The year 2012 will be…

… all about me!

I know that sounds conceited but it’s not really. 2011 was an interesting year, with lots of ups and probably just as many downs. Looking back I can see that I spent the year focused on other things, things that were out of my control.

So this year is all about me growing. I want to grow in my relationship with God, with my husband, with Miss Delightful, and focus on friends as well. I also want to loose weight and eat healthier.

How am I going to do this without burning out in a few months? I’m not sure… I guess that’s where my relationship with God comes into it all, I know that I can’t do anything without him. So if I spend time with God, the other things should be slightly easier.

Here is my plan, it may change over time… but for now this is what I am going to do.

God: Every day I am going to have some quiet time, I am following the SOAP format that I found over at Mom’s Toolbox. It makes my quiet time achievable and so far I have gotten something out of each passage! I am starting with reading Luke, then I’ll move on to Acts and then Proverbs. I have also ordered 2 books that I can’t wait to arrive… one is called “My So Called Life as a Proverbs 31 Wife” written by Sara Horn, and the other one is “Loving the Little Years” by Rachel Jankovic.

Husband: Last year we decided that we would try to plan a date every other month, so I only had to come up with 6 dates in the whole year, and Mr Wonderful only had to come up with 6 as well. We had a budget of I think about $10, and most of them were meant to be done at home after Miss D was in bed. We started out the year well, but then life got busy and we forgot. So this year I think we will try again… but I think I am going to come up with at least 12 dates, if not more that we can choose from. This way we don’t have to come up with them when the time comes, we can just grab one from the pile! The Dating Diva’s is one place where I’m sure I can get lots of good ideas!

Miss Delightful: I love spending time with my little lady, and we get up to lots of fun activities. This year I want to make sure that the time we spend at home is quality time. I want to be off the computer, and down on the floor playing with her. Not all the time cause she needs to learn to play alone as well. But she thrives off attention and there are lots of activities that we can do together if I just put a bit more effort in. I also want to teach her more bible stories, she knows about Noah and Baby Jesus.. but that’s all.

Friends: I have a few friends that I see a lot of, that I am really close with, but there are other friends who I don’t make as much of an effort with. Mr W and I have decided that we are going to try to invite more people over for meals this year. And I want to make more of an effort to keep in touch with my friends, I am blessed to have friends all over the world… it means that I can’t just pop over and say hi. I have to work at it, but thankfully technology helps to make it easier, Skype is a wonderful creation!!

And then the last one… which is probably the biggest! The weight loss and healthy eating… this one is the scariest of all, but it will have multiple positive outcomes at the end (hopefully).

Eating: The plan is to eat 5 small meals a day, making each meal healthy and filling. I have lots of recipe ideas that I am going to try out, if they are any good I’ll share them with you. And if anyone has any good healthy ideas I’d love to know them!

Weight loss: My goal is to loose 20 kilograms (that’s 45lbs for my American readers). That sounds like a lot… but I’m aiming high! I am the worst exerciser in the world, so this one is going to be hard. I have decided that I am going to take part in the TriWoman Triathlon again this year. I did one in 2011 and it was so cool to say I had completed it! This year I am aiming for one in April up in Auckland. I definitely would not be ready for the February one here. To be able to complete it I need to be able to swim 300m, bike 8kms and run 3kms, so that is what I am working towards. At the moment I can’t even run 1km so I have a long way to go. So to get me started, I have challenged myself to travel 15kms a week, that can be walking, running, swimming or biking. That should be possible, since my normal walk takes me 40 minutes and is 3kms.

And on top of all that, I have one more thing. I have challenged myself to make something every 2 weeks for the whole year, that’s 24 creations in a year. I have started a list of things that I plan on making. I haven’t started yet, as we only got home last weekend. So my creation challenge starts the week of the 16th, which is next week. Guess I better get planning and buy some material! The creations are a mixture of things for Miss D, for myself and for the house, and not all of them involve a sewing machine. Mr Wonderful misses out, but if I think of something he might like I’ll make it for him. Guys things are harder than girls!

So that is what 2012 is going to look like for me. I plan on sharing how things are going with you all, so feel free to question me or keep me on track if you wish!