Reflections: 2010 Resolutions

I had this post half written and with plans to post on 1-4-11, but I got a little sidetracked with the whole labor/motherhood/survival with a newborn phase of life I entered. But now that I'm sorta sometimes finding a few minutes to myself (hands free pumping bra = NECESSITY! How did I not have one for 3 weeks?!?!) I'm hoping to actually get back to the blog, and this is a decent place to start - looking back, and planning ahead.

So, how did you do in 2010? Was it everything you wanted it to be and more? Did you find your true calling and move mountains and sing about lollipops and rainbows?

Mine wasn't quite that grand (definitely fades in comparison to 2011 already), but I give myself a solid C+ when it comes to my resolutions for this past year. In case you forget:

Original resolution posting
Mid year resolution check

I managed to hit a home run on a few of these:

- Cross at least 6 items off of my Bucket List (that's 1 every 2 months)
BIG WIN! In 2010 I: attended a roller derby bout, flew on a trapeze, won at bingo, helped throw a surprise party, officiated a wedding, and had my fortune told. I definitely get a gold star on that resolution!

- Take more photos, learn to take better ones
Though I've been pretty terrible lately about uploading & blogging them, I have definitely taken more photos this year, and I *think* I can say I'm getting a little better. The most important thing I've learned is to force people to stop and smile for me, which I generally do by threatening to post everything on facebook whether or not they smile - and clearly, they're going to look better if they cooperate :) Though my favorite photo of the year doesn't involve ANYONE smiling, I'm in love with this image from Halloween:



- Keep up with photo albums - within 1 month of events
This is another one I feel AWESOME about accomplishing! Other than being behind on the weddings of 2009 (we had 6...and I only have photos of 3...but I'm getting bolder about harassing people into handing over a few pics, i.e. Jen/Jess/Pat :) I'm coming for you!) I'm really doing excellent on my digital scrapbooking! I am still technically a representative for Heritage Makers, and I have LOVED using their system to keep everything organized, I try to upload pics there within a week of the event, and get to the journaling ASAP before I forget everything. I've gotten quicker and more efficient on the embellishments, and I really love what I've been creating lately.

- 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!

We almost scrapped this one when we found out I was pregnant with The Cupcake, but after much waffling (and since we already had expensive airline tickets) we decided to push forward with a trip to New York. It was a little difficult being 10 weeks or so along(I was really sick & pretty exhausted), but who knows now when we'd get the opportunity again, so I'm glad we went for it. Highlights were seeing friends and eating some AMAZING meals, seeing the Broadway production of American Idiot and visiting the Bronx Zoo.



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

Getting pregnant actually helped significantly with this! The further along I got, the worse my heartburn was, so I had a fairly limited diet towards the end. I was drinking 1/2 gallon of milk per day, lots of jell-o, oatmeal, and other bland foods. It was easier to bring in a huge stash and eat throughout the day than exert the energy (and money) to go out for a full meal.

And then we reach the less successful resolutions...

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

Massive fail. It's a deathtrap up there. Probably not likely to be cleared up for quite a while. Yay for closing the door and letting it sit till I can catch up :)


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

Hmmm...how to judge. I massively blew my budget. But I enjoyed the party :)




- Develop a career plan. Decide what I want to be...now that I AM grown up!
No idea. For the time being, I'm going to try and survive my new post as mom :)


- File my receipts and bills at least monthly...and catch up with the ones thrown in a box from the past many years.
Fail. Though I have started to sort through some of it now that I'm on maternity leave, mostly because I have no idea where all my tax documents are (that I'll need soon).


- Create and pursue happiness actively

Work in progress. But I'm getting better at it. I'm finding joy in small things, and making time for what makes me happy, not just what I feel I should do.





- Start writing letters. Real letters on paper.

Fell off the priority list. Refile for a few years in the future :)


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

Progress made. 2011 is starting off good in this area, which makes everything else more attainable.


I'm not making resolutions for 2011. I don't need to. I have so many changes and adventures ahead of me, I just hope to survive, keep an open mind, and enjoy as much of it as I can. Happy New Year to me:

Hello, Cupcake!

Big news in my life...the Cupcake has arrived!



I'm WAYYYY behind now on posting (and laundry, and sleep, and everything else :) but I'm working my way back to the land of the living and hope to catch up soon. In the meantime, I'm spending my days with this little princess:

Bucketlist #126 Have my fortune told or cards read

I've been meaning to get this posted for a few months now, but as I review my resolutions and accomplishments for 2010 I wanted to make sure I "credit" myself for this one :)

Each year for Halloween I've tried to add some sort of entertainment to our annual party, something for guests to "do" besides socialize and imbibe (not that those activities aren't fully endorsed as well). This year I tried extra hard to actually match the entertainment to the theme, and decided to hire a psychic. New Orleans is (apparently - I've never been there) full of psychic shops and storefronts, and with the soon to be nursery decked out as a voodoo shop, it would be a perfect venue.




With the help of Google, I settled on Penny of RavenHawke LLC. She had all sorts of credentials that I don't fully understand, instead my reasons for choosing her were 1. she was available and 2. she appeared to be a live human being, in addition to having a legible website. We signed a contract MONTHS before the actual party, and then continued to check in periodically to make sure everything was still on. It was, and she showed up all professional and on time, ready for an evening of psychic readings, palmistry, and tarot.



People really got excited about it! There was a line most of the night, and she ended up staying even later than I had paid her for to get through everyone who wanted a reading. (Thanks, Penny!) From what I heard there weren't too many startling discoveries - a lot of people were told they needed more rest, they had found their soul mate, and other fairly simple things, a few people got reassurance that situations would work out or that their path was correct.

(Random semi-mean thought: If I were a psychic I'd totally tell people they DID NOT find their soul mates. Wouldn't that make for much more interesting parties? Especially since I paid her up front, it wasn't like she had to keep people happy :) But oh well, maybe all my friends really do have amazing wonderful love lives, and everyone found their destiny. Who knows...)



When I finally got a chance to sneak into line, I was planning on tarot but opted for the palmistry at the last minute, because for some reason I had the sudden idea it would be more "scientific" and therefore somehow valid. Who knows, I was tired and pregnant and hopped up on strawberry compote and vanilla ice cream :) Here's what I remember of my fortune:

She said I have 6 guardian angels, a "teacher's square", and my normally strong communication skills are being drown out by my extreme exhaustion. She suggested I get more rest. I also have some psychic markings, suggesting I rely on my intuition, and I am logically driven but use emotion to make decisions in the end.

Some fairly general ideas, but some details that could be seen as pretty relevant, and nothing that seemed way off base. It was a pretty fun experience, and having a psychic as party entertainment worked twofold - it was of course fun and exciting to have your own fortunes revealed, but it was just as fun if not more so to listen in on the readings of other guests. Do I sorta wish she had been a cheesy over the top Madame Cleo type psychic? Yeah, probably. But I suppose "authentic" has it's purpose too :)

Anyways, check another item off my bucket list, because in addition to providing party entertainment, Madame Penny also fulfilled #126 - have my fortune told or cards read = DONE!