Goals for the year

 Unlike previous years, this year I went to bed midnight January first feeling quite pleased with myself. I had reviewed some options for New Year’s resolutions, and was fairly certain that I could slide by without making any this time.
   After all, two years before my top resolution had been: “Become a better public speaker”…I had some interesting experiences, but more or less exited 2009 with the same amount of public speaking skills…somewhere near zero. Last year, however, I had decided “This is the year I WILL run. I don’t care what it takes—I will (*Gulp!*) join the homeschool track team.” So…I did! And I realized how much I had loved running all along, so much in fact, that my sprinter self even decided to do cross-country, even though it was a huge struggle.
  So, anyways, I almost decided I could let a year slide without resolutions, but changed my mind a few days ago when I realized that without any short-term goals, I wouldn’t be motivated to do anything that I sort of/ kind of want to do this year. Halfway through January, I finally penned the long list of things I wanted to accomplish this year! Here are a few main ones:

v Break all of my personal track records…I hope
this won’t be too hard, as I have been training year-round

v Write at least one more novel this year (I’m
good at starting them, but not as good at finishing)

v Read several good books. Since this is also my mother’s resolution, there are suddenly plenty to be found in the house that we have not already read

v Find the perfect salsa recipe. I dabble in the kitchen a lot with tomatoes, cilantro, and jalapenos trying to find “the perfect recipe”. This might be the year!

v Get my driver’s license. It is terrible that Richmond is a better driver than I! No one wants to be in the van when I practice because they say I slam too sharply on the brakes. xD

v Get a job? Maybe, I’m not really sure if this is a goal or not—I already babysit and give piano lessons, so this one is up in the air. Now, if I could get an internship on a goat farm…

v Run a 5K!! Not just run one by myself, I mean, but a real race!

v Get another dog. This is on my list every year, but so far we’ve only got the two. However, during the day we pet sit the neighbor’s basset hound mix, so it is almost like having a third dog.

v Invent artificial water. (Again, this has been on my list since I was ten or eleven. I figure mixing two molecules of artificial hydrogen and one molecule of artificial oxygen will produce a miniscule but nevertheless genuine molecule of artificial water…right?)

v Have Richmond possibly teach me how to play the guitar??? If not, I will self-teach myself the harmonica. Stay tuned!!

v Grow in the Lord, and delight in Him day by day.