hello 2013

Thirteen has been my favorite number preeettyyyy much forever, so I'm excited for this year. I have high expectations!

This is the first year in a while that there hasn't been some big, looming event waiting to be accomplished in the coming months. Moving to Texas, graduate school, the wedding, graduation, etc...it's been a busy couple of years around here! This is the first year in my immediate memory that life has felt "normal", and I'm not going to lie, I'm kind of excited about it.

My goals feel more personal this year, and I'm feeling challenged to find rest in the calm moments and beauty in the ordinary actions of daily life.

I hope to be more outwardly focused this year. I want to be deliberate about making space in my life for friends and family. I am inherently introverted, and naturally tend to draw inward into my own little bubble. I feel challenged to move beyond that and truly experience living in community here in Waco. I want to extend and accept invitations this year. I want to fill this house with people and be comfortable in the messiness that is a life well lived.

photo credit

I want to take more pictures. For something that I get so much enjoyment from, I am truly terrible at remembering to take pictures. And I always kick myself afterward! Always. I'm feeling challenged this year to record, record, record. I want to remember those sweet, ordinary moments that made up our newlywed years. In this same spirit, I hope to make photo books of our first two years of marriage. Come July, somebody check up on this! Hold me accountable!

I want to decorate this big, empty house of ours. I am a woman on a mission. My goal is to decorate slowly and look for pieces that fit our home, style, and pocketbook--this has been so hard! I literally want to snatch up every thing I see.

I want to write again. There was a time in my life when I might have said I was talented in this regard.... Writing used to be such an integral part of my daily life, and I truly cherish the records I've kept. While I am all for personal growth and finding new forms of self expression and enjoyment in life, I'm not ready to let go of this just yet. I feel challenged to be more deliberate in taking time out of my day to devote to the pen (and the keyboard).

I want to make healthy, active living a priority. Health is important to me. God willing, I want to live a long, active life, and be healthy enough to enjoy every last bit of it. I'm challenged this year to cook more, to eat clean foods, and to move every single day.

In reflection, nearly all of my goals for 2013 can be summed up by saying that I plan to devote  significant time and energy to developing the fruit of the spirit I just can't seem to get a handle on--> self control.  Refusing my whims and temporary wants--pushing forward and keeping my eyes focused on the horizon.

So! Here's hoping 2013 is full of words, pictures, friendly faces, little adventures, and completed rooms!

Cheers to that.