Boring Dinners and a Late Start to 2012

So the big event I've been planning at work FINALLY came and went and now I'm on the path to a regular life again.   After the craziness of the past few months, I'm definitely looking forward to having some time to myself to refocus and relax.  I hope to stop eating dinners that look like this:

 
(morningstar farm "buffalo wings" and frozen veggies)

and start eating meals that look more like this:

 

(homemade ministrone from herbivoracious.com)

Basically, I want to slow down, enjoy life and take care of myself.  I know I'm a little late for the resolution wagon, but I've set a couple of large life changes I want to make in 2012 and smaller goals that I want to accomplish towards them.  

1) 2012 is for feeling good.

I will take a vacation.  I haven't actually taken a vacation in 3 years...unacceptable.  One week of 2012 will be devoted to me going somewhere to enjoy myself.

I will take care of myself.  I'm going to keep my nails done b/c it's something simple I can do to slow myself down and make sure I'm taking care of me. I'm also going to make sure I'm going to the doctor (and dentist) when I should. 

I'm running the 2012 NYC Marathon (my second marathon thankyouverymuch).  I want to get stronger and faster before I begin training so that it's a more comfortable process this time around.  

2) 2012 is for building for the future

I will start actively saving again.  Before I started school I had saved some money, but that got re-invested into my education so my savings are pretty measly right now.  I'm going to start putting money away again, and I've already opened a mint.com profile to help me out!

I graduate in May (provided I finish me thesis...), so the plan is to find a permanent job in the next few months.  While this isn't completely within my control, I'm going to launch the most ambitious job search I can.

I will learn about building a business, investing, and owning property so I know what options are available to my inner hustler entrepreneur.  I will also bring my shoddy knowledge of either Spanish, French or Russian to fluency.  I'm bored of being mono-lingual.

3) 2012 is for being a responsible citizen

I will buy fair trade, organic, or local whenever possible.  I will buy vintage, recycled and thrift when I can, make more at home and be more proactive about recycling, reducing the waste I create, and reusing what I can.  I will grow herbs!

I will volunteer 100 hours in 2012.  

I will be more patient, considerate, and respectful of people in my life and strangers (even the ones walking SO SLOW 5 people wide on the sidewalk).  Everybody's got it rough sometimes, everyone has somewhere to be, and let's be real, it's not like I'm late for an appointment to save the world.

So that's my plan for 2012; to feel good, to build for the future, and to be a responsible citizen.  What are your goals and resolutions for 2012?