Mid-Year Review and Evaluation

I had very high hopes for 2010! After all, it was the beginning of a new decade. So far, I'm only partially impressed.

It wasn't that 2009 was a bad year. It just wasn't a great year. The best thing about 2009 was the birth of my son. With that said, Hubs and I made some very important decisions that we are still working through, as we speak. We knew with the decisions we made, came consequences. We were willing to deal with them, because we knew it was the best thing for our family. Although it has been a stressful period, we still believe, in time, it is all for the better. Slowly, we are starting to see things fall into place.

It's June 2010. Mid-2010. Like most people, every year, I make my New Year's resolution. I think at this point, it has become more of a tradition and a must to do. Regardless, I still like to see how I'm doing with these resolutions and reflect upon them to see how I can make the last half of 2010 better.

First of all, 2010 as brought along a lot of deaths and life threatening illness. I know, it's very depressing. Literally, since January there has been some devastating situation that has popped up. They say bad news comes in 3s. Well, multiply that by 2 or 3. I only hope that it is the end of this very sad and emotional period. I try not to dwell upon this, but these situations have made me realize what is truly important and has highlighted things in life that I should not take for granted. I needed to find the silver lining in all of this.

One of my New Year's resolutions is to take better care of myself. I still manage to exercise (I couldn't survive without my dose of endorphins). Now that I've reached my 30s and the two kids, I'm finding exercise alone isn't good enough. With all the emotional things going on, I noticed that I started eating less healthy. If you follow me on Twitter, those evil french fries have gotten the best of me more than once. No more I tell you!

I'm going to try and get back on track on my healthy eating. I even went to the market after the gym and bought some good for you food. Instead of reaching for that cookie, I started making my Kefir chocolate-strawberry smoothies. I've rediscovered some of my old go-to snacks.

Another New Year's resolution was to spend more time with the family. Between having opposite schedules with Hubs to help eliminate the kids going to day care (which is family by the way) and trying to make ends meet, it has been a challenge. I think when I made this resolution, I didn't really have a set goal and something that I can measure. Evaluating my current situation, I think I've managed to stay on track with this. I truly feel that I'm doing the best I can juggling work and family life. Of course, I can always try and improve this. Quality vs quantity.

In 2010, I also wanted to put more aside in the nest egg. I've managed to set aside more money by decreasing some of the luxuries I've once lavishly indulged in. The trip to the neighborhood Barista has been greatly decreased by brewing my own Joe.

Although, I started seeing the hairdresser again for some highlights, I've managed to find a low maintenance color that I can maintain using my favorite color conditioner. I'm happy to say I'm now going on almost 4 months now. I'm really pushing it though. The root to highlight ratio is at its breaking point and no amount of special conditioner is going to save my hair. I think I'll have to suck it up and make an appointment. Still, I'm impressed.

I've also managed to discover some drug store products that I've been impressed with. It's eliminated some of my more expensive products. I'll have to write a blog on some of my discoveries. One of them is the Neutrogena wipes. I'm still in search of ways I can save and hopefully build that nest egg.

So far, so good for 2010. I'm still wishing, hoping, and praying that the last half of 2010 will be way better than the beginning. Let's toast January-June away and say, "Welcome" to July-December.