Happy Birthday to Me!

So, today's my birthday.  I've never been one to overly celebrate my own birthday for some reason.  Don't know why...just the way it is and I'm fine with that.  As I get older, though, I've found that my birthdays are a good time for looking back and planning ahead.  My last post was about looking back over 2014 -- and I have to say that there's a lot to be thankful for and not much to complain about (nothing, really).

Since my birthday is close to the new year, I've never really been one for new year's resolutions.  Instead, lately, I've been thinking about goals for the upcoming year.  So in that spirit, here are four goals for my 47th year of life**:

1. Be more appreciative and attentive to the people who care for me and for whom I care.  Mark...family...friends.  It's easy for me to be aloof and detached, so I think I need to make more of an effort this year to engage myself with others.
2. Lose 50 pounds.  I'm going to write more in future posts, but starting tomorrow (because Mark made me a cake today).
3. Get a job.  Whether it's with the Foreign Service (just waiting for the call) or not, since I'm now done with graduate school, I need to get serious and focused.  That means more networking (see goal #1).  More on this later, too.
4. Declutter.  There's just too much stuff in the house and it's time to get rid of a lot of it and then better organize what remains.

Those are pretty good ones.  Maybe I'll add one or two more during the year.  Maybe not.  Who knows?

**Why isn't our actual birthday our first birthday?  I was born in 1969, so, really, isn't today my 47th birthday?