Marching on into 2012

And just like that the holidays and my vacation time are over. Poof. I knew it would go by too fast!

In truth though, I think I made the most of my time off. And I know we made the most of our holiday celebrations.

It's sort of a double sided coin in a way - I'm sad it's all over so quickly and yet, I welcome the return to a normal routine.

Fortunately, there are fun things on the calendar in the coming weeks that I think will make the after holiday "letdown" disappear much faster. Looking out over the next weeks I see roller derby, a glass blowing class for Nate and I that was part of his Christmas present this year and Winterfest. I am looking forward to all of that. It'll make the darker winter days a little less drab!

Again, I make no true resolutions for myself this year other than my wish for every new year - try to take life one day at a time and enjoy each moment as it comes. Dwelling too much on future things just leads to stress and worry, and I want to be present in my daily life.

I guess I do have a few goals which I think are different from resolutions - I want to read 20 books this year. It doesn't sound like that many, but I set out to do that last year and believe it or not, fell way short, even with things like the entire Hunger Games series. I want to run the entire Torchlight 5K this summer. Lofty goal at the moment when the most I'm doing for exercise right now is using my elliptical machine. I want us to take out our new tent we bought off of Woot and actually try out camping.

I have house goals too - we will be replacing the front windows this spring - no excuses, it must be done, we're getting water damage. Along with that, I hope to do the front stairs/brick work in the front of the house. Going to be some spendy things, but the problems are getting worse from not doing these things, so it is just time. On the cheaper side of things, I plan to do some more painting inside, several ceilings and my dining room are on the list. We didn't do much home improvement in 2011 at all, so we're just due. I want to stay in our house a long time and I don't want it to fall down around us!

Maybe I am setting my sights too high, but I can only hope we can accomplish some of these things!

I hope to have a lot of fun too though and that we get to spend lots of time with friends and family and just enjoying the ride of life. I think I can guarantee that I can make at least this goal happen!!

On we go! It will be a good year!