Hopes for the New Year!

Happy New Year!!!!! Wishing everyone Health, Wealth and Happiness in 2012!

I'm a big resolution maker! I think the start of a New Year is the perfect time to reflect and try to do better. But instead of calling them resolutions (which is kind of cliche and somehow always sounds like they won't work out), I refer to them as Hopes, hopes for the year!

Hope #1- Save more money this year! 
- We set up some automatic withdrawals from our Chequing account to our Saving Account!
-Automatic withdrawals to our RRSP's (retirement savings plan).
Honestly this has always been the best way for us to save money . . . take it out of the account before we even see it :)
-I'm also going to start making some budget conscious meal plans and continue couponing (with in reason . . . there will be no Extreme Couponing happening around here).

Hope #2- More effort into my Everyday attire.
-Because being a housewife involves being in the house most of the time it's way too easy to slap on some yoga pants and wander around the house with no make-up and a pony tail. NOW, that being said I have no intention of completely cutting out yoga pants (that would be CRAZY). I just want to throw on a big of blush, maybe some mascara and a pair of jeans from time to time :)

Hope #3- Make Lee's lunches more exciting.
- It's become way too easy to make a couple sandwiches, I'd like to try making him some more salads, soups and wraps for his lunch!

Image found Here.

Hope #4- Try more NEW recipes.
- Just like it's easy to make a couple of sandwiches . . . it's really easy to make the same recipes over and over. I'd like to try 1 new recipe a WEEK!

Hope #5- I'd like to start waking up earlier.
-With no kids and a dog that would gladly stay in bed all day it's too easy to sleep in :) I'd like to start getting up earlier and maybe taking the dog on an extra long morning walk or . . . dare I say it . . . workout  ? ? ?  I'm not going to lie I'll probably just drink my morning coffee slower but at least I'll be up earlier :).

Hope #6- This year I'd like to travel more.
-I've been dying to go to the Farm Chicks Antique Fair in Spokane every summer, but somehow we've never made it down. I'd also love to go back to Portland. As you can tell we're not very adventurous travelers, we like to take Max with us and that's not always easy unless we're driving.
Also we're homebodies . . . in case you didn't notice :)


Hope #7- Finally get cracking on the Baby Business haha.
-What I mean by that is finally decide on an adoption plan or get searching for a surrogate. There has been a lot of discussion and debate on what the best option is for us . . . this year we hope to finally decide and get moving in that direction.

Hope #8- Be Greener!
-We've been making 'green' choices for a while now, but I think that NOW is the perfect time to take being green to another level. That means choosing Low VOC paints, and choosing more organic foods. Trying to by used even more than we already do . . . and figuring out ways to better use all this space we have in our house. We've never had this much space before and sadly many parts of our house stay empty and unused (mainly our basement).

Hope #9- Bigger Celebrations
- Both Lee and I are fairly low key people . . . we are both more than happy to celebrate a birthday or anniversary with a pizza and a good DVD. But this year I want to make a more conscious effort to celebrate BIGGER!!

Image found Here.

and last,

Hope #10- Dedicate more time to The Blog.
-Blogging has been such a blessing in my life and I want to unlock all it has to offer! This year I want to dedicate more time to it! More projects, more how- to's, and definitely more photos. :)


I LOVE the start of a New Year! So much hope, so much promise! :) Anyone else out there have any hopes for the new year?


Be back tomorrow with some SERIOUS laundry room progress :)