Resolve.

I realise I'm at least 7 days behind all the New Year's resolutions posts, but it's more that I've not made any of my aims or hopes for 2015 available to all to see.

This entry is where I change that.

In 2015, I would like to:

1. Waste less. Save more.
December 2014 was unexpectedly a very expensive month. Not because of Christmas - though that has made January 2015 a rather expensive month - but because on the 29th of November, the electrics in my car failed. The car thought its doors were open all the time, but they were locked, and so the car alarm kept going off. Also, it kept beeping at me whenever I dared to drive above 6 miles per hour. As it turns out, car alarms can't be deactivated entirely - as this would be too appealing for thieves, I imagine. So I had to replace my car's motherboard, basically. It was unfortunate, and I found out how much it cost at the end of a long week on a very long job, and promptly burst into tears. In front of, give or take, 5 work colleagues. Not my finest moment.

And yet once I got over the frustration at not knowing if my garage was taking me for a ride - or rather, once my sister shook some sense into me by reminding me to breathe and that, hey, sometimes stuff happens, and that I did have cash to pay for it - I relised that December needed to be a frugal month. I had a one-digit figure available to spend a day on food & drink.

However I am also incredibly fortunate in that I also had pretty full cupboards of staples. Things like flour, dried pasta, some couscous, dried chickpeas, lentils, and so on. I had just become used to not needing to cook every day from scratch, and realised how much I relied on making my store-bought lunch my main meal each day, or stopping at the store for fresh food each day to cook an evening meal.  I was wasting so much food.

I had to cook meals from scratch in December. I became very acquainted with Aldi (love it!). I ate a significant amount of lentils (dahl, soup, some form of baked thing) - much to my sister's chagrin. And it truly brought hom how much money I could save if only I actually cooked more, and it made me realise how much food I was wasting. Not on purpose, but say I bought a lettuce on the way home, it was not unusual for 1/4 of it at least to eventually go off. Or milk. Or whatever it was.

So, in 2015 I am aiming to waste less. More specifically, I aim to cook and pack lunch to take to work, at least 4 times a week. In the process, this will help me save more cash.

2. Run.
I injured myself this year. Not a running injury, but a my-body-giving-up-on-being-wonky-for-25-years injury. I've not been running in 4 months, since September 7th when I ran the Great North Run.

I loved that. Not just the environment and lovely weather; but the distance. I may be weird, but I really like running. I like listening to music and running off steam. There's nothing quite like the sound of thousands of pairs of feet pounding the road surface at the same time during a race. There's nothing like running mile sign posts, and mentally high-five-ing yourself. I like how I feel strong when I run. And, because clearly I'm very mature, I find myself, aged 25, thrilled at being able to picture myself turning around to my PE teacher from high school and going "HA! SEE! I AM NOT USELESS."

I've been feeling so much better from my injury. I am no longer taking strong pain killers during the day, though still having a bit of pain depending on what I've been doing. But when the physio discharged me at the start of December, I asked if a half marathon in April-ish seemed like a reasonable goal. When he said that physically there was no reason it wouldn't be, but to take it easy and see how I felt, I thought: Bring it on.

 I'm going to sign up for a 10k in March - the first one I ever ran, last year. I'd like to also run the 10 miler in Edinburgh which I did last year.  I've just signed up to the Leeds Half Marathon, on May 11th. And, importantly, I have also just signed up to run the Yorkshire Marathon on 11 October 2015. I have wanted to run a marathon, and have been talking about running a marathon, for years. I had entered the London Marathon ballot, and was disappointed to not get a place. I was about to sign up to run the Barcelona Marathon (which is in March) the 3 days before I hurt myself. By the time I even thought of getting on a treadmill, it was December, and 3 months is not enough time to go from zero to 26.2 miles. 10 months, on the other hand is.

And if 2015 is the year of Thriving; it's certainly the year to stop talking about goals, and to start achieving them.

3. Travel more.
Day trips at weekends. Weekend adventuring - pondering glamping with L and the dog at some point. Short visits to school friends who live all around the world. Try to get to the US to see my people that side of the world.

I am resolving to say yes to spending money on travel, because if you can't spend money on doing something you emjoy, to spend time with people you love; then what good is it anyway.

4. Other goals and hopes.
- Qualify. I am one exam and about 48 work days short of being a chartered accountant, and I intend on qualifying this year.
- Proactively church hunt. Keep track of the churches I go to, and reflect on what it is I don't like and do like about them. Stick around somewhere long enough to figure it out.
- Read more... So far I have read a book in 2015. This means I could feasibly do a one-book-a-week challenge, which would go hand in hand with...
- ... less screen time. I don't want to spend time on my phone or laptop when I am around other people (lunch, dinner, meeting up with people, etc.) Or in bed.

And that's pretty much it.

2015: bring it on!

What are your New Year's resolutions?