Lunch today was nice and easy thanks to weekend leftovers.
I ate two thin sautéed chicken breasts with a side of mashed (overly liquidy and gross-looking) sweet potatoes and a toasted English muffin topped with strawberry preserves.
Half of the English muffin was inhaled before the picture was snapped.
I ended up whipping out some ketchup to use as dipping sauce for the chicken because it needed a little more oomph. Much better!
My Personal 2012 Goals
Yesterday I realized I was feeling a little “meh” about the new year. Usually when a new year arrives, I am filled with a sense of motivation to achieve new things. I love having goals and working toward something but this year I didn’t really take time to sit down and think about what I’d like to accomplish this year until last night as I was drifting off to sleep.
Then the ideas started flowin’!
I came up with a list of personal goals and figured I’d share some of the items on my list on the blog just in case any of you out there are in the mood for some goal-setting and are looking for some ideas. Feel free to share your 2012 goals in the comments section as well! I’d love to read what you hope to accomplish in the coming year.
- Volunteer. This year I hope to give back and spend time volunteering with a local organization. I already found a bunch of different organizations I’m interested in reaching out to and hope to dedicate time to lending a hand in my new community.
- Bring Back Date Night. Ryan and I were so adamant about taking turns planning a special date night for each other once a month when we lived in Orlando, but when we moved, we seemed to have a lot more travel and commitments on our calendar on the weekends and date night fell to the wayside. We’re bringing back Date Night in 2012, baby!
- Find a New Church. I mentioned this before, but we loved our church in Orlando and are hoping to find one that fits us perfectly in Ocala. It’s a work in progress!
- Take a Special Vacation with Ryan. Another one I briefly mentioned on the blog! Ryan and I went on a few little weekend road-trips last year, but this year we’re hoping to take a week-long vacation somewhere exciting.
- Put Myself Out There Socially. Ever since we moved, I feel like we’ve been out of town on the weekends, back in Orlando or bustling about and haven’t really found a good group of friends here in Ocala. The community is older than Orlando by nature and the social scene isn’t nearly as vibrant, but that’s not an excuse not to try to meet new people and make new friends in our new hometown. Hopefully some of my goals mentioned above will help us meet people our own age.
Question of the Afternoon
- What is one of your goals for 2012?
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You have some awesome goals for this year. One of our goals is to move to Florida! We will be living in your neck of the woods. My husband is already down there-he got a job down there and started in September. We will be in the St. Petersburg area. I’m stuck 1100 miles away trying to sell our house (and taking care of our 4 kids)! So getting us all back under one roof is on the top of my list.
Here’s a post I did today with my full list of goals for the year-they include four categories: Faith, Family, Finance, and Fitness.
http://fatchickfedup.com/2012/01/03/goals-yes-i-do-actually-have-some/
One of my goals was going to be to wear sweatpants less, but then I figured hey, I love sweatpants, so why give up them up. Plus I have a hard time finding jeans that fit well everywhere.
Seriously, I would like to organize my room, spend more quality time with my kids, and of course, lose weight.
Love your goals and a few are similar to my own. I moved to a new city a year and a half ago and need to make some new friends outside of my workplace. I also want to volunteer. I’m thinking my local animal shelter will be a good place to start!
I need those social goals too. We moved recently to Denver and have traveled a TON. So I barely have time for anything after the gym and whatnot. There shoudl be plenty of friends for me in Denver!!
Finding a church will help with the social stuff! You’re lucky you’re married- most churches I attended when I first moved to the city I’m in now didn’t have ANYthing for single 20somethings. But once i found one, I made a lot of friends quickly, and found that it was a great social outlet for a grad school budget 😉
Did you ever hear anything about Max’s Christmas wish, if he received 1,000,000 cards?
I also want to meet new people! I need to go out more but I just love staying in and going to bed early so much…
Another of my resolutions is to spend less money, I online shop wayyyyy too much!
My goals are to:
Read one book a month
Make more date time with my boyfriend and plan a vacation (You were reading my mind!)
Cook at home more
Save more money
Run at least a half marathon
Be more organized and tidy
I just made my goals today but may have to add “be more social” to the list! Have you found it gets harder to be social as you’ve gotten older? I used to be super social but have become less so in my mid twenties. Plus, four or five of my close friends just moved away from the area so I guess it’s time to get myself out there!
My goals include incorporating yoga a few times a month, reading more often and saving money for a possible future move.
I feel you on the trying a church. We just moved from Cleveland, Ohio to Maryland and our first two church attempts have been less than stellar. We know we were super spoiled with our old church in Ohio, but we are hoping to find something at least close to it!
Round three is this Sunday! Good luck to you finding one!
Julie, you should check out
meetup.com
You can plug in your area code and interests and “like minded people” sort of meet up doing various things.
It’s at least worth checking out. You may be surprised what you find!
okay, this site is AMAZING! thank you so much, lauren, for the recommendation! i’m getting so excited now!
Those are great goals! I moved across Canada two years ago, so I totally understand how hard it is to meet friends in a new city!
I definitely understand your last goal, and it is one of mine also. My BF and I moved to WIlliamsburg in August, and are having a hard time finding friends to hang out with! Especially since we tend to travel a lot on the weekends. I’m hoping we can find some good friends this year also.
That is a strange looking lunch!
My goal is to gain 20-25 pounds.
one of my 2012 goals is to lift weights more regularly… like 3 times per week to be specific! i love your date night idea! i may just have to plan something! 🙂 🙂
haha not gonna lie, I thought you were going to say that you had chicken & caramel for lunch
that would’ve been 10x more delicious. 🙂
I have running goals for this year: PR on my half marathon in February and run a sub-5 hour marathon in the fall! 🙂
My goal is to run a 5k, graduate, and finally make it to college! Wahoo!
I’m excited for you and Ryan to bring date night back!
Goals–so much better than resolutions! I would expect no less out of you girl.. I am going to have to pass on your sweet tater recipe though! e
LOL! you and me both. not making it again.
Date night… thanks for the reminder! Also, I would like to work on the way I react and to work on staying positive! Good luck on your resolutions!
Goals definitely top resolutions!
Some of my goals include running a 5k (hopefully multiple 5ks) and try not to end up injured so much! I’d like to go the entire year without a visit to the orthopaedic doctor or urgent care!
One of my goals is to run a half marathon before the end of this year—scary, but exciting at the same time!
very exciting! good luck, amanda!
After a year hiatus from running in events, I am running a half marathon march 3. I also want to keep blogging consistently and grow it a little bit.
I love those goals!
I have a couple sections I want to accomplish…for the exercise arena I would love to do a couple more 5k’s, one half marathon at the end of the year and at least one or two adventure races with my hubby, the pangea one really excites me!
I would love to take a me and Paul vacation this year but I’m just not sure as the first half of the year we have his parent’s 40th anniversary at a cabin in the mountains and then my sister is getting married in June. That will take up A TON of time but be well worth it :).
I also have business goals with my direct sales business. I want to not only achieve Ambassador by the end of February but more importantly I want to help 6-10 people on my team to create a 6 figure income by the end of the year with this company which is totally doable and I’m so excited to be able to help them with that!
I have some spiritual as well to keep up with Bible reading and personal study that I will continue to work on too. I love this thread Julie!! Gets me excited for this year 🙂
i’ve fallen off the book-bandwagon, so one of my goals is to read at least 12 new books this year…none of this re-reading twilight for the 20th time business! 🙂
Loving all your goals — good for you to put yourself out there in Ocala and more date nights! One of my goals is also to volunteer a bit more 🙂 I’m looking forward to it.
Those are great goals! One of mine is to stop being so judgemental! Half the time I don’t even realize what I’m doing or even mean to do it. I’ve already caught myself several times wanting to tell my husband something about someone & then thought, “Um no, that’s being a judgemental biotch” & I kept my mouth shut! It’s only January 3, so we’ll see how this progresses… 🙂
yes! it’s kind of weird… i had the same thought a few months ago. it’s amazing that when you start to realize some of your thoughts are judgmental, you realize that a LOT of them are – and a lot of comments made by others are so judgmental as well. awareness is the key to change! it’s something i’m working at every day. even judgmental comments about myself!!
I make monthly goals/challenges for myself and I am continuing some long-term goals from last year. In Jan. I’m doing the “Eat In Challenge” for the whole month. I did it last year and it really set the year off on the right foot with saving money, along with encouraging me to do social activities around other things besides food. It also inspires me to try new recipes. I’m also keeping a fitness and food journal for the month to help me get back on track.
You have to try lemon pepper chicken with mashed sweet potatoes. Delicious together!
I’m sure you will make friends by volunteering. That’s how I met my husband =)
awww, i love that. 🙂
those sound like great goals! My biggest goal is to run my first marathon!
I like your goals!! That last one you noted is one i had last year sort of.. i had just moved to D.C. and it can be soooo tough to meet people in a new city when you’re out of school, or at least without coming off as a creeper haha.
One of my goals is to unplug more often! I work in social media so I feel like i’m ALWAYS online.. it’s exhausting sometimes, as i’m sure you know!
I love your goals!! If move again after my masters I will also work on being more social! I also want to work on organization and being more on top of things constantly! I also want to work on being more accepting!
i want to take my fitness to another level – i go to the gym 5-6x a week i’m running Disney half this weekend but my body isn’t tight. I want to have tight abs, arms, butt etc.. for my wedding in september i have 9 months!
congrats on your wedding!!!!
I actually have a few personal goals for 2012! I’m trying to explore other areas of interest (my job is just not cutting it for me all the time). In order to incorporate some of my other goals, I have been thinking about starting my own blog so I can document my time living in Hawaii, hold myself accountable for a healthy lifestyle, and have an outlet to get my thoughts out. I may be emailing you some questions regarding this! Your blog really inspired me to do this, so thank you!! :o)
My goal for this year is to be more focused and present in current moments. I feel like my head is always in a million places at once and it effects my job and my relationships, as well as my sleep (!) so I’m hoping to try and calm my thoughts and actually enjoy moments as they happen this year.
good luck on your resolutions! Writing them down is the first step 🙂
Finding a new church home and branching out socially is on my to do list as well. I recently moved to a new area with my husband and find it’s really easy to just stick with what and who you know. We’ve tested out a few churches, but really would like to find one with young marrieds in the same life stage we are, which would help us with our social problems as well!
I am training for my first marathon and my fiancé and I are saving money by not eating out. Both goals are pretty challenging for me. Best of luck meeting your goals! Yay date night!
good luck on your marathon!!
My goals for the year range from competing a 10k (and potentially training for a 1/2 marathon) to opening myself up to the potential of being hurt. Volunteering is definitely something I want to do more of, I just have to figure out how I would like to get involved….
I love the date night thing! I think my boyfriend and I might have to implement something like that. I have a few goals for 2012 but one of my major ones is to cut the negative self-talk in my life. Ever since I lost some weight, I am terrified of gaining it back and always down on myself about my body, and that needs to stop!
stopping negative self talk is hard – but the desire to do so is a GREAT first step. good luck to you!!
I want to be better about going with the flow..ie. more flexible! As a serious planner, I have OCD about things not going the way they were intended! Good luck on meeting your goals!
Totally need to follow your lead on that last goal!
Those are great goals!! 🙂 I think you definitely can meet all of them! Good luck!
One of my goals is to focus on my health. I’ve been neglecting it lately and putting things off. I just had surgery and now I have a ton of doctors appointments to go to. I just want to make sure that I am the healthiest that I can be especially for my upcoming wedding.
My husband is a navy pilot and we moved to a new state. It’s hard to meet other women. He has friends he knows from the naval academy everywhere,, so making friends is easy for him. Here’s to making new friends in 2012,
I have lived in a new town since MAY and I still have made only one friend! You are so not alone!
My goals for the new year:
1. Complete a half marathon
2. Eat more fruits and veggies
3. Monthly date night with my boyfriend
4. Get my first big-girl job (I started graduate school as soon as I graduated from college and I finish up my Masters in June)
5. Do more weight training (all I do is run, I HATE weights!)
congrats on your masters! that’s wonderful!
I moved to the town I currently live in about a year ago and I actually did make friends from the gym. It was in a class and since I live in a small everyone knows everyone kind of town people wanted to know where I fit.
I keep meaning to think of goals for this year but not really getting into it either. Ideas floating around are
1. Run a 10K
2. Do more weight training. ( I kind of started in December but I still feel like I don’t know what I am doing half the time)
3. Floss regularly
4. Keep my resume updated
5. Be more open to new experiences ( I tend to get into a routine and have difficulty breaking from it even if it is something I really want to do)
Love your goals, I second what everyone else has said about finding friends through church. Last year I moved to a new city and found a new church, and I found serving at church was an awesome way to get to know people better. I also started volunteering at my local animal shelter, cos our landlord doesn’t allow pets I got some serious cat time 🙂 My goals this year include praying more, starting to learn French again, and coming through my ACL surgery as best I can and (fingers crossed!) my second half marathon towards the end of the year.
Great goals! I can relate to the moving to a new city and trying to put yourself out there socially. It takes time.
One of my fun goals for 2012 is to keep building my new blog!
Great goals! I also do date night with my husband once a month and I think it’s great for our marriage!
Hey Julie, great goals!! I found your blog a few months ago, but just started getting updates via email since November. I, like you, am also on the search for friends. I have GREAT girlfriends from college, and that relationship is so hard to emulate. I moved to Upstate NY to be with my dad after my mom passed away and I feel stuck. I want to move so bad, but currently right now due to financial and that J-O-B reason can’t move. It’s hard to feel invested in finding friends when you don’t plan on staying somewhere long term. However, my new years resolution, as of last Wednesday, is to put myself out there! I was thinking of taking a fitness class (I’m sort of an addict) like a barre or hot yoga class. A small group of people, at a specialized gym, where I would hope we all share one common interest, health! there’s a start!
Good luck! and love reading about yours, Ryan and Sadie’s adventures! 🙂
exaaaactly! making good friends in an area that you know you’ll eventually move away from takes some motivation. hopefully we can both do it this year!
My goals for 2012: 1) Blog more, 2) Read more, 3) RUN A MARATHON, 4) Do not let life pass me by…take every moment and savor it as much as possible.
oooh! good luck with the marathon!