2014

I was just reading back through some of my old posts from last year, and remembered this post about all of the things I wanted to accomplish in 2013.

The one thing on my list that I absolutely wanted to do was the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, which I did with my mom and sisters in September. I also wanted to take a class, and I took several last year including pottery, chocolate making and a blog design course online.

I did work on my spanish a bit more than I previously had, but not nearly as much as I wanted to, so that will have to stay on the list for this year. I did, however, learn to make pico de gallo, and it was friggin' delicious.

My other goal for 2014 was to eat more adventurously. It was a pretty broad goal, that could mean almost anything really. I did eat fish a few times, I even made it myself at home once, generally though, I'm going to have to call that one a fail.

For 2014, I would like to:

1. Work on my Spanish. For real this time.

2. Travel. I have some really big plans for 2014, they aren't ready for sharing yet but it's going to be a very exciting year.

3. Volunteer. I've volunteered with Habitat for Humanity, Foster a Dream and a couple of other charities a few times, but I'd like to do it a lot more. It's fun, it makes you feel good, and it helps someone else, so there is really no downside.

4. Get wedding dress pictures done. I've been wanting to get some cool, artistic photos taken of me in my wedding dress ever since the wedding (so a year and a half now) but I keep putting it off.

5. Finish a novel. I've been working on writing a novel for a few years now, I actually have two going because I kept switching back on the plot in completely opposite ways to the point where it was really two totally different stories. I've been scared to talk about it or tell anyone about it but I've decided that maybe posting about it will give me the push I need to finally finish. I don't even care if it's never seen or read by another living soul, I just want to know that I was able to do it.

6. Experiment artistically. It is entirely possible that I have no artistic talent whatsoever, but in the last year I've started playing around with painting and pottery, and even though nothing I have made so far will never been seen by anyone (except my lovely husband who adores all of my experimental endeavours. Probably.) I think that the attempt can be just as important as the outcome. Plus, it's fun.

7. Photograph things. I bought myself a really nice camera last year for Christmas, and even though I absolutely love it, and just the fact that I use it instead of the old battered point and shoot that I used to take all my pictures with has improved my photographs exponentially, I still don't really know how to use it. There are tons of cheap photography classes around, and even free meet ups where you can learn about photography, so there is really no excuse, except for possibly that the entire series of Friends is on Netflix and I can't leave the house or shower until I finish watching it.

It's probably unlikely that I'll be able to do all of these things as well as I'd like to be able to, but it's important to set goals for yourself, even if it's only so you can see how much farther you still have to go.