Including the thing where you like make your New Years’ (or is it New Year’s) resolutions like on December 31st to start them on the 1st.  But I have a good excuse, I was traveling all over, but I have been really thinking long and hard about my resolutions for a while, and I’m just now bringing them to you.

Oh well.  Have me arrested if you’re like offended I waited so long.  But this sort of thing takes thought.  Plus blogging takes time, you dang millenials always want instant gratification 😉

So my goals for last year went as follows.

1. Spanish! I’m super annoyed I didn’t learn it as a child, because it makes communicating very difficult and I think my adult brain is far too dense to be conjugating verbs. Nevertheless, it’s something that needs to be done. I think it’s absolute ignorance that I have not done so already.
2. Positivity.  I can be extremely sarcastic, and a few years ago, a friend of mine interpreted that as me “always being angry”.  I made a conscious effort to, even when I’m not feeling like it, say nice things.  I try not to text, Tweet, or Facebook nasty or negative things, and I try to smile a lot more.  I promise, it has made the hugest difference in my happiness.  I’d like to continue on that path.
3. And finally…drumroll please? Housekeeping.  I am the worst housekeeper on the face of the planet.  That’s not to say that my apartment looks like a pigsty, it’s just to say I have to move mountains to keep it clean.  I’m like every normal person not featured on Hoarders, I like things neat, smelling fresh, and orderly, but to keep in that way is a feat of titanic proportions.  And then I have these friends like Alexa and Kelly, and you walked into their duplex any time of the day and it looked gorgeous and always smelled wonderful.  Jealous.  I’d like to work more at maintaining order around my home.

So first, how did I do?

1. As far as my Spanish, it still sucks.  But Austin bought Rosetta Stone, we’re actually doing it, and we’re toying with the idea of spending a lot of time in Costa Rica for immersion school.  More on that later.
2. Positivity was good, especially in the face of some really, really crappy things to happen to my family last year, including the death of my grandmother and my mother’s stroke.  But a lot of good happened this year, and I think I was able to focus on that, which is why I never like, had to be committed to a mental health institution – though sometimes I felt a little peanuts.
3. Housekeeping.  Yikes.  I think I actually got worse with that, especially after I started working full-time.  That one’s going back on the list.

So, what are my resolutions for 2014?

1. Get better at money management.  Save a certain amount of money.  I have more concrete details on the amount, but that’s between me and my banker,  not for your nosy self!  But I have two books on money management, so I would like to read them by March 1st and begin implementing more strategies to manage better.  I should have a handle on where my money is going at my age.
2. Be more conscientious.  Austin is incredible conscientious about everything.  He gets everywhere he’s supposed to be on time. he sends thank-yous, he pays his bills on certain days, he always knows where his keys are, and never seems scattered like his lovely wife-to-be.   I’d like to work on that by straightening up more every day, putting my keys in the same place always, and checking the mail daily so bills never come as a not-so-lovely surprise.
3. Get up early one day per week.   I suck at anything morning related, but I’d like to get up early one day a week to run, to go to yoga, or just to get to work a little earlier than usual.  This dawdling I do has got to stop!
4. Be a better friend.  I’m getting married this year, and even though some will change, I don’t want my friendships to fall by the wayside.  Even though we all are incredibly busy, for the friends who actually will make the effort, I’d like to make the effort for them.  Meet up for workout dates, coffee, dinners, and girl time.
5. And finally, I’d like to stick to my healthy lifestyle, and not fall off the wagon.  I think when you work full time, you get married, and life starts to go in a million different directions the YOU part of the equation tends to get forgotten about.  I still want to take care of myself, and maybe look a little better than I did when the year started.

Tell me, what were some of your resolutions?