Top Ten Tuesday #63 – New Year, New Me in 2016

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. This feature was created because they are particularly fond of lists at The Broke and the Bookish. They’d love to share their lists with other bookish folks and would LOVE to see your top ten lists!

It’s hard to believe that another year has come and gone. 2015 went down as one of the worst years of my life to date. We lost our angel baby in March and then my grandfather passed away suddenly, add in financial troubles (you know, the kind where you have to decide what’s more important electricity or groceries) and I was very glad to see the year end. HOWEVER 2016 is looking promising. My husband will finish residency this year and has accepted a job that starts in July back home. No more 3 hour road trips just to see family 😀

If you followed the blog last year, you know that I made some pretty big resolutions in 2015 and my personal life kept me from completing most of those. So this week’s topic is “Top Ten Resolutions We Have For 2015 (can be bookish, personal resolutions, “I resolve to finally read these 10 books, series I resolve to finish in 2015, etc.)” and I have some big plans for myself in 2016…sorry no funny gifs this year 😉

Bookish Resolutions

1. Read 125 new-to-me books.

According to Goodreads, I read 170 books in 2015. Of those 168 were new, never read by me books. So 125…piece of cake!

2. Read The Mortal Instruments series.

This was one of my resolutions last year, however I wasn’t able to complete it. My sweet husband got the entire series for me in hardback Christmas of 2014 and he is none to happy that I haven’t read them yet. My goal this year is to set aside some time and do JUST that!

3. Make half my reads books off my TBR pile….aka my one-click freebies.

I have a serious one-click addiction on my Kindle. I’m currently up to over 250 books that I have gotten for free or nearly free ($1.99 or less). That’s a lot of books people! My goal is read at least 75 books off that list this year. #COYER will help with this 😀

4. Participate in some Reading Challenges.

In 2015 I participated in a couple of short challenges and really enjoyed them. So this year I’ve signed up for 4 year-long challenges in addition to my Goodreads challenge. I’m looking forward to meeting some new bloggers and sharing our books!

Blogging Resolutions

4. Post every day.

This was one of my resolutions last year and I was able to keep it for the most part. I posted 364 new posts in 2015 and averaged around 5-8 posts a week. There were a few weeks I took off, like after the miscarriage and when my Papaw passed. This year my goal is to continue with the momentum I had from last year. Plus I’ve learned a few new tricks 😉

5. Blog AHEAD

Last year this was one of my resolutions and it NEVER happened. Some times I might stay a week a head and other times I’d have nothing scheduled. It’s why after the miscarriage and my Papaw passed I had dead time on the blog. We don’t like that do we?! I participated in the Blog Ahead challenge during October last year and I’m still reaping the benefits of it. I had posts scheduled through the end of this month for a few of my features and I was even able to get a few reviews posts ready for me to enter my review. That’s a huge time saver. My goal is to do this all year and not just during the challenge. It was such a huge help during the busy holiday season.

6. End the year with a fresh slate…no carry over ARCs.

So if you’ve read this far, you know 2015 sucked big time. I ended the year with more review copies than I started and that is just not acceptable in my book. My goal for the year is to have none that carry over to 2017. Now that doesn’t mean I won’t have ANY at the end of the year because new releases for the next year will certainly carry over but any that were published beforehand I hope to have complete.

Personal Resolutions

7. Lose Weight.

Last year this was my number one goal and I knew that it would take longer than one year. I lost a total of ~45 pounds last year, hitting my first goal of just getting under 200. I’m only about 15 pounds from my second goal of 175 and roughly 50 pounds from my final goal weight. I think I can do this in 2016 😀

8. Run a 5k.

I failed this goal miserably last year, so it’s a priority for me in 2016. I want to run a 5k. I don’t know why. I HATE running, but it’s just something I want to accomplish. So I will do this at some point this year.

9. Read the Bible cover to cover.

Another goal from 2015 I didn’t complete (seeing the trend?). I’m almost to the New Testament and I’m thinking I may go back and start over so I can read it all in one year. What do you think?

10. Stress Less.

2015 was full of stress and things that were out of my control, not the best for this type A personality. My goal this year is to just roll with the punches, focus on what we have rather than what we don’t, and live life to the fullest. My mantra for 2016: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything be in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Phil. 4:6, emphasis mine)

Your Turn! What’s your New Year’s resolutions?

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