Looking backward and forward...

Looking backward... 

I started this year by moving full speed ahead on the goal I had set in late 2013, which was to find a job teaching English in Saudi Arabia. I was motivated and focused on this single goal, which I had set in order to shake up some different aspects of my life.  In late March, I traveled to Portland, Oregon for the TESOL International Conference, and while I was there I was offered a fantastic position at an elite private university in Riyadh, and I started the process to make the move, but sometime in May I made the determination that I just wasn't going to be able to get all of the pieces of the puzzle to come together. I contacted the university who had made me a job offer and asked them to postpone my acceptance of the position. They agreed. To this day, as far as I know, they are still holding the position for me, but I still can't really go. I've got too many things tying me here. In any event, although I was devastated and am still dealing with some feelings of regret for not having been able to go, I am sure that if something like this is in the cards for me in this lifetime, it will happen eventually.

In the middle of the January, my husband and I also got two fantastic roommates who ended up staying with us through the end of March. Those roommates brought a great energy to the house, and their stay was mutually beneficial because they were able to stay with us rent-free, and we got some tile work and other handy-type services done in exchange. For example, we got our upstairs bathroom retiled, and we got the kitchen backsplash tiled. Then, when a pipe froze and burst in February, we were able to get the floor in the dining room (which has since been converted into a workout space) tiled as well.  Our roommates have been gone for 8 months now, and I still really miss them - not for the tile work and whatever, but they are just really awesome people and we had a really nice rhythm going here. I would love to finish the upstairs this year and get another roommate or two.

Looking back, March and April seemed to be relatively uneventful - maybe I was busy with work?

Sometime in mid- or late-May, one of my best friends came to Virginia and spent practically the whole summer at my house with her toddler boys. I was still working May and June, but we we able to spend a lot of quality time together. I really hope they can come again next year for the summer! They stayed through the beginning of August this time.

On July 1st, I started my very first 6-week summer vacation; I spent most of it in Norfolk but I did take a weeklong vacation in Cuba followed by a weeklong road trip up and down the east coast. It was the longest vacation I had had since graduating from high school in June of 2000, and it was much-needed. It was life-changing, actually. I took the opportunity to make some major changes in my life.

Over the next three months I start eating better, exercising, sleeping more, and just taking better care of myself in general. I lost over 50 pounds by mid-October. In a blog post a few days ago, I discuss my final push for 2014, because I sort of stalled on the forward progress I had been making with my weight loss for the last couple of months.

Looking forward... 

My intention for 2015 is to live mindfully.

My main goals for 2015 are to:
1. Improve my health by losing fat, gaining muscle, improving flexibility, and increasing my overall level of physical fitness.
2. Develop as a professional by pursuing a graduate certificate and sharpening my skills in my current career. 
3. Strengthen my interpersonal relationships with my family and cherished friends.

My objectives are to:
1. Go [mostly] vegan; follow an environmentally sustainable and cruelty-free diet.
2. Design a Happiness Project and set monthly intentions; January's goal is to wake up at 5am daily and become a morning person. 
3. Practice yoga and/or meditate daily. 
4. Embrace minimalism; eliminate all physical and emotional clutter from my life.
5. Establish and maintain time management and organizational strategies in all aspects of my life.


I'm looking forward to getting a fresh start tomorrow. It has been a year that started with excitement followed by disappointment and finally personal development and growth, and I predict that things will keep moving in a positive direction as we start another trip around the sun.