12 goals for 2012 - check in

Time for another check in on the progress of my 12 goals for 2012

Completed:
6. go away with G for the weekend without the kids
-- back in April the girls spent the weekend with G's parents and he and I had a weekend away to Hermann Mo.  We aren't really the "wine and antiquing" crowd, but it was nice to have some time just the two of us.

8. visit a farmers market or join a vegetable co-op
-- I signed up with Shared Bounty CSA and last weekend they delivered our first cooler full of vegetables.  I wasn't really sure what some of the items were, but we're figuring it out and I'm hoping this will result in some new veggies in our regular rotation.  J was really excited to see what we got and eagerly tasted things.  M is a bit more hesitant -- she says she doesn't like vegetables.

9. read at least 3 books by authors I haven't read before
I've completed this with no problem:
-- "The Gingerbread Bump-off" by Livia J. Washburn, turned out to be a pretty decent mystery. I'll probably pick up some other books by this author in the future.
-- "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)" by Mindy Kaling. I've always found her funny and I definitely enjoyed it.
-- All three books in "The Hunger Games" series.  I put off reading these because of all the hype but overall I did enjoy the story line.  I haven't seen the movie, but I probably will at some point.
-- "Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Super Athletes, and the Greatest Race the World has Never Seen" by Christopher McDougall.  I saw this mentioned on a blog I read and even though I'm not a "runner" I did enjoy hearing about the utlra-marathoners and the history of this hidden tribe.
-- Finished "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin.  This is another one I saw mentioned on a blog.  It's an account of her journey to make changes in her life to be happier, it's not the easiest/quickest read -- but overall a good message.

In Progress:
1. learn how to make really great soup
-- I'm still in search of a soup I can make well... I'm starting to think it's my lack of cooking skills :)  It's not really soup weather any more, so I think I'll put this one off until the fall.

3. find a charity I really believe in and volunteer there
-- I recently found out that the Creve Coeur Days carnival/parade is put on by a non-for-profit organization that raises money through the event and distributes it area charitable and philanthropic organizations.  I've contacted them and will begin volunteering with them in early June.

4. try 3 new family owned/non-chain restaurants
-- For my cousin's birthday we tried a little family run bakery called La Dolce Via that is down in the city.  The food was great and we had a really nice and relaxed time.
-- One Sunday, we tried a new family run place that is close by called Jenny's Diner.  The food was good, but they were very busy and the service was a little slow.  We'll have to try it again once it's been open a little longer to see if the service is better.

5. have a family picnic in a park
-- the girls and I had a picnic at the Millenium Park playground with my sister and niece, but G wasn't with us -- so while it was family, it wasn't really what I originally had in mind.

10. find a red lipstick I love
-- I purchased a new red lipstick this past weekend, I think it may be a little too pink for me... I'm still deciding.

11. see a band play live
-- we went to the high-school girls basketball game back in February (because the girls had been doing a basketball clinic with the team) and the pep-band was playing. So technically I saw a band play live, but this isn't really what I had in mind when I setup this goal.
-- we have tickets to go see Fiona Apple in July -- this will be the first time we've seen her in concert, G is super excited and I can't wait!

12. teach the girls to bake 1 thing
-- M has made chocolate chip cookies 3 times now.  She can make the dough all by herself and I just help putting the trays in and out of the oven.
-- I still need to find something to make with J.

Not Yet Started:
2. take the girls to paint pottery
7. try a new exercise class (maybe zumba or spinning - not sure yet)

My current score:
3 - Finished
7 - In Progress
2 - Not Yet Started

Considering it's not yet June I think I'm in pretty good shape for the year!

12 things in 2012 - Feb update

So we're one month into the year, time to check in and see how the goals are coming...

1. learn how to make really great soup
-- in January I made both broccoli cheddar and potato soup, neither were horrible, but neither were great either, still working on this

9. read at least 3 books by authors I haven't read before
I should be able to finish this one with no problem,
-- Finished "The Gingerbread Bump-off" by Livia J. Washburn, turned out to be a pretty decent mystery. I'll probably pick up some other books by this author in the future.
-- I'm in the middle of reading "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)" by Mindy Kaling. So far I'm enjoying this one, I may even try some of the books by the other comedians that came out more recently.
-- I have "The Hunger Games" on the Nook and ready to read when we go out of town on our next trip.

11. see a band play live
-- we went to the high-school girls basketball game last friday night (because the girls had been doing a basketball clinic with the team) and the pep-band was playing. So technically I saw a band play live, but this isn't really what I had in mind when I setup this goal :)

12. teach the girls to bake 1 thing
-- M and I made chocolate chip cookies last weekend to take to my niece's birthday party. M did everything except run the mixer and get them out of the oven. They were tasty. I think we're on our way with this one.


No Progress yet --
2. take the girls to paint pottery
3. find a charity I really believe in and volunteer there
4. try 3 new family owned/non-chain restaurants
5. have a family picnic in a park
6. go away with G for the weekend without the kids
7. try a new exercise class (maybe zumba or spinning - not sure yet)
8. visit a farmers market or join a vegetable co-op
10. find a red lipstick I love

* PS -- the photo at the top is J hula-hooping. The girls got a couple hula-hoops for x-mas and they've been hula-hooping off and on all month, sometimes using 2 or 3 at once.

12 Things I want to accomplish this year...

2012 -- 12 Things I want to accomplish this year (in no particular order) --

1. learn how to make really great soup
2. take the girls to paint pottery
3. find a charity I really believe in and volunteer there
4. try 3 new family owned/non-chain restaurants
5. have a family picnic in a park
6. go away with G for the weekend without the kids
7. try a new exercise class (maybe zumba or spinning - not sure yet)
8. visit a farmers market or join a vegetable co-op
9. read at least 3 books by authors I haven't read before
10. find a red lipstick I love
11. see a band play live
12. teach the girls to bake 1 thing

I plan to track these through-out the year and really try to enjoy my free time, not worry so much about the big stuff, but focus on the little things that make life fun.


Recap of 2011 Goals --

Last year I only had 5 goals, which should be totally doable but I guess life got in the way and I really was only successful on 3 of the 5. I got busy with work and kind-of forgot about them outside of my "one little word" mantra of simplify. Even so, it's good to look back and see how far I've come in the past year.

1) simplify - success
We donated a lot to Goodwill and Charity Clothing last year, got rid of the stuff we just don't use anymore, cut down on the trips to Target and overall the purchase of stuff. We also started visiting stores/restaurants closer to home and spent more time just hanging out at home. This goal is bigger, more of a life goal of being happy with what we have and not over complicating things.

2) take a group photo once a month - success
I took a lot of group shots of family, friends, Brownie and Daisy troupes, cousins, birthday parties, etc. It think I got more than 12 without even trying but I must say this wasn't accomplished because I tried to take group shots but because I take a lot of photos.

3) eat at home more -- fail
This one is a constant struggle, we do pretty well for a while and then work and activities get busy and then we eat out all the time. We'll continue to work on/struggle with this again this year and probably the next 12 until the girls move out and then we'll just eat out all the time and not care about it.

4) exercise at least 3 times a week -- fail
I've been a slacker with exercise this year. I started out walking/running 3 times a week but then my feet and heals/joints started to hurt and I backed off and never really got motivated again. I continued with yoga, sometimes sporadic, but it's still the my go-to activity.

5) travel somewhere new - success
G and I went to Aruba over Spring Break, without the kids, and it was the best. We also went to Lincoln's Boyhood home and to the top of the Arch this summer before and after our trip to Holiday World so I think this one was covered.

M age 9!

M turned 9 on Friday (Dec 16th). She is only 1 year away from double digits and is half-way to driving -- yikes!

M is such a smart, caring girl. She loves to read, likes science and has some really great friends at school. She likes to play school, her room is always a mess, and she always has some sort of art or writing project in the works.

This year, she's not only playing piano, but at school they are learning to play recorder and violin. She is really enjoying strings and has asked for a violin for Christmas -- I told her she had to wait until next fall, but I have a feeling we'll have many more instruments in the house before it's all said and done.

J - age 7

J is now 7 (as of Nov 28)... wow, I can't believe how fast this last year went. She's such a goof ball and so independent. She's a total tomboy. She loves her friends and, while she mostly likes to play with the boys, she really is friends with everyone.

She likes to read, write, do math & science - really anything that gets thrown at her. Two of the boys in her class this year are hearing impaired and she's learning sign language from the interpreter that is part of thier class. She really loves that she can sign and include these new friends into her life.

Her favorites are Pokemon, Angry Birds, bey-blades, legos, soccer and kick-ball.

She is progressing quickly in her piano lessons and is currently enjoying playing "O' Christmas Tree"

She does not like to sit still. She likes to be upside down - doing handstands and back bends over and over -- so much so that she bruised her heal and had to wear a boot for a couple weeks. Man she did not like that boot -- she wanted to run and play and it slowed her way down.

I don't know what this next year will bring, I'm sure there will be many adventures, lots of learning and some mishaps, I can't wait!