2012 Highlights

Some good stuff did happen this year....

January: It was January.  Not much happened.
February:  Saw Solas in concert!
March: Trip to lovely Turks and Caicos to celebrate Sis' 40th birthday!

And I shook hands with the President of Ireland! (that's not me though...) 

   

April: Quick trip to the Vineyard, a parade and the Red Sox

South Beach 

Mr. W marching in the Patriots' Day Parade

Red Sox game! 

May: Goddaughter makes her confirmation! Trip to California! And the puppies...

Dill, Sage, Cilantro, Rue and Basil 

June: End of another school year!
July : PEI trip with Aunt L., Womens' Weekend in Breckenridge, USS Constitution turn around on July 4th

At the Potato Museum in O'Leary 

5 Fabulous ladies in Breckinridge 

Ok got this pic from the press or Navy.  

 

August:  I think I spent most of August in NH recovering from July.

Quality time with Clancy. 

Frequent fried clams and ice cream with the family 

September: B-17 flight with Sis-in-law and Mr. Wonderful.  Don't know who the blond guy is.

October: WBS undetectable!

November: Cape weekend and Thanksgiving in NH

December: Christmas Celtic Sojourn (with Solas!)

Ok 2013, here I come.

In 2013 I will..... 

1.  Exercise.  This will always and forever be on any goal list I have because I cannot stick to it even though I know I need to do it.  My Wii is my friend.  I did feel really good when I had a steady routine going.

2.  Use my passport this year.  Preferably to get to a cottage on the West Cork coastline for a couple of weeks this summer....or hit the Caribbean in February.  Or both.

3.  Plan my gluten free life a little better.  More veggies and better meals.

4.  Try to talk to friends more.  Not via Facebook.

5.  Do something artsy, like scrapbook, or cross stitch....

6.  Keep up the cultural stuff at least once a month.  Solas is coming back in March, and I saw two (two!) movies over Christmas break (Anna Karenina and Lincoln).

7.  Write more cards and notes.  On paper.  With a pen.

8.  Recycle/sell/get rid of things I don't need or use.  That includes family stuff.  My ancestors continue to haunt me.  Gotta love Irish Catholic guilt.

9.  Be more diligent with vitamins, supplements, healthy eating....

10.  Get more sleep! (she says as she sits here at 12:30am typing away on a school night....Mr. W is busy snoring away and I can hear him in the living room, so I wouldn't be sleeping much in there right now anyway)

Goals for 2012? Meh....

Time to see how I did last year!  In keeping with this school year's theme of "using data to inform my practice" (ugh), what do my results tell me? 2012 goals are in black, end of year results are in red.

1.  Keep exercising, whether it's 30+ minutes a day on the bike or walking.  That should help control my weight and hopefully get me off blood pressure meds!  If I can do more, I will.  I know that 30 minutes is doable based on my past experience, and it's better than nothing.  I won't sabotage myself that way. 
I actually did really well with this from January until September. School started, and I have completely fallen off the wagon.  Again. New goal for 2013?  My Wii is calling me.... 

2.  Take my daily vitamins and supplements.  Daily.  Really.  My Sis-in-law gave me a pill organizer thingy that says "Hormonally Challenged" for Christmas--made me laugh. Still inconsistent here, but trying.  I manage to take the calcium supplements daily....just not the ginormous fish oil capsules. 

3.  Not stay at school so late.  Sigh.  Maybe I'll try to leave by 3 or 4 two days a week? Ha ha ha.  That's a pretty funny goal there!  Not achieved, no way, no how. 

4.  Get back to cooking more so I can avoid frosted pop tart mornings and frozen dinner evenings.  I was doing much better the year before.  Need to do less processed stuff. Not bad here--gluten issues have banned PopTarts from my diet forever.  Loving Kind bars now.  

5.  Drink more juice/veggie smoothies.  They're supposed to be really good for you, and I haven't attempted to enter that world yet.  Does my bottle of Green Goodness by Bolton Farms count every couple of weeks?  

6.  Make more of an effort to talk to my friends on the phone every now and then instead of just reading Facebook status updates and feeling like I'm in touch with them.  There's something missing, and it's because I no longer make an effort to call people to actually talk to them. Nope. Not any better.  

7.  Try again to do something cultural at least once a month.  Better get planning for this month....This worked pretty well most months--went to see Idina Menzel, "A Christmas Celtic Sojourn", Solas, ceili in PEI... 

8.  Travel outside the US at least once, preferably more. Canada counts--we went to Prince Edward Island during the summer.  

9.  Travel inside the US outside of New England.  And New York doesn't count if I go to Jul's to scrapbook for a weekend. Pennsylvania?  

10.  Take Mookie and O'Malley to a new vet. No, I like Dr. Almstrom too much to not make the trek to Meredith. 

11.  Finish a cross stitch thingy.  I have about 4 different things in progress. So why did I start a  new one?  

12.  Organize my arsty stuff so I'll be inclined to do more of it. Nope. 

13.  Figure out once and for all where my &^%$# Sullivan clan came from in Ireland, and what the connection is between Charlestown, Fall River, Lawrence and Manchester NH.  They moved around way more than I thought! I've been picking away at this, but no progress.  I'm still looking... 

14.  Read at least one complete novel in Spanish.  I started one last year.....Yes! 

15.  Finally make my house livable.  It's getting there and I'm finally making decisions about the "stuff" my parents and grandparents left here.  Need to organize so much stuff. I'm considering this a constant work in progress.  

So.  The "data" tells me that I am still unorganized, still not crazy about exercising, still spending waaaaay too much time at school, and that I need to travel more.  And my (*&^% Sullivan branch still remains a mystery despite hours combing ancestry.com for records and shreds of evidence.  I can still read in Spanish.  I'm still not a good friend in terms of communication and need to get better at that.  
What to do with this brand new year of 2013?  Stay tuned, new goals coming soon!