Its already January 10th. When in the world did that happen?  Im pretty sure its still August.  I wanted to start fresh this year with some personal goals. And what better way to force myself to stick to those goals than to post them on my blog for everyone to see?  (I envision regretting this by about April).  Three things come to mind easily when I think about what I’d like to see change in my mind.  My (over)weight. My (sometimes poor) job of being a wife.  My (somehow became rather lukewarm and dry) faith.  Making all these things instantly better is a bit of an intimidating task, so I’ve kind of just been quietly thinking of how i can fix everything during 2013.  And then last week I read a blog of a friend of mine from graphic design school who is making one change each of the 52 weeks during 2013 to help her lead a healthier life.  52 little changes.  Now that sounds so much more feasible.  So, friends. Thats what I’m going to try.  52 Little Things in each of those three areas in my life. And I’m going to share them with you so you can join me if you’d like, or at least keep me accountable.

#1:

+No more way-sugery drinks.   Only water, tea (slightly sweetened by honey), and milk.  Now, I live right above a Starbucks.  Literally.  And I fell in love with sweet tea while living in Richmond Virginia for University.  So I can’t be too unrealistic here.  I’m allowing one small Starbucks drink per week (I already had mine for this week- their new vanilla spice latte.. so stinking cozy-delicious!).

+Following a meal plan to ensure that I have home cooked meals for my husband 6 out of 7 nights of the week.  I’ve tried this a couple times before on my own, and failed miserably.  Its stinking hard to rack my brain and come up with 6 new and yummy meals each week, and then make sure I don’t spend a billion dollars at the grocery store buying the ingredients.  So I’m enlisting the help of emeals.com.  They let you choose your grocery story of choice, what type of diet (i.e.: classic, low fat, low card, vegetarian, organic, paleo, etc), and then they search the weekly grocery store ads to see whats on sale, and put together a healthy yummy meal plan for about $10 a meal for 2 people (so far its been making enough for 3 people.. and Dave and I have big appetites.. or you can choose the family meal plan for more people) and even give you a categorized shopping list each week.  It takes the hard part out of meal planning for me.  I’ve been keeping up with it for 2 weeks so far.

+Making sure we tithe a good amount, regularly.  Now we’re not talking about doing this just to follow the rules.  I really believe that our money is God’s.  And tithing an uncomfortable amount each month is a good real way for me to trust God more with the things He gives us.  We’ve been incredibly blessed since I left my full time job at Apple to run my photography business full time. It was a BIG leap of faith, and it certainly wasn’t a given that it would all work out.  But God just really keeps providing us with exactly what we need.  And I think its a better place to be in where we MUST turn to God for things to work out, rather than a place where we can do it all on our own.  And I think setting up regular tithing for an amount higher than I am comfortable with, is a tangible way I can force myself to trust and lean on God more.

So there they are.  Lets just ignore the fact that I started my new years resolutions almost 2 weeks behind. 🙂
And by the way, here’s a sneak peek at how my website design is coming along!  AHHH! Im so excited and so horrible about keeping surprises as secrets!