Feelin' Good!

I feel good. I just spent the last 8 hours doing housework, cooking, cleaning and tidying, and now I have a studio apartment that I am proud of! I still have some deep cleaning to do, as my goal is to get rid of every single thing that I don't use or need, but finally my place is presentable! My mom and sister surprised me with a clean and neat apartment when I came back from Europe in June, but it's been two months since I've purposefully set aside time to get everything in order. Okay, I have been working on it, throwing out or giving away what was just taking up space, but today you can actually see the difference! I'm excited and feel like I am finally getting ahold of my life. Funny, isn't it, what a little housecleaning can do?

Every year on my birthday and on New Year's Day, I like to make some goals and dream some dreams for the coming year. Here's a sneak peek at what I wrote on June 17, 2010:

• Lose weight (30+ pounds)
• Have an exercise routine
• Be active socially
• Volunteer @ a women's shelter
• Write a book

I'm excited to say that I am steadily working towards those goals! I have a daily exercise routine where I walk 2 miles in the morning before breakfast. It's the first thing I do before I've even properly woken up yet and I am feeling healthier, fitter, and less stressed out. My best friend and I have joined a local church's young adult group that meets twice a month to eat dinner and study the Bible together. As for the other goals, I plan to dedicate some serious time to them when I go to half-time at work and have more time in my day. I am looking forward to incorporating some low-impact aerobics into my exercise routine and experimenting with low-fat tasty spreads and soups so I can continue to work on my first goal of losing weight. I also plan to look into volunteering some time each week at a women's shelter or some similar place so I can be a blessing to others and learn more about how to help those who really need it. And finally, I will start serious work on my book (still wavering between a cookbook, my personal story, a weight-loss book, a compilation of some of my posts, or some other ideas I have up my sleeve).

It's only Sunday, but I'm feeling like I've had an excellent start to my week. The best part is that I haven't spent all afternoon stressing out about going in to work tomorrow, because I've been so busy working hard! So here's to the hope of an awesome week and continued success in achieving one's goals.