The Year That Was: 2013

It's always funny to look back at your list of goals for the year, because...wow. A lot can happen in a year. At the beginning of 2013, I had all of these plans to reorganize/redesign/redecorate some of the spaces in my house, only to have that all mean absolutely nothing when we started talking about selling the house midway through the year. And then we decided we'd wait until mid-2014 to sell it. And then we decided that we wouldn't, in fact, wait that long, and the last three months of the year spiraled into a chaotic hole of stress and frustration and general anger that I really should sit down and detail at some point, if only for the cathartic purpose of looking at the mess from the other side and gaining a little perspective on it.

But we came through the process with a house and location that I love, a plan in place to make life better for our family, and the readiness to actually live the next year, rather than just try to survive it. But first!

A look back...

------------------------------

1) Lose the pregnancy weight. - I was back at my pre-pregnancy weight, but then we started living out of boxes and off of take-out, and I stopped running. Let's just say I had to seriously watch some of the angles on the Christmas pictures we took, if I had any plans of anyone ever seeing a copy of those pictures.

2) Give up meat for a month. - No.

3) Complete the Couch to 5K program. - I DID IT! And not only did I complete the program...

4) Run an organized 5K. - ...I DID THIS, TOO! My SiL and I ran our very first 5k, and we actually RAN it, hills and all. Except for one very small part, where we walked for about a minute when the hill was not a hill, because I'm pretty sure it was actually a mountain. Other than that? I RAN A 5K!

5) Clean/reorganize my closet. - I'm unpacking, slowly but surely. I have to share my new closet with Steve. This has no real bearing on the organizing of my closet, and there are two separate, good-sized halves to it, but it needs to be mentioned. I have never shared a closet with anyone before in my life (YES, I KNOW THIS IS THE WORST OF THE WORST OF ALL FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS. I'M SORRY.), and I am sad that I have to start now.

6) Take a belated anniversary trip with Steve, a long weekend somewhere without the kids. - No. We, uh, spent the last night in our old house alone, packing, while the girls were with Steve's parents. That's about as close as we came to a kid-free weekend anywhere.

7) Make a meal entirely on my own (I don't cook, so this might be the biggest one of the year!) - We stopped cooking, so neither one of us was actually making meals. But, I was doing it at one point, so at least I know I can do it when we start meal-planning again.

8) Create an art wall in my staircase. - See: sold the house.

9) Organize a workspace for me. - No. (We sold the house, you know?)

10) Attend The Blathering in Charleston. - Oh, man. This was the best. I completely failed to write a recap of the weekend (I haven't ruled it out, yet, even if it has been MONTHS since I was there), but I met so many wonderful ladies, and ate a lot of good food, and spent hours wandering a lovely city, and it was just the perfect weekend away with friends. I am keeping all of my appendages crossed that I can make Seattle happen this year, because I would LOVE to see as many of those friends again as I can.

11) Read at least one book a month. - Let's see, through September, I had: In the Garden of Beasts (Erik Larson), Wild (Cheryl Strayed), Discovery of Witches/Shadow of Night (Deborah Harkness), Wedding Night (Sophie Kinsella), The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald), Rules of Civility (Amor Towles), The Casual Vacancy (JK Rowling), Summer at Tiffany (Marjorie Hart), The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky), Austenland (Shannon Hale), These is My Words (Nancy E. Turner), and Fangirl (Rainbow Rowell). I added Jeneration X and The Tao of Martha (Jen Lancaster), Silver Linings Playbook (Matthew Quick), Allegiant (Veronica Roth), Eleanor & Park (Rainbow Rowell), Mulligan Girl (Rebecca L. Boschee), Thwarted Queen (Cynthia Sally Haggard), My Year With Eleanor (Noelle Hancock), and The Cuckoo's Calling (Robert Galbraith/JK Rowling).

That's 22 books, or two shy of the goal I set for myself on Goodreads, where I am apparently a little more ambitious than I am around here. I'll have to change that for next year, I guess.

(Plus the seven Harry Potter books, reread. I really like counting those, too. And I actually reread them twice, if we're being totally honest here, because I started them again as a distraction from the house situation, after we went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal)

12) Take Brigid and Caitlin to South Bend for a weekend (preferably a football weekend). - We did it! We even took Brigid to her first football game, which she wanted to leave during the 2Q. We...did not leave. I did enjoy showing the girls the campus, though.

13) Research/practice meditation. - No.

14) Find a yoga studio and start taking classes regularly. - No.

15) Find a 'mommy and me' class of some sort for Brigid and I to attend. - No.

16) Write something, anything, not blog related. - No.

17) Take one lunch break a week, even if it's only 15 minutes, to sit somewhere quiet and recalibrate/reflect/replan the next few days. (when I go back to work...) - HA! HAAAAAAAA! No. (still, again.)

18) Start taking outfit photos again, in an effort to wear everything already in my closet instead of shopping for new items. - Eh. Maybe.

19) Be more consistent in updating my family blog, because my parents give me a hard time when I let it lag, and my personal blog, because I'm not as happy with myself when I let it lag. - Still no.

20) Start reading my favorite blogs again, since I haven't even LOOKED at my reader feed in months, and I miss keeping up with it. - No.

21) Find a general practitioner and get a physical. - Not yet.

22) Throw Brigid a NYE party next year, complete with hats, noisemakers, and fun food, since she was really excited to stay up until midnight this year, but I was so tired from the baby's schedule that we faked midnight for her at 11PM. - Yes. We did. Finally, one I can claim.

23) Send more mail...thank you notes, birthday cards, and 'just because' messages. - I've been better-ish. But there's still room for improvement.

24) Try a juice fast/cleanse. - I didn't even come close to doing this.

25) Decide, once and for all, what I want to be when I grow up, and formulate a plan to get myself there. - We're...getting closer.

------------------------------

I'm giving myself a 10 out of 25. I...need to work on this process, don't I? 2014, I'M COMING FOR YOU!!!