2011 Goals

I've been thinking of "resolutions" for 2011 when I read on another that the author was setting "goals" rather than making resolutions because of the difference in connotation between the two.  I really like that.  To me, it's the difference between working towards something vs. trying to just change your behavior cold turkey.  And I know the whole behavior modification thingy isn't so easy.  For instance, as much as I desperately wish I was a morning person and could operation on 4hrs of sleep....it will never happen.  Ever.  I'm an 8-9hr girl who can sleep on speeding motor boats or in the middle of small meetings (much to my embarrassment).  My poor creatures have just learned to adapt and will only pester my husband to get up to feed them in the AM.  They know I'll only growl and turn over if a cold dog nose is applied to my face.  Actually, talking about sleep brings me back to my goal list for 2011.  Here are a few of my ideas in no particular order:


1.  Drink H2O every day - 750ml/24oz.  (that just happens to be the size of my favorite camelbak bottle)  I'm terrible about drinking water, except for when I'm doing obvious stuff like backpacking, riding in the middle of the Virginia summer, etc.  There's just too much solid research out there about the benefits of regularly drinking water, and it fits into my general goal to get more healthy.
2.  Get 30mins of aerobic activity EVERY DAY preferably with my doggers.  Today I took the pups for a jaunt through the dormant fields on the farm where we rent/live.  Just walking vigorously up and down hills is sadly enough to get my heart going....I have never had great cardiovascular endurance, even when I was relatively fit working on a horse farm.  I want a bigger heart for many reasons :-)
3.  Start volunteering - at the SPCA or another rescue operation.
4.  Successfully rehab my mare, Dax and get her fit carefully and responsibly to keep her sound for the long run.  Ok, this one might be a little out of my hands b/c it totally depends on whether or not a steroid injection works to repair a bone cyst in her left stifle , but she's got a 50/50 shot and I'm a "glass is half full" kinda girl.  So WHEN she recovers from the bone cyst, this goal kicks in.
5.  Get into grad school, get my career moving forward.  I'm 30yrs old and it's taken me a lot of time to get focused and try different things to really figure out what I want my path to be.  I couldn't tell you why, but this last year things just crystalized for me.  I know what I want to do, how I want to live my life and what I want to leave behind me when I die.  So now I'm going for it!  My dad has always said "Us Co***s are late manurers..." by which he means "late maturers", but really he's not joking!
6.  Continue keeping a better schedule and commuting with my husband to save money and pollution.  A carry-over goal, I'm happy to say!
7.  Pinch EVERY freakin' penny.  Because we should, because I'm going back to school...and because I reallllllly want my own horse trailer one of these days :-)  More than I want a latte or a new sweater.  
8.  Support my husband in finding his own balance and happiness.  I am married to an amazing, supportive and selfless man.  And I can be a bossy control freak.  I want to sit back, look at our life and remember the things I need to do for his sake. Even when it's simply doing dishes *shudder*
9.  Do dishes...more...often....


Boy, I could really keep going.  It's a sad statement that I feel like I need to do so many things to improve myself as a person, as a wife, horsey-mom and doggie-mom.  It's all a bit ironic really because I want to make these changes ultimately because I want to be a more selfless and contributing-to-the-world type of person....however, to get there I'm doing an awful lot of "personal exploration".  Which is a nice way of saying navel gazing.  So my final goal is:


10.  LESS PLANNING/TALKING/WHINING AND MORE DOING.


And now I am getting off blogger to go do some weekly meal planning.  HA!