This is the start of a new year and hopefully the start of a new me. 2011 has held a lot of happy memories and times but there are also things about it it that I'd prefer to forget. I am guessing these sentiments are shared by the vast majority of people in the world. For the first time ever I sat and wrote out a proper list of new years resolutions rather than the usual resolutions fleetingly thought of and quickly forgotten. Hopefully this will mean that I actually stick to them this year!
So, a selection of my resolutions:
1) To make more time to see friends and family. As I work full time as a teacher and then work a lot in the evenings and weekends my time off is precious. I spend as much time as possible with my one year old daughter and my husband but I also need to make time for friends and family. I think it is more the fact that I have to get better about organising dates in the diary. Whatever the reason, be it time or organisation, there are some friendships that need a bit of TLC and a few family members that have been a bit neglected this past year.
2) To enjoy my house and garden more. Last year we had an extension built with a new kitchen and we are still getting everything settled and finished off. The lack of a decent kitchen was one reason I didn't like spending time in my home or entertaining but that has now been remedied, meaning there is no excuse now. There are more projects on the horizon but after living here for 5 1/2 years I have finally got my kitchen. I am also a keen gardener. That was another big project we took on when we bought this house. The garden was an absolute wilderness set on a steep slope. My younger brother was wonderful and spent a lot of time doing a lot of hard work to put levels in for us, then a friend with a landscape gardening business built us a proper patio. This has made the garden much nicer to be in and I even have a nice sized dedicated vegetable patch, along with all the tubs ranged around the patio. Due to the building work this year I was unable to make any use of the garden and the veg I had planted out I was unable to get to and it was all eaten alive and ruined. It was such a shame to see all my hard work wasted when I was finally able to get back out there. This year I am looking forward to a full gardening year and lots of BBQs in the summer and dinner parties in the other seasons.
3) To read more. The pile of books that I am planning on reading is growing steadily higher and the sight is beginning to depress me. It is such a pleasure to read a good book and something I am really missing. I used to be able to read a novel in next to no time but now finding the time to read even a chapter is a struggle.
4) To write more. As I've said before, I miss actually writing something, fiction or non-fiction. It is not the same marking the work of others. Sometimes I am jealous of my students when I set them a writing task and wish that I was a student again to write more. I have been writing some fiction over the past year or two and I will be sharing some of it on here for you to hopefully enjoy. This is also the reason I have decided to write a blog, for the enjoyment of writing.
There are several more resolutions on my list, the inevitable ones to lose weight, be better with money, to update my wardrobe etc, but I won't bore you with those.
Happy New Year everyone. Here is to a wonderful year and one where the resolutions made are stuck to throughout the whole year.
Loved reading your first blog! :-)
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of similar plans for this year, especially the making time for friends and family one. I never seem to have enough time to see everyone!
Hi sweets,
ReplyDeleteLovely first blog, just try not to be hard on yourself. The first year of "Mum-dom" is a big change, and it sounds like you are well into the swing of things! When Olivia was born it seemed like all my other mum friends were so much more organised than me, but they weren't really! Now I have Ava too I'm actually even more chilled out than before. My top tip for achieving some of your resolutions is try getting a book club going. It sounds geeky but it's actually a fun way of getting together regularly. My friend Sally started one a few months back. We each take it in turns to host, the host chooses the book and we talk about the book, have wine and a good old gossip!
My resolution is to try one new recipe per week, I had my kitchen renovated in April, now I need to make time to use it!!!
Love Laura
P.S. It doesn't matter how long it's been, good friends will always be your friends ;)