Breaking in the New Year

My favourite thing about the new year is the feeling of starting anew. I make goals all the time throughout the year, but at the beginning of the year is where I really assess if I met last years goals and make new ones for this year. 

I managed to get Matt to sit down with me and we made long lists of goals for the new year. At first the list seems very long, but we started the year by picking just one item on the list to work on per week. The next step is actually working on that goal, which through the use of phone reminders and a nifty goal app called strides (click to see iTunes app) I can remind myself to do things as well as track my progress each day. I truly believe anyone can achieve their goals if they make a plan and find ones to help motivate them to keep at it! 

Besides making goals, Matt and I had a good New Years week because Matt didn't work the day before or after new years. 

New Years we went to our friend's Gideon and Clarissa's party at their family's house complete with pool and BBQ. We went together with Brock and Kaytlin and played in the pool, ate some good food,   played games, and of course watched the amazing Sydney firework show on TV. 

I learned that besides the heat in December, there are other New Year's differences from the US. Unfortunately you can't buy your own fireworks here so you don't see mini firework shows on the street. Of course there are still those daring people breaking the law and doing their own show at home. The upside of this is that the city firework shows are bigger and better!

Gideon and Clarissa Watts

Kaytlin and I

Matt and I took advantage of his day off and decided to go to Terrigal beach up north. There is nothing so relaxing as being able to do swim and body surf in the ocean and then dry off in the warm sun. It turned out to be a beautiful day for it!

Now that the new year has begun I am supposed to be working on my Master's work again! Unfortunately I do not have tigers to study yet! Dreamworld said they won't be able to participate at this time, and the other sites haven't responded. So right now I'm basically waiting and hoping this all gets sorted soon. I need to have this sorted before I can be enrolled which may effect my financial aid and scholarship. Not to mention I need to get an ethics application in by Jan. 28 but I can't do that if I don't know where I am studying the animals! 

In the meantime I have been finding time to watch recent movies like Frozen and the Hobbit! Frozen is amazing (see my favourite song below), but the Hobbit is somewhat unsatisfying because it is the middle of the movie series and there is no real end. 

Additionally I was able to find e-books for the Tiger Saga series by Colleen Houck that I started months ago. If you recall, I read the first book but the library didn't have the second. So I have now finished the series! I loved them! Although the love triangle drove me crazy for a long time. Poor Matt dealt with a lot of me ranting about the books. I was so aggravated that the last book I spent all of one day reading to finish it. Can't wait to start some new series!

Other than that, we are just going about doing our daily stuff! It's going to be an interesting and exciting new year!