Welcome, 2012!

Casey & I rang in the new year at a local board game store that we frequent.  We had a lot of fun playing a variety of games with people and just enjoying the evening.  We spent the rest of the weekend being somewhat lazy and just enjoying each other's company and relaxing.  We spent time talking about the year to come, etc.  Personally, I am not one for making "resolutions," but rather general goals or guidelines that can be followed and don't lock you in.  I think this year has the potential for being another big year for us, though, and we are very nervous and excited about what the year has in store for us.  Just because I like lists, here is what we are hoping/planning for in the new year:

1) Healthier Living--We have already been trying to eat at home as much as possible for money-saving, but it helps us make healthier choices also.  We also plan to do more exercise and activity. (Yay, DDR!)  We both could stand to lose a few pounds, plus I think we would both feel better if we eat better foods and get some activity into our routine.

2) Pay Down Debt--Between my student loans and the time between graduation and Casey getting his job at ReDoc, we have accumulated some debt.  We are hoping to start the year off right, though, and we have done some planning for debt elimination.  We are setting monthly goals for payment and hoping to have credit card debt wiped out by April or so.  The student loans will take a while, but once we have the credit cards paid off (and canceled on one or two), that will allow us to make much larger payments on the loans.

3) Starting My Career--It's been a tough job market, especially for teachers in areas that schools are cutting with their budget cuts.  I am really hoping that I will have a full-time job in the fall.  If not, our backup plan is for me to keep subbing and go back to school.  As much as I have dreamed about getting graduate degrees, I would rather have a full-time job first.  We will just go with the flow and find out, though.

4) Retirement Savings--Casey will be able to opt into his company's awesome 401K this summer, but we also hope to start an IRA this year.  We hope to actually be able to retire someday and enjoy our older years without having to rely on our children, so there's no time like the present to start saving a little at a time.

5) Starting a Family--We are probably completely insane, but when our relationship started to get serious (about 3-5 months after our first date), we talked about our biggest dreams and what we hoped for in the future.  Both of our plans included getting married and having 2-3 kids.  We are still fairly young and have only been married for 2.5 years, but talks of the "b word" have been happening a lot more often lately.  Casey is very settled in his job and just got an amazing raise.  We just got a bigger apartment and are pretty settled in the Boro for a while.  Besides the unknown of my career, it seems like a perfect time to start our family, right?  Our current plan is to start trying in the summer and go from there.  If I end up getting a job, we will have to try to plan the pregnancy for spring or summer.  If I don't get a job and go back to school/keep subbing, it won't really matter.  Either way we are still in the planning stage right now, so nothing is set in stone.  It is definitely a plan for 2012-2013, though!

6) Vacation Time--The last vacation we took (besides camping for a weekend this summer) was in March, 2010 when we went to Washington to see Casey's sister.  We really want to go back to Washington this year and maybe also take a random trip.  At least one vacation this year would be awesome, though.  We are keeping an eye on airfare and I am signed up to get deal notices on flights from Southwest and Frontier.

Here's hoping for an awesome year for all and that our dreams may come true by our work towards them!