Kate is a A languages student with a voracious appetite for magazines and all things sartorial. She is currently living in France, putting normal life on hold in favour of adventuring around Europe. She blogs about this, and other things, at sparke smile dance.

We find ourselves in a brand new year (and decade) and while those around me have been squirreling away at their lists of New Year’s Resolutions for the past few days, I have managed to resist. It’s not that I’m against the idea of self-improvement per se, more that I feel that this tradition of making vows to completely revamp oneself overnight is rather futile and often leads to them being all but forgotten by lunchtime on the 2nd January. Instead I have made a list of things that I would like to achieve by this time next year; this won’t involve me being my very best self for the next 365 days, but will hopefully allow me to tick some very important things off my ever-increasing to-do list!

1. Do something slightly outrageous every day.
Being away from home and everyone that knows me so well has brought out my more eccentric side; something I can feel disappearing against my will now I’m back on home turf. In an attempt to recapture this slightly more interesting version of myself I’m going to make a concerted effort to step outside my comfort zone at least once a day.

2. Have something I’ve written published by somebody other than myself.
As satisfying as it is to press that magical button on my blog and put my musings out there for the world to read, it would be all the more exciting if someone else was doing it for me.

3. Spend at least as much time reading (decent) books as magazines, if not more.

My magazine habit is verging on the out-of-control side of ridiculous: I have been known to spend more of my weekly budget on glossy reading material than anything else. As fulfilling as I may find these activities, I cannot help but feel that my life (and potentially bank balance) would be improved by spending some of this reading time on more ‘worthy’ material.

4. Limit my pasta intake to one (or maybe two) meals a week

This is definitely a case of won’t cook rather than can’t; if I have willing guinea pigs, I will happily cook up a storm, but when it comes to cooking for myself I’m insanely lazy and will all too often shove some pasta in a pan and smother it in pesto. This habit makes for an incredibly boring diet and is not particularly healthy – may 2010 be a year of self-discovery in the kitchen!

5. Learn to get out of bed in the morning without snoozing the alarm several hundred times
What always begins with good intentions, as I set my alarm for a sensible, productivity-facilitating time nearly always ends in tears as I repeatedly hit the snooze button, buying myself hours longer in bed – ten minutes at a time.

6. Start wearing bright lipstick in the daytime without feeling over-dressed or ridiculous
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve carefully applied lipstick only to wipe it off seconds before leaving the house because it somehow doesn’t feel appropriate. I will happily wear lipstick of any shade in the evening, but for some reason I can’t quite bring myself to do the same during the day.

7. Read at least one of the ‘Twilight’ series
have so far refused to have anything to do with this phenomenon, partly because I’m far too loyal to Buffy and Angel to even contemplate acceptance of a modern version of this tale; however, my real objection comes on moral grounds – I have endured far too many fourteen year old girls ‘Eeeeeh TWILIIIIIGHT!’ over the past few months and just cannot bear to associate myself with anything that elicits such an irritating response! Having said this, it’s rather unfair to be so judgemental without giving this phenomenon adequate opportunity to win me over – who knows, I might even enjoy it?!

8. Learn to enjoy buying food as much as I do any other form of shopping
Put me in almost any shop – clothes, shoes, books, home wares, anything – and I’ll be in my element, happily browsing and making hypothetical purchases, but put me in a supermarket and I’ll instantly become uncharacteristically desperate to make an exit. I’m not quite sure what it is about food shopping that I object to so much, but if I’m to achieve number four on my list, I may well have to make my peace with the food stores.

9. Go on the university ski trip before it’s too late!
Quite simply something I’ve been meaning to do this from the moment I first arrived on campus as a fresher; since my student days are strictly number, it seems that this year could well be the one for a heavily subsidised skiing trip with my very best friends – what’s not to love?

10. Go Blonde
Considering how dark my natural colour is, I know that it will be difficult to achieve, maintain and probably do serious damage to my hair but the fact is, I really, really want to and have for as long as I can remember. I’m rapidly running out of reasons not to and am seriously beginning to feel that 2010 may be the year to fulfil my longest running (if most superficial and frivolous) ambition!

What are you going to achieve in 2010?