Party Like it's 1999...or 2012...

Wow. A new year!  I love new years. Its like you get to start all over.  OVERS! Last year is done, gone, dead to me.  I had some very great moments last year, and some not so great.  Thankfully, the former out-weighed the latter (I always want to type "ladder" for "latter". Weird..I know.)

So 2012...

Welcome!

Before we get into the serious stuff. Last nights celebration was epic.  Well, as epic as one can get in their 40's.  The Pantry Goat had decided she wanted to leave about 10:30PM so we had to do out NYE photo before she left. Turns out after this photo was taken, she stayed until after midnight. I think she secretly just wanted to were the big dunce caps I bought.

Happy New Year from Chez Jenn's!

LTR: Mr.&Mrs.Landlords, Blueberry, Pantry Goat, New Guest w/o a nickname...oh, we can call him The Dutchman, and moi! If you look close to my left hand you'll see a little Pink...that's Puck.

So now that a new year is upon us, it's only right we reflect on 2011.  As I mentioned it was a good year.  In years past I didn't do goal I did themes.  Last year I decided to do goals and fore go themes.  Made it too complicated to remember year round what my theme was. And all too often, about April, I'd want to change my theme.  So goals it was.

Here are my 2011 goals and how I did with them...because I know you care.

1. Financial Freedom! -Turns out being out of debt is fun.  And while I still use my credit cards, they are getting paid off monthly.  Only remaining debt is Sparky, and well, that's not debt to me.

2. Photography! - I think this blog shows I kept up my end of photographing the life and times of Jenn and Puck.  However, I did make myself go out and actually practice my craft.  And, in case you remember back to January 2011 I signed up for Project365. As for this morning, that chapter is closed. I went out with the PhotoGods and shot as much as I can.  I took a couple photography classes and subsequently practiced what I learned.  All in all, I nailed this goal, I think.

3. Travel! - My actual goal was three weekend trips, or mark 3 things off the "bucket list" of things to do and see in the Seattle area.  Turns out having 100 days off in the summer, and buying a convertible helps with this goal.  Trips included: Bellingham, Victoria, Ellensburg, Ginkgo Petrified Forest ("forest" isn't what I'd call it. I called it the Death March of 2011.), and 4 trips to Tucson. 

4. Build relationships! - There's a bunch of old friends I wanted to make a significant effort to reconnect with. Facebook has helped to some degree, but it wasn't quite as much as I had hoped.  I did rekindle a relationship or two and made an effort to keep in touch with some very specific friends that I had been neglecting.  I could have done more with this one and may have to consider adding it to 2012 goals.

5. Personal Growth! - I didn't mean my physical size, but my mental size.  I won't go into too much detail here, but I did discover a few things about me that I specifically and with intention changed.  I was also able to identify some behavior issues I needed to fix...and did to some extent, but will continue now that I know what they are.

6. Sunday Dinners! - It goes without saying that I did 12 fantastic Sunday dinners. This moves off the goal list and becomes a tradition.

7.  Read 35 books! - I read 57.  Notice I didn't say "Read 35 good, deep, thought provoking, books." Of the 57 I think about 4 were photography books, 3 were project management and marketing, one was a financial book, the rest...all just entertaining books.

8.  Find a new fundraiser! - Check. Cookbooks were a big success.  Not only did I have a blast making them, but we did about $800 in fundraising.  At the end of the day, I think we could have done more, and we will. Being a project manager I did a quick little "what-worked-what-didn't" exercise.  Bottom line, charge more!

Phew!

Now what's on deck for 2012?

1. Scrapbooking! I'd like to do a couple things here. First, get all caught up again, and make an effort to stay caught up.  Second is to stop buying new scrapbook stuff and really use what I have.  God knows I could open my own scrapbook store.

2. Photography! Yes this is a constant focus (pardon the pun) of mine.  This year, I'm doing Project365 again, and this year I'm doing themes each month.  In addition, I want to work on taking photos with a flash, taking candids, and learning Photoshop Elements more.

3. Finances! This year's focus is on saving. And saving big.  Maxing out the 401K, and putting at least 3 months of salary in the bank.  Finally, once that's done, start investing somewhere.

4. Health! I'm not quite sure what this looks like yet. I know I want to drink more water, take my vitamins more regularly, and start moving more.  What all that entails I'm not quite sure.  I just know now that I've written it, I can start planning and doing something about making myself a bit more healthy.

5. Write more! I love writing. Some think I'm good at it. Some think I stink at it.  I think I'm just average.  I have spurts of great writing, and it's those spurts I want to work on.  I bought myself a book called 1,000 Prompts.  It has, well, 1,000 ideas of things to write about.  I want to try to write something besides the blog at least twice a month.  I've signed up for a creative writing class, but have to move it because it conflicts with a project management class.  It also means I'll be carrying a journal with me everywhere.  In down moments I'd like to just open my mind and start putting words on paper. 

Five is a good number.  Other things for 2012, which aren't really goals is to continue with the Sunday dinners and cooking.  Those are tasks to me now not goals!

Here's hoping you all have a fantastic 2012.  You are the one who controls whether that happens. Bad things may happen, feel them, recognize them and move on to the good.