Goals for 2009

It has been a few years since I have officially made new years resolutions and acutally wrote them down. I have decided this year is as good as any to change and that publishing them on my blog will hopefully motivate me a little more to accomplish them! One of my goals this year is to be more well-rounded, so I've tried to set goals in 4 different areas: Physical, Educational, Social and Spiritual.


Physical: This was probably the easiet area to think of something as I think most new years resolutions have a tendency to focus around our phsical well being. I had a lot of grand ideas and actually had to narrow it down, but I have committed to run 350 miles in 2009. At first I was considering something a little more lofty like 500 miles, but when I did the math, I realized that I might be being a little overly optimistic! 350 miles in a year, averages out to just over 6.5 miles per week.


Educational: This was a little more difficult for me because when I thought education, I immediatly thought school. But then I realized that education can be gaining more knowledge in about any area of study. Refelcting back on my college days, I realized that I had become quite proficient at the piano about the time I graduated, and sad to say, I haven't learned a new song since my senior recital. In 2009 I would like to learn 2 new piano pieces. Not just learn and stumble through them, but actually learn and memorize them as I would for a recital. I'm nost sure which pieces yet but I'm toying with the idea of either Beethoven's Sonanta Pathetique or Moonlight Sonata (all three movements of each).


Social: Probably my weakest area. I'm not sure I'm ready to commit to anything too drastic like meet one new person every day or turn into a "social butterfly," but I've managed to come up with something that will hopfully enlarge my social circle. One of my biggest weaknesses is keeping in touch with old and new friends. I'm horrible at emailing or calling, and silly as it sounds, I get nervous asking someone to 'hangout." I definatly have a tendency to sit around and wait for the phone to ring. So for 2009 I plan to strengthen relationship with old and new friends. Maybe give them a call to hang out once in awhile or have lunch. So if you're one of those 'old friends' reading this.. you can hopefully expect a phone call or at least and email from me within the next 11 months! :)


Spiritual: I have to admit, my spiritual goals are a little to personal to be publishing on my blog, but basically they include strengthening my testimony of specific gospel priciples and attending the temple.


I hope that 2009 will be a succesful year full of many acheivements!

Designated

All my life my parents have always encouraged me to get as much education as possible. That was probably the driving force that actually made me finish school and get my degree. Since graduation, Dad has still encouraged me to continue my education and has specifically mentioned adding as many "letters" behind my name as possible.

For the last couple months I have been working on a couple of self-study courses and have officially become "designated." In October I completed a Professional Bookkeeper (PB) course, which was specifically designed for someone to open their own accounting service from their home. Something that I am looking into doing once I have a family etc., or maybe even sooner. The course ended up being fairly simple, and mostly a review of my undergraduate classes. I managed to finish in just over a month and scored a 99% on the final exam! (I don't think I ever even got that high on an actual college exam. Amazing what practical "real life" experience can do!)

I took a short break after the Professional Bookkeeper course before I started working to become a QuickBooks Specialist (QS). QuickBooks is an accounting software. I was under a time constraint to finish both courses before the end of the year if I wanted my work to pay for the tuition, but I did it I completed the QuickBooks course in 10 days!

So there you have it! My official professional title is now "Natalie Tangren, PB, QS."

Operation SSS

This year is coming to be known at the year of surprises. It first started with Dad's surprise 50th birthday party last May. Then for Zeniff's birthday I surprised him with 2 plane tickets to Dallas to visit his family. Operation SSS (Super Secret Sam) started back in August. My favorite cousin Sam and I were visiting on the phone and had this great idea that he would come out for Thanksgiving this year but better yet, we weren't going to tell ANYONE that he was coming!! Sunday night before Thanksgiving Sam flew into Salt Lake. I picked him up and then we headed straight to Moab arriving at almost midnight. We did have to fill Nichole in on our scheme -- but only because we needed a place to stay! Monday morning we went around surprising the family... Grandma wasn't as surprised as we thought she would be. Dad was in total shock and couldn't stop laughing and hugging Sam. (I personally think he was trying to hide a few tears too). Then Mom just started bawling! It was a great surprise. I only regret that I didn't video tape the whole thing!

Family Symphony

About 2 months ago I bought a cello and I have been teaching myself to play. Over the weekend my sister Sarah and her husband came up to my house for dinner. In the middle of preparing dinner I remembered that I had found this arrangement of Cannon in D for Cello and Piano. We looked over the music for a minute and then wa-lah -- The first attempt of a family symphony! ENJOY!

Just an Eyebrow Wax?

I went to the salon last night to get an eyebrow wax and my bangs trimmed. I ended up being there for 3 hours and this is what happened...

Before:


During:

After:

Look who's Turning 30!!

Thats right! Zeniff turned 30 years old yesterday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZE!! I hope your birthday surprises were the BEST!

Coming to America...

Over the last couple of months Zeniff has been working on obtaining his US Citizenship. He has kept pretty quiet about it and it was only by accident I found out that as of last Wednesday, he was officially one the newest citizens of the United States of America!! I was over joyed to hear about it, but needless to say he was somewhat less than ecstatic. In fact, he didn't seem to care much about it at all.

Last night I invited him down for dinner (a pretty usual thing for us) but when he arrived, to his surprise, it was much more that a dinner for two. I had left work early to begin party preparations of getting balloons, making signs, and getting all the food ready for an "All American" barbecue. My roomates and I all dressed up in our Red, White, and Blue patriotic attire and when he walked in we yelled "Happy Citizenship!" Then we enjoyed a feast of hamburgers and baked beans, followed by a yummy and colorul dessert! Welcome to America Zeniff!

His Arrival

"Happy Citizenship"

I got him the box DVD set "Band of Brothers"

US

Yummy Patriotic Dessert