Hello, blogland. I really have been thinking about you lately. Its hasn’t been you, I promise, its been me. But I’m here now, committing (again!). Phew, got the hard stuff out-of-the-way! But really, in all honesty, I’ve been thinking about this blog a lot lately. I really do want to keep up with this, keep going. Sorry, but not for you, readers (who ever you are), but for myself, for my brain, and mostly because if I keep writing here about my 2013 goals, I feel like I might stick more to them. I have also decided to take a different approach to this blog. I have this thing with chronology, order, first-second-last. And when life spun a little out of control after our wedding I couldn’t get out all I wanted to say about it, and then other things, big and little, kept happening, and I didn’t get to write about them, I got all bottled up and just couldn’t write anything. Not that I would have had time, my grandparents just received their Christmas gifts yesterday and I still have literally everyone else in our families gifts to work on. And I no longer sit in front of a computer all day, so I no longer have the luxury of writing posts on my lunch breaks, either.
But I have set some pretty lofty goals for 2013 and I am really excited about them. So far its been pretty good. I actually started subconsciously working on them before the New Year because I felt a shift in consciousness prior to that and wanted to get started and did not need to wait for January 1 to get going. 
I think it was actually a couple of days before Christmas when I sat down and wrote out my “2013 Manifesto”. It’s just kind of came out. I wrote out a 4 page to-do list to wrap my brain around the ridiculous self-imposed tasks I still had to complete for Christmas gifts, as well as things I still needed to do to just exist but had been scrimping on since my schedule changed (I’m now doing 12 hours a day of caregiving, and a special shout out to my awesome husband for doing my part of the household chores 2 weeks in a row!). Then I wrote out a list of potential words for my 2013 One Little Word and while I am not participating in Ali’s class this year, I still wanted to pick a word (or two) to focus on and to drive my goals for this year. My words are Forward and Magic, but I’ll talk more about that later. Once I had that worked out I wrote out a list of things that I wanted to “choose” to do in 2013. I don’t make resolutions, I never have, other than the usual “lose wight” thing I think everyone does. So here is my lofty list:
Things that I am going to choose to do or work on in 2013:
1.Cutting spending. On everything. No more new stuff that is not a necessity. I have made a short list of things that fall under this list such as 2 sets of scrubs, under garments, supplies that run out like thread, glue runner, ink and paper for my new printer. Outside of that anything that I want to buy has to be saved up for and put on the “30 day list” and only after that waiting period will I be able to purchase that new item. I realize once we get our own place I/we will have to alter this but I have a lot of stuff from college apartments that should get us off the ground and we can make big purchases over time instead of having to do so all at once.
2.No new crafting stuff received its own line item in the manifesto because there are no exceptions to this rule. I have amassed a mountain of crafting stuff and I am going to use every single usable thing in my stash before I get anything new. No matter what.
3.Substantially cut down my clothing. I have attachment issues with clothing. If someone has bought me something, I keep it. They spent their hard-earned money on me and this thing that they wanted to give me. So I hoard, trinkets, clothes, etc. So this year, especially with having to drag our shit all the way back across the country I really want to down size. Way too much “stuff” especially clothing. In line with this goal I want to work on selling some of my extra camera equipment, nice bags, etc.
4.Use my camera more. I feel like I say this a lot but I need to follow through on this one. Having an Iphone has really cut down on the amount of time I have my dslr in my hands and I am mad about it.
5.Blog at least twice a week (I know, I can hear your eyes rolling). But it will happen!
6.Start an address book. We are married, we are both college graduates, we need a damn address book. I sent out our wedding announcements in October and went to send out a quick set of handmade Christmas cards and realized I was in fact going to have to ask every single one of my family members for their addresses again and that is the entire reason as to why I did not send out cards from us this year. The thought of getting addresses made me physically tired. So, I purchased a cute clearance address book from The Container Store (before The Manifesto) and wrote in all of the names and now have to obtain addresses again.
7. No more pop (soda for you southerners), candy, or fast food. Pizza only once a month.
8.Love, with my length and width.
9.Be nicer. I really can be quite a mean person sometimes in real life, but unfortunately it ends up directed at people I love and I want to work to change that.
10.Work out every single day. Yup, 365 days out of the year. So far so good on this one. I know the body needs rest and will not beat my self up for missing a day, but I have flat resistance bands in my purse, and there is always down time so there is not really an excuse. I am also not putting any limits on what exercise is or is not. 200 crunches and yoga in one day counts, but I am actively making an effort to put in big work outs at least 3 times a week. I have 2 different no equipment routines that I do every other day so I have something to keep me anchored and then I throw in weights when I have enough time at home, running on my days off, and lots of yoga. *I have added in some fish to my diet because of my lofty work out goals.
11. And last but not least, I want to have better posture in 2013! My posture is literally ripping my left shoulder out of its socket! I have a ligament thing, where I am too stretchy, and when I do not work out or keep up with my PT exercises I get too weak and cannot hold my joint in their proper place. I regularly roll my ankles by walking, in flat shoes, on flat surfaces. So my shoulders have become weak over the last few months and with hunching my shoulders in front of a computer all summer/just being slouchy my left shoulder is just, wrong. So not only do I need to focus on getting stronger, I need to focus on having better posture when I am at rest or standing still, and not just when I am on a yoga mat.
So! That’s The Manifesto. If you have made it this far, I commend you! And if you’re here I am sure you’re asking, “But how?!”. Well I am working on that portion too. I have my Russel+Hazel planner (in plate) with extra planning pages where I write down what I eat, how many ounces of water I drink, and what workouts I do each and everyday. I have missed writing some days down, but know that I have worked out every single day since January 1. I am also journaling on Project Life 3×4 grid cards every single day. I am working to simplify my Project Life for 2013 by journaling 7 days/week and filling the middle pockets of “A” and “D” pages with those and pictures/scraps in the 4×6 pockets, and including inserts when needed. I am not sure if this will work long-term but wanted to give it a shot anyhow. As things progress and I tweak how I am documenting my progress on my goals for 2013 I will keep you updated.
I’m looking forward to see all that you have in store for us 2013.
