Getting Ready for 2015

I've never been a huge believer in "resolutions" per se, but the start of new year is a natural time to take stock of the goals and dreams I have.

What I want to accomplish in 2015:

• Be a more attentive wife and mother.  I want to leave work at work, and not take things that happen there so personally.  In the time I've been away from work on my vacation, I've noticed that I'm in a much healthier mental state and am able to give more of myself to my family.  Since I can't stop working, I need to find a way to be available for and present with my family even after I return to work.  I read a couple of good articles yesterday about how to mentally do this.
• This article is from a HR blog I follow for work.
• This article showed up on my Lifehacker feed.  I think one of the keys is to stop complaining which just allows me to wallow rather than handling things in a healthy manner.
• Get back down to 125 pounds.  While I'm fully aware that my weight and appearance shouldn't define me, I also know that I just feel better and more energetic at that weight.  I tried all last year to get my weight back down, and only succeeded in failing miserably as I actually gained weight.  I'm in my early forties now, and I can't afford to be carrying extra weight as it could start impacting my health.  So this is a goal that I will figure out how to accomplish this coming year.
• Continue to improve my photography, and consider selling professionally.  I love making photographs, and I like sharing those photos with others.  I plan to keep honing my skills and getting even better.  I know that anyone with a good camera can make their own photos, but I think that I have a good eye for composition, and that I notice things that not everyone would, so provide a different perspective.  I don't think this could ever be a full-time gig, but maybe I could make a little extra money by offering prints of my photos.  I'll keep my readers posted when/if I create a website for this purpose.  On a related item, I want to use my photos to make special gifts for people.  Everyone always seems to really appreciate those gifts (especially parents and grandparents when it's portraits of their family).
• Get even better at Statistics and figure out how to better incorporate "big data" analytics in my job.  I don't have time for formal classes or to work on a Master's degree right now.  But I do still find ways to keep informed and improving.  I've read several books, and I got another new one for Christmas that I'm excited to dig into.  I also get math books and DVDs and work through the problems in my spare time (yeah, I'm kind of a dork.)  I love the work I do, and it supports my family, so I want to keep being valuable enough to be able to provide that support.
• Get back into writing, and publish something.  This Christmas I helped my mom turn her memories of my dad into a book on Lulu.com.  It was therapeutic for her and made a nice memento for us.  I also realized while helping her with this, that you can create books on Lulu.com and make them available for sale on Amazon.  So this year I'm planning on getting something out there, even if it's just a collection of my short stories, because writing has always been so rewarding for me personally and I want to be able to share it with others.

What I'm looking forward to in 2015:

• Leaving the country for the first time when we do our walking tour of Ireland.  I know it's a little lame that I'll be 41 years old before I ever leave the US.  I also didn't see the ocean for the first time until I was 32.  My parents just never took those types of vacations.  By the time I was old enough to go myself, I was busy working and putting myself through college.  My dad got laid off from his aerospace engineering job when I was a senior in high school and was never reemployed in a decent job, so my parents couldn't help me with college.  After college I was too poor to take any good vacations.  Then I got married and started a family.  Sometimes I look at the pictures on the Facebook feed of three former co-workers of mine who travel all over the world and feel a little envious.  But none of them are married or have children, and really, I'd never trade places with them.  My family is the most wonderful and rewarding part of my life.  We've made it a point to take our children to lots of different places, so they won't be in this boat as adults.
• Getting past all of the "firsts" since my father's death.  Every time we do something for the first time without my dad, it's hard.  The holidays have been especially hard and my poor mom is having a difficult time coping right now.  It doesn't help that January 6th would have been my parents' 42nd wedding anniversary, and that it's so close to the holidays.  We still have to go stay in the cabin in Estes Park for the first time without my dad in early March, and then get past the anniversary of his death in April.  But hopefully everything will start to get easier after that since it won't the be the first time without him any longer.

2014 is exiting with a beautiful day here.  It's still really cold, though we're well above zero today and the sun is shining and sparking in the snow.  I hope you all have a wonderful New Year holiday!  See you next year.