New Goals For a New Year

I turned 30 two days ago.

I love 30.

Before we left on vacation, Skywalker and I had kind of a strange experience. We were feeling all these promptings to apply for a job in Idaho. We did, and got to the last stage of the interview. I was going crazy planning for a possible move.

They ended up choosing someone else.

our reactions: relief, confusion, and a re-set of "where are we" conversations.

Skywalker has a good job. He likes it. I wouldn't say loves it, but likes it and that's pretty good especially with the economy and job market being what it is right now. But I always think of him as someone who's got some kind of Mission. He's brilliant, compassionate, and wildly creative. He's one of those people you just know are meant for something special. Maybe that something special is to be in support for the rest of his life, because those qualities I listed before make him very good at support. But he's got an inventor's heart... he wants to do something innovative, something he believes in, something that can leave his day free eventually to do what he really loves: teach, and write.

This job would have incorporated some of that, but in essence it was still a support job. We've landed, in all of this, on a possible conclusion: we've got to get going on starting a business. That's why Skywalker took the job he has now in the first place--it's only a 40 hour a week job and still incorporates a lot of his talents and finds a use for the master's degree he has. The 40 hour a week job means he's got time to start a business on the side (yes, we're talking being SWAMPED with work. But it's what he's wanted for a long time.) So we've decided to have a weekly date night/brainstorming session together. We have friends over fridays, so we're planning a short night out Saturdays, so we can go somewhere quiet and brainstorm together. And maybe get something going.

The second set of goals is related to health. I realized when I was at home, and had access to a scale (I don't have one here, for lots of rebellious reasons) that I weigh more now than I ever thought I would weigh without pregnancy as a factor. It startled me a little. And while I like my body (it's nice and curvy and feminine... sorry if I just grossed some of you out), I don't want to make this a trend or habit, and my body actually likes me a little better when I range from 120-135 or so. Right now I'm hovering around 150. So... I never thought I'd say this, but we're on a diet for a while. I haven't done anything this pregnancy different from the others, so I know it's likely my metabolism doing the dreaded 'slow down at 30-ish' routine. Skywalker has needed this for a while, too, though I've had a hard time admitting it. I hate the idea of dieting. Literally hate it. It goes against a lot of what I know and believe... but really, at this point it seems the most inevitable option.

I plan on exercizing, too, though. my mother had the book, "you are your own gym" at her house and Skywalker read quite a bit of it and was inspired. The exercises described in it are a lot like the ones I did on the ski-team in high school for "interval training." So I plan on doing these a few times a week to build muscle and bone health. I also plan on running daily. In order to have the time for this, we will need to buy a treadmill. I've thought and thought, brainstormed and brainstormed, and there really is no other option, if I want to run. And there won't be, until I'm 36 or so... my health can't wait 6 years.

I've made a covenant with myself that if I don't fudge on the diet or exercize I can take myself out to dinner once a month, wherever I want, and eat whatever I want.

So... this post is mostly reflective, but also for accountability. My cousin Adele has inspired me, as I've watched her meet her goals... here I am following in her footsteps. Thanks for being an inspiration, Adele.