Goals for 2013: Making them and keeping them

Trust me. I had all these amazing plans to write life altering and reflective blog posts over the holidays about 2012 and as you might have guessed it, my plans didn’t exactly follow through.

I got lost in the wonderful madness that is the holidays. Andrew and I went home to visit my family in Michigan for Christmas– enjoying the small town comforts of my grandparent’s house and then escaping to Chicago for a a couple of nights! (More photos to follow soon)

But as it’s the first Monday of January 2013 I am in a blogging state of mind once again; I feel refreshed, relaxed and renewed. I am taking a blogging cue from Cait, author of one of my favorite blogs Blonde On A Budget. I love her post titled, 2013: a year of possibilities. I couldn’t have said it better myself. This time last year, I was still looking for a full-time job,  Andrew and I just had moved into a new apartment, and we were newly engaged. Life seemed wonderfully uncertain.

A year later the path ahead seems a little more clear: I am married (yet still planning my wedding–long story), I have a full time job, Andrew and I are in tiny basement suite we love and I’ve started a silly little blog about our newlywed lives.

It seems like the big stuff is out of the way, now I want to focus on the details. I don’t have any New Year’s Resolutions (because every time I call them ‘Resolutions’ I don’t follow through–can you relate?) but I do have some pretty big goals for 2013.

Goal 1: Keep on a bloggin’

Inspired by one of my Christmas presents from Andrew, Blog Inc. I am excited to continue to blog and network with other bloggers. While in my head I have aspirations to one day engage in partnerships with local businesses and organizations, publish a book and of course one day have my own talk show like Oprah (OK so the first two aspirations are the real deal… the last one might be a bit far fetched), today I am going to start small. I believe for every large vision you need think about the smaller and more manageable steps you will take to get there. For  example, for now I am going to be more consistent with my posts and blog 3 times a week to reach my bigger goal of blogosphere celebrity status–I could be like the Oprah of blogs! (Ok, so we’ve established I have a thing for Oprah…)

Goal 2: Spend less and Experience More.

Ahh yess… This is my 2013 mantra. There was so many times in the past where I couldn’t afford concert tickets or weekend away with friends because I wasted dollars on another pair of jeans or shoes. And guess what? I couldn’t tell you which shoes or pair of jeans it was I wasted the money on. Clothes are nice, but out of all the things you can buy they have the shortest shelf life. My choice now is to make the financial investment in the things that are going to give me the greatest memories. For everything else, I’m going cheap!

Goal 3: Run another half marathon—or 2!

I am one of those crazy people that actually likes to run. I get the runner’s high (and you didn’t think it was real…). I enjoy the freedom running gives me and the strength I feel when I finish working out. I ran my first half marathon last summer and plan to run not one but two this year in Vancouver– The BMO Half-Marathon in May and the SeaWheeze Half Marathon in August. And I’ll throw in a couple of organized 10k’s in between to get me ready. To help me stay focused on my training I will run the Vancouver SeaWall every Saturday, just because its so darn pretty. Follow me on instagram @ashlykissman and click on the hashtag #seawallsaturdays to follow along and/or join in!

Goal 4: Read… EVERYTHING!

Somewhere between getting officially (but unofficially) married, starting a new job and getting more acquainted with Vancouver, I stopped reading. I used to love reading– fiction and non-fiction. To kick start my year, I plan to follow along My Pretty Pennies no-commitment blogger book club! Don’t you love the title? I actually already read January’s book (‘Bossypants’ by Tina Fey– hilarious by the way!) a couple of years ago, so I plan to start next month with February’s book: ‘What Alice Forgot’ by Liane Moriarty. If you want to join us in our non-commital club click here for more info!

But don’t worry, I won’t let myself off that easy. My book for January will be Blog, Inc. I plan to read it and discuss it with you all at the end of the month. So far, so good!

What are your goals for 2013?