My 2015 New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year!!

Can you believe we are in 2015?!?! Just the number itself is crazy, let alone how fast I feel 2014 flew by but was one of the most productive and happiest years I have had yet. Sure, there were low points (some being very low points with family loss and sadness), but overall, I look back and see more happiness in 2014 than sad.

For me, a lot of this can be attributed to the goals I set in at the beginning of 2014 and my mental space throughout the year. This past year was about self improvement and getting things done. All my goals were related to breaking out of my shell, increasing what I do for others, and becoming a better person. Boy, did it make a difference! Mental clarity was higher and decisions were easier since I knew where I was going and what was most important to me. Of course, I still had those days of marathoning 7 different Netflix shows without seeing the light of day or sitting on the floor in our bedroom thinking that my life was pointless, but nobody is perfect, right?

Well, since that little goal list I made at the beginning of 2014 was such a personal hit, I decided to do it again. Get ready, because you are in for a super personal post filled to the brim with new goals and personal development. If you do not feel like braving this heck-a-long post, I seriously understand. Just knowing that those in the P+K community have seen these helps me keep them throughout the year. Likewise, I would so love to know what any of your 2015 goals are. What kind of year do you plan on this being for you?

By the way, this year I have categorized them into six different areas of life with goals in each and a game plan of how I am going to get things done. You may notice some overlap between this year and last, that's because I am a firm believer in the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" principle. I also left some things out that are maybe too personal and do not fit with what the average reader would understand (i.e. business stuff and family things)

Ok, here we go!

This year is about becoming a deeper, well rounded, and kinder human being; about Organization and becoming a better leader.

Business

Double blog Readership

• More personal posts
• 5+ posts per week. Must include 1 personal, 1 inspirational, 1 review, and 2 healthy living (workouts or health)
• More personal workout posts network with other bloggers
• Begin advertising on the blog
• Pin more
• Instagram more
• Network with other sites/apps/video content suppliers 

Home

Improve Time Management

• Reduce the time watching shows/movies/YouTube daily
• Set a weekly schedule and daily to-do's
• Get the hardest thing done first in the day. No procrastinating. 
• Read 15 minutes per day

Remove the excess from life

• Cleaning out one room/closet a month and donating or selling the unused things
• Get organized and stay organized. Find a categorical system that will work in the office and implement it. Check it weekly and schedule office organization time. 
• Seriously cut back on buying things on a whim
• Get a new closet organizational system. Ikea!!

Get Wood flooring installed in bedrooms.

Increase Financial Understanding and Well Being

• Invest and give more. Have a secure monthly budget and anything made above that is 50/50 for donation and investment. 
• Keep better track of monthly finances and daily spending/saving.  
• Use check lists for monthly goals and budgeting and go over finances weekly. 
• Give at least $10,000 this year
• Invest at least $20,000 this year. 

Social

Volunteer More

• Either become a big sister or… work at an animal rescue, go on a volunteer trip, or become involved with one more local organization that has values and leadership I agree with. 
• Work harder and have higher integrity with the volunteer positions you already hold. 

Have Better Relationships with People

• Reading books related to the subject
• Be continually in search of better ways to work with people in a team.  
• Become a better leader through reading, practice, and development. 
• Meet with 3-5 friends per week. 
• Talk to three people you do not know per day 
• Be in the moment/ pay attention. Relationships are the most important part of life. Being invested in your time with others shows that you are invested in them. 

Mental

Personally Grow

• Listen to one self improvement podcast/CD a day (at least). Best if 3.
• Do one thing that scares me every day 
• Read a non-fiction and inspirational book once a month (at least)
• Grow Deeper- read at least 6 philosophical books this year. 
• Get a firm understanding of who you are and what you believe. 
• Be more kind to people and about people. 
• Increase your patience level. 
• Go on an adventure
• Accept, at least, one public speaking engagement this year.

Learn Japanese

• Follow the Rosetta Stone System.
• Have time scheduled each day for 15-30 minutes of practice.
• Schedule a trip to Japan in the 2015-2017 year

Physical

Improve Health

• Plan weekly meals ahead.
• Eat less to-go.
• Form a healthier relationship with food. If it does not improve your life,  health, or long-term happiness, why eat it? 
• Read and become more aware of healthy living

Improve Fitness

• Try one new workout a week
• Work out 4-6 times per week
• Complete 1 yoga flow per day
• Increase number of average steps per day.
• Run another Disney race in 2015.

Spiritual

Get a Firm Understanding of What Your Believe and Why

• Pick a church and get into a habit of going often
• Read 6 spiritual related books this year

Ways to Keep These Goals

• Spend more time Outdoors. Go to the beach, park, pool at least once per week. 

• Read goals every day and every night. More on this in an upcoming post!

• Invest more time with family. Show them that you love and care for them.

• Find 3 role models. Ideas: Jane Goodall, Mother Teresa, Princess Diana, Nancy Dornan

The Best of 2014!

Happy soon-to-be New Year! I really cannot believe how quickly 2014 has flown by, or the fact that we are in 2015?!?! These numbers are just crazy!

Last year, right around this time, I made a complete list of New Year's Resolutions. Not only did they help me stay focused throughout 2014, but they also seriously helped this past year be one of the most productive, happiest years I have ever had! To be honest though, I have not actually read my resolutions for quite a while- I just memorized the general idea of them. So, today we are going to take a walk down memory lane and see what got done!

Triple Blog Readership

This totally got done! Thank you so much to all those new readers who made this possible! We are still a small community, but I am so happy to say that P+K is now qualified as a business because of all your pins and re-pins!! Thank you so much and I am so excited to make pinning a bit easier for all of you!

It is also great to know that you guys enjoy those informative posts like Blue Apron vs. Hello Fresh, Six Ways to Use Push-Up Bars, The Pros and Cons of Orange Theory Fitness, and The Calories Burned at Disney World. Those were definitely the most popular posts this year and I will be sure to keep that stuff coming!

Personally Grow

I had a few ways to do this in 2014 that included more reading, listening to improvement CD's, noticing the incredible and doing something that scared me daily, and going on an adventure. Check to reading a lot more, the daily's may not have been daily, but they were pretty constant, and the adventure- we climbed a mountain, so I think that is a check!

We were also able to take my first trip to Greece and do some adventuring there! That was an incredible. life changing trip and I cannot wait to go back!

Get Better Time Management

This one was more internal than external, but I did manage my time much better in the past year. About three years ago we got rid of our cable; that was the beginning of getting better time management and something I totally recommend. It is amazing how much time the average person spends with the TV on. Take that out and times seems to overflow. With HBO, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, and all those other streaming services, we are able to watch what we want to watch when we want to watch it without being tempted by everything else on TV.

This year I also started a daily checklist system that we will be talking about more in an upcoming post all about hacks for 2015. I also made a schedule for myself that can be seen here!

Learn Japanese

I started, but did not finish. This year will be different though!

Remove the Excess from Life

This one did not happen quite they way I wanted it to, but the hubs has cleaned out our garage (so much better!), our guest bedroom actually looks like a guest bedroom, and our hard to keep clean closets have all been cleared out. Now, they just need it all all over again. This year, I have the same goals for organization, plus a little extra. We will be getting a custom closet this year and be massively cleaning out what we do not use or do not need. It will be wonderful!!!

Oh, and the buying on a whim? It was going great until that new mall came in. I need to seriously get some self control with that thing there. Thankfully though, I have only been tempted a handful of times!

Save More

We did, we did, we did!! I am so happy about this one because we seriously needed to start increasing our savings. It was not a crazy amount more than usual, but things like using a financial planner, Acorns, and moderation really helped. This year we plan to save a lot more and really increase our investments for the future!

Finances were better tracked, but nowhere near what they should be. There were still times where I had no idea how we had spent such large sums of money so fast. It was like someone had stolen from us, but no such thing happen. This year, I plan on being much more strict with my budget and using Mint a whole. lot. more.

Become More Fit

Yes and no. The first half of the year was the healthiest time of my life. I ran a race (albeit short), did so much more yoga than ever, and tried many many new workouts. Unfortunately, something happened at the end of this year and I gained some serious weight and lost some serious stamina. I am still trying to figure out if this is a diet change, hormonal, or some other health thing.

I also had a goal of running in two races and getting my yoga instructor certification. Although one race was run, there has not been a second. I also had to put the instructor certification on the back burner for some new and exciting business goals. This year I plan to run a longer race and I am thinking that 2015/2016 will be a great time to become a yoga instructor!

Volunteer More

Wow did this happen and NOT in the way I saw it. I have been trying to volunteer at a local aquarium/rescue for all year long, but to no avail so far. Where I have stepped up the volunteering is with All Children's Hospital. I am now the president elect of our guild and the chair of a black tie event. Excuse me while I go vomit and curl up in the fetal position. That is a lot of responsibility.

This year I plan on becoming a Big Sister and getting my foot in the door at our local aquarium!

Get Better people/Social Skills

Well, my hope is that I am on a better path to being better with people and social skills. This is the type of goal that is never really finished, just continued. From my work as a volunteer, I am working more with people. I also kept up my meeting with one friend a week and talking to people I do not know [almost] daily. As for staying in the moment, way better! This goal has helped me see that relationships are the most important thing we can build in our lifetime. Making sure the people we care about know we love and care about them has become more important to me this year than it ever has before. My hope is to continually improve in this category and keep the yearly goals coming!

What about you, how was your 2014 and your yearly goals? I would absolutely love to hear some of this year's highlights for you!

Motivation for Your Monday

I hope your Christmas was wonderful! We had a great time with lots of family and friends that included parties, Christmas celebrations, late nights, early mornings, and lots of good food! Now, I am ready to sleep, sleep, sleep. Funny, but a nap is definitely in my schedule for today- along with a few meetings and lots and lots of writing.

This 27th year of life has been pretty incredible for me and for a few other people out there as well. Personally, I have accomplished a few personal goals like hiking on the Appalachian Trail and conquered some fears like speaking in front of 1,500+ people. The hubs and I have also started on a few projects that we are so excited to see completed and in a few months the gala that I am chairing will help raise a lot of money for kids!

Goodness, it does feel like this whole year has been a life changer and now I am so excited for the next. And as for motivation, both of these videos are incredible. It is simple amazing what people are capable of doing! This is a great reminder that when we come together and work for good, there is no limit to what we can do. And hopefully, this will help you make some great new goals for the new year, just like it inspired me :)

So, what has been your favorite part of 2014 and what are you looking forward to in the coming year?

A Few of My Favorite Christmas Things- Plus a Workout!

Merry Christmas Eve! And for some, merry it's so close to Christmas you can almost feel it!! So sorry for a lack of post yesterday, this was meant to be for the day before Christmas, but all well. Christmas day there will not be a post, but we will start back up on Friday! And next week, there will be lots of life hacks to make the New Year happier, healthier, more organized, and an all around kickin year. Of course, there will be plenty of pics on Instagram in the next day or two as well!

For now though, let's savor this Christmas goodness and talk about a few of our favorite things over the holidays. Lately, I have been overcome with feelings about how blessed we are. I can truly say that life is incredible right now, and that is something to be oh-so thankful for! My favorite thing over the holidays is spending time with friends and family and all the kindness we get to spread around. This year, it feels like everyone has gotten nicer for Christmas instead of more rushed, stressed, and just plain mean. The general goodwill towards our fellow inhabitants of this earth is definitely my favorite this time of year.

Of course, kindness is a bit trickier to take pictures of, so let's look at some favorite things around our place instead, shall we! Also, sorry for the lack of super wonderful make you cry at the beauty pictures, these were taken by me with my iPhone. I am not the photographer in the family.

1. Brown Paper Packages Tied up with String

Yes, this is the reason for the post's title. The hubs had a great idea to go super traditional with our wrapping this year and I am OBSESSED. When you put all the packages together it looks like Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel did all our wrapping for us. This paper is also the least I have ever spent on wrapping and the bows are hands down the easiest as well. No wonder Pottery Barn and the like use this as the wrapping of choice, it is wonderful!

We have also added white paper to the mix (swoon), but those will be in pictures later.

2. Cats That Love Trees

Our cats love to sleep under the tree, play around it, smell it (side note: Chuu smelt like a Christmas tree the other day, it may have been the happiest day of my life), and just look at it. The do not, however, enjoy climbing it. That is something I will never stop being happy about.

3. Christmas orchids

These orchids bloom every Christmas and every Christmas it makes my heart happy. This year, we have seven whole buds on the orchid and six of them have bloomed! Chances are pretty high that it will stay like this until my birthday. Just another one of my favorite bits, orchids that seem to have found the fountain of youth!

4. This Funny Stick Village

My Grandma got the whole village thing for us from Crate and Barrel and I am loving them. The fox is especially cute and greets everyone who comes into our house. Too bad I did not get a pic of him. Next time.

5. Live Sprigs

So, this is not the greatest picture ever, but the candle holder is brass, the ornaments are white and silver, and the tree sprigs are green. We also have automatic tea lights mixed in that give the prettiest glow ever to the centerpiece! The color combo, spell of fresh evergreen, the chic but natural look make this a favorite for me. Tree sprigs are also free and can be picked up at any Christmas tree lot. When you cut the stems, it smells like Christmas, winter, and everything happy in the world. Then, put them around your home and spin around in joy just like Maria does on that hill.

6. This Workout

This barre workout has to be on the list because it is just great over Christmas. We are busy and workouts can fall on the back burner list, but this workout can be done anywhere at anytime! It is wonderful and I am loving it this season.

Merry Christmas and I hope your days are sunny and bright and your Christmas is just splendid!

Love,

Jenni