New Beginnings

Before I get into the meat of my post, I'm happy to announce that I am officially hired on at Boise State as an adjunct professor of voice!!! I've been wanting to do this for a long time and am really excited that it is actually happening. I even went in today and saw my name plate on the wall. Yay! It is a temporary and very part-time position, but at least it's my foot in the door. Basically, they had an influx of voice students this semester, so they asked me to pick up the extras. If they have enough students, I'm in, if not, I'm out. As simple as that :). Now, on to my post...

So, I know that many people do not have faith in New Year's resolutions and think that they are pointless. I, on the other hand live for them. I LOVE having a fresh start each year... It's like a brand new notebook. I love writing in a brand new notebook. Does this mean that I will continue writing in it until it's full? No. However, I'll write in it for a while, set it down, pick it up later and write some more. Whether I keep my resolutions or not, I will be a better person and achieve more that I would, had I not made them. I'm a very goal-oriented person and believe in setting small goals all year, but I love setting over-all goals for the year to see how far I can get with them. If I "fail" at one, I try to make a smaller goal later in the year that will be more achievable.

I've decided to quit making goals about weight-loss, because the more I obsess about it, the more I gain. If I focus more on health, the weight-loss comes and I don't get into self-pity parties. With that being said, here are my over-arcing goals for the year:

• Scott and I are giving up pop! This is huge for him and semi-huge for me. In fact, he was drinking at least one huge pop every single day and told me he wouldn't succeed, so I agreed that he could have one a month and he felt that was reasonable. I, on the other hand was drinking 2-3 a week, which is not good! I gave it up at one point in life, but I have this issue where I feel left out if someone has something and I don't (messed up, I know). Therefore, as our marriage progresses, so does my desire for pop. Thus, why we are doing this together. I am not allowing myself one a month, but this isn't a huge sacrifice for me.
• No fast food besides Subway. Before, when I lost all my weight, I maybe ate fast food twice a year, and both times would end up living in the bathroom. I would vow to never eat it again. Sadly, it has made its way back into my life. This angers me not only because it's ridiculously unhealthy, but because it is a money sucker. Ironically enough, not having money makes me want it even more and having a husband that loves it and would eat it 3 times a day if allowed, doesn't make it any easier. I will succeed at this goal... It is top on my priority list! Don't get me wrong, we weren't fast-food-aholics, but we were eating out 1-2 times a week. Gag! (Already I'm feeling healthier and more financially stable!)
• I'm going to go on a date with Scott at least once a month. We were doing well at this for a while, but kind of quit when unemployment hit. I'm sure we'll succeed at this one, thanks to our awesome Christmas gift from my parents. Seriously, one of the coolest ideas ever! They put a little filing system in a box, labelled for each month. Behind each month is a date idea and some money for it... Isn't that awesome?!?! We are so excited! This month we are supposed to find a new restaurant to try. We've got a few we're looking at :).
• I'm going to devote more time to Jayna. Not that I was ignoring her before, but I'm now teaching a bit more and happen to teach during the hours she's not napping. So, I feel that I don't get to see her a ton. Before, when she'd wake up, I'd get up and get her a bottle and check email/facebook and spend quite a bit of time doing that. Then she'd go down for a nap and by the time she was up it was time for me to teach. So really, I was only spending a couple of quality hours a day with her. Now, I'm vowing to not be on my computer when she's awake. I should be doing things with her. She's starting to love watching me cook and loves mimicking, which has been so fun! She is seriously such a blessing in my life and I need to cherish my time with her.

Well, that's it folks. Doesn't sound so difficult, but it will be enough of a challenge that I will feel accomplished when I achieve these goals. Wish me luck!

P.S. I was going to make a goal to not use so many exclamation marks and smiley faces, but I just can't bring myself to do it!!! It's how I talk, and therefore how I write :)!

The Holidays

I can't believe it has been almost 2 months since my last post. Time flies when you're celebrating lots of holidays :)!

I truly enjoyed the whole month of December. So much so that I didn't sleep well on New Year's Eve because I didn't want that magical feeling to go away. However, as I laid there, I couldn't help but think of the reasons I love December so much and realized that I can and probably should carry those things throughout the year. These reasons are:

1. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE making goody plates and taking them to people. Though a bit spendy, I enjoy nothing more than turning on music and spending my time in the kitchen trying to make amazing goodies to take to family, friends, and neighbors.
2. I love spending extra time with family!
3. I love having people over!
4. I love doing special things with and for Scott and Jayna.
5. I love traditions! I should start making monthly traditions for our family, so we have something to look forward to every month.

This last December was truly amazing for me and here is why: We had no money. I may be exaggerating because we were still able to get each other nice gifts that we got through Scott's little job with UPS and money that we received from his parents, but overall we had to do things that didn't cost much. But that was where the magic was. We didn't need money. Most of the things we loved most didn't really cost us money. I am so grateful that I was brought up to appreciate what I have and to find value in relationships, family, and to find the joy in small things. 

The other reason December was so special to me was because I realized how loved we are. I don't want that to sound vain. In fact, I'm quite humbled by the love and compassion we were shown this holiday season... I don't know what we did to deserve such amazing people in our lives, but we are truly grateful! I never thought that I would have to be on the receiving end of charity, and though it is extremely humbling, I can't express enough how incredible it is to see the charity people perform. You don't realize how charitable your friends and family are until you are on the receiving end. It restores my faith in humanity and definitely makes me want to be more charitable once we are back on our feet.

I am so grateful that Heavenly Father opened my eyes this season to all the good I have in my life. Last year was really rough with unemployment and always wondering if we were going to make it from one month to the next and it was really starting to wear us down. So much so, that I was becoming bitter and upset with just about everything. Now, I truly feel that everything will be fine and will work out and I'm enjoying the time that I do have with Scott and cherishing the fact that we can spend so much time together.