Resolutions: Downtime

Well hello there!  Long time no see!  I kind of took the last couple weeks off to get all my last school days through, shopping and wrapping done, and spend some sweet time with my family.  I hope everyone had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas!  We go back to school on WEDNESDAY.  :(  Booo!  I don't want to go back!  I do, but not yet.  I need a few more days to prepare some things.  :/  When do you go back?

So I'm going to jump in and team up with some bloggy friends and blog about my resolutions for the upcoming year!  I LOVE starting a new year.  It's SO refreshing and fun.  So I'm starting a bit late on this, so I'm going to start with where I need to and then in the following days go back and hit the ones I missed.  :)

Goals for Downtime!  Downtime?  What's that?  Maybe that's where I should start.  I need to carve out some time to just BE.  Relax, read , do something I love, take a bath, or whatever will qualify as ME TIME.

Spend more time with family!  I have the sweetest little family and my goal is to spend more time with them.  Maybe that means having a movie night at home, going out to dinner as a family, going swimming at the Y, or going to the zoo.  Or maybe it's just all snuggling for a few hours on a Saturday morning!

I have such a love for doing creative things, but I always find an excuse that I don't have time.  My newest found love is beading!  A friend of mine got me hooked on these Swarovski crystal beads.  Well, over Christmas break I decided just to learn how to make them myself.  I *LOVED* doing it!  It was sooooo relaxing and I loved just doing something for myself.  I also love to paint!  My playroom is flooded with painted canvases by moi.  It's such a neat personal touch.  I really want to get better!  And finally, with my fancy camera, I've taken a newfound interest in photography!  I love trying things out and looking at shots I've taken (like the flowers below).  All the photos below are things I've created.

With Pinterest, there's no excuse that I don't know what to cook.  ;)  Actually, I'm blogging and munching on some AMAZING buffalo chicken dip right now!  The few things I've made from Pinterest have been WONDERFUL.  And I just don't cook.  :(  I'm a bad wife.  But it works out, because hubby LOVES to cook!  I still want to get better at it.  Below are a couple pics I've found of yumminess that I've actually made.

Being outdoors is SOOOOOOOOOO refreshing!  Yes, even in winter.  Especially in winter.  I hate winter.  I mean, there are few things I hate more.  I hate spiders more, but that's probably it.  But I think the reason I hate it so much is because I'm stuck indoors all the time!  So if this snow ever gets cleared, I want to try to go on a weekly walk/run through my neighborhood.  Once spring and summer roll around, I want to make it a daily habit!  Oh, and a pool membership is definitely important this summer.  :)

Finally, the deepest love I have of all things downtime related is READING!  I love, love, love, love, love, love to read!  I have an ABUNDANCE of books.  I recently had to buy a bigger bookshelf, because they just didn't fit on the one I had.  I have 3 books sitting on my nightstand right now, waiting to be read.  Actually, I have 4.   I have a new devotional book ready to go for the new year.  I'm going to knock them out in 2013!  And hopefully more once I finish these. ;)

I will be back tomorrow with Fitness Goals!  

What downtime resolutions do you have?  What do you like to do (outside of school) when you have free time?