 can't fail me! I look back on 2012 and realize that I made some promises to myself that I never kept. Nothing major, but still. I spent so much time focusing on other things and didn't really focus on things that made myself happy. I've always had the bad habit of not being able to say "no" to people and sometimes, I end up getting overwhelmed and forgetting about myself and my life. A friend of mine posted on facebook that her big resolution is that it's OK to say "no" when she truly can't take everything on and it gets to the point where she's getting to stressed. I totally agree. I've also had a habit of always giving in to others' opinions when they say "You should do this...you should do that," instead of doing what I really want, I listen to others. Of course, I'm always welcome to opinions and suggestions and sometimes, they might make more sense than my original decision. However, this time I'm going to think it through and decide what's best for me instead of just jumping in and saying "OK."

I also want to make resolutions that seem realistic. In the past, I've done things like "travel to a new country" and "learn a foreign language." Of course, those are definitely attainable, but not always easy when life gets in the way. So, here are my resolutions for 2013 (in no particular order):

1. Make at least 1-2 new meals a week. Something I haven't made before. I love to cook and I have several cookbooks that I've barely put a dent in. I also have nice, big counter space in my new kitchen - something I was highly lacking in our old place and also in our house in Tampa (which was Mike, the non-cook's bachelor pad before I moved in), along with easy access to most of my favorite kitchen appliances that used to get stuck in the back of the cabinets for the sake of space.

2. Spend more times working on craft projects. I absolutely love to do anything creative. Growing up, I was never the athletic or scientific girl - I was artsy. I think that's where my love of cooking and baking comes in too since I'm technically creating something when I cook. When I was younger and wasn't able to sleep at night, I would get up and paint and it would relax me. I've done a few projects for the house and I'm insanely obsessed with Pinterest (follow me here!). I have some really cool ideas that I want to work on. Plus, I feel a big sense of pride when I see an accomplished product displayed in my house. Not to mention, it makes me happy and washes the stress away.

3. Focus more on photography. I know this was my goal for last year and I started off strong, but as other things got in the way, I let this fall behind. I'm not going to make any goals of taking one new picture a day (though, I'd love that but again, I need to be realistic), but I'm definitely going to be giving my camera some more use.

4. Increase my knowledge in Adobe programs. In my last job in Tampa, I had a little exposure to programs such as Adobe InDesign, Dreamweaver and Illustrator and I already had a slight knowledge of Photoshop. I bought a Google Offer not too long ago that gives me year-long access to online courses and training for all these programs. I'm actually pretty excited to start working on these.

5. Take on a new venture. Nothing huge, but something I've been thinking a lot about. But, more on this to come later... :)

So there you have it. I have a few smaller promises that I made to myself, but these are the ones I'm focusing on for now. I think they're reasonable, right? And to stick with this, I'll document my projects on here so you can see what I'm up to and see how things are coming along. And who knows - maybe I'll take up French along the way ;)