{it's a new year... almost}

Well, 2011 was a crazy year full of ups and downs. Luckily in my case, there were more ups: leaving the office for lobotoME and more time with my kids, celebrating their 3rd birthday and my 5 year anniversary. But I still had to face the downs: the fire, losing site of my fitness goals. This was our first full year as Baskin Robbins owners (opened December 2010), and the year I quit my corporate job and gave up a fixed salary. We've learned a lot, made a few mistakes, and while 2011 was a year of transitions, 2012 will be a year of growth.

I try not to focus on the past, except for the ways that I can learn from it. So, I'm trying to learn why I let my eating habits go without disparaging myself for doing it. I'm learning how to be a better business owner, not only of lobotoME, but also of my Beachbody business and our Baskin Robbins (especially since we hope to open location #2 soon!). I'm also constantly learning how to be a better mom. Especially since 3 is a fun age where my kids are little sponges!

Whether you believe in resolutions or not, I love the way a new year almost forces us to take a second and look back on our lives as well as looking forward. And there are so many ideas out there for resolutions, goals, etc that I want to try them all! I love this calendar, and this project. I also love these resolutions (but so much fish?? not a huge fan) and must do this.

With all that said, here are my 12 for 2012:

1. Read this everyday. I find this very intimidating, but my mom is reading it too. It will be nice to have someone to call if I want to talk about that day's reading.
2. Be more active in the day to day at our Baskin Robbins. As I've mentioned, we're hoping to open our second store soon, so it would be nice if I could contribute something. Scooping makes me nervous but surely I can handle some of the money stuff. I mean, I am a CPA.
3. Get back on the fitness track. I do have a weight loss goal, and it's a big one. It sounds huge to me, but it involves losing the weight I gained this year, plus a few more. Okay I'll tell you. I want to lose 20 pounds. And I want to lose the first 10 in 3 months. I'm starting a P90X/Turbo Fire hybrid in January that will last 3 months. I was hoping to start it on 1/1/12, but we're missing two P90X discs! Must call Beachbody to see about getting them replaced.
4. Take my kids to Disney World. Okay, this is cheating a little since our trip is already booked for February. They're vaguely aware of its existence, but have no idea we're going. I can't wait to see their little faces light up when they see the castle!!
5. Start volunteering again. I used to have a regular gig with Children's Art Project once a week in the evenings, but being a mom took over that time slot. I just don't want to force this because I want to find the right situation. I may wait till the fall when the kids move to PK4 and are there 5 days a week. Unless something finds me first.
6. Be more consistent with my meal planning. I make the meal plan, but allow myself to veer away. I may forget to defrost something, or lose track of time, or who knows what else. I think I'm just not confident in my cooking skills yet, so I make excuses. Maybe my Christmas gift will help?
7. Get our family cookbook printed. I was inspired by this post. My January goal is to get a preliminary outline put together and set up something in Google docs so everyone in my family can contribute recipes. I am a little worried that it will contain mostly baked goods...
8. Make our bedroom what I want it to be. This is mostly an organizational issue since somehow a huge pile of stuff has accumulated there. Most of it is stuff I can clear out, but there is a large safe waiting for our second Baskin Robbins. I'm also dying to put in some crown molding. I really want to paint it another color, but I doubt I can convince the hubs.
9. Open our second Baskin Robbins. Granted, this is mostly my husband's doing, but I consider it a family goal. We think we found our location, but the lease hasn't been signed. Hoping to have good news soon.
10. Organize my workspace. This is a constant battle because my husband thinks the desk is his too. I might need to convince him to move exclusively to his desk at our store. I might be in trouble if he reads this.
11. Start a debt payoff plan. We've had struggles as of late with giving up my salary, the fire, and all that. Once we open the second store (again, really hoping this works out!), we can really start to evaluate our finances and expected income. The fire did show us how much money we need to keep on hand in case our store is closed for an extended period. We're fully insured, but the insurance company has their own timeline on when they'll pay you, and it takes awhile for people to come back.
12. Launch new lobotoME products. I have a few ideas, but nothing to announce just yet. Hope to have some new stuff very soon!

What are your goals/resolutions/wants for 2012? If anyone is looking for a fitness accountability buddy, just let me know!

image from here

{ volunteer with ME }

I've had lots of emails about how & where to volunteer with young children and how I am implementing our weekly volunteering effort with Sam, my 6 1/2 year old daughter. We've typically volunteered as a family during the holidays but I really wanted to incorporate it into a more regular basis for us this school year. I think this is so important - not only as an educational tool but in order to help develop kindness and empathy in kids.

Samme & I brainstormed some ideas together that we are going to do. Some are once a week, others are an ongoing commitment. Some we are doing on our own, others we are doing with the church. We are going to try to make Thursdays, afterschool our "volunteer" days.

1. Sponsor a child through Compassion. There are currently 1666 children awaiting help through this program. For $38/month you can help make a child's life a whole lot better. I searched for girls in Africa about Sam's age and those waiting for sponsorship the longest time and then had Sam pick. We talked about the program, looked up where they lived on a map, put together a care package and notes and Samme will be donating some of her earned & gifted money towards this sponsorship each month.
2. Simple things...For example one day we picked a ton of plums from the plum tree and put them together in cute little boxes, Samme made notes and we delivered them to all of our neighbors.
3. We volunteered at the school learning garden & set up a farm stand to raise money for the garden (picture above).
4. Some things we are planning on doing...
- Donating food to the food bank & soup kitchen.
- Volunteering at the soup kitchen (Sam is too young to be in the kitchen but she can help serve and help stock the pantry).
- Visiting local nursing homes and bringing muffins and art work to the elderly residents.
- Visiting a children's hospital and bringing balloons to the kids.
- Picking up trash along a stretch of the road we live on.
- Planting a tree.
5. Support online causes...such as this, this or this.

What are some of the ways you volunteer with your kids?