Happy New Year!

Twenty years from now
you will be more disappointed 
by the things that you didn't do
than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.
//Mark Twain

Happy New Year, dear friends and family! I hope 2014 was good to you, as it was very good to me! I feel so lucky for all that I got to do and experience this past year. I took many exciting trips including Las Vegas, Austin TX, Washington D.C., Cape Cod, Long Island, Vermont, Block Island, Moosehead Lake Maine, Oahu, and Kauai to name a few! I hope that I can plan many adventures once again for 2015. We are all well aware that life can be taken at a moments notice, so I am so very thankful for everyday I get here on Earth and plan to try and continue to live them to the fullest! Not everyday is rainbows and butterflies, but even the bad days make the good days feel more special and appreciated. I don't necessarily like to make New Years Resolutions, as I think starting the year off by setting yourself up for failure isn't the best idea. Routines and habits are VERY hard to break or change, so I like to think of my list more as goals and intentions rather than the "firm decision's" that come with saying the word 'Resolution'. With that being said, here is my list of a few things I'd like to work on for the coming year! (Free printable via)

1. Being more organized at home. This one is funny because at work, I have complete OCD and my desk and all of my work paperwork is 100% organized and everything has it's place and file. People joke that I don't ever look like I am doing any work because I am just too darn organized. At home, however, my room usually looks like an atomic bomb went off. No matter what I do, I just can't keep organized and neat. I will stay on top of laundry for a couple weeks, but then it always trails off and sooner or later I am practically going commando. I lose things all the time and am constantly looking for stuff and freaking out because I can't find things. I travel a lot so I think that is part of the issue since I always have to pack and repack and it just gets tiring. The last thing I want to do after working 6 days in a row is to clean or unpack or do laundry, but somehow this year I need to try and get better at it. Things need to find homes and they need to stay there. Laundry needs to get done. Mail needs to be read and filed or shredded. I am going to try try try! Wish me luck, because I am gonna need it on this one...

2. Be more conscious of my budget. I live on a relatively fixed income, and I know what my monthly expense/bills are, but so many times I find myself over budget or out of money a few days before my next paycheck. It is a lot easier during wedding season as I have the extra income as spending money, but during the off season months it's a whole different story and it gets a lot harder to manage. I enjoy simple things like getting an iced coffee everyday and going out to eat or get drinks with my friends every now and then, and I don't want to have to give those things up because that is what creates joy in my life and makes working worth it, but I do need to be more conscious of extra expenditures and burning money on things that may not be needed. When I go to the grocery store to get avocados, I should leave with ONLY avocados... not avocados, pistachios, candy, and new shampoo. I need to work on resisting the temptation to make spur-of-the-moment purchases that I wouldn't otherwise have needed or purchased if they weren't right in front of me. I think working on this will help me overall live more comfortably and better stay within my means.

3. Keeping adventuring and traveling. I know this completely disregards #2, but one of the main joys in my life is the ability to travel and go on adventures. If I get better at #2, I can hopefully be able to do MORE of #3, or at least do it more easily. I want to work to live, not live to work, so I will always allocate both time and money to travel and adventure no matter how much I have or don't have. There are ways to do it on a budget, you just have to get creative sometimes. Some places I would like to make it to this year are Charleston SC, San Fran CA, New Orleans LA, and possibly somewhere overseas like Europe (Hello Greece) or Central America (I see you Panama). Will all of these trips be possible? Likely no. But I will try my hardest to make it to as many as I can! When I look back on 2014, I don't think about the times my debit card got declined while buying a $2 coffee or the time I had to get a ticket because I only had $1.43 for the $1.75 toll... I think about getting to see a good friend get married under the oak trees in Austin Texas, having a rooftop barbeque under the stars in D.C, and getting to see the Na Pali coast from a doorless helicopter. These are the things that make memories I will cherish for a lifetime, and I plan to continue to check as many places and things off my list as possible!

4.Blog! I started this blog in the spring of 2014, and it has been really fun getting to document everything I have done this year and have the ability to looks back on it through pictures and in writing. I am almost at 40 posts for the year, so I really hope to be able to continue the blog in 2015! I have debated between making the blog private and/or keeping it public as I mostly just like to have it as a photo journal for myself. For now I plan to keep it public as I do like to be able to share these things with my friends and family! I like that I don't have a set schedule of when to post, so I never feel pressured to post or to just post something for the sake of posting something. I blog when I want to blog, and that has been the best part! No pressure! I am looking forward to what Nautical Nomad has in store for me for the next year.

I hope you all have a wonderful New Year and good luck with whatever goals or intentions you may set for yourself! Leave me one in the comments if you so dare! Accountability is the key to success.