A year of intent.

2012 is my first, conscious year of intent.

There are a few things I mean by this.

First, I've set goals, or intentions, for the entire year. (More on these to come.) Second, I'm setting mini-intentions for each month. The goal is to eliminate a vice, crutch, or bad habit purposefully for 30 days.

My progress:
January
Went without pop/soda/cola
Whatever you call it, it's bad for us for a myriad of reasons. After my month-long endeavor, I've chosen to have 2012 be a year without soda. This is coming from a girl who would regularly drop by McDonald's for a vat of $1 Diet Coke, so it has been a definite lifestyle change. (Vat=commonly called a McDonald's large.)

February
Went without Facebook
It's a highly addictive, stream-of-consciousness source of noise 80% of the time, and really wonderful for staying in touch with people the other 20%. I honestly felt awesome not having it for a month - I used to wake up and check Facebook and Twitter before I even got out of bed. Eliminating this reduced my dependency on the Internet greatly. The fact that I got rid of it for the "month of love" also didn't hurt.

March
Went without french fries and alcohol
Two things due to Lent, and I struggled on both accounts. I ended up eating french fries at a lunch held for State DECA judges. I judged at both the regional and state DECA (high school marketing club) competitions and the lunch was quite limited. I caved, but only that one time!

To ward off alcohol on St. Patrick's Day, I volunteered to be a DD for Finnegan's pub crawl. Great idea, right? Well, after the first couple stops I ended up not being needed (they also had a limo and a Jeep.) So, well, I, umm...caved. Rounds were bought, drinks were had. When people kept justifying that I was "drinking for a cause" (FINNEGANS Irish Amber was the first beer in the world to donate 100% of its profits back to the community), I really couldn't feel bad about it!

 Did I mention we went "blonde" because Finnegan's recently released a blonde ale?

It was definitely worth it!


Have any of you taken on a year-long or month-long goal? Do you have any suggestions of what to give up (or a healthy alternative to add) for upcoming months?

On Returning.

What has come to light is that after college, many moves and working in a full-time job for over a year (!!!), what I needed was a shift in focus. I realized that I tired of this blog as soon as I got a full-time job, and couldn't keep up with my own expectations: things like blogging daily, keeping up fantastic content, high-quality photos, and words worth reading. It's a hard thing to do, and I fully appreciate those who have mastered it.

What you can expect to see here is something akin to the fuzzy photo above: imperfect things that make me laugh, happy, excited, and encouraged to be a better person. In the photo, I'm simply in my bedroom; it was taken on a whim by my roommate T, myself holding a project I made with the words "Go Places" on it that typically hangs in our living room. I want to have content that is worth reading, but that also gives you a glimpse into my life and what I'm interested in. It makes sense that the best blog posts are written about things that a blogger is interested in because passion breeds good writing.

Here's what you can expect:

I have challenged myself to blog every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, with an occasional weekend post. On Mondays and Fridays, you'll find life updates, book reviews, articles that triggered something in me, and/or a "Meet My Friends" feature. On Wednesdays, I'll be posting Wednesday's Three Wonders; three things I am interested in or find worth sharing. This will include music, movies, food, photos, stories, etc.

I hope that this becomes a space you check a couple of days a week. I'm really excited to share more about 2012 and the changes in my life. So, welcome back! I hope you'll stay awhile.