New Beginnings....

     Well, happy new year everyone! I can't believe another one has already come and gone. Its true what they say about the older you get the faster they go. 2011 was a peculiar, but eventful year indeed. I believe that Ben and I really got a taste of the family life and what it means to really be married. We just recently celebrated our 2nd anniversary and though I know I love him more with everyday, we definitely had our fair share of marital moments. Its been so long since I last blogged that I could probably sit here for 24 hours straight and still not catch you up on everything that has happened. I'll go with the biggest and latest of trials and triumphs.
      Ben got a new job in Little Rock, Ar. He began on October 17th, which was also the day he proposed to me two years ago. While he began training I stayed in Fayetteville, Ar with our daughter Austyn, whom I have dubbed AG in other sharing posts. He's working for a company called Maximized Living under a very successful female chiropractor named Dr. Traci Bishop. Their center is called Natural State Health Center. To say that Ben is enjoying the new setting would be an understatement. I wish I could go into more detail about how it is all ran, but there's so much more I need to learn before I can accurately explain exactly what they do. In a nutshell, Ben's previous work was more specific to pain management through chiropractic adjustments. Maximized Living offers a WHOLE WELLNESS approach, and when I say that, I mean they really help you get to the core of any physical, medical, and stress related illnesses. Its amazing really to hear/see stories of their patients transformations!


     As of 2 weeks ago, AG and I finally got to make the move down to LR after finishing up a very strenuous semester at the UofA. I wish that I could say FINISHED with graduate school, but I'm looking at 7ish more months to go. This semester will also be very trying, but I'm done with my core curriculum and off to assist in the real world in an early intervention program at a local public school (Crystal Hill Elementary). I'm am completely and utterly excited to finally get a taste of off campus speech pathology expertise! While attending my internship, I will also begin an additional certification process that will qualify me as an autism specialist. Now I won't actually obtain that certificate until after I graduate, but its all online so it shouldn't be too difficult of a process.


     Ben and I got a town home apartment in West Little Rock, which is where we currently reside. Everything is fabulous out here. Though its a little bit more expensive than what we're used to, we're really enjoying our surroundings. The only downside to the apartment living are the dogs and a serious lack of running room. This brings me closer to announcing my new years resolutions. I was lost in a bittersweet daydream about moving back to LR when we decided to make the change. Though I have several more great friends here that I've been dying to reunite with for years, I was worried that the environment wouldn't be as conducive to our lifestyle as what we had in Northwest Arkansas. There we had so many trails, parks, water access, our favorite Frisbee golf courses, a BACKYARD! (oh how I miss that backyard)... what would LR be lacking in those areas? Well, in two short weeks, I'm relearning that LR has so much to offer! Recently, two of my good friends and I took AG over the new Two Rivers Bridge. What a beautiful little park! Its got an amazing bike trail that connects between the Two Rivers Park and Maumelle Park, and I'm pretty sure that it also connects down to the Big Dam Bridge, but I could be wrong about that. There are also two dog parks that I've heard of now that we will be taking the dogs to on the weekends, and LR is also home to a very large running community. OH! And my step brother, Tim, is leasing some land that Ben got to visit yesterday and fell absolutely in love with. He's thinking about jumping on that wagon to have instant access to hunting, exploring, and swimming holes. Sounds good to me! So as we can see... LR? So far so good!
And if I haven't mentioned already, I'm having a tremendous time catching up with those old friends.


    This brings me to what I'd like 2012 to help me carry out in goals:


1: Last year I made a goal to run at least two 5ks... only two, because it wasn't too intimidating of a number that I could experiment with the running process and see if I liked it and if I hated the first 5k well hey at least I met my goal by 50% ;) .
-This year I'm making a goal to run five 5ks. If I get to the fourth and am still charged about running I'm going to shoot for my first 10k at the end of the year.


2: With Ben's new job comes infinite tools to help you eat and live a better life. One of those tools is called a Core Plan. It helps you eliminate sugars from your diet resulting in less inflammation in your body. I'm making a goal to complete an Advanced Core Plan within the coming months while cleaning out my cupboards and pantry to resemble a more maximized life!
-Eat Well!


3: Writing this blog has really helped me de-clutter a lot of what was in my mind. In 2011 I lost touch with writing a bit. Life got really busy, and I was more enthralled with watching AG grow than talking about it. She changed and grew so much in the last year and now I'm kind of sad I didn't talk more about it. We do have lots of pictures though =)
-Get back into writing and sharing.


4a: This year is going to hold so many good things for us Pittmans. I know that in a year we will likely face some trials and sorrows, but with God to lean on we will get through those hard times. As I begin a new job and Ben's practice begins to take off we are really getting excited thinking about our finances and what other responsibilities we'll have seeing those finances grow. One is to start paying down the massive amount of school debt we have, but also to start really being more responsible about contributing to our savings. We want to live a debt free life eventually and that's going to take some discipline and better organization skills on both of our parts.
-Start a stronger savings account (for our 1st house, AG's college, and retirement)
-Pay off debt in ten years, MAX!


4b: Making more money also helps with achieving more pleasures. Though Ben and I believe that Money doesn't buy you happiness, it does make things a lot easier when you have a little more of it. God has provided us with absolutely everything we have needed and more these past couple of years and we couldn't be more grateful. But one thing is for sure, Ben and I have not had the opportunity to travel and grow through vacation destinations. We are definitely planning on saving some of that money to go towards a few trips in the near future to make sure we can take the time for ourselves and really enjoy one another while making memories in shared traveling. We really want to do a couple of trips out west. One destination being Lake Tahoe, and the other being Alaska. Eventually we'll start doing out of the country stuff, but we both know that there is so much for us to see here in our precious states first!
-Travel

     I think these are the main points I wanted to hit this year. I have some ideas for fasting that I'll blog about later, because I know whatever it is that I plan to fast it will be difficult as I've never fully committed to one for more than a couple of days. Looking forward to seeing what other surprises will be held for us and those we love this year. Wishing you all a very happy, healthy, and loving new year! Cheers!

-KBP