2014: New Year-New Goals

• Open my Etsy shop.  This is something I've been wanting to do for a really long time, and for whatever reason (cough cough...procrastinator!), I just haven't done it yet.  For a few months I was totally committed to opening a cute soap shop, and I have more supplies for that than I know what to do with, but I've changed my mind and I will let you know more of my plans soon!  
• Move in with Matthew.  Two years ago, I left my little country life behind and moved to Fort Worth to be closer to my guy, Matthew.  We've been together for 5 years now and I'm so excited to get out of this little apartment and into that house with him and all of our little fur-balls!  The fact that my monthly bills will be cut in half is definitely a plus :)    
• Decorate my new craft room.  As part of moving into the house, I actually get to have my own craft room!  I think I'm more excited about this than anything else.  My apartment is so small and I have WAY too much stuff cluttering it up.  I have to re-arrange in order to do lots of the projects I want to do.  More space and freedom to paint and decorate with whatever I want.  I can't wait to post progress photos!
• Buy a new computer.  This little laptop has nearly reached it's end, and I'm more than excited about the prospect of replacing it with a desktop.
• Buy a new car.  I've got a down payment saved, my current car as a trade in, and I know exactly what I'm going to get.  I've gone back and forth on buying something used or new, and I've decided to go with a brand new Chevrolet Spark.  It's the perfect size for me and for a brand new car...the price is the jam!  My current car is paid for, but worrying how much longer it will be before it takes a dump on me in the middle of traffic is not something I want to continue fretting over.  I've looked over so many used vehicle listings and comparing the mileage, features, and price to a new Chevy Spark...it's just not that much more expensive and with the job I have...I can (for the first time in my life) afford to treat myself to something new.  So what the hell...why not!?  I'm going to go for it :)
• Cook and bake more.  If you were to ever live with me for just one month, you would never guess that I really love cooking and baking.  This all comes back to me being A) a procrastinator, and B) lazy.  I want to make a real effort this year to cook and bake regularly.
• Read 15 books.  I think I may be setting this number too low...I'm sure reaching 15 won't be an issue, but 15 sounds like a good number to me :)  I'm looking forward to lots of Stephen King, Classics, and Serial Killer books!
• Take day trips to visit neat places in Texas.  Not only am I a huge procrastinator, but so is Matthew.  We've talked about going to see so many things...and it never happens.  Seriously...we've talked about making a trip to Austin to see the Congress Avenue Bridge bats for the past 5 years and it still hasn't happened!  This year is going to be a great year for going on little trips.  No excuses!!!
• Get new tattoos!  I got my last tattoo about two years ago, and I have been itching for one ever since.  I always seem to spend my money elsewhere and haven't saved up for one.  I also have so many ideas floating around that I've been having a hard time picking one out!  I've got plans for my feet, a thigh piece, and two sleeves.  Later on I'd also like to get a chest piece and a cover up on my back.  This year is going to be a big year in tattoos for me...if I stick to this goal that is!  
• Learn Illustrator and Photoshop.  I am over the moon excited about the fact that Adobe has come out with Creative Cloud.  At 50 bucks a month I can finally afford to have Illustrator and Photoshop (among other things!), and I can't wait to start using them regularly!
• Learn to use my DSLR in Manual.  Since picking up my Canon PowerShot, my DSLR has sort of been placed on the back burner.  My point and shoot is just so much easier to carry around and takes up a lot less space.  I miss it though, and I really want to learn to shoot in Manual. 
• Eat better and drink more water.  This one fits in nicely with my goal of cooking more at home.  Just to give you an example of how terribly I've been eating lately, here's how my day went yesterday as far as meals go:  Breakfast-Fruit Loops, Lunch-Nothing (had to stay late at work-missed lunch), Dinner-Gummy Bears and Big Red.  How horrible is that?!  I seriously need to take better care of myself.  
• Go Hiking regularly.  Matthew and I used to go hiking every Sunday, but for some reason we stopped and just never went back.  We're turning into a pair of Gummy Bear eating, soda drinking, couch potatoes!  Nooooo!  It's about time we get our hike on again!
• Start a Macro Photography Insect collection!  I have all of the supplies to start an insect collection, and it's something I really want to do (and probably will this year), but I think it would be really neat to start doing insect photography and make a collection of macro photos!  What do you think, does that sound awesome or what?  

Any big plans for 2014?

P.S. My "About Me" page is finally updated!