New Year's Resolutions

This year I've heard a lot of people say that they don't like to make New Year's Resolutions. Why not use everyday to set goals and make changes to make your life better? While I'm not arguing with the thought behind that, I happen to like New Year's Resolutions. I like hard set beginnings and ends and the calendar is a great tool for that. A new year is such a good time for the clock to start ticking again.

Like most people, I end up abondoning my New Year's goals somewhere between January 15th and April 1st. But each year brings the hope that this will be the year I stick with it and make it a habit. I will finally lose the weight, keep the kitchen clean, read those books or play more games with my kid. This year I could say, "Nevermind. I'm not going to do it anyway. I'll wait until July to set my goals so that no one else will be watching when I fail." But no. I will set my resolutions and I will post them publicly so that others can ask me how they're going. There's nothing like peer pressure to make me stick to something, right? So here they are, some of the things I hope to accomplish during 2012.

1. Read 12-20 books. Why 12-20? Well, last year I set a goal to read 26 books, one every two weeks of the year. While this is an incredibly slim number to some, this was too lofty for me. I like to read, but the time set aside for reading in my life is small and I'm not a very fast reader. I wanted my new goal to be 20 books, but that still sounds pretty daunting. So, 12 is my minimum. Even I can read one book a month, right?

2. Memorize 24 Bible verses this year. I'm part of a little group in my church called Moxie Memorizers. The goal is to memorize a new verse twice a month. You can read about it here if you're interested in what it's all about. Last year I fizzled out pretty hard, but I am determined to stay strong this year.

3. Get back to my pre-Yemi weight. Maybe it's because I'm home more and have access to more food (although I'm not much of a snacker) or maybe it's because I turned 30 and my metabolism slowed, but life after Yemi has included a new wardrobe. There are some clothes in my closet I would love to fit back into.

4. Buy a house. I am so ready to own a home and hope that's in the plan for this year.

5. Blog more often. As you can see with a quick scroll down, I gave up blogging for about a year and a half. I hope to blog at least once a week (okay, at least every two) in this year.

6. Give thanks. I'm about half way through One Thousand Gifts and my friend Jenn, who bought me the book, also bought me a journal to go along with it. I plan to write at least one thing I'm thankful for (hopefully more) each day. To reinforce my efforts, my friend Alysa over at Inspired Results, has started her #365Thanks campaign that asks everyone to do the same thing.

Anyone else proudly set New Year's Resolutions? If so, good luck! This could be your year! I'd love to hear some of them...