resolving, 2013 edition

Yikes, I only just realised that it's that time of year - time to go back to last year's January post about resolutions and see how far I've come. Or not come.

My goals for 2012 were:

• Purge and organise. I started working on this recently and it's been incredibly liberating. There is still quite a way to go yet, and I still have yet to find a way to keep myself organised. 

Ah, yes. The house is a tip. I did declutter the kitchen the other day, though.

• Make our home a sweet home. We aren't going to move for quite some time, so we need to sort out all the loose ends around here and make this a place we can really be happy with, at least for the next little while. Must. Get. Rid. Of. That. Floral. Wallpaper. In. The. Corridor. Gaaaaaah. 

We actually talked about this on the drive home after Christmas. The plan is to look into renovating and adding another room at the back of the house. I am so gonna make this happen. Mama wants her living room back and a peaceful place without a television blaring in it.

• Focus on my health. I don't just mean losing weight (which has been the albatross around my neck for decades now), but finding solutions for the small yet annoying health niggles I've been enduring for the past couple of years. 

Move along, nothing to see here.

• Figure out what I want to be when I grow up. I might return to work, in some capacity, when Isla increases her hours at nursery in September. It might be tech writing again, or it might be something totally different. I don't know yet. Be creative. My soul goes numb when I'm not doing something creative, whether it's delving into the cobwebby part of my brain that used to do graphic design, making something, or figuring out how to do a rugby ball cake (true.) 

I did return to the office in the form of contracting/tech writing, and I'm loving it. It's given me back my identity and confidence in spades. Which leads to...

• Get "published". Doesn't have to be paid work (it likely won't be and will probably be an article online), but I need to write and it would be great to get a piece out there in the public domain. This is very much related to my last point. 

I ended up getting two regular writing gigs and it's been amazing fun. I'm so glad that I ended up pursuing this dream, because it led to many fantastic opportunities last year (like chatting to Lewis Smith. Oh yes indeed.)

• Buy as much London Olympic tat as possible. (Not really. Well, maybe just a little tat.)

We scored two Wenlocks and a Pride the lion, a baseball cap, and a souvenir photo. Not bad!

My goals for 2013 are:

• Again with the house decluttering and making bigger thing. The mess. Oh god, the mess. Make it go away.
• Stick to the damn diet. Managed two days of it so far but ate quite a lot of cheesecake and crisps last night. I am a very good diet starter.
• Keep writing. I'm keeping my ear to the ground and looking out for any opportunities. Last year gave me a real boost and I feel more confident to pitch articles. 
• Do something interesting. Not sure what this will be yet. Learn a skill? Go somewhere new? Finally sit down with that book on writing Japanese characters? I just want to do something a bit different that doesn't involve leaping from a plane or getting something pierced.
• Spend less time online. I did take my iPad with me when we went away for Christmas, but because I can't type on it to save my life, I spent much less time on it. I just used it to do a bit of work, check emails in the morning, and that was about it - and it was kind of nice. So less time farting around on the internet, starting now. Goodnight.