Happy New Year and welcome to the perfect vision year! 2019 has been great and 2020 is looking to be the best one yet! Or at least I will try my best. I have a lot of plans and ideas for this year. It is the year I close up my life here in Lake Villa, it has come full circle and I am ready to move on to my next life. 

Looking forward, here are my 20 personal goals for 2020:

1. Move to California.

The foundation for this move has been set in 2019. Richard and I got married, Melissa moved on to Marquette University and Michael is finishing his senior year here and going to Ohio University this coming August. Mentally I picked a last day for work at my job and I am starting the process of getting the house ready to sell.

2. Continue intermittent fasting.

I found this new way of life to be a perfect fit for me. I have been doing it since April 1st 2019 and started at 189 lb. I have reached my goal of 160 lb and I am just maintaining right now. I feel good. I have lost 29 lb by eating one meal a day and clean fasting for 20 hours every day. 

3. Visit 3 new places.

Ah, my favorite thing to do is travel and I have been doing a pretty good job at it. This will be a busy year but I think I will have no problem reaching this goal. Richard and I already have a trip planned this spring that includes a new place for me, we also want to go on a honeymoon this summer for our first wedding anniversary and that will be a new place. The third will probably come easier as I will have much more free time in the second half of this year. I look forward to this goal!

4. Plant a vegetable garden.

Actually, I'm thinking of planting one here this year and start my garden in California too. I did not plant a garden here for the past couple of years as I had busy summers, but I think this is the year and it will also add value to the house when I sell it. I know nothing about gardening in California, where they really only have two seasons, but I already have a spot for it that Richard cleared for me. I can't wait to dig into it.

5. Read 12 books.

Yes, I read now and I love the library, I just want to make it more of a habit. I find that I never allow enough time for reading. It seems like a very carefree way to spend my free time and at the moment I don't have a lot of that, but I plan on changing it! 

6. Set up my art studio in the new house.

So happy about this goal. It's a big room and it has a very beautiful view into the back yard. I can't wait to make art my priority every day.

7. Find my Californian entrepreneur spirit.

While I don't plan on getting a job once I move to California, I do plan on still working. I want to establish my imprint business there and also find a way to get into the interpreting circle as the county's court house is in our town. I also would like to build more ceramic pieces as I really enjoy it.

8. Make money without a real job.

Yeah, this one goes hand in hand with #7 and I will make sure to explore every business idea that I have had in the past. And find new ones! I have always had the hustle in me and I am not a person that just sits around eating bon-bons and watching tv. 

9. Learn to make wine.

My father was a wine maker and my entire childhood was spent around wine making, wine drinking, vineyards and wine. Personally I'm not a huge drinker but I do enjoy a glass of wine here and there. We have grape vines in our back yard and I will make sure to do something with the grapes every season. I have a lot to learn but I am ready for it!

10. Learn a new craft.

I don't have a list of things I want to learn but I will look at what is being offered around my new home and go from there. I love to learn and grow and I think that an artistic challenge every year will be a great goal and it will make me a more rounded artist in the long run.

11. Study Spanish.

It's California after all and I want to learn it! And I will. 

12. Embrace and savor married life.

So looking forward to spending every day and night with my husband. I enjoy married life and this time around it's not about babies and careers and struggling to get sleep. It's about romance and love and the two of us. I'm madly in love and feel very grateful for another chance at growing old with someone next to me in good and bad. It's been a wonderful ride and I'm looking forward to the infinity and beyond !

13. Start yoga again.

It was just a matter of time. Once I will have more time, I will start it again. Might not be until the middle of the year but I will. The health club I used to go to yoga class here closed and the fact that my days are filled with work does not help. When no alarm will wake me in the dead of night every morning, I am sure that I can resume my home yoga practice. We have a wonderful garden at the new house and I am confident that Martinez has places that offer classes. I will explore and hopefully make some new friends in the process.

14. Stick to a plant based diet.

A new quest for me but it has been going wonderful so far. It is the next step in trying to lower my cholesterol. I want to see if cutting out meat from my diet will bring it down. I want to be meat free for at least 6 months before I have a new round of tests done. It has been easy so far. I find that it goes well with intermittent fasting and I very rarely miss meat. I am not denying myself the Thanksgiving turkey meal or the occasional Friday Fish fry. I just eat mostly plant based and I enjoy exploring. I still cook meat at home for my children, I just chose not to eat it.

15. Cook one new recipe a week - 52 total

For some reason I think his might be a challenge. I want to explore with new vegetables and ways of cooking but sometimes I just get too used to cooking the things I know we enjoy eating. When you only eat once a day, that one meal better be good. I guess just figuring out more ways to eat the same foods will have to be the new recipe. It's easy to eat plant based, just eat the side dishes. Cooking new recipes might be more work, but I will try my best.

16. Have a 30 day challenge every month.

Yes, I want to form new habits! They say it takes 21 days to form a new habit. I want to build one new habit every month into my lifestyle. I find this goal challenging and I hope I can stick with the new habits. My self discipline is not the best, but hey, it's worth a try.

17. Adopt a minimalist approach.

I have reached a point in my life where I don't need anymore things. I am embracing this move and I hope to leave here with very few and very personal momentos as a reminder of previous adventures and previous people that affected my life. It's a process to go through everything you have ever saved and question the reason for keeping it. I have until August to go through everything I have and sort through it. We have lived in this house for over 17 years. I want to set up the foundation to my new found love for the minimalist approach to life. I will see how it goes, at times the process seems daunting.

18. Keep in touch better with my friends - schedule things

I don't have a lot of friends, but the ones I do have are very good. I want to make it a point to meet with all of them and be a little bit more involved in our friendship. I know it takes effort and I am ready to make this effort. I value my friends and I want to show it. Distance is no excuse.

19. Redo my website and start blogging again. 

Hey, I'm blogging right now. The website is a work in progress and looking to adapt it to the new life in California. I have't really spent any time thinking about it yet but I will try blogging again once a week or so. Not really worried about it, I know I will find my way.

20. Spend one on one time with all my children.

I have two of my own and I gained three other wonderful girls when I married Richard. I want to get to know each one of them better and what other way than spending one on one time with each one of them individually. They are young adults and have very different personalities and goals in life. I would like to get to know them for who they are as they start their life adventures. I look forward to working on this goal every year.

So there you have it, my 2020 as I imagine it should go. Now I know that life has it's own agenda and that's ok. I am ready for any challenges and any growth. Ready to learn new lessons and become a better version of myself in the new year.

Happy New Year everyone!