New Year. New Resolutions.

For the third year in a row, I’m kicking off my first post of the year with my New Year resolutions. Here’s a recap of last year’s resolutions:

2008 Resolutions

1. Reaffirm my commitment to lose weight and continue losing weight. Status: ABYSMAL. Code for Not Completed. For the second year in a row, I entered a year heavier than I began it. Unacceptable. But I’m going to move on. In the words of my first WW leader, it’s time to “turn over a new leaf.” (There’s an accompanying hand gesture, by the way. Ask me to show it to you.)

2. Train for and complete 2 half marathons. Status: Replaced with train for and complete 2 races this year. Completed. I did the Dub Crawl 4 Miler in August and the New Albany Walking Classic 10K in Sept. I didn’t really train for the races, so maybe this one is half completed.

3. Get out of debt. Status: Still on track. I don’t have exact numbers, but I’ve decreased my consumer debt by about 35%. This doesn’t include my education loans. I’ve decreased my private education loans by about 15%. (I’m not going to bother calculating my federal loans. I’ve probably only paid off about $5 of the principal. Yay, for consolidating at a low rate.) Overall, I’m pretty proud of myself.

4. Move out of my brother's house. Status: Completed. I moved in with my parents, two younger siblings and their two dogs. How lame am I? At least I got custody of Nanook.

And here are this year's resolutions:

2009 Resolutions

1. Get Employed. That’s right, folks. Once again, I am unemployed. I got laid off in October due to lack of work (official party line). The actual reason is that my boss didn’t like to deal with the business end of the law firm and got in a little over her head. I was the casualty. I wonder if God is trying to tell me that I shouldn’t be a lawyer. Is it really supposed to be this difficult to find a permanent job?

2. Train for and complete 5 races. Five is an arbitrary number. It was the first number to pop into my head. One of my races will be the Capital City Half Marathon on May 2 in Columbus. I’ve already started training and I’m hoping that others will do the race with me…please! As for the other races, we’ll see. I’m not going to focus on the distance of the races, just the number. I’m hoping it will keep me motivated throughout the year.

3. Get out of debt. I want to stay on track with retiring my debt, so I’m making it a resolution. It worked in 2008. I do want to note that I have completely moved to a cash-based system. It was harsh and painful, but I didn’t add to my debt in 2008, so it was worth it.

4. Reaffirm my commitment to lose weight and start losing weight. Another year with the same resolution. *Sigh* I need to lose 75 lbs. to hit my goal. That’s approximately 1.5 lbs. per week. Completely realistic. I need to dig deep for the motivation this year. Wish me luck. Next year, I want to be like Valerie Bertinelli in the Jenny Craig commercial and tearfully announce on my blog that I don’t have to worry about my weight in 2010.

5. Blog more religiously. I was horrible about blogging this year. I feel like every other post began with “after a 3 mos. hiatus, I’m back and I promise to blog every week.” I’m going to aim for at least 2-3 times per month. I feel like that isn’t unreasonable. I’m very impressed by the bloggers who are able to post multiple times per week.

Okay, 5 resolutions is plenty, especially when they are virtually the same as last year. I’ll keep everyone posted on the status of my resolutions throughout the year. I’m sure you're on the edge of your seat.