The best part about making New Year’s resolutions is going back to see how you did. So, rather than a year-in-review post, here’s how my resolutions for this year panned out.
1. It’s not really a resolution, but I’d like to give birth already! Everyone thought I’d go early, Baby Ellie was “due” yesterday, but she’s still firmly in the womb. I’m 40% effaced and 2 1/2cm dilated, but that doesn’t exactly mean a whole lot. I have contractions on and off, but nothing has had any staying power. Prodromal labor continues…
I finally gave birth, on January 8th. Okay, that was a cheater resolution, since I couldn’t stay pregnant forever. Having a homebirth was, hands down, one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.
2. I want to run a half marathon before the end of the year, with the ultimate goal of running a full marathon next year. Bill is on board with me (he said he’d go so far as to do a 5K, but probably not a half marathon), so I’ll have a running buddy (or an understanding husband who won’t argue when I need to go spend two hours running on weekends.)
Not only did I run my half marathon, but I am scheduled for TWO marathons in 2013: the Little Rock Marathon and, as an official in-person member of Team Mercy Project, the Scott & White BCS Marathon in Texas. Bill and I ran a 5K on Thanksgiving morning, and he’s committed to at least doing a half marathon this year, on Team Mercy Project with me at the BCS Marathon. However, he has tentatively agreed that if we raise enough money for a marathon entry, he’ll do the full. Fingers crossed!
3. Do yoga at least three times a week. I feel SO much better when I’m doing yoga, and it’s a good cross-training thing to do with running.
Yeah, this didn’t happen. Not even close. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I did yoga. Having a baby around will do that to a person!
4. Bring reusable bags to the grocery store. Every single time. Extra points if I can make a serious habit out of it and bring them to non-grocery stores as well. We bring home entirely too many plastic bags, and recycling them isn’t as good as not having them to deal with in the first place. We have a decent number of reusable bags; I just need to come up with a better way to remember to bring them.
I didn’t do this every single time, but I brought my reusable bags with me at least 95% of the time that I went to the grocery store. My record is much worst at non-grocery stores. I’ve found that even though stores like Target sell reusable bags, they just aren’t set up to bag your stuff that way. Still, that’s no excuse, although I am proud of myself for creating the habit of my reusable bags at the grocery store.
5. My knitting goals of the year are to make Blake a pair of mittens during National Knit Mittens Month (January), and to get to work on a Sylvi coat. Bill bought me the yarn for it for Mother’s Day. I generally don’t do a lot of yarn work until the weather cools off, plus we were busy moving in, and then I focused on baby knitting, so I haven’t even started it.
Blake got half of a mitten, and then I frogged it. Sigh. Again, while working on that Sylvi coat is something I still REALLY want to do, accomplishing any yarn crafts with the baby in the house has been next to impossible, particularly because I was focusing so much on running during any downtime this year.
6. My crochet goal of the year is to finish (okay, I haven’t technically finished the first BLOCK yet, so maybe “start” is a better term) the Moorish Mosaic afghan. I can’t crochet nearly as well, or fast, as I can knit (not that I would say I’m a fast knitter by any stretch of the imagination), so it’s a challenge. Maybe even moreso than the Sylvi.
See above. The yarn is in the exact same place as it was last year, right next to my couch, which, one would think, would make me pick it up and use it. Not so much.
7. Work through a good chunk of my yarn stash and fabric stash. I need to stop being afraid to cut into some of my favorite fabrics or use some of my best yarn, and actually make things to enjoy out of those materials rather than having them stuffed up in a closet.
What the heck was I thinking when I was making all of these craft goals? Oh yeah, I was only a mom of two at that point.
8. Blog more. Because what is the point of having a blog when there aren’t many entries?
I did blog a little bit more, but not much. I am sad about all of the posts from the past year that are missing. Maybe one day I’ll go back and fix that.
9. Go on more vacations. Nothing extravagant (no Disney World for us this year!) but we always have such a good time when we go away for three-day weekends, and generally don’t spend a whole lot because we choose places that are in “off-season” and now that we’re vegans, there won’t be a lot of eating out. We spent President’s Day weekend on Hilton Head island last year, the beaches were deserted and we spent $40 a night on a hotel room. We have such good memories from that trip. That’s the kind of thing I’d like to aim for, more than once, this year. With a camping trip thrown in for good measure.
We did a few more daytrips this year, a couple of times to Atlanta, to the Orange and White game in Knoxville, and we took two long vacations. We did a week in Pennsylvania for my cousin’s wedding and a week in Outer Banks, NC for Thanksgiving. I did figure out that if I choose marathons that are in other states, we can get a little weekend trip out of the deal, so that’s how we’re planning things for this year. We never did have our camping trip this year.
10. Take more pictures. Bill bought me a thin, light camera for Christmas; now I’ve got to use the heck out of it!
I definitely took more pictures. Now if only I could figure out a fast way to resize them and get them hosted so I can get them on the blog a bit easier!
10 1/2. I resolve to come back to this post once a month to report on my progress. Accountability and all that jazz.
Uh, not so much.
All in all, I wouldn’t say I did a horrible job. I’m most proud of giving birth to a healthy baby, although the best non-biological event of this year was finishing that half marathon and raising more than $450 for Mercy Project. But, as usual, there is room to improve. Stay tuned for my resolutions for 2013!
Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: | blogging, crochet, exercise, family, goals, health, kids, knitting, marathon, mercy project, pregnancy, running, training, travel
[...] year, I didn’t do so well on my resolutions. The ones I accomplished, I mostly knocked out of the park. I also was a bit unrealistic about [...]