Looking into 2011

I’m blogging a lot this weekend, but for the record, this particular post is one I’ve been meaning to write for a couple of weeks but somehow just haven’t gotten around to. Yes, I am referring to my goal-setting post.

I was so proud of myself last year for making the effort to write a post with my goals in it and then to report my progress as this year started. I don’t know that I’ve ever really done that before, but it was very effective. I’d like to continue my success by writing a few of my goals for 2011. I’m going to try to keep it simple, but I am me, so if I overexplain, just know it’s a weakness common to my sex.

1) Be more grateful — I have so many wonderful blessings in my life, but it galls me sometimes how ungrateful I am and thinking I always need more. I’d like to make a special effort to be more grateful and am already making efforts to do so from thank yous, to my calendar. I’d also like to write one post of something I’m grateful for, and none of them can be the same, each week.

2) Continue with physical fitness and healthy eating — I am very proud of myself for the progress I’ve made in the last year. I have done great with losing weight and incorporating more healthy eating. I’d like to continue this into the new year and maybe even to take it up a notch. As I’ve mentioned previously, I very much value my heart and my body so I want to take care of them.

3) Get out of debt — I looked online this weekend and discovered just how close I am to paying off my car, and all I can say is, “WA-HOO!!” I am determined to not only pay off my car, but also a tiny bit of credit card debt and my student loan. Before the year is out I want to call into Dave Ramsey’s radio show and loudly proclaim, “I’M DEBT FREE!!”

4) Improve my cooking skills — I think I do fine where cooking is concerned, but it’s pretty routine and can even be slightly boring. I’d like to take a few cooking classes, get brave and experiment with some new recipes or be mentored by people I’d consider to be great cooks. I know that I can do it. I’m just kicking myself a little bit for not taking up the Daily Deal from a couple months ago that was offering three or four cooking classes for a great price. Oh well!

5) Do something I’ve never done before that scares me — I want to be brave and bold and try something completely out of character for me like skydiving or paragliding. I’m not sure exactly what this looks like, but I’m determined to make it happen. I’ll report back on my progress.

6) Go to the temple twice a month every month this year — I’m faithful about making sure I go at least once a month, but I’d like to commit to upping that to twice a month this entire year. Of course I can always go more than that, but twice a month for sure. You think I can do it? I’m pretty sure I can.

Wish me luck, brave readers, as I embark on, in the words of my former bishop, “Making this the best year of my life.”