Showing posts with label New Beginning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Beginning. Show all posts

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Behind the Blog 34: New Beginnings


BTB4


Behind The Blog is a meme to help bloggers connect their life and interests to the content showcased on their blog. The co-hosts Faye Kathe and Melissa will provide a different topic, idea, or question every week that bloggers can relate to themselves and the books, films, or media they find interesting!

New Beginnings

New Year's is often a time of new beginnings. People often make resolutions to help themselves achieve their goals. Are there any new beginnings that you are looking forward to in 2013? Are you planning on making any New Year's Resolutions? If so, what are they?

In relation to books and media:

Are there any books or movies you like where the characters get a chance at a new beginning? Or beginning scenes of books or movies that are particularly noteworthy?

I think the idea of resolutions is nice, but they can also be a lot of pressure, too depending on the circumstances. For resolutions to really take hold, you have to truly want to accomplish these goals or make the changes that you set out to. If you're doing it just because you think you should, or everyone else is doing it, it won't really work that well and you'll give up after a few weeks or a month. (I wonder how many gyms get money from people who join up in the new year, don't ever go, and then forget to cancel?)

I've already posted about my reading challenges for the year. You can read them at the top of the page in the 2013 reading challenges tab. I'm actually doing pretty well so far. If I can finish a book today, I'll have read a book a day so far in 2013. A pretty good start to those challenges, and being ahead will probably keep me motivated to keep it up. 

As for personal resolutions, I have a few.

I want to keep up with the healthy habits that I started in mid December.

 I decided to switch out soda and most other beverages for water or green tea. Now, instead of one (sometimes two) sodas a day, I'm only having soda once or twice a week as a treat, or to go with a particular meal like burgers and fries. You can't not have a soda with burgers and fries. Well, you can, but it just doesn't feel right. I would cut out soda entirely, but I don't want to, because I don't want to deprive myself, since I know it's okay to indulge every once in a while. And going from a soda a day to one a week is a big improvement, so I'm happy with that.

I've seen some improvements with this already. I feel a little better, and I've even lost a pound or two.

Get a new job. 

I've been out of work for far too long, and I've been looking and looking, but haven't found anything yet. I really hope that things in this department of life turn around for me soon, because I really want to be working again.

Work on projects that I want to complete, like scrapbooks. 

I bought a lot of scrapbooking items last January, with the intention of starting a scrapbook but I never got around to it. I am a bit of a packrat, and I save all my old cards and letters, and I want to do scrapbooks of these cards and letters. I'm having trouble with planning out how I want to organize them though, and it's halting me a bit. Plus, I really want to find all the letters for the one I want to start, before I start it because I would hate to find another few letters after I've already begun.


These are just a few things that I want to do. What are some of your resolutions for this year?


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Sunday, January 1, 2012

New Year's Resolutions/Goals for 2012

It's that time of year again. Sometimes, I dread making New Year's resolutions, sometimes I like it. It's a fresh start, a chance to try again, or to try new things. I don't always stick with my resolutions but that's okay. I have a few different resolutions/goals for 2012, some reading related, some personal.

Reading Goals:
  • Read for 1 hour each day: I attempted this in 2011 with my boyfriend as a way to get us to read together but it didn't last long. I'm going to go for it this year. I may allow myself to read in blocks or add time to other days to make up for the days where I just can't manage to squeeze the hour in.
  • Read at least 10 percent more books than I read in 2011. I have read 104 books this year, so 2012's goal should be somewhere around 111 at least, though with one of the challenges I'm doing if I were to complete that, I would reach 150
  • Read at least 35000 pages this year
  • Use my book journal more often when reading to make writing reviews easier, and so I don't forget key points or quotes that stick out
Personal goals:
  • Get a job that I enjoy
  • Become more active- Planning on buying a pedometer to help with this and keep track of fitness info
  • Lose Weight -I'm not overweight by any means but I've moved up over the last year and a half and I want to be back down where I was at
  • Continue baking/cooking (Without being counter intuitive to my weight loss goals)
  • Drink more water
  • Write More Often: Writing is both recreational and therapeutic and I've been neglecting it lately.
  • Buy a netbook -my big clunky computer is heavy and I want something slightly more portable
These are just some of my resolutions though I'm sure I could come up with some others if I gave it some more thought. What are some of your goals for the new year?

Happy 2012 everyone!

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Brand New Blog

I've started a blog here mainly to allow other people to comment on my posts. I have a blog at Xanga, but it doesn't allow for anonymous comments. I love connecting with people through writing and I hope that this site allows me to do that. The fact that I'm starting this blog at Midnight makes the title seem perfect. The Web address may seem scattered, but I never know what to name my blogs, and I just wanted to use things I like so Midnight-Orchid it became.

I'll add my book reviews here as well as regular thoughts and ideas. I may also put up some of my creative endeavours as well.

I was inspired to start this blog because of one of my reading groups over on Goodreads. If you like to read that is definitely the greatest site for it. If you'd like to check out my taste in books take a look at my bookshelves.  Melissa's Goodreads profile