This is an annual exercise I’ve done since 2014 in which I set goals for myself for the next year. A lot like New Years Resolutions, this is just like a vision board for my next year. In 2014, it was The 36/36 Challenge (36 because I started it late in the year) and last year, it was The 51/51 Challenge (51 because I got it out a week late.)
Won’t you join me this year? You can do 52 weeks, or 365 days or 18 new moons or something! Link up to this page and let us know if you’re doing something so we can see you on!
This year, as I’m working through the goals, they will be color coded as follows:
This color means the goal is in progress
This means the goal is successfully accomplished!
1 .Go to Oregon I did it!
2. Go to Western Canada
3. Go to an other state that isn’t Oregon – Montana? Utah? Cali? – I guess Ohio counts??
4. Do more craft fair(s)
5. Build up Etsy shop or another online way of selling things.
6. Draw
7. Take a class – art, ballet, history, forensic social work, whatever catches my fancy. I started swimming, which isn’t quite taking a class, but it’s something new that I think qualifies for this.
8. Bicycle seven days in one month. This is harder than I thought it would be. First, I have the Wee One, and don’t often get away from her to ride. Second, I’m not in Illinois anymore, which was, unsurprisingly, super flat. Bicycling is hard here. 🙂
9.Take a vacation. Not just visiting family. That’s nice, but this will be different.
10. Get an annual membership to something. Maybe the zoo or the aquarium, or maybe a children’s play space.
11. Enter a writing competition
12. Do NaBoPoMo
13. Visit someplace new in Seattle a month – play the tourist once a month. 9/12 (I went to Pike’s Place Market, the Seattle Art Museum, Kidsquest Children’s Museum, Cougar Mountain Zoo, Tulip Festival in Skagit, Woodland Park Zoo, EMP Museum, Bridgebridge Island, Vashon Island) (Here’s a list of free museum days in Seattle.) And then I moved, so 9/12 it is.
14. Showshoe
15. Do music class or other Mommy and Me class with the Wee One. We did Kindermusik
16. Mountain bike, do it once.
17. Figure out savings thing for Wee One
18. Work on savings/financial plan for family.
19. Read five books. 2/5 Just Mercy, No Drama Discipline, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society,
20. Read blogs more, comment on them more.
21. Hike 24 new trails. So this works out to an average of two a month, though it’s not so easy in winter months. (18/24)
22. Do five “research articles.” Sometimes a random question comes to my mind, and I want to do research and learn about it. 1/5
23. Throw an awesome first birthday party.
24. Find or build a faith community here. Love the church here.
25. Make a meal entirely from findings at the farmer’s market
26. Go stand up paddle boarding or kayaking at least once.
27. Go camping at least once.
28. Take the Wee One to the Seattle Symphony (free at one point.)
29. Plan weekly meals in advance for four weeks. (1/4)
30. Brainstorm – every day for 30 days in a row, brainstorm 10 or 20+ ideas for anything. Books I could write. Yoga poses I could do. Things I would do if I had a billion dollars or I had a nanny.
31. Spend 30 days in a row making sure everything has a place. Cleaning clutter in the house. Associated with this: baby proof the living room.
32. Listen to audiobooks or podcasts instead of music for 30 days 3/30
33. Pray for 30 days. Do this with the Wee One! 30/30-This is now part of our bedtime routine!
34. Read a book of the Bible each night for 30 days, at least.
35. Draw something for 30 days in a row. Get a sketchbook and spend 10 or 15 minutes drawing, coloring or painting something each day.
36. Brush up on my flute and play it for Wee One and friends. Practice for 15 minutes every day for 30 days in a row.
37. Make toys/games for the Wee One circa a Pinterest “nailed it” series. There are so many activities for a one year old to help teach them using home stuff, and I want to do it. I made her play-do, but she immediately put it in her mouth and didn’t really want to play with it afterwards. Then as time passed, the water and flour sorted on it’s own. Ew. I made her a page for a quiet book, and did a swap with other moms, so I have a 14 page book for her.
38. Make a bumper for her crib; at least for one side so she won’t break her leg.
40. Go to a new renaissance fair. Preferably the one in Eastern Washington, but definitely the one in St. Louis.
As last year went on, I developed new ideas for challenges that I wanted to do. In that spirit, I am leaving 11 blank spaces to fill out with ideas that come to me as the other challenges are complete and new opportunities unfold.
41. Increase this blog’s readership.
42. Strengthen the Creo Somnium and YarnnArt (my etsy shop) Facebook pages by intentionally posting things to each of those pages at least once a month.
43. Finish writing the short story “groupthink” by the end of March. (Okay, maybe April. By the end of the year. 🙂 Okay, maybe a different story.
44. Get pregnant. (Is that weird to write here? It’s really something I’m trying for… 🙂
45. Do a painting along with Bob Ross.
46. Make a rug using old socks/t-shirts.
47. Learn how to make jasmine rice.
48. Buy a house.
49.
50.
51.
52.
I Didn't Just Wake Up This Morning With A Craving 