My New Years Resolutions for 2012 - Consolidate

Happy New Year!  Another year over and a new one just began and what a year 2011 was for me.  It was a year of some hardships, realisations and achievements.  I feel a stronger and more positive person as I move into the New Year and am looking forward to discovering what it holds for me.  I made so many positive changes in my life last year that I feel this year my focus is going to be on consolidating the advances I've made.  I've broken these down into 5 different areas of my life where I feel I need to focus most:



1. Health.  I plan to continue and build upon the weight loss I achieved in 2011 (see my post Losing Weight in France to find out how I did it).  I have been a bit indulgent over the Christmas period, but have still ended up 1 1/2 stones lighter than I was this time last year, so am pleased with myself.  I'm going to have a couple of weeks detox to get me back on track with my healthy eating plan.  I'll then continue eating sensibly as I have been, allowing myself the odd treat without getting stressed and will concentrate on exercising more to help maintain my weight and improve my level of fitness.

2. Personal Development.  This year I am going to continue developing my writing (via my blog), turn the 30 Steps to Happiness and Contentment blogs from Nov '11 into an E-book and finish the book I started last year on Living as an English Family in France.  I'm over 3/4 of the way now, so this is definitely achievable. 

3. Finances.  Build upon the progress we have made in our Garden Centre and Landscaping business and holiday apartments by focusing on ways to improve and promote the services we offer.

4. Giving.  Continue to raise money and awareness by giving time to help others wherever possible.  Unconditional Giving was one of my 30 steps towards Happiness and Contentment in November '11.  Last month I did a blog about  Living with Cystic Fibrosis - I intend to do more posts like these and continue to raise money at the various events I organise over the year.

5. Family.  Last, but by no means least, I intend to spend more quality time with my nearest and dearest.  By this I mean time spent alone, one to one with each and every one of them - my husband and all 5 of my children.  It's not easy, but a very important one and worth the effort.

I think the New Year is an excellent opportunity to take stock of your life and think about ways of improving it.  For me it's not only a New Year, but a new age as my birthday is on New Years Eve, so I always start the New Year with a new number (and often a hangover).  This year I'm starting the year aged 45, a nice neat number, and will end the year turning 46.

We celebrated the New Year with a big Party at our house, as always, and this year's was the best so far (or so I'm told). We had over 50 people come and celebrate the New Year with us.  I provided a chilli con carni and every one brought along either a buffet dish or dessert.  A friend had organised a band to play blues/rock and a good time was had by all.  We had a power cut for 2 hours, which although difficult for me (stumbling around in the dark finding candles) everyone seemed to enjoy the atmosphere.  The band started playing acoustically - just a guitarist and singer followed by a great violinist.  When the lights came back on the band plugged in and started doing their stuff.  At midnight the champagne flowed and we all sang Auld Llang Syne to the band accompaniment.  The party went on until the early hours (I think it was about 4.30am when the last guest left the building).

It's a lot of work planning and preparing for a party this size, not to mention the hosting and clearing up after.  But, it's rewarding when people enjoy it and for us the most important thing is it gives us the opportunity to spend it together.  The children can all be part of it and its one of the highlights of their year.  Even the eldest two, although not physically at the party, were still involved.  Ryan, who's nearly 18, spent the entire day helping me clean up and move tables and chairs etc.  Even our eldest, Matthew, who's in England for New Year was giving me advice on what speakers to buy for the sound system via texts.  All 3 of the little ones (9, 6 & 4) were there to see in the New Year with us and thoroughly enjoyed it.  For me the best part of the whole evening was the fact that when we came to pay the band, they offered to give their fee to the charity I've been supporting 'Cystic Fibrosis Gene Therapy Fund'.  What a perfect end to a thoroughly successful party.  I couldn't be happier!

What did you do to celebrate New Year and do you have any New Year Resolutions?