Tuesday Ten is ONE year old!!!
In 2013, Lisa and I were both doing our own Tuesday Ten posts. Late that year, we decided to collaborate and turn it into a weekly link up! The first Tuesday Ten we co-hosted was published on January 7, 2014.
In the past year, we have had some super fun linkups and we have created a small, but dedicated community of readers and linkers! To celebrate and to thank everyone who has been a part of our first year, we are hosting a great giveaway! One lucky winner will receive TEN $10 gift cards - one to each of the following:
Starbucks, Amazon, Target, Visa, PayPal, iTunes, Dunkin Donuts, Chipotle, Panera, and Chick FilA
To enter, see the Rafflecopter below. The contest will be open through January 17th, 2015 and the winner will be announced on January 20th.
Special thanks to our giveaway sponsors:
Today we are also posting and linking up our New Year Resolutions. It seems that resolutions have fallen out of favor over the last few years in favor of a Word of the Year. However, last year I made resolutions for the first time in a very long time...and I made them publicly. That made me feel very accountable for them throughout the year and I updated them monthly to watch my progress. I think I grew a lot last year and I am very proud of myself. One thing that really hit home was how to make resolutions and goals that get met. It's known as making SMART goals, so that's how I'll be making my resolutions this year.
This year I resolve to...
- Take 28,000 steps a week. That's an average of 4,000 per day. I didn't quite meet that as a daily goal last year, but I am pushing myself to get up and move more this year.
- Save $100 per month. I would like to have an extra $1200 in my savings account by the end of this year. I adjusted my direct deposit near the middle of last year and we've slowly gotten used to that money not being available. We've dipped into it a few times, but NOT THIS YEAR!
- Get my weight into the 123-125 range. According to this BMI calculator I still need to lose some weight. I've been making good progress, and I've only got 5-7 pounds left to lose until my pants fit the way I want them to.
- Schedule a monthly date night. Ken and I really strengthened our marriage last year, but we still don't have regular date nights. This year I plan to change that with a scheduled monthly date just for us.
- Teach the kids (and myself) and new prayer each month. There's a great list of Catholic prayers here, but I've got a few others I'd like to work on too. Frances is especially excited to memorize the Prayer of St. Francis.
- Read one non-fiction book per month. I do a lot of fluff reading, but certainly that's not all my brain is capable of comprehending! We got a great book about Catholic spirituality at church, so I'll be starting with that one.
- Monitor my yelling. I hate yelling. It makes me feel crappy and it makes the kids feel crappy. I will be putting five bands on my right wrist each morning. Each time I yell, I will move one to the left. I hope to be more right than left each day.
- These last three are blogging goals that I hope to achieve: I will post a VLOG each month. They are fun and I love playing with iMovie.
- I will increase my page views by 10%. To do this I will need to be much more intentional about promoting myself.
- Increase my social media following by 25%. Again, promotion is key here. Look out for me on the web!!
Happy 2015!
