The New Year

Well, we're already half-way through the first month of the new year, and I'm finally finding a moment to sit down for an update. This year is going to be a good one, I just feel it. Even if it's not great, it has to be better than last year! I've never been so happy to leave a year behind in my life. It was stressful on all fronts - work, kids, house, relationships...

So, this year I'm actually making a few resolutions to ensure it's a better one. I started out with only two, but as the year opened up, I found a few more I want to add. Here's what I've got:

1. I'm not going to take the backseat in my life anymore. Don't get me wrong... I will always help others when I can, but not at the expense of my emotional health, nor my family's. Last year I tiptoed around quite a bit, not wanting to hurt anyone and bending over backwards to accommodate what I thought others wanted of/from me. This applied to a variety of aspects of my life both personally and professionally. So, this is the year of taking the reigns back, which leads me to,
2. I will make more time for fun. With the kids, with the husband, on my own. Life is too short not to be having more fun! This means expanding my social network that shrunk so much over the past two years, getting to the theater more often, trying new things, having more girls nights out, etc.
3. I'll learn how to take care of myself again. Since I work from home, I rarely put on makeup, "do" my hair, etc. Because of child and work obligations, I forgot how to take time and take a bath, go for a walk by myself, shut myself in my bedroom and read a book without interruption, enjoy a moment of silence. I'll start MAKING time to go to the gym (already have started to return to that routine), even if it means missing an hour with the kids, the husband or the pets.
   
4. And then there's the ever-present (it seems in my life) need to lose some weight. Yeah, yeah, that too. It fits into #3, but needs to be broken out so I can see it in writing. Time to get back to pre-baby weight again. I can and will fight the battle of finding an elliptical at the gym in January (amongst the hoards of other resolution-makers) and will stick with it through the end of the year when the gym once again echoes and I have my choice of machinary.

That's the lowdown on the soon-to-be new-improved Kim. More backbone, less fat, more fun. Sounds good to me. Plus we have some fun stuff planned. I'm heading to Boston in February for the Consumer Trends Forum (shameless plug for my client organization... it will be a GREAT meeting packed with lots of insight into current consumer trends), to Hatteras in May with a group of friends to try out scuba diving in frigid waters (if we can get our certification in time), to one of my fav cities in the US - New Orleans - in June for some Cajun cookin' and microwave science (again, client meeting) and then to the big one... Lake Biwa, Japan for an international microwave science congress. I can't wait to go. Jason will be coming with, and we are saving and planning now to make it the trip of a lifetime. It will be his first trip out of North America!

Happy (belated) New Year!