New Year's Resolutions

When I was in school, I used to make about 10 resolutions every year. I would print them off and put them on the fridge, in my locker, in my bedroom, etc to keep me on track. I haven't made any resolutions in the last few years and I'm not sure why. I'm actually pretty good at sticking to resolutions, as long as they're specific and somewhat realistic. I'm never gonna stop eating junk food and exercise regularly - at least not long term - so I avoid resolutions like that. I started to make a list of resolutions for 2012 after talking to one of my coworkers about her list. I thought I wouldn't be able to think of any. My list started off slow, but then grew, and grew and GREW. I had to cut it off somewhere so I'm gonna list my top 7, in no particular order

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1. Stop swearing
I swear like a sailor! I'll casually throw down F-bombs like they're nothing. It's horrible, and so tacky.. I know. But it's also something that I turn off easily when I'm around new people/parents/bosses etc. I'm not too sure how I'm gonna stop swearing. I need some substitute words... but they have to have some pizzazz. When I'm angry/upset/excited, it just ain't gonna cut the mustard for me to say something lame like "oh fudge". Some people say I should put a quarter in a jar every time I swear, but honestly, I don't even notice when I do it, so I don't know if that would work. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

2. Improve my photography skills

I clearly fell off the bandwagon with my photography challenge, but I'm gonna hop back on it this year and finish it off. 

3. Learn Photoshop  

This seems daunting to me. I have the program and I've tried to use it a bunch of times with no success. I think it would help me with my blog images, but there are just SO many buttons and I don't understand the layers...  I guess I just need to spend a few weekends fiddling around with it. If you know any good websites for teaching how to use Photoshop, please let me know!

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4. Read more news
I'm the worst when it comes to knowing what's going on in the world. On the cruise I was watching this recap of big news stories in 2011. It was on CNN so a lot of it was American, but a lot of these "recaps" were things I was hearing for the first time. I need to test out all my news methods (internet, radio, TV, paper) and see which one is more engaging for me. I already know this will be the hardest resolution for me to keep.



5. Do more DIYs on my blog
I want to do more tutorials and DIYs on my blog so that my readers feel like they're coming to my blog and learning something. I think it's a reasonable goal for me to set out to do one quality DIY or tutorial per month. I know that's not a lot, but it's more than I'm doing now and will ensure I'm putting out more quality content on the ol' bloggy.


6. Declutter each season
I'm not sure what happened in between the apartment and now living in the 'burbs but it seems my possessions have just EXPLODED all over the bedroom. I literally have to climb over and move things every day just to get in and out of bed. What happened?? I don't know. But I do know that I will be decluttering this month and doing it at the beginning of each season this year to keep things in check!

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 7. Spend more quality time with the ones I love 
I think this one is the most important resolution for me. I think I fell off the bandwagon last year. Kevin and I used to go out more, I would hang out with my friends, I would write letters to those out of town. I barely do any of that anymore. As much as I like being social and chitchatting, I only have a few close friends, so I resolve to send more texts, emails and letters to them and make more time to hang out with them. For Kevin, I resolve to make more time for quality dates at least twice a month. It's so easy to fall into the habit of eating at home while watching TV. Everyone I know uses Facebook to keep in touch, but I don't have an account. I'd like to prove to myself that I can keep in touch with family and friends without the use of Facebook!