I like your resolutions and need to become more of a “Yes Mom” myself. (It’s so hard sometimes though, isn’t it?). I love the bikinik resolution too. You can totally do it. And what great motivation! We went to Maui years ago, pre-kids, and it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. Must go again. Soon.

Your resolutions sound very good, intentional, and reachable! I am not usually a goal person…doing well to get through the demands of a normal day. ha! BUT, I have thought of 2 trivial and 1 major goal I would like to accomplish this year.
1. Introduce more “pattern” into my home decor…I have been stuck in solids or checks and plaids for a very long time.
2. Wear more skirts….which will probably require some dieting and exercising.
3. Start a blog (that’s the major one!)

Great resolutions! I especially like the one about closing your office door at 3:30p. I should try that too! Good luck with them all. You can do it.

Hi Emily — I know how you feel about not wanting to plan too far in advance. Life never goes according to plan and it seems more logical to go with the flow, be more spontaneous and live life as it happens. But, I gave in to the resolution monster as well and laid out 12 (modest-ish) goals for 2012 and also posted them on my blog to help me be more accountable. All the best to you and your family. I have a feeling you will achieve your resolutions. I love the ballet one! Mine is guitar.

I have always love the idea of having a personal plan for the year. But, I generally never get around to instituting it. It’s kinda funny when all my friends would say that I’m super organized. I guess that’s been my nod to my wild side! LOL! Just yesterday I came up with my word for the year. Intentional. It’s a beginning. Hopefully by the end of the week I’ll have an action plan for the year. Hopefully. I guess that might just be my resolution for the year

P.S. The new design is lovely. And white. And though I would agree that the ‘old’ look was getting very busy. It had been one of my favorites (except when it got overloaded). I hope you can bring back some of the pretty to this beautiful simplicity. Oh, I also noticed that you no longer have advertisers. New philosophy?

Love that you said take ballet. Go for it. Two years ago I took up tap dancing lessons and had the best time ever. It was a little getaway just for me and I made new friends while exercising.

I am usually the one that makes resolutions in my head and then never actually follows through on them. I love that you put your resolutions on your blog, definitely a way to stay accountable to yourself. Like some of the other comments, I have decided this year that I want it to be more of an intentional year for me instead of just letting life happen and I react to it. I am working on putting together an action plan for my goals so that I DO stick to them this year. I have no doubt you will meet all of your resolutions! Happy 2012!

I am a “Paper girl”, and love great paper– I’m just now getting time to get back into more projects ands would love to find great paper that will run through my printer. I love the nice texture on your thank you notes; does most cotton and linen paper run through a printer? Where do I find what you’ve used and what do I look for?

Your resolution #3 really made me think about myself and what I say to my own boys. What a great reminder to really listen to them and instead of always saying no, start asking “Why not?” Here’s to a more mindful motherhood in 2012!

I used to do the sme thing and four years ago I was reading Ali Edward’s blog and came across her idea of one little word to embrace and guide you through the year. At first I was skeptical, but four years later I am holding strong. You owe it to yourself to read it, it’s all over her website. It’s simple, stress free and guilt free because you can incorporate the word you choose as little or as much as you want without the let down of resolution failure! Your one little word could be…YES!

I’m not a big one for resolutions either, but your list is very specific and realistic, you can do it! Spending more quality time with my daughter is number 1 on my list this year!!
xo~
T

You need to add to your resolutions to eat the sashimi napolian at this restaurant on Maui:
http://bevgannonrestaurants.com/haliimaile/lunch/
So unbelievably good! I need to make it my resolution to go back. Have a great trip.

I think you are so lucky to not be too much in the future. I am a dreamer and so I find it difficult to be in the here and now. I am constantly excited for the possibilities that the future holds which is a good thing but I forget sometimes to enjoy where I am in life now. I envy your ability to be in the present.
This New Year I want to be more organized…. I had twins last July and I am definitely seeing how being organized would help me out in life. I’m also wanting to do some decorating around my home.
I hope you get to wear your bikini this summer. I think you are cute already but it’s true we are sometimes our own worst critics!!

I love how intentional & doable your resolutions are. I tried to focus on that for mine this year, too.

I’m with you emily. I am at a place in life where i need goals but don’t neccessarily like setting them. However, here are a couple i want to achieve:

* Clean out each room in my house systematically (only 10 small rooms in our 90+ yr old house and they are small & only 4 closets!)

* Choose 3-4 crafts to make over the next 3 months and schedule days and times to do them.

* Speak less, listen more… especially with my children.

I think the last one is a life goal!

Here’s to a fresh new year! Asking God to pour out grace in my life so that i can live like Jesus.

I love your goals! And to number 5 I say yes! yes! Do it! My daughter’s ballet company does a big recital at the end of the year for all the classes and I always LOVE watching the class of “experienced” dancers. Mothers, wives, adult women who are holding onto their passion — it is so inspiring.

I want to be calm, clarified, organized. Say yes more, of course, forgive more. Be more resilient. Let things go in an easier manner. Communicate more. Be a better listener. Help as many strangers as I see. My main goal is to build something solid – whether it’s photography, art, paper items – something I can create that would be solid this year and build upon it. Make new friends and not just lean on my old ones. I also want to learn Sign Language.

And, I think your resolution of taking a ballet class is wonderful!!! Do it girl!! xo

LOVE that you’re going to try taking ballet! I’m a dancer and I think moving is the best, most amazing thing you can do for your body (especially the older we get!). Love it! Keep us posted on how it goes!

Rachel Johnson

Haha, I was just thinking about taking some ballet myself before I read your post. When I did most of my dancing, I was already past “the prime” age(from 21 to about 24) but really enjoyed it! I stopped because I thought it was a hobby that was getting in the way of growing up. Now at 32, I miss being able to move my body without it getting in the way! One of my resolutions is also to be a better blogger and let other bloggers know that I like their stuff! I love everything you do! You write the nicest reply emails and I love that you are local to me. Maybe I’ll see you at the barre sometime!

Hi Emily,
This resolution thing must be built into our nature – cuz we’re all doing it! As to your specific ones – the one about saying yes more often is a recurrent one too! But kids ask for friends, candy and attention at the most busy moments! When my kids were small I found that one way to be more of a yes mom was to say “yes, as soon as…..” .or ” sure, let’s make a plan to make that happen” – in other words – I was not at the mercy of their every whim but I still was responsive to their impulses – and helped them to channel them! It’s all in the framing of the answer. Another way to avoid being the nay sayer is to establish some family rules (like we don’t eat candy on school days or icecream on week nights) and just refer to “the rules” when a negative response is necessary. So, your answer would be – “I know, I’d really like some candy right now too, but the rule is only on the weekend” ( I can’t remember where I stole this idea from but it put me and the kids on the same side on a lot of these little issues).

Those are all great goals Emily, please update us on the ballet

I am the same way, I hate to commit to things because I never know what may come up or if it will still be something I want. I wish I were better with that though.
Your resolutions are great, and I think you look fabulous!

I put my 24 year old son on a plane back to his home yesterday. In a week, I will be waving goodbye to my 19 year old son as he returns to college. I wonder where the years went and I applaud your resolution of being more of a “yes” mom and being more in the present at 3:30. In addition, try to be more of a “get down on the floor and get dirty” mom with your kids. I wish I could do it all over again. I’d play more, talk more, and listen more to my boys. As a new empty nester, my resolution this year is to spend more quality time with my husband and extended family.

I love that you are being accountable to your friends who read this blog. Good goals. You are an amazing inspiration — blessings on your sweet head for success. I have two words for the year, “listen” and “finish.” I’m a big picture, goal oriented grandma — but I get stretched in many directions and I don’t finish some of the fun projects I start. Also, I’m finding that I talk more than I listen . . . so those are my focus points for the year. 2012 stretches ahead and I’m excited to dive in.

Great Resolutions and I really love your site and am happy I bookmarked it while I was spending my own time away from the kids looking for fabulous blogs myself!!! All the best for 2012! Nicki

I had the same sort of idea, Emily – if I write it down, it will help me at least not forget them. Here were mine for the year: http://honeysuckleblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/heres-to-2012.html

p.s. I love that you want to do ballet.

What great resolutions! I can definitely relate to them all. Good luck!

Yay! We are going to Kauai in April so I am on the bandwagon to getting this body in shape for bikini season! I am taking a zumba class, and it resumes tonight after a two week binge on sweets and really whatever I wanted … Haha!
Also, spending more time with my friends and family. We all get so busy that we forget about slowing down and enjoying our friends and family… I am going to really make a point to do that this year….

Love your website….. Candace

Writing down your goals and resolutions definitely helps. Its a way for us to continually remind ourselves of them. My main resolution is to take more photos. I used to carry my camera always… and i just got busy and stopped. But there are TONS of things out there I want to document.

I like your resolutions, especially the ballet one. I decided to make short term goals by the month this year – hoping it helps me cross a lot of things off the list – some of them are…date night with hubs…try a new recipe…finish bathroom redo

Hey Emily

Your post really got my motivation up again {yes it was already crumbling 3 days after}.
I read once that if you not only publish your resolutions but divide them into tiny steps with a deadline set to acomplish them you’ll be even more successful.

So my 3 major resolutions this year are:
(1) Learn Italian. I love this language so much so first thing I did was signing up for an e-course. I only want to be able to speak a few sentences by the end of the year.

(2) Start my own blog. Already working on the set-up which will hopefully be ready end of January.

(3) Lose weight. I used to eat very healthy for a long time and kept my weight but when I turned veggie I simply substituted meat with sweets and well,…

Thanks for giving us a space to publish our resolutions and help to stay motivated!

I was reading your blog post, and realized one of your resolutions resonated with something I had bookmarked a while back. It’s sort of an avant garde look, but the artist that does StoryPeople has a print called Ballerina Mom and I was reminded of it while reading your blog post:
http://www.storypeople.com/storypeople/WebStory.do?action=Show&storyID=1280&pageIndex=9&minRow=10&storyInSearch=200&productCategoryID=1000
Cheers!

I agree with saying yes more to my kids. I do find that I say no a lot and it’s for silly things. Great resolution list!

loving the new look… but I can’t see the words clearly… they seem very light with the new color and font. Thankfully though I have the new posts emailed to me… I can read them in my hotmail!!

I am SO there with your #3.
My list is here
http://www.fieldstonehilldesign.com/2012/01/my-resolutions.html

great resolutions! cheers for a wonderful new year!

- Track how many Diet Cokes I drink each day and drink less of it!
-Do not bring any more (Bath and Body Works) handsoap into the house until all of ours is gone.
-Create a food inventory of our staples to hang in the pantry and check when we need something. Shop off a list. (already done)
-Become addicted to handcream.
-Less shopping – only shop with a specific mission.
-Read my Bible 30 minutes a day.
-Post a new scripture on everyone’s bathroom mirror every week.
-Create a cleaning schedule for the house. (done)
-Plan a purposeful event for friends 1x month.
-Jan.2 buy all cards for the year and put them in a monthly “card file”. (done)

I am so in favor of your ballet resolution! I took my first classes this past year and loved it! I blogged about my disastrous first couple of classes at some point…but it was SO much fun! I’m cheering you on!

My word for 2012 is Peace. Because i am a tad high strung. I should probably say yes more to my kids too. They mentioned the other day that I am always saying no. Hmmmm.

I love the new look of your blog. Gorgeous as always.

Mine are more goals than resolutions: purge the attic & basement and organize both spaces, host more dinners, organize our music collection. (Watch less reality TV?)

hey emily,

i love that you are going to start doing ballet again. i think that’s awesome!

i’ve decided i’m going to do a manifesto this year. something to last throughout the whole year that i know i can do. it’s all going to start with my mantra for the year:

“make the next right decision”

it is going to be in all aspects of my life, from food choices to money choices to how i treat my neighbor. i seem to fail when i look at the big picture and try to tackle it from there. i have to break it down. you can’t get anymore broke down than that. i know i can make the next right decision.

happy new year!

We sound alike. I am sort of a floater rather than a planner, and I am beginning to feel a bit guilty about it. I want to make the most of my days, and I do get a lot of things done, but maybe I could accomplish even more if I were more intentional about it all. Thanks for the inspiration!

LOVE the new layout, Emily!

i am you in this way. i just don’t even think about structure. this year i want it to be different. so i will get things done! finally!

This sounds wonderful and alot like me, lol! my MAIN goal is to be more structured. Like i’ve told other people i’m more a free spirit lossey goosey gal than a planner. but i’ve learned that i do crave the cohesiveness that planning gives me (i did some planning with christmas this year and well this has got me going, lol). i luv that you are taking ballet again, it is wonderful that you are following your dreams!

I just posted my “12 in ’12″ goals over on my blog. Some of them are random {like finally buy hampers for my bathroom and my son’s room!}, but some are more …normal…like work hard to spend less, and work through Tsh Oxenreider’s book One Bite at a Time. Funny thing is, I’m making it a goal to take a ballet class this year too! Although, I have just about zero experience, I’m really excited!

We have the same resolution! Wear a bikini in Maui in 3 months. How funny

Oh, those are all really good ones! And I wish you super success in all of it I’ve been wanting to go back to my ballet roots lately too! Infact I just posted a bit about it and the current temporary solution I found, which happened to be yoga for the moment… http://andrew-and-krystal.blogspot.com/2012/01/yogaso-apparently-its-kinda-fun.html
Thanks for sharing your inspiring resolutions with all of us!

I love the multiple fonts used in your RESOLUTIONS banner! Do you happen to have a link to the fonts you used?

Best of luck with your resolutions as I’m sure they will turn out as fabulous as the font they are written in!

Thank you for such a wonderful website!

I am in full agreement with all of yours..except I would take tap dancing again! Haven’t done it since I was in 7th Grade and signing my 3 year old up for a beginner class got me in the mood to tap a little myself. We shall see! I need to close the office doors too and give my kids & wonderful husband more of ME! I need to lighten up too…I am just a freak sometimes & my kids are so great, but need to be able to be KIDS! Thank you for your post! I loved it! Have fun in Maui! WOW!

I know I’m a bit behind on posting to this but i just wanna say that after reading your post and specifically #5 it has made me decide to take voice lessons! you can read about it here if you want:

http://allthatglitter-mwimp.blogspot.com/2012/01/getting-to-know-you-part-duex-hopes.html

just wanted to say good luck and thank you!