What is this blog?

Hi Guys,

I am Laura and this is a place for me to document my goals for 2013. I say goals as resolutions just feels like blanket statements that I will forget and loss interest in within the first 6 weeks, where as goals sounds like a key specific thing that tells me what I need to achieve.

So what are my goals and how does this blog relate to them?

1) To start and maintain a blog for at least a year, with an update on all goals as and when they are completed.

I have started over the years about half a dozen blog and never posted more than 3 updates. They are normally cooking related and I am hopeless for not measuring and writing things down and my photography is poor, yada yada. Mostly I just get bored and forget about it.

So by having a nice mixture of things to write about and also by putting a deadline in place for things to be done I hope that this will ensure I maintain it and also give me a place to record my progress.

2) To complete a creative project every 2 weeks and update the blog on it.

I am not an inherently creative person, and it’s something I have always wanted to be. I also have a very short attention span to at best become a jack of all trades and master of none, and I find mostly that I look and plan all what I want to do and then achieve nothing as I spent the time I could have been doing it looking at other things I could do (Pintrest is an insane time sucker).

So what I am going to do is set fortnightly projects for myself to complete to ensure that I actually create something instead of being one of those people that re-pins and does not do!

For me the projects can be art, knitting, crochet, sewing, paper craft, jewellery making, home decor/DIY projects or making a home made beauty item (like soaps, moisturizers etc.).

3) To read 1 book a month.

I know as a former avid reader that this is a completely achievable goal, but I also know as a former avid reader I really don't read that much any more.

I used to devour any book, it didn't matter a genre, it didn't matter if I got part way through and found it was rubbish; I would carry on until the end. Now, however I am a lazy reader, so I find myself reading a lot that sticks to set format so all stories are essentially the same (Mills and Boon anyone?) or I just re-read and lazily skim the book. Other times I read a little decide I don't like the book and that’s it, it just goes to the book graveyard or I find it takes me so long to read I forget big chunks of the plot and have to re-read passages sometimes multiple times as by the time I have re-read the passage the opportunity I had to read the book has gone.

So what I will be doing is reading and writing about 1 book a month, and hopefully this will force me to widen what I am reading, make me read some new things and ensure I finish the book!

4) Try 2 new recipes a month.

I used to cook everyday, however now I do shift work and its just not practical for me to make every meal. This means my boyfriend who hates cooking is forced to cook a lot of our meals, I have also been on a healthy eating kick these past 10 months, I have lost around 80 pounds (and still have a long way to go) but this also means I don't always enjoy or find it easy finding and creating new dishes.

So this can be baking, healthy, decadent or whatever I am just going to try out of the number of recipes I have book marked and pinned to make 2 I haven't tried making before a month.

5) Exercise regularly, this includes at least 4 sessions a week and reporting at the end of the week what I have done.

I started exercising in earnest around mid March 2012, and as I mention above have lost a lot of weight. I don't believe on just going by weight, it should be about health and how I feel. I still have a long way to go and am still over weight but I think healthy eating, moderation and exercise are key.

To ensure accountability I am going to record what I do each week. Sometimes this is literally just going to be me cycling to work, other times classes I do, swimming and anything new I try in-between.

So that’s it, they are what I intend to achieve and this is where I will be recording my endeavours and how they go.