Saltwater Living

2016 was such an amazing year. We travelled a lot, my best friend got married, and we found out that we are expecting a baby girl! If 2017 is as good a year as 2016, then it's going to be a really good one :) And of course, the baby is due this year so that automatically makes it an amazing year!!

I'm basically only making a full blog post about my New Years Resolutions so that I can hold myself accountable throughout the year. I want to achieve at least 80% of my list by the end of the year. I have a little list on my phone that has all of my resolutions for 2016 that I wrote last year and I didn't achieve very many of them :/

I also think it's interesting to see what other people's resolutions are for the year and see how they want to change and become a better person, so maybe someone wants to know what mine are :)

1. Be the Best Mother I Can Possibly Be: This is a very broad one because I'm not exactly sure what that entails yet... I know becoming a mom is a huge change and things will probably get really hard and frustrating but I want to go into this with a positive attitude and embrace every hardship parenting throws at me. I'm so lucky to have a supportive partner who I'm sure will keep me sane through all of it and I honestly can't wait to experience it all.

2. Get Rid of Things I Don't Need: This is a huge one for me. I've been trying to declutter for what seems like forever but I think 2017 needs to be the year I actually get serious about it. Especially with a baby on the way because she's going to have a lot of stuff so I need to make room for all of that.

3. Travel More: Over the past few years Andrew and I have gone on about 2 vacations a year and that's something I want to keep doing even after having a baby. We were supposed to do a cruise on December 28 but obviously with Zika virus going around in the caribbean we had to change our plans. Hopefully we'll be able to do a small trip with the baby soon after she's born and then possibly go on a bigger trip towards the end of the year. There are so many places we want to see...

4. Spend Less Money: I've always been the type that just goes and buys what I want whenever I feel like it and I end up wasting money buying things I don't need and sometimes never even use. I want to start putting more thought into what I buy and giving myself at least 24 hours to think about whether or not I really need it in my life before I purchase it.

5. Waste Less Food: This is a huge one. We waste so much food in our house, fruits and vegetables usually. I used to buy a ton of fresh produce at Costco because it's a lot cheaper but there would be so much of it that half of it would go in the garbage so I wasn't really saving money. I'm going to put in a bigger effort to only buy smaller quantities of food and not buy anymore till it's all used up. Even if that means more frequent trips to the grocery store.

6. Read More Books: Reading used to be something I really used to enjoy but now I find I don't have much time to do it. I end up choosing to watch TV or go on my iPad instead but I want to set a good example for my daughter and stress the importance of reading. I'm going to try and read one book a month. That seems like a lot to me since I haven't picked up a book probably since my University days but I think it's definitely achievable and necessary.

7. Stretch for 15 Minutes per Day: Since becoming pregnant, I've experienced significant back pain and discomfort in my neck and shoulders. Stretching is so important for your health, pregnant or not and I need to make a conscious effort to integrate it into my daily routine.

8. Weigh 140lbs by the End of the Year: This was a resolution from last year and I was so close to reaching it, but then I got pregnant and losing weight obviously wasn't my main focus anymore. I think its definitely an achieveable goal for 2017 because I haven't put on too much weight during this pregnancy. I'm hoping a lot of it will come off immediately after birth, and I plan on going back to having a personal trainer since I've already paid for the sessions. Im also going to keep going to the gym for as long as I can before the baby is born.

9. Save $5000 by the End of the Year: Last year I didn't put away anywhere near that amount. And that's mostly due to frivolous spending. I'd really love to have $5000 in my TFSA by the end of 2017, it would make me feel more accomplished for sure. And there's no reason I shouldn't be able to do that.

10. Write at Least One Blog Post per Week: Blogging is something I enjoy doing because I love to share aspects of my life with friends and family as well as strangers who enjoy the same interests as me. Blogging provides an outlet for me to talk about things I love and also acts like a journal for me to go back and read through and see what events and changes have taken place in my life.

11. Drink 3L of Water per Day: I started doing this last summer when I was at the peak of losing weight. I found it hard at first but it became a part of my routine. After I got pregnant I found I wasn't drinking as much water because I wasn't as focused on losing weight. Water consumption is so much more important when pregnant because your body as well as the baby need to stay hydrated. So far, I've been pretty good with drinking 3L of water everyday, I just need my fancy Starbucks tumbler on hand at all times so I don't forget to drink it lol. Writing down how many mL of water I've had on a white board on my fridge also helps me achieve my daily water intake goal.