How did I do on my goals from the beginning of the year?

Actually, not bad considering that I didn’t pay much attention to them (they were in a spiral bound notebook that got put up onto the shelf a few months into the year).  As always, these were a list of everything I might want to do, not everything that I would actually do.  It helps me to add to / take from the list, but review it every month to make sure I’m doing what I think I should be doing.

Here were my ideas and how it worked out.  The crossed out items didn’t happen.

1. Keep my blog?  Put onto hiatus? – I put it on hiatus for a while, then went back to it.  I finished out the year strong.
2. Do an A to Z about me?  On blog, just in journal, to do in a photo album.
3. Journal more – did this!  Between the daily journal and filling up about two spiral bound notebooks, I wrote and recorded my life much better this year.
4. Go on monthly adventures – did very little of what was on the list and certainly not monthly.  But I did travel and have adventures.
5. Continue with cooking and losing weight – I stopped losing weight in January, but lost inches until June.  I’ve mostly kept it off too, so this is a win.
6. Get my arms around our investments and maintaining our finances – yes!  Got everything with a good financial advisor and made a lot of progress on this.
7. Continue working on preparedness, especially a bug out bag and some of those small tins.
8. Declutter the house – made huge gains on this goal.  I’d hoped to be totally finished by the end of this year, but what’s left won’t take long and hasn’t been as important as other things.
9. Laugh more – somewhat successful.  Not as much as I’d like though.
10. My one word – “remember” – did good with it.  Struggled though to remember to smile. See list below of the things that I would focus on (one at a time, not all at once).
11. Read a self-help or business book a month – no, although I did do a fair amount of reading for creativity, photography, and business.  Not a book a month, but close.
12. Keep a nature journal? 
    1. Why? 
    2. Would it have anything original in it? 
    3. No, but would be comforting to me. 
    4. I want to notice things
13. Remember
    1. Remember what? – to smile, laugh and be joyful
    2. Just memories?
    3. Emotions?
    4. Good feelings?
    5. Lessons?
    6. Blue skies?
    7. To be patient?

25+ Accomplishments from 2014

(in no particular order)

1. Saw my sister when she came to Richmond for the first time ever to visit for my birthday.
2. Celebrated a milestone birthday.
3. Became a mother again as I helped my daughter with her pregnancy (answer questions, sorting through her research findings, helping her think things out).
4. Helped her register for the baby stuff.
5. Traveled to Maine for a long weekend with my daughter.
6. Traveled to Asheville, North Carolina for vacation on my own.
7. Traveled to the Smoky Mountains with my favorite boy toy for a photography trip.
8. Sent my boy toy on two roads trips that totaled over 8 weeks.
9. Got the side Cyprus trees ripped out and replaced with hollies.
10. Also got the maple tree trimmed so we might save it to enjoy for many more years (it was misshapen, breaking off branches and we thought we were losing it).
11. Replaced the shower stall. The new one is so nice and clean!!
12. Ripped out the garden.
13. Tried to grass in all that mulch in the backyard (which was unsuccessful; next year we plan to just mulch it and not try again).
14. Topped out my weight loss at 40 pounds, which I am struggling to hang onto.
15. Stopped taking medication for my weight loss.
16. Quit blogging for a while and then started doing it again.
17. Survived the February layoffs at work.
18. Got laid off in November instead, right as we were ramping up for year end close.
19. Successfully changed the template on my blog.
20. Kept a daily diary all year using a Moleskine weekly journal format.
21. Wrote longer weekly entries in the daily diary.
22. Did ten days of lists in September (blogged some but not all).
23. Did 31 Days of Creativity in October.
24. Took a close-up photography class. I didn’t learn as much as I thought I should, but it was fun anyhow.
25. Learned how to use my camera on manual, AV (aperture priority) and TV (time priority) modes. Whoohoo!
26. Continued working on night photography especially to get the lights to twinkle.
27. Practiced (only somewhat successfully) my “word” for 2014 – remember – to smile, laugh, and lighten up.
28. Upgraded my camera to a full frame sensor – Canon 6D.
29. Experimented with shooting still life photography.
30. Ate breakfast out almost every day with my husband.
31. Had more breakfasts and suppers at the Jefferson Hotel. It’s a neat place and we just love it there.  It’s expensive, but worth it.
32. Lost enough weight to begin wearing my original wedding band again! In week 3 of my daily diary, I asked why it was so important to me to wear that instead of my diamond.  I’m still not sure, but I’m really enjoying it.  I think because it’s different and few other women wear just a band.  Plus it’s very pretty and unusual.
33. Walked regularly outside, even in very cold and very hot weather.
34. Did a major decluttering of the house – all the closets, a great many boxes and papers, old magazines, my needlepoint and my books. I also did a lot of shredding in the early part of this year.  Bags and bags of papers.
35. Refinanced the house to a 15 year mortgage.
36. Moved all my financial matters to a financial advisor and got things squared away for the future.
37. Updated our wills and powers of attorney.
38. Worked with my sister on financial matters for a member of the family.
39. Paid off the rest of our home equity loan.
40. Put together a new website for my favorite boy toy.
41. Settled on my “one thing” – storytelling my life.
42. Worked harder on nurturing my creativity.
43. Got a new computer for my boy toy.
44. Found a new vet for the dogs.
45. Post processed and wrote-up steps for making stained glass pictures.
46. Got passwords and website log-ins into a single secure place. And this is mostly done too!

Remember! to:

(#1 to #16 were monthly in my daily diary; the others were written down as they occurred to me)

1. Smile
2. Trust
3. Believe
4. Have faith
5. Have a good attitude
6. Be of a cheerful disposition
7. No fear
8. Fear not
9. Be radiant – walk in joy, happiness and confidence
10. Be joyful
11. Laugh
12. Make a joyful noise
13. Have treats! Must have treats!
14. Rejoice always
15. Pray continually
16. Give thanks in all circumstances
17. To laugh
18. Have fun
19. Relax
20. Exercise
21. Today is the best day of my life
22. Act like a queen
23. Have adventure
24. Create art
25. Be curious
26. Value myself
27. Take the scenic route (explore)
28. Keep learning
29. Sing for joy
30. I am blessed
31. Have gratitude
32. Look to God
33. Behold beauty
34. Enjoy the little things
35. Not let the little things upset me
36. To trust
37. I am secure
38. I am blessed
39. I am valued
40. I am neat and organized
41. Savor
42. Anticipate
43. Revel
44. Have fun