2009 Review

As soon as Christmas is over I start thinking about what I want to achieve in the New Year.  I have been thinking a lot about my achievements in 2009 and I am incredibly proud of what I have done in the last 365 days or so. 

I decided that 2009 needed to be my year of change.  Oprah was changing her life, America was getting a new president who offered the hope of change and therefore I decided to follow suit and do the same thing.  I set myself two goals - to lose weight and sort out my finances. I decided that I needed to document what I was doing so I set up my blog in May 2009. 

Weight Loss

The year started well and I took off with my very healthy eating, but it soon fell by the wayside and in February a friend and I joined Rosemary Conley weight loss classes, with a weigh in first and then an exercise class.  In total I lost 8lbs but as my friend got sick I started to find excuses not to attend the classes alone and by June I had given up.  It took until the end of September to start on the Special K diet and I am pleased to say that I have now lost a stone and a half.  There is more dieting to be done but I don't pig out as I used to but feel more in control.  I look forward to continuing to lose weight next year.

Finances

This has also gone well.  I didn't use my credit card from January until October.  However, from October I have used it and when I look back I have used it for really silly things - Starbucks coffee comes to mind!  I have managed however, to pay off a lot of my credit card and I am really proud about this.  I will continue to pay off the credit card next year, and I hope that by the end of 2010 I have got my spending really under control.

Family

I hold family as my top priority, but although relationships with my parents have grown stronger I have not made any inroads with my sister.  She lives a couple of hundred miles away and I very rarely speak/communicate with her.  My sister is 18 months younger than me and I have always seen comparisons made between us and this is where we don't get on.  My goal for 2010 is to be a better sister.  I would like to understand her better and get to know her again.

Health
As I write this I have a sore throat, but I have been in good health this year.  I took three days off sick from work this year - two with a bad headache (caused by stress which I didn't manage too well) and the other with this sore throat.  My teeth caused me problems in October (which caused the stress mentioned above).  This has been sorted out now though, and it gave me the opportunity to look more closely at my health and making sure that I took care of myself better for the future.  I also had my first hospital procedure where I had a benign lump removed from my right arm.  I now have a one inch scar on my arm which I will continue to treat with Bio Oil to reduce the scar. 

Other

My diary informs me that I have been to one gallery in 2009 (National Portrait in London), been to the ballet once (Swan Lake), the theatre once (Lion King), the cinema seven times, a book signing (Bill Granger) and away to Sheffield once to see my sister graduate and to New York with mum.  I also saw a taping of the Martha Stewart show.

I am looking forward to seeing what I can achieve in 2010.  My diary shows that it has been a busy year and I hope that in 2010 I focus more on relationships, try new things and develop into a better person, I also want to make this blog more personal, better designed and  something to be proud of - a love life wouldn't go a miss either!