Yes, everyone is tired of hearing about everyone's else's resolutions or intentions or goals for the clean slate of the beginning of January. But I want to write about mine just so I can come back to this and remind myself of why I set these at this point in time, because as we all know, so much can change in a 12 month span.
My 2017 goals are:
1. Save $9k- I put about $8k towards debt elimination between the months of July and December. If I can do that in six months, it seems like it should be really easy to set aside 9k in 12 months.
2. Go to Portland again- I haven't been since 2012!! I need to see Woody and Kellie and some different scenery. Maybe Patrick will come with me. We shall see, but when the iron strikes for cheap flights, I'm going for it!
3. Paint the beadboard part of the outside of the house- We're coming up on eight years in this house and haven't touched up anything on the exterior of the house except a new roof. Re-painting it will freshen up the place with minimal cost and medium effort.
4. Get a blue couch- I just really have always wanted a teal blue couch! It's a color I love, and we have a dark wood paneled room that is screaming for some color. But we also have dogs to contend with so I'm eyeing the IKEA options because they have easily removable, washable slipcovers.
5. Finish the first draft on a book I'm 10k words in on so far- I haven't mentioned it to many people but in October I wrote an outline for a story I've been wanting to tell for a while. I got to about 10k words and lost the momentum with the holidays but I think now that the fun is over I can get back to a normal writing schedule.
6. SKYDIVE!- This one I know is going to happen because my dad and I already got each other a certificate to go skydiving that expires within the year. We're waiting for warmer weather and a few pounds to be shed.
7. Continue on my fourth year(!) of writing for the Free Times- I just love doing it. It's the creative portal to balance out my solid but less than exciting workday material. Also I have a solid list of contacts around town and the food scene is only getting more interesting, why would I stop now?!
8. Be sociable more often when it's warmer out- It's so easy to hermit and I permit myself to do it when it's cold, but when the weather is nice there's no reason not to be enjoying it with others.
9. Convince someone to let me name their baby- I'm not going to get to name a baby, why can't I hope that someone will actually take my suggestion for once?! Naming pets is cool and all but I want to know that some kid has the name they have to have their whole lives because of my influence.
These all seem to be fairly attainable because they are varied, as in not all money or travel or work related, but a good mix of all so that if I am sick of thinking about one, I can go on to another. The only one I can see not happening is the last one, but it's worth including because 2017 is going to be another bumper crop of babies amongst my crowd.