Friday, January 1, 2010

New Year's Resolutions

Our Christmas Tree

Above is a photo of my Christmas tree. It's cuter in person, although the flowers are slowly falling off the wall.   And that's about as Christmas-y as it gets in our house.  Did I mention I love red and turquoise?  I love red and turquoise.

Below is a list of my goals for 2010.  Today, I am thankful for 2009, and in many ways thankful that it is over.  It's been a huge amount of work, most of it mental, and my brain is tired of thinking about it.  I've been looking backwards over the past month and thinking about what went well last year, what didn't go well, and analyzing everything from my business to my marriage.  I am thankful for the lessons, and I am ready to look forward.  I'm ready for you, 2010!

1.  Learn some Spanish.  According to Malcolm Gladwell, it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert at something.  At the rate I am currently going, I can be a Spanish expert in about 166 years.  In light of that sobering statistic, I've decided that being half an expert is good enough for now.  To become half an expert in one year would take about 14 hours a day...so this is more of a long term goal.  I would like to be able to carry on basic Spanish conversation by next year this time.

2.  Find a type of exercise that I enjoy and can do year-round.  Currently running is my sport of choice, but I'm not really a treadmill runner and I'm definitely not a winter runner.  I also don't prefer to drive to the gym to run around in circles once I get there.  Any ideas?

3.  Eliminate the words "kind of", "like" and trailing off sentences from my vocabulary.

4.  I did pretty well with my goal to read to Miles every day last year.  It helps that he hands me books, sits beside me and pushes the back of my head so I'm facing the page.  This next year, my goal is to take him to the following places:  I've got the Aviation Museum, Zoo, children's museum, swimming, sledding, a concert, and a sport's game on my list so far.

5.  Also with Miles: We received a huge amount of art supplies for Christmas that we need to use up.  One art day a week, coming up!

6.  Eat healthier. I buy a lot of healthy food, but honestly most of it is eaten by my husband and son who are happy to eat carrot sticks for breakfast.

7.  Go on dates with my husband.  Monthly. 

8.  Business goals: We're well on our way to hitting our goal of 15 weddings for 2010.  As a boutique wedding planning company our big picture goal is to provide couture wedding services to a limited number of discerning couples per year.  Oh, and talking with Adrienne yesterday we both mentioned we wanted to travel to Ireland.  Brand new business goal: Destination wedding in Ireland!

9.  Blog regularly.  About everything.  This blog is the only written account that I have of the business and my life right now, and even though I run a business, this isn't just a business blog.  My readers are clients, friends, family, Winnipeg business owners, far away wedding planners, potential clients and people that happened to google something I've written about.  This is a good place to note that I am incredibly grateful to have readers, particular regular followers that check back.  Thank you.

10.  Launch a new product.  Why not?  In fact, check back January 11th to see what it is!


1 comment:

From The Heart Online said...

Hey Jess. I love your Christmas tree! (and furniture) I especially savor the fact that, on the .. is it a coffee table? ... that you left the hinges on. Nice touch.

May I use the photo of your Christmas tree on my blog? (www.frugalsteward101.blogspot.com) I'm looking for ways that my readers and I can reduce spending, and I think your tree is a fantastic idea.

Can't wait to see what your new product is! :)