New Year's Resolutions 2013

This year I decided to divide my New Year's Resolutions into four categories because it seemed like a more OCD organized way to go about the process.  Perhaps my New Year's Resolutions should include something about being a little LESS organized and a little MORE spontaneous...

Professional Resolutions

• Update (and/or enlist the help Ferris Creative Media, my cousin-in-law's graphic and website design company to update) the Midwestern Girl blog homepage.
• Develop a comprehensive plan - spanning from January 2013 through January 2014 - to help me better divide my time between the Midwestern Girl blog, our family blog, my professional writing commitments, and my volunteer writing commitments.
• Further develop my newest professional relationship with the Bryan-College Station Parent Network.

Physical Health and Wellness Resolutions

• Eat fewer carbohydrates.  Drink more water.  Drink exactly the same amount of beer.
• Make at least one new vegetarian meal each month and share my family's favorite recipes here on the blog.

Relationship Development Resolutions

• Go on at least one date (lunch and double dates count) with Tom each month.
• Spend at least one morning/afternoon/evening every three months with each child on his/her own.  Do not waste one of these nights out on the Mom and Son Speedway (less than) Spectacular.
• Follow through on all those "we should get together!" exclamations. Call/email/text friends and make plans to actually chat over a cup of coffee, unwind with a cold beer, enjoy dinner out, or laugh through a movie together.

Fun (?) Resolutions

• To repeat a 2012 resolution, knit two scarves for friends with cold necks.
• Read, read, and read some more.  Read in the name of entertainment, but also to learn more about and to widen the lens through which I view the world around me.  Read a chapter book series (suggestions?) to my kids.  Teach Hallie to read.
• Go to the movies. (In the six years since Will was born I've seen an average of one movie a YEAR in the theater. In the last two months, however, I've seen six movies in the theater - Wreck-It Ralph, Rise of the Guardians, Argo, and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2...three times - and I've been reminded about how much I absolutely love the movie theater experience. When I watch movies at home I do so while simultaneously folding laundry, cleaning the house, writing blog posts, updating my online calendar, repeatedly sending children back to bed. When I watch movies in the theater I am truly able to relax and enjoy the film, and I leave feeling refreshed.)  With Tom, with my kids, and with friends.  When movies in the theater aren't an option, curl up on the couch - without any laundry or my computer - and enjoy Blockbuster rentals.