2012 Resolutions - How'd I do?

Yes, I am aware that it is February.  I'm a month late in reviewing my goals for last year, and I'm ok with that.  In 2011 I had much more concrete goals, and I failed at most of them. In 2012, instead of thinking up thinking up hard tasks to complete, and then failing at most of them again, I tried to pick things that were going to happen anyway (or at least should have!).  Let's see how I did:

1) Enjoy planning my wedding.  A+ Nailed it!  I loved loved loved planning my wedding.  I wish I could to it all over again!  Yes, there were times of stress.  But just like a mother forgets how painful child birth is, I barely recall those stressful moments now. To be completely honest, I actually battled a bit of planning withdrawal  the first few months afterwards (and at times I still get a little weepy realizing that it is all over).  Someone tell me I'm not the only person that went through this!

2) Get in shape for said wedding. B+ Pretty damn good.  I started working with a trainer once a month, six months before the wedding.  I didn't really feel the need to lose a ton of weight, but I definitely wanted to tone my body.  I actually put on weight because I gained muscle and was definitely a lot more defined, but like most women, I was not completely satisfied with my results.  My trainer was awesome, but due to my work schedule (and refusal to diet to any strict degree) I probably would've needed another month to get to a point where I would have felt my absolute best.  Fast forward to four months later, and I haven't been back to the gym! Need to get back on track and roll this goal forward to 2013.

3) Go to the Kentucky Derby for my 30th Birthday! A+ Nailed it again.  I had a great time, and I think everyone that joined us did too!  I never shared any pics from that trip, so here is a taste:

#THISISWHAT30LOOKSLIKE

4) Stick to my more routine blog routine. F Big Fat Fail.  I thought by trying to hit certain topics on certain days would keep me honest, but turns out, I'm not afraid to miss my own deadlines on this blog. I'm gonna keep trying folks.  This one will roll into 2013 in a special way - stay tuned. 

5) Plan a few more short vacations (and one really long one). C+ A -  A+ Final Answer. Our Honeymoon (the one really long one) was fan.tas.tic (it deserves it's own post, but here is a pic for now).  

Pointing to Sabi Sabi Private Reserve in Kruger National Park, South Africa

But we were pretty busy the rest of the year and I wouldn't really call any of our trips to visit friends and family in upstate NY or out to Long Island real vacations (we travel up/out pretty often, especially in the warmer weather).  But I did go to LA for the first time for a bachelorette/bridal shower (remember this post?) and we did go to Detroit in the early summer for that same friends wedding.  Oh yeah, and #3, Kentucky Derby! Oh yeah, and Vermont for Christmas! And Lake George for my bachelorette! So maybe I did better way better on this one than I realized.  

Overall, I feel really good when I look back on 2012.  It was an AMAZING year for so many reasons. 2012 will be hard to beat, but we certainly will try in 2013!

I drink Bud Lights and I cannot lie. Those are 2013 sunglasses on my head, not a crazy headband.

2012 Resolutions - Wish Me Luck!

So what may or may not be obvious to those without a blog is that putting stuff out there for the world wide web makes you feel slightly more accountable for your actions.  Notice I said slightly.  I gave myself a C+ on my 2011 resolutions, and given what I've got coming up in my personal life this year, I'm going to go pretty easy on myself this year.  I'm actually thinking of my resolutions as more of a bucket list - things I'd either like to do for myself, or do with my my Fiance before we get married (or at least before we have children, which will probably be within a year or so of getting married).

Some of these things are almost going to be like cheating, since they are already set in stone, but I really need to raise my arbitrary C+ to something more befitting my neurotic persona.  Here we go:

1) Enjoy planning my wedding.  I just had a freakout moment with my bridesmaids very recently...when I realized I made a mistake in the first bridesmaid dress I chose.  Luckily, all of my girls are awesome, and understanding, or at least nice enough to lie to me and tell me they don't mind getting something new (the first was only $40, so at least it isn't a huge financial burden, but I still feel defeated and guilty and mad at myself).  Overall, I've been enjoying it, but I'm sure as the date draws near, I'll have few more of these freak out moments.  I'll post a wedding status update (what we've planned, what we still need to work out) soon for those of you that are into that sort of thing.

2) Get in shape for said wedding. This one will be tough for me.  I like doing things like snowboarding and golfing, and the occasional kickboxing class, but gym rat, I am not.  I am fairly happy with my current weight, I just want to tighten up and tone all those problem areas.  I'll probably go full force with this and might even splurge on a trainer the last 2 or 3 months before the wedding.  I am not one to go on an all out diet, but I've already gotten better at cutting back on the nachos and wings. (Notice I said cutting back, not cutting out.  That just ain't gonna happen, friends.)

3) Go to the Kentucky Derby for my 30th Birthday!  This one is like cheating, because this trip is already planned, yo! I'm entitling the weekend "Tri-Kayla" (30th Birthday, Cinco De Mayo, Kentucky Derby, all the same day).


4) Stick to my more routine blog routine. This one will always be tough for me in certain times of the year (cough, busy season, cough) but I'm really trying to stick with it.  I mentioned in my 2011 review that I'd really love to re-vamp the look of this joint, and learn some more about coding, and photography.  I'm gonna throw in getting a few projects done around the house under this one too.  They all go hand in hand in my mind now (just ask Tom how often I say "this can be blog content!" whenever we are making/doing/buying something nowadays).


5) Plan a few more short vacations (and one really long one).  There is a big world out there, and Tom and I would like to see more of it.  I can only assume travel becomes exponentially harder with a kid or two, so hopefully we can find time (and money) to do a few weekend getaways.  We have some high hopes for our honeymoon (right now we are thinking Thailand and surrounding areas) because we figure, we may never have another opportunity to go so far away.  If anyone has an tips for travel to this area, please leave me a comment!

So there it is, world wide web.  Those are my resolutions. Encouragement to stick to them is always welcome!  What did you resolve to do this year?

2011 Resolutions - How'd I Do?

Last year I had six resolutions...let's see how I did:

1) Update the extra room in our apartment.  I'm gonna give my self a D+ on this one...while we did move everything in this room around, and at one point had a place for everything and everything in its place, life kept on going and this room didn't evolve fast enough for it.  Since getting engaged this past September, this room has become a dumping ground for all things wedding.  I'm vowing (vow - get it? I need to take this show on the road, amIright?) to get in organized again over the weekend, since it's only going to get worse in the coming months.  Aside from wedding decor like old books and various knickknacks, we've received a few engagement gifts, and I decided I wanted to wait until after we are married to actually use anything that was replacing something old (like the new pots and pans).  It's my way of making our new life together feel new as a married couple, since we won't be moving into a new house, or living together for the first time.  But back to the resolution, this one pretty much needs to be rolled forward to 2012, hence the D+

2) Work on this blog. I'm gonna go B- on this one...but only because I did some extra credit in the last few weeks by finally adding some routine to this blog.  Granted, I've yet to actually post a Make It Mondays post in the last three weeks, but patience is a virtue!  I've got some solid Foodie Fridays posts and I was even able to get in a Wedding Fun Wednesdays post. I told myself I wouldn't consider advertising until I had at least 100 followers, and I'm getting there (by the way, go to the right side bar and follow me if you haven't already!!). HTML coding...rolling it forward to 2012.  But I have gotten a lot better at photography, which wasn't part of the plan, but definitely a huge step in the right direction!

3) Paint the living room. F is for FAIL. 'nuff said there.

4) Cook more often, and find more healthy substitutes for my favorites.  I'm giving myself a A- on this one.  I learned a lot about myself and cooking and baking this past year.  I am not the insecure little girl in the kitchen anymore.  I still make mistakes, but I'm confident that I'm getting there.  I owe a lot of that this blog for keeping me accountable and for my Book Club for forcing me to try new things!

5) Get outside!  B+ here...Tom and I golfed a LOT this past summer...and I'm still pretty terrible, but I feel like I'm just another season or two away from making a breakthrough in my game.  I've had my good weeks and bad weeks with the gym, and with the wedding deadline looming, you know I'm going full throttle by next summer (and even though the gym is inside, I'm counting it).  We've got some weekends picked for snowboarding so this resolution will roll into 2012.  But overall I'm pretty happy with myself!

6) Learn to play the harmonica. Big Fat F on this one too.  My new harmonica with booklet and CD is literally still in the packaging. But I'm ok with it!

So #3 and #6 really dragged down my average, and #1 didn't really help me out either. And one year later, I don't really care about #3 and #6 and feel no urge to roll them over to 2012, so I'm actually pretty proud of my successes with #2, #4 and #5.  I'm not great with letter math, so let's call it C+??  

Actually reviewing my resolutions gives me some motivation for picking my new resolutions.  I'll be back next week with my new list!  How did you do with last year's resolutions?

New Year's Resolutions...

Happy New Year Everyone!  2011....I am really beginning to feel old! I was never really one to make (or keep) resolutions, but I think now that I have this blog, I may try to use this as an impetus to do just that. You all can keep me in check to make sure I'm progressing through out the year in my resolution/bucket list. This is what I've go so far (I reserve the right to update, add to, withdraw, and in any other way revise this list!):


1) Update our extra room in our apartment.  Putting this on the list is almost cheating - considering I already bought one bookcase and put it together a week ago (post to follow soon).  But as soon as it went up, I thought to myself that I needed to do more in the room than simply add a bookcase.  The name of this room has ranged from "Steph's bedroom" to "Kitty Room" to "Office" to "My Big Closet" (when it was the kitty room it was literally a room just for the cats, their toys, their food, their litter box, and where I locked them up to sleep at night so we wouldn't be bothered - mua hahahaaa).  I've always been hesitant to make any big purchases when it comes to furniture or decor, because I've always claimed I don't know what my real house will look like someday, and I want to wait to spend the money then.  We have already been in this apartment for over 2 years, which is the longest I've lived anywhere since graduating high school, and we estimate at least another 2 years here, so I think I need to change my attitude and start making rooms feel like home.

2) Work on this Blog. At this point it's hard for me to really articulate what that means to me...but I think it means something like gain some more followers, figure out the topical directions in which I want this to go, consider advertising, and possibly learn a little bit about coding my HTML?.  We will see about that last part.

3) Paint my living room. There was some heinous wallpaper border circling the room when we moved in.  That came down within the first few months.  Now the yellowed glue that I couldn't get off with my kitchen spatula and fingernails has been sitting for well over a year and though I always said I would never paint a rental, I think it's time I give the room some TLC.  Something basic and neutral so we don't have to worry about painting it again when we move out....12 foot ceilings should make this project interesting...

4) Cook more often, and find more healthy substitutes for my favorites. Healthy eater, I am not.  I'm not a huge sweets person, but my god I never saw a plate of nachos I didn't like.  I am a pretty picky eater too, but I have a couple staple meals I like to order from all the local ethnic restaurants, and we eat delivery for dinner more than I'd like to admit, and who knows what is really going into those recipes.  More specifically, I'd like to learn how to make things like pad thai, lo mein, and tika masala. If you've got any tried and true recipes for these, let me know! I'll never let go of my chicken wings and nachos entirely, but cutting it back to only a once or twice a month should help me out in the waistline, the arteries, the wallet, the overall longevity of my life...

5) Get outside! Again, gym person, I am not.  I'm pretty lucky that I am so petite to begin with, but my eating habits are beginning to catch up with me.  Saying I'm going to go the gym more often doesn't sound like any fun to me, but what does sound like fun is trying to get out and enjoy some more of the sporting activities that I like.  I loooove to golf and last summer my boyfriend caught the bug with me.  I got him his own set of clubs for his birthday in mid September, and I think this spring/summer/fall we will use them as much as we can.  Hopefully I'll actually go often enough to improve!  Also about 3 winters ago we tried skiing and snowboarding, and I realized I really enjoy snowboarding. It is a workout in itself!  Now that I have weekends off in the winter time, I am hoping we will get to try this more often as well.  Of course these two sports are pretty expensive, but I think it's money well spent to be outside and moving around.

6) Learn to play the harmonica. While I have a better mind to keep this one a secret until I'm ready to get up and play in front of people, typing it out for the interweb to read seems to really force me to work on this one. This will be the hardest for me I think...wish me luck!

What are your resolutions?