Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and are ready to take on the new year. Besides my Pinterest Resolution, I thought I would share my resolutions for the new year. Let's first look at last years resolutions.

Last Year's Resolutions

Last year I had several New Year's resolutions that I felt pretty successful about. My birthday is in February and I had an epiphany between New Years and my birthday that I was really lacking something personally. I have a history of depression, so when I start feeling depressed I get out a pad of paper (or Evernote!) and start listing out things I could do to help keep myself busy and happy. My epiphany was that I had dropped a ton of my hobbies since I was a teenager. I turned 30 this year and I really couldn't say what my hobbies were. My fiancé has many hobbies and I found that I was always waiting around for him to wrap up his so we could do something together.

Faux Antique Crystal
Chandelier Earrings

Here is the list I came up with last year and my accomplishments for each goal:

• Take a jewelry making class

This year I took three jewelry making classes, including Wire 1, Ear Wires, and Wire 2. I have already blogged about the first class. I have drafted an article on the second, I just haven't gotten around to taking pictures of it yet. (Bad me!)

Now that I have taken jewelry making classes, I have made some fun jewelry. I still have lots of projects I want to blog about.

• Journal more

Last Christmas I got a Kindle Fire and started using Evernote to Journal. I used to journal as a youth, but it petered off through my twenties. I would love to have a journal for a daughter or granddaughter to find after I have passed. Evernote isn't as cute of a medium, but it is extremely convenient! I feel this will give me more opportunities to jot things down. I also have linked up my Google Calendar to Evernote via IFTTT. I have found that I journal less when I am busy having fun (especially when my step-son is in town). This is the time that I feel like I should be journalling the most! I'm going to try to be more consistent with this.

• Start a blog

This blog, case in point. I started research and writing for my blog early last year, but only started publishing my articles in May. I have posted an article every Monday since my blog went live, except for one day where I Missed My Deadline (I still published an article, just about how it was the first Monday I didn't have an article ready).

• Exercise more

Pretty cliché, right?

I tried to do the 30 day Fitness Challenge from Evernote, but wasn't super successful with it. I had planned to do 30 sit ups and 60 stairs every day and remove soda from my daily diet. I started off strong, but half way through the month I ended up quitting the sit ups. The stairs I am still doing. I have switched which stop I get off the bus on my way to work so that I can walk up 60 stairs in the morning. I have also been purchasing carbonated water with 0 calories and 0 sugar. This helps me avoid soda during the week, but I do drink 1 can of soda on Saturday and Sunday.

I did better during the summer months because it was super nice out and I added walking into my routine. My work had a team competition that was really motivating. I was counting steps with a pedometer every day during the competition and was doing over 3000 steps every day. After the competition I was studying for my PE Exam. After the exam was over, it turned cold and rainy out, so I was less motivated to go for walks.

Yoga (image courtesy
of Whole Life Yoga)

• Take Yoga Classes

This has been on my new year's resolution list since I graduated from University in 2008. Before I went back to school full-time, I used to go to Yoga ever Sunday. After going back to school, I just didn't have the time to. I kept saying I would go back after graduating, but I just didn't. There was always a reason not to.

I think the first new years after graduation I had determined I was going to go back to taking Yoga, but then I had a snowboarding accident that messed up my right shoulder. I was in physical therapy for six months afterwards and still haven't fully recovered from it. Yoga would probably be really good for it now, though.

• Bring my lunch to work

I have actually been really good with this since Summer. When my step-son was staying with us, I made us lunch in the morning every day. So after he left, I just continued this as part of my routine.

Chip Chicken Fingers

• Make yummy dinners

Since my fiancé is back in school and not working, I've really pushed us to not eat out as much as we used to. Making yummy meals helps encourage us not too. Especially if there is left overs. When my step-son was in town, I introduced Chip Chicken Fingers. Everyone loved it!

I feel I was pretty successful last year, which is awesome!

This Year's Resolutions

Wii Fit (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here are my resolutions for this year:

• More exercising!

I want a regular routine. My plan last year after the competition was to walk during the good weather and then buy a jump rope and try jumping rope during the winter in the parking garage. Alternatively I could do sit ups, get out the Wii fit or go to yoga. Yoga has been on my list every year since 2008...

• More jewelry!

I want to take more classes and to also make jewelry more regularly. I think what's been holding me back is I don't have a good spot set up to do jewelry. My DIY Kitchen Table should resolve this.

Some handmade jewelry
I made for Christmas this year.

• Start an etsy or storenvy shop for my jewelry.

This was something I wanted to do from the moment I started making jewelry. My fiancé even brought up that he would totally be down to help me set up a booth at a craft fair. I just haven't been producing enough jewelry yet to sell. My goal last year was to blog about jewelry, then build up momentum to start a store. This year I want to up the ante and finally get a store up.

• More blogging!

I have been really consistent about posting one article a week. I'm wondering if I can bring it up to two articles per week. I'm thinking this would be a great goal to work hand in hand with my goal of doing more jewelry. Maybe dedicate a second day to just jewelry posts? Maybe do a Jewelry Thursday post every week? Would be a good motivator to keep the jewelry production up.

• Keep the house clean and organized!

My goal is to keep up on the kitchen every single day. Then every weekend spend a few hours focusing on one part of the apartment, giving it a deep cleaning.

• Keep making yummy dinners!

I'm also using baking/cooking as part of my Pinterest Resolution. Who knows, maybe I could start posting one day of the week solely for recipes or food reviews? This would tie in with my resolution to do more blogging.

So there is my list of resolutions. It seems like a lot, but with how successful I was last year I feel like most of them are just developing the previous year's resolutions.

Keep Track of Your Resolutions

Evernote (Photo
credit: Wikipedia)

Last year I wrote my resolutions down in Evernote. Evernote is a wonderful tool to keep track of things like this. I was able to find my list pretty quickly using the search feature. Check out Evernote's new years resolution article from last year, Announcing our New Fitness Ambassador and Top 10 Ways to Stick to Your Resolutions This Year. This article has great tips on how to stay on top of your new years resolutions.

Blogging is another great way to keep on track with your resolutions. Check out Resolutions in Motion for some great blogging inspiration for your goals. I really like the idea of blogging about your goals and then linking up with other bloggers. I wish I had signed up for this. Even if you aren't linking up with a blog challenge, blogging on your own is a great way to motivate yourself and bring in some accountability.

What are your resolutions for the new year? What were your resolutions last year? How successful were you? If you were successful last year, how did you keep yourself on track? If you weren't successful, what are some ways you are planning on staying on track this year?

Resources

Here are some reading material to help motivate you this year:

• Top 10 ways to stick to your resolutions this year from the Evernote Blog
• Evernote: 30 Day fitness Challenge
• Resolutions in Motion
• For the Love of Skinny: One Woman's Journey to Being a Healthy, Happy Grown-Up