Friday, July 23, 2010

Mid-Year Resolution Check

The scary/convenient double edged sword that is blogging your resolutions means that it's easy to see each day your failures and/or accomplishments. Being more than 1/2 way through the adventure that is 2010, it's not a bad time to check in on the wistful ideals I had all the way back at the beginning of the year. Because, you know, the fact that I cried over a lack of ice cream toppings in the fridge last night in no way dissuades me from serious philosophical discussions of my life's trajectory...

2010 Resolutions

- Cross at least 6 items off of my Bucket List (that's 1 every 2 months)

Three down, so I'm roughly on track though in pursuit of #2 I've sort of knocked out the likelihood of working on about half of the rest of the list, such as #41 (roller coaster tour - people get all nervous and picture scrambled eggs or something. Or maybe they just know how much we puke and don't want to tempt fate), and ditto #49 (run on a log like in a lumberjack competition). All of the big money items (anything with travel, buy, own...) are on the DL until further notice, and let's face it, #64 was always a long shot (be proud of my government). All that said, I have a few items in the works, and especially if this mythical 2nd trimester reprieve ever kicks in, I just *might* be able to pull this resolution off.

- Organize my craft room again, and keep it that way for the whole year

Massive fail. And getting worse all the time. I cleaned it once...for about 10 minutes. Then with each large project, I've destroyed all sense of order and had zero energy or drive to repair it. Hmmm. Even were I to get to this soon, I'm not sure I could ever claim it as a win...though I hope to have it at least functional before the big B drops on our lives...

- Take more photos, learn to take better ones

Also not going great. The clear side effect of cutting our Internet access was a decrease in my overall computer time - that means uploading photos, blogging, scrapbooking...also my lack of "doing anything interesting" may be a factor. With Halloween coming up, and back into the holidays maybe I'll get better. And I still hold out hope of taking a photo class.


- Keep up with photo albums - within 1 month of events

I'm actually caught up with current events, and within reasonable sight of finishing up the few I've dilly-dallied on, so I can declare this a clear win so far! WHOO HOO!


- Stick to a realistic budget this Halloween, while still having the best party ever

How can this be right around the corner already?!?! Though I've chosen a theme, I've yet to really get moving on anything...but that also means I haven't blown my budget yet, so once I make one...it's still possible to accomplish this.


- Develop a career plan. Decide what I want to be...now that I AM grown up!

Getting further and further away, and definitely will not be changing any time soon. While I suppose it doesn't preclude me from PLANNING, I can't switch jobs (or more importantly, INSURANCE) during the pregnancy, so this one...not really going to happen.


- File my receipts and bills at least monthly...and catch up with the ones thrown in a box from the past many years.

HA HA HA HA HA. Yeah, right.


-Create and pursue happiness actively

This is more of a mantra, and I'm sometimes okay about it. Especially if I can consider happiness to be a nap, or ice cream...I'm pursuing them with a vengeance.


- Start writing letters. Real letters on paper.


I wrote one. To my grandma. Is that a "start"?


- Pay down debt. Significantly. Maybe even start saving.

Even more important to me now, and even less attainable. Though I've tightened the reigns as much as possible, our impending costs are really going to offset any progress thus far. But it's still a major goal.


- Bring my lunch to work more often. Like at least sometimes :) I'm so bad at this.

This was an on again/off again battle pre-pregnancy, and now that I'm epically tired (not to mention broke) I'm actually doing much better at bringing things from home to avoid having to trek around at lunch time savaging. Also a factor: I'm supposed to eat 6 smaller meals a day, as opposed to 3 larger, in an attempt to actually retain some of my stomach contents. So far the results are debatable, but it *could* finally be looking up...


- Take a real vacation with my husband. Actually go somewhere, just the two of us. We've been together 10 years (in January 2010), and never had a big solo vacation!

Well, it probably wasn't ideal to travel to a crazy busy walking-heavy city at 10 weeks, but the airfare was booked, the show tickets were purchased, and the mermaids were waiting! Somehow we survived 8 days in NYC - we ate great meals, caught up with amazing friends, and remembered just how important "Minnesota Nice" is (when you don't see it).



Here's hoping we can make vacations a bit more of a priority in the next 10 years.


So, in summary: 12 resolutions
4 clear failures
4 solid wins
4 with the potential to swing either way

Could be worse. How are you doing on your resolutions?

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