One thing I was never good at was keeping tab
on my New Year's resolutions and self-made promises. Come April I was sure to
drop it. Not this year, no sir! That's why my 12 things in 2012 was left up as a page and every so often I like to look through
it. I am actually quite excited about it!
1-Deepen my relationship with
Christ- YES! Although this is one of those 'never will be checked out of my
list thing', I can honestly say I have been working hard, and HE has been
working hard on me. We found a Godly church, have gotten involved, and I've
learning to pass on love instead of judgment (which is HUGE for me!).
2-Lose weight- When I wrote these
12 things for the first time I was nearly ten pounds heavier. I still have a loong
way to go, but I am taking baby steps to change my relationship with food.
3-Paint and do some at
least five DYI projects around my house- Let's see, I made a knob hook project, a mural, some new shoes, my wall of inspiration, and have gone back to cross-stitching. If I learned my numbers
right, that is five right there. Of course, I came up with an obvious low
number in order to achieve it and feel good about myself. But now I can focus
on working on five MORE!
4-Improve my cooking- Have
been definitely slacking on this one. Yes, I've made a Summer Succotash, a Country Salad a Pumpkin and Bean Soup, soup, Tahine Brocoli and Soy Sauce Pasta and
Barley Casserole. I’ve
also learned to make pancakes, although
they are easy peasy. Overall, this is still an area I lack, but I am trying to
do it joyfully, which means going slowly.
5-Learn to sew- Not yet. I would
love to get a sewing machine for my birthday, and I dream of patchwork and
crochet goodness, but I am still on my cross-stitching 101. Someday….
6-Get my Education specialist
degree (almost there!)- DONE! I turned my internship paperwork, now I just have to wait on
my diploma. I heard it takes a couple of months to push the paperwork through,
but I am officially no longer a student!
7-Submit my writing for a
blog as a guest blogger- I certainly did. I wrote to (In)Courage once, which was never
published, and that is ok. I also wrote a guest post for Yes Teacher Crafts
which will be published this summer- I’ll let you know when! AND, I wrote a
post for a Brazilian wine blog talking about veggie options in restaurants, which can be found here for all you Portuguese-speaking folks.
Yay!
8-Cut off animal products- Hum…I still love me
some ice-cream, eat eggs on almost a daily basis and can’t live without butter
or cheese. I have, however, extended my veggie way of life onto purchases,
avoiding leather and suede, and supporting green brands. Does that count?
9-Set a workout routine- and
stick to it!- This one I was afraid of. I wrote it down because I knew I had to
get it done, but I had no desire to
tackle it. Until I went into a Curves
gym one day and fell in love with the premise. It’s simple. It’s fast. It’s a
bunch of women gossiping for 30 minutes while moving around. And although it’s
not the best exercise to become a size 2, it’s a good start for me.
10-Take more pictures (of
pretty much everything)- I still procrastinate on this one. My camera is not the best, and I
tend to forget it in my drawer. Maybe when I take a week of work I’ll
permanently strap it to my wrist to make up for the six months I didn’t focus
on this.
11-Volunteer somewhere- Not only did I
volunteer at a doggie rescue NGO, I took
a doggie home! Next step is to get involved in church with the kids
ministry, so I’ll be bringing this up with my pastor soon!
12-Learn to manage save
money- My husband and I are definitely getting better at this. More
importantly, we are learning to trust God in providing for us!
Seven out of ten, not bad at all!
I also pledged for Earth Day to buy more
local produce. Yeah, totally forgot about this, as my South African fruit punch
can attest (oops!). I promise to keep it in mind when shopping for fruits and
vegetables next week! Baby steps!
How about you? Where are you in your 2012 resolutions?
