Friday (May 1st) was my birthday and as a couple of you know I made a list of 38 thingsI wanted to do in the year before I turned 39. Sadly I finished only about half of the list. For the most part it was economical or timing issues that kept me from finishing them all. With the economy increasing the price of everything and some huge car repairs that Nate and I weren't expecting and just crazy gas prices... I just didn't have the means to get a few items done. So let's see how I did:
1. save and buy a new lens for my camera--I did not get around to this. I went back and forth between a new lens and a new camera body and I have almost enough for one of them but it didn't get purchased within my year time limit. I still haven't made up my mind yet anyway...
2. take a photoshop class--sadly not done yet. Never found the time. Lousy excuse huh! I also have completely stopped scrapbooking, which was the reason for the class so I am still up in the air about what I'll be doing about this one too
3. plan and throw an Oktoberfest party--wow...not looking so good for these first few items. I didn't have one because we didn't have a free weekend to have one during September or October., I am still hoping to have one this year
4. go to Ruby Sky with Nate-- not yet:(
5. have a scrapbooking party with Alex and her friends
6. have camp-out sleepover that Alex and I have been talking about for the past year--in my defense with these two--I wasn't expecting my daughter to suddenly grow up within a month of writing these two down. She won't even go to the movies with me anymore. Shopping is about all she'll let me be involved with (I have the money of course). So any sort of sleepover was out of the question and will be from this point on.
7. expand my music collection by one new artist a month--woohoo! One I actually did:) The list: Tilly & the Wall, Kings of Leon, The Bird & the Bee, Bon Iver, Coconut Records, The Submarines, Lights, The Raveonettes,Built to Spill, Peter Yorn, Frightened Rabbit, Imogen Heap, Vampire Weekend just to name a few!
8. take sewing class --um yeah...not yet. Although my daughter has deemed this a class we can take together
9. walk across the Golden Gate Bridge--I did this one!! Very cool. We saw dolphins and sea lions frolicking.I would recommend ear plugs though. It gets loud with all the cars...
10. work on my relationship with my sister --I'm gonna say I did this one. I did spend more time on the phone with her this year and when I was in Arizona we got good time together. It's hard to work on things so far from each other. But I'm keeping at it.
11. make curtains for office and kitchen--see number 8 for reason this one is not done. Hopefully soon. Or at least I hope to get curtains for them.
12. take one romantic overnight trip with Nate-- Big Sur for our anniversary:)
13. read 40 books-- 63 were actually read. My friends on goodreads can count if they really want to:)
14. take yoga classes-- I took two classes with mixed thoughts about yoga.I'm going to take a few more before I decide if I like it or not.
15. visit Berkeley Bowl Marketplace--never made it. A few of my trips were put off when the gas prices went though the roof last summer. I barely made the Big Sur parts of this list because of the fire. Last year was a rough one...
16. go on a drive-in date with Nate-- had this planned for last month and then found out the drive- in was closed and have not had a free weekend to find another drive in and plan the trip.This year for sure
17. see the Dahlia's in Golden Gate park--was one of the trips that were put off when the gas prices reached almost $5.00 a gallon here last summer. Hoping they will stay low this year so I can finally get there.
18. allow more pictures to be taken of myself--I did allow more pictures of myself. I think I took more this year than the past couple of years. See photo above:)
19. volunteer at a local animal rescue-- put in application but haven't started yet.
20. take a girl's only road trip with Alex--I can list off many factors about why this didn't happen. Gas prices. Teen not wanting to spend this much time with mom.
21. brew a batch of beer with Nate-- first task I finished. And it was a favorite among many of our beer drinking friends.
22. workout more (my goal is 2-3 times a week)--I exceed this by working out 5 times a week and losing 34 pounds in the process. Keeping this my same goal this year
23. hike to McWay Falls in Big Sur (the trail was closed when we tried to go last week)-- DONE! see photo
24. have a bonfire on the beach--just didn't work out even though it was planned a few times
25. learn to knit (better)--nope. Didn't even pick up the needles
26. get all the different prints I've bought up in frames and on the wall-- the frames are bought and they are ready to be done but just didn't get it done in time for this list
27. visit Portland, Oregon--not even close...
28. go thrifting in San Fransisco--took Alex for her birthday and then went one day with Nate:)
29. start family movie night -- I did this one for a while but it gets back to the teen that doesn't want to spend her nights hanging with her parents. But we tried to get together at least once a week so I'm going to count this one. It just wasn't on a set night.
30. cook one new thing every week ( I have SO many recipes)--definitely--but i don't think anyone doubted this one:)
31. go to a fondue restaurant--YES! It was fun:) but expensive. Alex would like to go next time;)
32. re-establish date night--not done.
33. camp with Nate at Kirk Creek-- definitely done and it was a blast. I would recommend anyone to this campground. just beautiful!
34. ride my bike to work as much as I can--hahahaha. Not done even once which is really sad since I work less than 2 miles from work.
35. take a bellydancing class--I did take a class. I didn't keep going only because I already spend $50 a month for the gym and this would be almost another $50.00 a month for 4 classes. it was fun though and much harder than it looks...
36. re-learn French-- I have a CD I listen to in the car. It hasn't helped much but I have done it and am working on it slowly.
37. create more artwork each week-- hahahah. I almost completely stopped scrapbooking so...this one was definitely not accomplished.
38. visit Timeless Treasures in San Fransisco--accomplished and have 8 different size letter towards my monogram wall I want to have:)
So as you can see I did very poorly on the list. I haven't even finished my 39 things list for this year too. I am a slacker. Seriously. But I hope to have the new list up this week. One of my goals on the new list is to blog 3 times a week . Here is the first for this week:) I will also have a post about the unexpected things I did last year that were not on the list! that's on tap for my next post :)
jen
What a fun idea! I think I might steal it.
Posted by: Pam | May 04, 2009 at 07:04 AM
Hey, just because you didn't complete them all doesn't mean you were a slacker! Sounds like you made good inroads in them, and have decent excuses for others. Gas prices almost made me cry whenever we had to drive to Monterey to teach!) Congratulations on finishing some, and good luck this coming year with more!
And a Happy Birthday!!!!
Posted by: Sarah | May 06, 2009 at 04:31 PM