My 2015 list

I've never like making new years resolutions per se since the energy committed to them seems to peter out after a month or so but here are a few things I want to dedicate more time to the coming year:

1. Making / Building good friendships
Probably the hardest thing about living abroad is not having many friends to hang out with.  We need to change that, especially if we plan to stay a few more years.

2. Learn how to take better photos with my new camera and how to edit them in photoshop
J bought me a very fancy camera about a year ago and I seem to be taking more out-of-focus pictures then ever before.  I feel intimidated and need to conquer the fear that the camera is out of my league. Time to pull out the manual and get back to basics.

3. Start quilting again
I need the creative outlet and I'm sure K would appreciate it if I finally finished his baby quilt!  For starters, I just bought a new sewing machine (we left my old one in CA). Next up is clearing out some space in what was supposed to be our craft room (see number 5).  The good news is C likes to create her own stuff as well so I'm pretty sure she will hang with me while I sew away.

4. Get a bit healthier
See a doctor, join a gym, more salads, less sweets.  The usual stuff although I feel a bit more committed to it this year.

5. Clear our closets and rooms of STUFF.
Stuff we don't need, stuff that crams our space, stuff that prevents us from enjoying our home to its fullest.  Time to purge!  J & I are both pack rats so this will be a really hard one but I just read an article that talks about how things take on more value when you own them.  Two techniques I'm going to try are 1. look with a critical eye and keep only things that I really LOVE and 2. consider how much I would pay to own this item if faced with the decision today.

6.  Continue to travel
That's why we live in Europe and luckily everyone in our family enjoys our adventures.  Nothing is locked yet but some potential spots this year are Scotland, Barcelona and Greece.   We are planning to spend Valentine's Day in the most romantic city in the world, Paris, which we're all excited about.  It's been 3 yrs. since we visited and the kids sadly don't remember anything from that trip.