Resolutions Day 10: Edit Everything

I'm officially back in Tulsa! I had a great, 5-day visit in Plano, but it feels soooo good to be home sweet home.

Some highlights from my time in P-town include:

*Six Flags with the siblings Thursday night

*Christmas Eve church service Friday night

*Christmas morning

*Seeing True Grit at the movies with the family Saturday afternoon

*Playing Telestrations about 18 times (find it, play it. guaranteed laughter.)

*Family bowling on Sunday afternoon

*Seeing Jes's new baby Monday morning

*Meeting old friends for lunch Monday afternoon (Hi, Lisa!)

*Buying a new bookshelf at Ikea on the way out of town today

WHEW! That about sums it up. Great, relaxing, rejuvenating time in Plano.

But, like I said, it feels so good to be back in my sweet little house. My mom came back with me, and I plan on putting her to work the next few days. (Kidding!) We will take walks on the river, hang things on the walls, drink lots of Starbucks, and (maybe) she'll help me pack the Christmas tree up. (What do you say, mom?)

I can't believe we're in the last week of December! And with this final week of 2010 comes 6 more resolutions before we arrive at January 1st, 2011.

In case you missed it, I've been blogging a resolution every day for the past couple of weeks, and come January 1st... I will have 15 resolutions for the new year.

Some have been serious, some have been expensive, some have been time consuming... but all are things near and dear to me, things I've been thinking on for several weeks now, things I really hope to commit to in 2011.

So, here we go, resolution #10:

Learn how to proficiently edit video on Final Cut Pro.

For all of you non-news/non-media people... you probably find this resolution extremely boring. But! It's a resolution of mine, nonetheless.

I learned how to edit video on Avid in college. And nowadays, people use Final Cut Pro. (Or at least most people I work with!)

One major goal I have this year is to learn how to proficiently edit video on Final Cut Pro. It's mainly a professional goal- as a producer for a growing auction broadcast, I would like to know how to roughly edit pieces together and begin to tell or "produce" the story I have in mind.

THEN... the big guns (aka professional editors) come in to smooth out the rough edges and make everything seamlessly tie together.

I think this will also be a good personal goal, as I hope to do more rough editing for the variety show, as well.

So, there you go, resolution #10! A professional and personal goal. Hey, they say you should edit everything, right?

For those of you who have been following my "resolutions" series, stay tuned! We're down to the final 5. And these final 5 are some of my favorite resolutions of all.

By the way... it's the last Monday night of 2010!

Resolutions Day 8 & 9: Family & Friends

Good morning! The day after Christmas... it's always a bit bittersweet. 364 more days until Christmas, 2011.

I don't know about you, but the past 365 days have flown by. What a year! Full of some major highs and major lows. But as 2011 gets closer, I find myself just... excited. Excited for all of the possibilities that 2011 holds.

And maybe for the first time ever, I'm not sad Christmas is over, or that we have 364 days until the next one.

I'm ready for a slow year- a year where anything is possible.

The past week, I've been regularly blogging about my resolutions for 2011- 15 of them, to be exact. So, today, we're onto resolutions 8 & 9. (Just scroll down the page to see resolutions 1-7!)

Resolutions 8 & 9 are very similar, so I'll join them into one statement:

Make time with my family & friends a bigger priority.

This seems very obvious- and I bet it's on everyone's list this year. And the year before. And the year before that.

In fact, it probably seems odd to make that statement a "resolution" at all. It's not a chore, or a commitment. It's in fact my greatest joy in life, time spent with family and friends.

But I work very long hours, AND I live in a different city than my family. So it can be challenging to find the time to get away for a weekend in Plano or the lakehouse. And even though I live near most of my friends- it's never easy to find time to get together.

We all know life gets busy and hectic, and then... before we know it... 364 days have passed and it's Christmas again.

But excuses are just that, and there is nothing more precious in life than my family. And spending time with my closest friends is such a blessing.

So, resolutions 8 & 9 are to make that a bigger priority. I am resolving... committing... promising... and looking forward to lots of lakehouse trips with the family. Lots of dinners and happy hours. Lots of coffee dates and long-distance phone calls.

These are the things that matter most in life- and will always have a place on my "resolutions" list.

This week I will wrap up my 15 resolutions for 2011 "series." There will be some surprising resolutions, some not-so-surprising ones... and some scary ones. :)

2011, here I come!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Have a very blessed day with family & friends!

By the way... I'm writing this post on a new toy from Santa...

The iPad. :)

Much love!

Resolutions Day 6 & 7: "A Picture Perfect Blog"

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!

I hope you are spending the day with family, close friends, or even just alone, reflecting on all of the blessings in your life, the joy of Christmas.

It's rainy and cold here in Dallas- a perfect Christmas Eve, in my opinion. I'm cooped up indoors with the entire family, and loving every second of it. We've been cooking, wrapping presents, and in just a few hours we're heading to church for the Christmas Eve service.

As you know, I've been posting my resolutions for 2011. I started last Saturday, and my goal has been to post a new resolution every day so that I have 15 in total come January 1st, 2011.

I wasn't able to post yesterday- I was driving to Dallas all morning, and then my siblings and I went to Six Flags last night.

A bit of a Christmas tradition.

Sooo... here we go! Resolutions 6 & 7.

Resolution #6:

Buy a Nikon D90 and take a SnapShop by one of my favorite bloggers, Ashley Ann Photography.

I have been wanting to buy a better camera forever now- a "real" camera- the kind with an adjustable lens and that you have to take really good care of. I've always enjoyed taking pictures, and with my desire to travel more in 2011 (see resolution #2) I would just love to have a nice camera to take great photos with. In fact, I'd rather have photographs hanging on my walls than anything else.

And I'd love to take a SnapShop by Ashley. She is only offering two next year- one in the Spring, one in the Fall- so I'm crossing my fingers I get in! She does a beginner course on how to take great photos.

And while we're talking about great photos, I might as well let that be a lead in to resolution #7:

Continue to invest in "Lindsay's Lounge".

I started this blog in January of last year, and I am so glad I did. I went back and forth about it for months and finally decided... what the heck?

This has been such an amazing creative outlet for me. A few months ago, I kicked off the VIP button feature and I already have tons of ideas for how to spruce it up a bit next year.

With a new camera, I hope to include more photos- better photos .

And in August of next year, I'm already signed up to attend my first BlogHer convention in San Diego, California.

I would love for blogging to be more of a priority in 2011, simply because I enjoy it so much. I've written about everything from faith, family and friends to grief and heartache to celebrations. And it's been such an amazing (and therapeautic!) part of my life.

Thank you to EVERY single one of you who keep reading!

So, there you go- resolutions 6 & 7. I'm planning on posting resolutions 8 & 9 on Sunday, post-Christmas. Tomorrow is a day of rejoicing in the birth of our savior, in celebrating with family. My Christmas wish is that you do just that!

Much love to you all, and Merry Christmas!

Resolutions Day 5: "She Works Hard For The Money"

My "15 days of resolutions for 2011" series continues tonight with...

...Ok, I realize that sounded very evening news. (I did graduate with a degree in journalism.)

Let's try again.

I'm smack dab in the middle of a series here at Lindsay's Lounge: 15 days, 15 resolutions, 15 blog posts leading up to January 1st.

I started last Saturday and I have now shared 5 resolutions with you all. Tonight, I share #6.

This has been such a fun project for me! First of all, it's forced me to blog daily and make "blog time" a priority.

Something I hope to do more of in 2011. (Ahem... do a hear a potential resolution in there?)

But it's also been such a great way for me to reflect on the past year and goals I would like to set for myself next year.

And... it's been a good project to distract me from the ever-slowly-ticking clock. I mean, seriously. Could this week be any slower?!

So, here we go, resolution #6:

To achieve my financial goals.

Those goals include:

a) to pay off my laptop, couch & dryer

b) to start contributing (again) to my 401K

c) to end the year with 2 months salary saved up

Yes, I can hear the sighs, moans and overall disgust at this resolution. It's boring. It's related to money. And no one likes to think or talk about money, unless you have a lot of it.

But! It's important. I am trying to become more responsible with my finances, and I think it's good to have specific goals lined out.

I find myself waking up on the weekends- much like my dad- and balancing the checkbook, paying bills, keeping my cashflow log "updated."

I haven't always done that; something about being a homeowner makes me compelled to reevaluate my finances every 7 days.

It makes such a difference in my overall well-being when I feel like I'm being responsible with my money.

So, there you go! I promise... a more interesting resolution tomorrow.

Or not! These are my resolutions, after all. :)

Resolutions Day 4: A Challenge

Good morning!  Just a few more days until Christmas... I can hardly wait!  Work has seemed especially long and grueling this week.  A cruel way to make time crawl before I can load up the Volvo and head down Highway 75 to Dallas.  But!  Here we are, the last day of work!

As you all know, I've been doing a 15 day countdown to New Year's Day and blogging about a resolution for myself for 2011 each day.  

(Scroll down the page to read my first 3 resolutions.)

Today I will be posting two resolutions- one this morning and one tonight- because last night I had no time to blog.  

After a 10 hour work day and a 3 hour meeting for the variety show after work... I found myself eating dinner at 11:30pm.  

Not the finest hour to blog, in my opinion.

But the inspiration for resolution #4 actually comes from the variety show.  So, here we go:

Pursue commitments that challenge me.

I know this statement can be taken as somewhat vague- I mean, committing to roll out of bed on time every morning is a challenge in itself.

But let me explain.  I think it's easy to spend a lot of time in our comfort zones.  Doing what comes naturally and easy.  Surrounding ourselves with people "like us."  

One of the greatest things I've been challenged to do the past few months while working on the variety show is step outside of my comfort zone.  I'm surrounded by people I might not normally be friends with or even work with.  I'm challenged in an entirely new way.  

I can't really explain my commitment to the variety show- but it's fueling me.  It's giving me a new creative outlet- much like this blog- that makes 15 hour work days worth it.

I've learned that stepping outside of my comfort zone has made me more confident in who I am and what I believe in.  

So, I can only hope that I will continue to feel that passion, that desire to be challenged and step outside of my comfort zone, in 2011.

And I think the glory of this resolution is that this challenge may not always be huge or life-altering; it could be as small as saying yes to a date with a handsome stranger.

But, that's another resolution entirely.  :) 

Resolutions Day 3: "A Running Start"

If you've been tracking with me the past few days- you will notice that I'm doing a "15 resolutions for the 15 days leading up to New Year's day" sort of thing. I started Saturday, and we're now down to resolution #3.

You can read my first resolution here and my second one here.

Have you been taking some time to think about yours? This is a really good "blog project" for me, because instead of sitting down on January 1st and busting out a list of everything that pops off the top of my head- I'm actually taking an entire day at a time to think about each resolution. To let it sit and sink in and slowly come to the forefront of my brain. I feel like each resolution is a bit more meaningful that way.

It's not too late to join me! You can start today. 13 resolutions- today until New Year's Day- that you want to set for yourself in 2011. Or wait a couple of days and do 11 resolutions for 2011.

Well, shoot. That's catchy. I should have done that.

Oh well- I'm already off and running! 15 resolutions it is.

Speaking of running, here's resolution #3:

Run the Tulsa Run in October 2011 and reach my goal weight.

I'm trying to stay away from vague resolutions, like "get in shape." So, this is very specific: run the Tulsa run. I have 10 months to train for it, and I've already started. (Go me! No waiting until January 1st on this one!) I also have included reach my goal weight- no, I'm not sharing- which hopefully will come about thanks to the whole run-the-Tulsa-run thing.

But, you never know. Every quarter mile I run every day exponentially increases my craving for M&M's. At this rate... we're looking at a disaster by the time I'm running 9 miles.

Ah, well. It's a good resolution, none-the-less. I honestly feel better when I get up and run. I have more energy, more patience (explain that one to me?!) and a bigger drive to eat better. Except for those stupid M&M's.

So, there you go! Resolution #3. Keep tuning in for my additional resolutions. And start thinking of your own! 2011 is just over a week away! :)