A Fool of Myself

My blogging pal lifestudent tagged me yesterday. With a lack of ideas today, I thought I might keep the fun alive. Here we go:

8 Things To Which I Am Looking Forward

1. 5/22: The first day of my 10-day vacation.
2. 5/28: The second annual Ladies Trail Ride with my mom, aunt, and horses.
3. 6/6: The day both sisters-in-law arrive in Nixa with their hubbies and kiddos.
4. 6/10: My four-year wedding anniversary.
5. 7/15: The release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
6. 9/9ish: The arrival of my brother’s first-born Livie Jo.
7. 9/10: The return of Linden.
8. 9/12: The opening leg of U2′s American tour at Soldier Field in Chicago.

8 Things I Did Yesterday

1. Woke up at 5:25 AM
2. Ran three miles
3. Made a rather disgusting batch of iced coffee
4. Watched a biography on Cameron Diaz
5. Ate lunch with my pal Heather and her kiddo Noah
6. Celebrated my mother-in-law’s birthday
7. Began reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
8. Went to bed at 10:15 PM

8 Things I’d Like to Do

1. Run four days a week (in the mornings) all summer long
2. Spend my vacation on a beach reading
3. Find two solid-wood chests of drawers to refinish this summer
4. Run a marathon
5. Buy the perfect pair of blue jeans
6. Make ice cream
7. Find uses for the three tubs of yarn I’ve recently been given
8. Go bungee jumping again

8 Shows I Watch

1. Dancing with the Stars
2. So You Think You Can Dance
3. The Office
4. CSI
5. Grey’s Anatomy
6. Private Practice
7. Cupid
8. Castle

8 People I Tag (and People Whose Blogs You Should Read)

1. The Other Sarah
2. Teresa
3. Betsy
4. Jen
5. Another Chris
6. Sabre
7. Jason
8. Linden, of course

Consider this my attempt at planning. I’m generally a well-organized gal, but that’s when I’m following a leader–someone who is wielding a sword, clearing the path in front of me. I have never been a good president of any of my college or high school clubs, but I make a fine VP. Just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.

Here at BGnet, no one is clearing the path for me, and no one is telling me what to do, so I’m just sort of winging this blogging thing. Thankfully, Daily Blog Tips is sponsoring a What Are Your Internet Goals for 2009? Group Writing Project, and I figure participating will at least help me think about what I want to accomplish for BGnet in 2009.

• Increase RSS subscribers to 500 (2008: about 20, if that)
• Increase Twitter followers to 500 (2008: about 40)
• Increase page impressions to 200/day (2008: about 200/month)
• Increase ad revenue to $5/day (2008: $5/year)
• Post 3-4 times a week (2008: one post a week, if that)
• Share 2-3 blogging-related tweets a day (2008: no BGnet Twitter account)
• Publish one blog carnival post a week (2008: about one a month)
• Guest blog on one blogging-related blog a month (2008: two guest posts total)
• Write guidelines for guest bloggers/BGnet contributors
• Write a BGnet media kit for advertisers
• Open BGnet to other blogging writers
• Create a network of blogging bloggers

I’m not sure if these goals are too lofty or too modest, but with them I want to primarily accomplish the tag line that’s currently on BGnet: Read. Learn. Post. I want readers. I want my readers to learn something. I want my readers to contribute so other readers can learn.

I have no idea how I’m going to accomplish these goals. Some of them will be easy because I have sole control over them, while others may or may not pan out depending upon whether I work really hard and have favor with other bloggers.

So here’s to 2009. We’ll see how it goes!