This year I resolve…no more resolutions.

The “goals” that I worked on last year, seemed to do alright by me, and those that didn’t can stick around this year and we’ll see if we can make them work. Let’s take a peek back and see how well we did:

(If you remember I was trying to make all my goals fit into the three categories of Connect, Improve and Focus.)

12 for 2012

1. Spend some time catching up with old friends. I have really enjoyed re-connecting with my high school friends this past year and have many other old friends who deserve at the very least a phone call or email this year. (Connect) – Success! I feel like I managed to connect and spend time with lots of old (and new!) friends over the year. Still a goal I’d like to keep in this year’s lineup.

2. Schedule a one-on-one date with Emma and Addie and Daddy at least once a month so I can really focus on each of them and give them their own time. (Connect and Focus) - OH, so failed. We had some date nights but so did not get a once monthly in. Has to stay on this year’s list.

3. Run more. Sign up for a half-marathon in May (and maybe a 2nd in October) which will force me to train. (Focus and Improve) – Eh, sort of half and half. I did run, but that “more” part didn’t really happen. I’ve signed up for a couple races, so this should force the “more” part to happen this year.

4. Up my yoga to 2-3 days a week, mostly to combat the increase in running on my joints & muscles, but also to help find my happy place. (Focus and Improve) I didn’t up my yoga – but I was consistent on at least one class each week. So I call that a success.

5. Try a new recipe/cooking technique once a week. I was going to say healthy but – that might not always be a goal that I can follow. (Improve) – Fail. I definitely branched “out” – I learned to use my pressure cooker, found some great new slow cooker recipes, and am learning to be a bread baker right now, but that “once a week” might need to be changed to maybe “once a month!”

6. Picking up my camera and taking an “OMG, this is my fave photo of the week!” photo every single week. – (Improve) – EPIC fail. I can’t believe how few photos I took this year. I did a lot of iphone shooting, Instagramming and such but when I went through Flickr to get photos for the calendar…yikes! We had slim pickings. I’m definitely keeping this one on 2013′s list.

7. Organize the sewing/craft/spare bedroom so I can make some time for some creating. (Focus and Improve) – Success! The sewing and crafts are back down in the playroom, but we are organized and we created a lot of great things this year! But let’s keep the momentum going and leave it on the list.

8. Paint our kitchen cabinets and blinds. (IMPROVE) - Success!! Happily can remove that one from the list. Hopefully forever.

9. Read (and blog about) one book each month for the year. (Improve) – I read far more than a book each month. But didn’t really blog about any of them. Maybe we could do a little online book club? Anyone interested in that?

10. Turn 40 gracefully. (Hmmm…Improve, I guess?) – Oaf. I guess I was somewhat graceful when I turned 40? It was a great year, so I’m not complaining about 40. Yet.

11. Take a cruise with my family and r-e-l-a-x during a massage on the beach. (Connect) Success! How I’d love to keep this on the list, but since we are celebrating our 20 year anniversary in August, I think our family vacation is going to head down to Key West instead.

and

12. Ask myself “Does this help me connect, focus or improve myself or my family?” before I say yes to ANY volunteer activities this year. – I think that I succeeded here. I really did say NO to a lot of things that didn’t “work” for us this year. And although our life is crazy most days and full of chaos, I think it is all for the good of our family and I know the girls will look back on their childhood years and remember all of the great things we got to do and experience.

I really liked our goals from last year, and so a lot of these I’m just going to cruise on into 2013 and continue to work on. Anything on your list that I should be considering??