2010 so far...

2010 so far has been pretty frikkin good, I have to say.

* R and I have given up all alcohol this month (well, a slight cheat being the lovely Irish Cream chocolates my grandmother sent over from Trader Joe's - at 3.5% they're still pretty pokey!).  It's definitely pretty tough on the weekends, but I feel good and my wallet feels even better.

* I've been a monster about the gym! It's been great (especially going on Friday after work when everyone else is heading to the pub).  I've made the effort to go at least 3 times a week with either a run or looooong walk on the weekend.

* I've also tried to change my eating habits slightly - well, at least not eating crap during the week, and then whatever I want on weekends.  This has been working out really good, as I've cut out all the biscuits, etc, at work, but can still enjoy a burger/shake/chips, etc, on the weekends in town.

* As of last Saturday, according to my weekly measurements/weigh-ins, I've lost 7 lbs since New Year's! My goal was to lose a stone (14 lbs) by the time we go to LA in April, but at this rate I'll completely shatter my goal (of course, this may come to a screeching halt come 1 Feb when my no-booze ban is broken).

* Speaking of LA, we've booked our flights, for April, from 6-20.  We were hooing and hahing about booking with BA for those dates, hooed and hahed too long, and the prices went up, so we went with Virgin.  Good thing, as it now seems like BA may strike over that period.

* My 365 project has been going fab, too!  Often times, I forget until about 9pm, but I've had a few moments of sheer brilliance that just would have been missed if I wasn't doing it.

* I found out we're getting our bonus from work next month! Woot woot!  Such a relief to come after Christmas, etc.  This is really the boost I need to help get my finances back in order.  I've also opened up a new bank acocunt (bye-bye Halifax), and I'm going to finally get started on a proper savings account.

* Probably the most exciting thing is that R and I have been discussing our 2-4 year plans, and we've settled on a rough course we'd like to follow.  For ages, I've felt like I've been floating along aimlessly, doing my job, but not sure what direction I wanted to go in.  I kept referring to 'when R finishes his PhD...', thinking we'd come with ideas when that happened.  But we've realised we need to starting making plans NOW for what we want to do when that happens, rather than just drifting along.  That's how we'd end up stuck in the South East of England forever, even though that's something we both DON'T want.  We have to take the initiate to move forward with what we want to do.  And more and more for me, that's been to move back to Los Angeles.  Not forever, mind you, but I really want to be close to my family for a bit, and see how that works for us.  Once we live there, we can decide whether that's the right place for us.  So at the moment, we have decided that 'when R finishes his PhD...' we're going to up sticks and move to Los Angeles.  It's the perfect break in his career to make the move, before we become bogged down with other things (!). As of now, that looks like another two years from now (plus this current semester).  So we're looking at 2012.  That works perfectly for us!  It just gives me the sense of direction and drive I've been missing, and gives me something to work towards.  All in all, I'm pretty happy :)

The first 3 weeks of 2010 have been pretty good, and I feel like I'm really on course to have a fantastic year!  How are your resolutions, goals, etc, been going?

Me, wanting to dive into the beautiful blue Pacific Ocean! how I miss you!