New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year! This post is for me. I made some goals for myself this year and somehow I feel like by putting them out there in Blogland, I will be more accountable. Here they are:

1. Blog more! In 2011, I wrote a total of 5 blog posts. This means that I will only have to write 6 in 2012 to meet my goal. I'm already 1/6th of the way there! ;)

2. Train for a race and beat my previous time. I'm still toying with whether I want my goal to be another marathon or a half-marathon. I'll probably be running another half with my dad in March when I head to Las Vegas for his retirement ceremony. There is a part of me that wants to run another marathon, even though the day after the first one I decided that I never wanted to run again! It was so painful! Now that some time has passed, I look back and feel like I truly accomplished something amazing. I kind of want another round. We'll see. Maybe I'll just set my sights on the half for now. (Do you get the theme yet?? I need goals that are totally achievable!) Half-marathons are my favorite distance to run because they are hard enough that I have to train for them, but I don't need lots of recovery time after.

3. Attend the Temple 24 times. I think this is yet another easy one for me. I'm really loving having the opportunity to go to the temple and having so many temples so close. This is one thing that I love about living in Utah. My life feels more complete and more peaceful when I make time for the temple. When I walk inside, I feel like I am at the House of the Lord and doing His work. While I am there, I more easily feel his love, comfort, and direction and I feel like a better, nicer, sweeter person. If you are unfamiliar with temples, you can learn more at: http://lds.org/church/temples?lang=eng.

4. Learn how to do my own taxes. Yes, it's true. I have never had the joy of completing this task on my own. The weird thing is that I actually did take tax law in law school, but I never learned how to use the forms. I'm kind of excited to figure this one out. And, I guess this is the first year that I really care, because last year was the first year that I worked full time for an entire year.

5. Memorize five hymns on the piano. Last year I had the goal to memorize ten. I failed. This year, I decided to downsize to make it a little more attainable. I want to accomplish this one because if I ever attend church in a small, foreign town where absolutely no one can play the piano, I'll save the day!