Welcome, 2009

2008 has been an amazing year for me. This year has been full of so much joy. I'm kind of sad about seeing it go, but expect that 2009 will bring joys of its own. I am excited about what is to come in 2009- as of right now, I only have a couple of things on the schedule: 2 weddings in the late summer/early fall, my 27th birthday in February and our one year anniversary in October. :)

I gave up on resolutions, per se, years ago, but here are some things I would like to accomplish over the next year of my life:

1) Save money. We are getting pretty serious about this now. We have set a budget and are taking steps towards this goal. Perhaps in the new year, I will provide weekly tips on budgeting that I've learned (I've been researching a LOT) and an update on how its going for us. I will say that our first "major" step has been to lessen our grocery trips to 2-3 times a month instead of 5-6. That means that when I went to the grocery on Monday, my cart was overloaded and I spent a heck of a lot of money. BUT, I went with a list (at least a list in my head) of what we might eat over the next month. The fewer times we go to the grocery, the less likely we will "impulse" buy (how many times do you "run into the grocery to pick something up" and end up with a cart of 10+ items?) and we will also be much less likely to say "we have nothing to eat,let's get a pizza..." at least for a few weeks. :)

We are trying to save money because we want to be financially better off when we have kids. We want to build our savings to $5000. Right now, I will humbly tell you that our savings is $7.22. So, we have a long way to go and are therefore trying to get serious about money. I've heard it several times regarding money, "there's never a 'good' time to have kids." Our response: "there has to be a better time than right now."

2) Eat better and exercise more. The above-mentioned grocery shopping will help this! We will be less tempted to stop for fast food knowing that we have a boatload of groceries waiting for us at home. I'm hoping that I can figure out my schedule enough at work to get into a regular exercise routine. I'm hoping that my bff and I can begin having our own "weight-watcher" type meetings in the new year which we've done a couple of times in the past.

3)Not let my work schedule consume me. I bend over backwards a LOT at my job and I will tell you that making my schedule work for everyone else has taken a toll on me and made me feel very out of control of my life. The new year will bring new craziness to my job, but I'm going to attempt to get into a more regular schedule and be firm about sticking with these scheduled hours. Once I can get that under control again, I look forward to using that time to spend with friends, exercising, relaxing or balancing our budget. :)

I hope 2009 brings much joy to your life. Have a wonderful New Year's Eve and be safe because...people are crazy, especially tonight.