Friday, January 13, 2012

2012 - The Year of...

...School. It takes up pretty much all my time, and I feel like I live on campus. I go to class. I work on campus - the Student Health Center. I exercise at the university gym. I do homework practically all evening every evening, except for Saturdays and Sundays. I manage to get enough done during the week so I can have a break on the weekend. This semester, I have three classes, all Accounting classes. I really enjoy my professors and am learning a lot. I'll take the summer off and then will have one undergrad class left to take in the fall. I'm also hoping the department will let me take one or two Masters classes to help speed things up a bit.

...England. Steve and I are talking about going somewhere this summer and are leaning toward England. We live in such a way, and are blessed with a good enough income, that we're able to put a good chunk of money into savings every month. We're going to assign a healthy portion of those savings toward a fun trip. I've always wanted to go to England and am so excited to start making plans and figuring out where to go and what to see. If anyone has suggestions, please email me, leave a comment, text, call, whatever. I don't Twitter.

...Journaling. One of my resolutions is to write in my journal every day. I realized that one of the reasons I haven't kept up with my journal like I used to was that I'd go so long in between writing that it would take forever to catch up. I'm also too detail-oriented when I write it would take a long time to write, so as part of my resolution, I'm only writing a page each day. I have to decide what I really want to record; whether it's a funny thing that happened in class, how I felt about my hair, or what Steve and I did for date night. I'm really enjoying writing in my journal again.

...Running. A couple years ago, I had a resolution to run in a 5k. I kind of accomplished it. My friend Kyle and I walked a 5k that February, and then I ran the last little bit in order to finish before him. (teehee). This year, there's a 5k on May 19th that I want to participate in. I may not run the whole darn thing, since I haven't run in over a year, but I'd like to run as much of it as I can. To that end, each week I'm working on running a bit more than I did the week before. And, I'm back to recording my exercise. My goal is to exercise 100 miles a month, every month.

...A New Car, 2nd Dog (maybe), Camping, and Lots of Fun. We bought a new car on December 30th, 2011. I swore I'd never buy a brand new car, too much money and too much immediate depreciation, but we found a good deal on a car we really like and that we plan to have for many, many years so depreciation isn't as important as it could be if we were planning on selling it sooner than later. It's a 2012 Subaru Outback, red. I love it. It has seat warmers. *big smiley face*

We got it so our greyhound Sadie would have more room and so that we could have passengers in our car at the same time as our dog. And because we're thinking of getting a second dog. We're looking at dogs online, no puppies and nothing for hundreds of dollars (really, people?! $2000 for a puppy that will pee all over my carpets??). We may get another greyhound since Sadie is so awesome. We definitely want a male this time.

With the new car, we also have more room and capability to do more of the things we like to do that we didn't do last year (partially due to lack of time last year). More fishing, more camping, more hiking, more exploring. My brother gave us his old tent and a really cool camping table that we're excited to finally use. I'd also like to give snowshoeing a try this year. Lots and lots of possibilities and I look forward to making the most of all of them!

I hope everyone has a very wonderful 2012!

5 comments:

Cardine said...

Oh, you are a great example of keeping a journal. My attempts are woeful. I hope you do go to England! That would be awesome! I liked everywhere I went. I doubt you could go wrong there. I'd talk to our friend S. R. to help plan!

Jen said...

So, I totally want to run the 5k with you! I feel like a blog of goo after 3 kids and a long winter. Anything to motivate me would be great.

Anonymous said...

I know how you feel about "living on campus". Now that I don't work on campus anymore, and I'm not a student anymore, I don't feel that way anymore. But, I still occasionally go there for the rec facilities.

I want to go to England!! So, Wendy is coming home tomorrow (wow!) and we've discussed our desire to go visit Shiree sometime. I don't know when that will actually happen, but there's a suggestion for you!

I am the same way with my journal. There is a ton of stuff I need/want to record, but the longer it goes, the harder it is! I love your resolution. I totally wish I was resolved to do the same thing.

Yea for running! :)

My brother raises labradors. They technically are the way-too-expensive variety, but sometimes they have litters that don't have the specific silver gene they are breeding, so they go for A LOT less. If you want me to ask him for you, I'd love to help you out with getting another dog. :)

Also, it would be fun to all meet up for a friend reunion at a campground somewhere this summer....

tearese said...

sounds like a nice car!Ours has seat warmers too; they're great this time of year! Have fun with all your travels... someday Joseph wants to go to Ireland, but it will probably be 20 years from now!

julie said...

Cardine, I'm definitely going to consult with S.R. if we go to England. It helps that Steve has spent a good many years in England and so knows a lot, too. He wants to take me to the village he grew up in and thinks he may have some (distant) family left there. I'm so excited and hope it happens!

Jen, done. We'll do it together, even if we're walking, because my routine just changed and I'm not able to run in the mornings at the gym any more. Maybe we could get together to walk a couple times a week? Or once a week even? I walk Sadie every afternoon around 3. You and the kiddos are always welcome to join us!

Sarah, I totally can't believe it's time for Wendy to be home! How time flies! I'm excited to see her again. I hope you two go visit Shiree sometime, and it would be awesome if your visit coincided with our visit! Like I said in the above reply to Cardine, a chunk of our time will be spent touring parts of the country that Steve knows, which makes me uber thrilled! I didn't know that your brother raises labs. That's cool! Sounds awesome except we've decided against puppies. :( Maybe if he ever has a 2-year old he needs to adopt out?!

Tearese, hey, going to Ireland in 20 years is better than never! And, yes, seat warmers are a great invention! :)