I have been pretty quiet around here in recent days. Life has been so busy there hasn't been a lot of time for Sparking, just a bit here and there. With the end of one year and the start of a new one, though, I wanted to at least do a quick review and post a few thoughts about the year ahead.

Last year was amazing. I not only passed the 100 pounds goal that I originally set, I went beyond that. I have officially moved from weight loss mode to maintenance now. Just recently I actually hit that magical number that put me at a healthy BMI. I haven't focused too much on that as a goal, but it was nice to see that come up on my scale. I ran a lot--16 races, 9 of which were half marathons, plus two Ragnar Relays (reminds me that I never posted a race recap from our last race in December, oops!). We just started some personal training a couple of weeks ago, too, and are already seeing some improvement in strength as a result. All in all, 2012 was a great year for my husband and me, and I am so grateful.

So what is ahead for 2013? I have been pondering that a lot. If I had to pick one word to describe my goals for the year ahead, I think it would be *intentional*. I want to be more intentional about life this year. I tend to fly by the seat of my pants a lot, and while I do not want to completely stop being spontaneous, I do want to be more conscious, more deliberate, and more intentional about life. My husband got me some wonderful gifts this Christmas, and I want to put them to good use: a spinning wheel (for spinning fiber into yarn), a Kindle Fire (already have some books on it I am reading), and some other craft things to help with making cards and scrapbooking. I will need to be better with my time in order to really use them while still keeping up with things like work, home, running, and so on.

It might sound strange, but I want to be more intentionally kind this year, too. When I am stressed, especially, I am not a nice person to be around. That needs to change. I'd like to work on eating cleaner this year, too. I am not going to be rigid or compulsive about it, but I know it would help both my husband and me to do better about sticking mostly to whole, natural foods and limit the processed stuff.

I am going to try and blog here more often, even if it is just a short post about my workout that day. I joined John Bingham's 100 Day Challenge to get at least 30 minutes of activity a day starting today (see www.100daychallenge.com/ for more info) because it is easy for me to slip back into being a slug at times. Made it much more than 30 minutes since we went for a 6.5 mile run today. I probably won't be joining many challenges here, though, since I can't always get online to post and I hate letting a team down.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and are ready to make progress toward your goals this year. Every day is an opportunity to make a fresh start and make better choices, not just New Year's Day, so don't make resolutions, make yourself into the person you have always wanted to be. It IS possible to change the future for the better!