Belated thoughts for 2010

Since we were out of town from the start of the year until just last week and it took me that long to blog about our trip, I'm FINALLY getting around to posting some New Year's "Thoughts" (not resolutions!)

The past few months have been jam-packed. Since August, there was frantic wedding planning, frenzied new site building at work, preparations for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's, and our amazing honeymoon. All our "free time" (read: time not spent at work, school, or church) has been spent preparing for one of these things.

Now, for the first time in a very long time, there's nothing on the imminent horizon. At first, I thought this seemed kind of sad. There's nothing to look forward to!

But now I'm kind of reveling in it. This past weekend, we were able to spend Friday and Saturday doing little things we've been meaning to do for months, cooking, watching tv and generally enjoying life at our own (slow) pace. It was some kind of wonderful.

So I have a few thoughts about what I'd like to do this year, most of which will probably shape the way this blog ends up looking.

1. I'd like to read more! I've been reading the same books over and over again. I think I read all of the Jane Austen books three times each this year. One thing I'd really like to do is read more Gospel literature. Not since reading A Marvelous Work and a Wonder and The Miracle of Forgiveness a while back have I had a good Gospel book to read. I'm interested in learning more about Emma Smith - can anyone recommend a good book about her?
2. Continued weight loss! Last year was about 15 lbs, but some of it creeped back on during the holidays/honeymoon. I'm going to increase my workouts and pull in the reigns on my eating habits and see if I can get to having more energy and more confidence with my body.
3. Experiment more with cooking. Hans and I love to cook together. Prior to our marriage, I used to take frozen Lean Cuisine and Smart Ones dinners to work every night. Since getting married, cooking together is something that we do for fun. It's kind of our time together. Often on the weekend, we'll make several meals to eat throughout the week. I haven't taken a frozen dinner to work since our wedding. And I love it. It's so much more satisfying, and fun! But I often find myself making the same recipes so one goal for this year is to branch out more and experiment with new recipes. I'll post the good ones here.
4. Home improvement stuff. This is probably what I'm looking forward to most. Hans and I have decided that we're staying put in this apartment until we can move into a house, so while our lease still has 11 months left, I think we'll probably renew another year. Bottom line: we're not going anywhere for a while. and I want to nest. I've become obsessed with Crate and Barrel catalogs, home design blogs, and bargain hunting for home goods at Marshalls, Bed Bath and Beyond and Hobby Lobby. I'm trying to find simple, affordable ways to make our apartment into our home. Expect many "before" and "after" blogs about room makeovers and way too much detail about the "hows" and "wheres." Sherry and John at Young House Love have truly inspired me to totally make over my house. Seriously, check out this bathroom makeover for an example of how awesome they are! I want to do this....

Most of my other goals for this year are to improve on good habits started last year -
- Read the Book of Mormon at least once a year;
- pay tithing regularly (instead of letting it build up a couple months before paying it off, like last year);
- attend the temple at least once monthly, if not twice;

-  work on paying off all our debt. It's not much, but I'd like to get rid of it.
- And of course, start saving for a house! The fund is started and it won't be long now :D

I can already tell that 2010 is going to be a very, very good year.