My 2014 Goals: Simplify

Hello from an (excruciatingly chilly) Minnesota! I arrived home today to sub-zero temperatures and crazy wind chills, but honestly; I don't even care. I just spent the first five days of 2014 with my fabulous friend Kelsi and it was everything I needed and more to jump start this year.

I arrived in Los Angeles with a pretty decent idea that my word for 2014 needed to be simplify. After one too many overwhelming moments/days/weeks in November, December, and really all of 2013, I decided that in order to make it to 27 years of age, then I am going to need to learn to say no! Therefore, 2014 is all about trimming back to what really matters. Making time to focus on the things that make me the happiest and sorting through everything else that I just do because I feel like I should/already committed to.

After Kelsi and I spent a leisurely morning with coffee, breakfast and this Four-Step Life Purge Guide (an awesome, free resource!), our respective goals became pretty clear. Ignoring the obvious irony that my 2014 word is simplify and yet here I am setting a number of goals, I am psyched about the end result! As my roommate Ilse put it tonight, there are some things that will be challenging and others that will be easy to attain...overall it is a good balance moving forward.

A few things I am especially looking forward to tackling as I work towards more simplicity:

• Planing/scheduling one night of the week that is just for me.
• Being IN BED at 10 PM (This will be the most challenging goal for sure!)
• Two "No Unnecessary Spending" months (I did one in 2013 and it was awesome!) as well as donating things I already have but do not wear/use.
• Reading an actual newspaper once a week. (Preferably while sipping coffee)
• NOT working at my desk while I eat lunch at least three times a week.
• Inviting friends over for dinner once a month so I eat out less (two or fewer times per week).

Cheers to all that you want to strive for in 2014! Here is a complete list of my 2014 goals.

Hiking the Hollywood sign with Kelsi on January 4.

Other adventures included, but are in no way limited to: exploring Little Tokyo/Chinatown, DIY biking wine tour in Paso Robles, Saturday morning yoga, homemade sesame seared ahi tuna salad, reuniting with Hana in Santa Barbara, and just lots of good best friend good-for-the-soul time.