New Year’s Goals

Every year I set out goals for myself. Some years I’m more successful than others, but I do try. Last year I set out five goals for myself. Let’s see how I did.

• 1. Lose 15 lbs.

When I weighed myself on January 6th, I was 159. I did make it down to 140, so I certainly met that goal! Unfortunately, I overindulged at the holidays and gained back three, but I admit that I allowed myself to go a little crazy more than once. So it’s back on the wagon!

• 2. Read 12 books.

I am embarrassed to say that the only book I read, in its entirety, is The South Beach Diet. I’m not embarassed that I read the book (because it’s the reason I lost all the weight!), but I’m embarassed that I didn’t read more. Of course, life does get in the way sometimes and I had a lot going on in 2007, so I’m not going to feel too bad about it.

• 3. Knit a lace shawl.

Just didn’t happen.

• 4. Journal more (in my written journal).

What written journal?

• 5. Do a better job at nurturing my friendships.

This is a tough one to address. There are a couple friendships that fell by the wayside due to personal differences, lifestyle differences, that kind of thing. But you know, sometimes people just grow apart. That’s the way it is and I’m okay with that. On the other hand, I rekindled a couple great friendships last year. Just thinking about it makes me happy! I think I tried to focus on quality and the ability to be a good, devoted friend.

So, I guess I didn’t do so bad. 2007 was a big year for navel-gazing and I ended it in a really good place. I feel good about my relationships, about my career focus, and about myself in general. As for 2008? What do I hope to achieve this year? Let’s see…

1) Continue tasting my way through 100 varieties of grapes so I can become a member of the Wine Century Club. I think it will be fun to try wines I’ve never heard of and to expand my palate. I’m really excited about this one!

2) Learn more about sake and port. Sake is a recent interest of mine and I’m looking forward to trying different types and learning all about it. As for port, this is my challenge. I’m not really a dessert wine drinker. I tend to prefer dry wines over sweet, but I think it’s important to challenge my palate, so I going for broke on this one.

3) Read more. Ah, every year I say I’m going to do this. This just might be the year I follow through. I’m joining a wine book club with a few other wine bloggers, so that will be my motivation.

4) Knit from my stash. I have an absurd amount of yarn at home. Last year I was better about buying yarn for no reason, but I still did on occasion. This year, no yarn unless I have a really good reason — otherwise, I’m knitting from my stash.

5) Eat healthy. I was doing great with healthy eating until the fall. I started to dangle my foot off the wagon and in December I completely fell off. Back on it! I want to weigh between 130 and 135 at this time next year.

6) Make better use of my time online. The Internet is a huge timesuck. I need to work on my time managment skills and not allow myself to get absorbed in Facebook when I could be making a better use of my time doing something else. Easier said than done, but I’m giving it my best shot.

7) Make the effort. Last year one of my friends made a single New Year’s Resolution. This was it. I think it’s fantastic and in 2008 I resolve to make the effort in everything I do. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.

This year already has a few exciting things in store. I’m going to have a piece published in the February issue of The Second Glass, which is a Boston-based wine magazine. I’m very excited that I’ll be in print again and I plan on making the effort to get at least a few more articles published during the year. Also, January will be my last month blogging at Celebrate Wine. For a variety of reasons I decided it was in my best interest to cut the blog network strings. But I’ll still be wine blogging, don’t worry! On February 1, I’ll be launching a brand-new wine blog! Actually, it’s a project Drew and I are working on together. We each have our own areas of interest so it will be fun to have a well-rounded site. It will also be interesting to read our tasting notes — we don’t always agree! So I am really looking forward to that.

I do love January with all its new beginnings. I’m feeling very positive about this year and I hope good things are in store!