Reflection...

First I want to start by throwing out a BIG thank you to Mother Nature for sparing Nashville in her latest little temper tantrum here in the US. I've had enough snow to last me for A WHILE. Either it's 2 feet of snow and blizzard conditions or solid ice and rolling black outs--which happens to be what my Texas friends are dealing with at the moment. I'm just really thankful that we didn't really get anything but some rain and colder temperatures.

Anyway, I fiddled with my blog design a little bit (which, honestly, I didn't even realize I could fiddle with and was about to curse blogspot for crappy templates...but duh!) and looked back on some old blog posts and it got me thinking a little bit about 2o1o. Let's look at last year's goals and take a look at how I did, shall we?

1--P90X--Ok, I tried. It's hard. I think the longest we made it was 60 days and I was EXHAUSTED. BUT as of today, I'm 26 days into POWER 90 and LOVE IT. It's night and day. Let's be honest. I can't commit more than 30 minutes to a workout. I'm not as fit nor do I care to be as fit as Jackie Warner (but love her show!). I like food and I like to eat food. Power 90 suits me just fine, and I know I can do it and I'm determined to finish. I might try Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred next.

2--Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University--Things are going well here! We paid off some things in 2010 but 2011 is going to be our big year to do some real damage. Good damage. I just paid off my car (and a year early! Booyah!) and that is going to give us some real momentum to pay off some other lingering debts that we accrued, oh from say buying a house and getting married. That stuff's expensive. Like with anything else, discipline is the key here.

3 -- Find a church we like and go regularly. We found a great church! Need to work on the going regularly part. Lucky for me, they record their services and have a podcast, so even if I'm too lazy to make it even to the 11:30 service, I can still listen. And you know you live in Nashville when your pastor is in a Taylor Swift video. Not kidding.

4 --For Billy and me to keep working on having a healthy marriage. This is always going to be a priority. I'm working on my patience and concentrating more on not letting things just fly out of my mouth.

5--Try at least 1 new recipe a week. Done and done. I have several new cookbooks and just love trying new things! I still want to finish my Everyday Italian project, but like I said, it's not going to be very consistent. But I will cook every dish in that book and my two new Barefoot Contessa cookbooks. Yum!

6--Eat locally. Easy. Nashville has a great independent restaurant scene. I couldn't tell you the last time we ate at a chain restaurant (yes I can, on our road trip) and the times we do are few and far between. I've already planned my SFG (square foot garden) and will be hitting up the Home Depot soon to get my seeds going. Fresh veggies here we come! Anything else I'm going to make it a point to get at the Farmer's Market. Since it's literally 2 seconds from our house.

7--Keep up the reading. Major success here!! I really need to keep better track of what I'm reading, so I've started a list to count all the books I finish in 2011. I've already finished 5 and should finish another this weekend. Current read: The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. It might be for teenagers, just like Twilight is but I cannot read them fast enough.

8--Learn to sew. Baby steps! I've watched the DVD and figured out how to thread my machine and even did a few practice runs on some scrap fabric. I have some projects picked out and cannot wait to get to the fabric store! Stay tuned, I might suck!

9--Take more pictures. We all know I got a new camera (thanks babe!!) and my photography is DEFINITELY improving. I only shoot on Manual mode, now I just need to shoot MORE and post the photos I take. Definitely enjoying this hobby. Want to up my badass-ness on my editing, but learning more all the time! Trying to not let myself get discouraged when I submit things in a Pioneer Woman photo contest and don't make the cut. One day...

10--Get up earlier. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Yeah, right.

11--Get better at the housekeeping thing. WHO CARES. It gets done. Whatever.

So, all in all, not bad! 2010 was full of blessing, family, friends, and good food, and I know 2011 won't be any different. I'll leave you with, what I think, is a pretty cool shot from my brother's graduation in December. The kid wears his Converse with EVERYTHING. So, of course, I had to get a shot of them with his cap and gown. So here ya go.