Not so much resolutions, per se...

There's a growing list of things I'd like to accomplish during 2006. Rather, a list of things I'd like to improve about my life in general. Seeing as it's the season to make lists, and everyone else is doing it, I'm going to (temporarily) jump on the bandwagon.

Read more
Everywhere I look, people are putting out lists of things that they read last year. Some of these lists top 40 books or so. And some of their goals for 2006 are even higher. And now that I'm engaged to a voracious reader, I feel that I have to jump start my own personal reading life. Last year I read practically nothing. But when I did finish a book (which happened with very low frequency) I felt so good! I read a book! Yes, I felt like a first grader, but it was still a good feeling. I have a few on my list that I'd love to tackle. Keep me accountable, people.

Sort my mail
In a mad dash to locate my healthcare card, I did a clean sweep on my room this past Sunday afternoon. After an hour and a half, I had filled an entire "tall kitchen" trash bag full of junk mail, catalogs, mass mailings, utility bills and the like. Typically, my pattern as of late has been to avoid the mail basket for as long as possible until 1) I desperately need an important legal document (i.e. insurance card, health card, etc.) or 2) something interesting comes in (i.e. wedding invitation, Christmas card, etc.). Well, I refuse to let it get that bad again. My goal is to go through all of my mail at least once a week. My stretch goal is to do it everyday. We'll see how it goes.

Get into shape
Yes, I know that everyone spends all of January working off the holiday pounds, so this goal isn't necessarily revolutionary by any means. But I have a different problem. Some people consider me lucky to be fighting to gain wait. But I don't see it as any kind of luck. Yes, I'm underweight. And yes, it's a health problem. Within the first year after college, when I started my first "real job," I lost 15 pounds. I don't have 15 pounds to lose, however, so this wasn't necessarily good. Instead of responding to stress by eating a lot, I tend to do the opposite. I quit eating. So as of yesterday, I gave a local gym and a former roommate-turned-personal-trainer a lot of money. I am hoping to gain healthy weight, put on some muscle, and get into the kind of shape I was in when I played sports constantly.

Take better care of myself
This goes hand-in-hand with the "get into shape" goal. I want to eat healthy, filling, regular meals. So along with the working out, I will be pairing that with meal planning by the aforementioned former roommate. I'm also going to quit biting my fingers/fingernails. This is also stress-related, like the eating. I've done it for as long as I can remember, but now that I have some fancy new jewelry to show off, I need to get my hands into shape, too.

I think that's it for now. I'll keep you posted on the progress. Here's a summary of the first 10 days of January:

• Reading: still working on "Don't Waste Your Life" with a goal to finish by the end of the month (I figure I'll start slow and then ramp up)...post other reading suggestion in the "Comments" at any time, if you have them :)
• Mail: haven't fallen behind yet, but looking to get a formal filing system in place soon
• Working out: joined a gym yesterday, workouts to commence next week
• Taking care: fingers at about 90% good (10% per finger [so all are in good shape except one, for now]); meal planning is starting this week