Things to do, places to go (no couch potato please)

I'm trying really hard to be organized in my life. I'm taking little steps so that I don't get overwhelmed and get horribly frustrated, because that usually ends with me giving up. It is about this time every year I think all sorts of dangerous thoughts. Well, they aren't really dangerous, but more like radical or boundary-stretching. I start thinking about the new year and what I want to get accomplished, all the while conveniently forgetting my resolutions from last year. I have so many plans, ideas, goals, aspirations, and dreams that are bubbling up inside of me. I often get discouraged though when I fail to reach my lofty goal or crazy schedule. That's why, for the past couple of years, I've made goals that are boundary-stretching, but have more lax restrictions.

In 2008 I decided that I was going to read my bible every day and write one new poem every day for the whole year. I made myself little sticky note calendars that I put next to my bed, and I kept my bible and notebook easily accessible so I didn't have any excuse to not do it. I knew though, that if I missed one day, I would get so annoyed that I would give up, and I would have five new poems for that goal (and that's it) and then I'd quit. So I made it a rule that I was allowed to miss up to thirty days of writing poems. That way, if something came up, and I went to bed without scribbling something down, I was forgiven and didn't have to freak out that I had messed up.

This strategy worked great for me. I am a perfectionist in some areas, and when I make goals I want everything to go according to schedule, so when I made exceptions for myself to fail a little bit, my success was much greater in the end. I wrote a poem nearly every day that year, and I read my daily bible almost every day. Granted, most of the poems were not spectacular or amazing, and sometimes I hurried through my reading because I was so sleepy, but I got into the habit of doing it, and that was really the whole point of it.

It makes me wonder what I should try to do next year. There are so many interesting/enriching things I'd like to try for a year...

1. post a new photograph every day
2. write a new blog post every day
3. exercise at least three times a week
4. send something out to be published twice a month
5. skip eating fastfood (except for special occasions)
6. write one page in a journal every day
7. listen to one CD every day
8. post a new scarf to Etsy every week
9. write a review for a book I've read within a week of reading for my book reviews blog

The list could go on and on. I will just have to mull over all my thoughts for a couple days and then think up a plan of action...I want to do at least two radical things.

As an aside, working with little kids (specifically two and three year olds) cracks me up. They say the zaniest things. Plus they are positively darling and I want to take half of the sunday school kids home on a regular basis.

Whoa! I just sneezed six times in a row. If this is not allergies and I'm beginning to get a cold, I won't be a happy camper.

~two CDs currently on repeat:

The End is Not the End by House of Heroes &

Family Force 5's Christmas Pageant by Family Force 5