1. Decorate my room so I love it
SUCCESS I am actually very proud of this one. In the past year I have finally finished painting (link), decorating (link), and rearranging my room into one I love to spend time in.
2. Grow out my hair
SUCCESS Granted this one required little work but I am happy to report that my hair has officially bounced back from the short bob I hated.
3. Bake from scratch
SUCCESS Okay, I only truly baked from scratch once but for me it counts. This year for Halloween instead of carving my pumpkin, I cut it in half and threw it in the oven. A couple of hours later I had a pumpkin pie, a pumpkin cheesecake, and a great feeling.
4. Take Ceramics all year
SUCCESS I can't actually remember how many ceramics classes I've taken but I definitely took one this fall, plus I never missed a session so I'm calling this one good.
5. Declutter and buy less
SUCCESS I definitely own less things that I don't use. But even better than that, everything I own has a specific place in my room and that is a miracle.
6. Spend spare time on test prep books
FAILURE I have not picked up any of my many test prep books except specifically to study for an upcoming SAT or ACT. I just need to give the others away cause I'm never going to use them.
7. Read a fatty cold war book
FAILURE Same as the test prep books above, I have not picked up any of my cold war books except to work on my EE and I haven't even done that enough.
8. Take a picture everyday
FAILURE hahahahahahahaha I started this project with good intentions but have failed epicly. I can't even remember the last time I took photos daily. Hopefully with a new phone on the way I will get better at this goal. Here was my attempt: link
9. Go camping
SUCCESS I went camping twice this year. Once with 3 of my close friends and once with my father (link).
10. Eat more salad
SUCCESS I know this is true because I've begun to order salads at restaurants and crave salads at lunch time.
11. Spend less time on the internet
SUCCESS I wish there was a way to track my time spent on the internet but as I have yet to find a program which does that I'm going to go with my gut instinct which tells me I have in fact spent less time on the internet this year.
12. Make Christmas Cards
FAILURE Yeah, this takes way more effort than I have when all my college apps are due.
13. Swim
FAILURE I have swam quite a bit this year but not enough for me to call this a success. I have yet to find a gym routine that works for me.
14. Stay Hydrated
SUCCESS I have definitely noticed an increase in hydration. I used to experience blurry vision upon standing at least once a week but now I go entire weeks without it!
15. Write in a Journal
FAILURE While I have finished my journal which I've used for the past 2 years, I can recall many events which did not make it onto the pages of a journal.
16. Make Sushi
FAILURE I think I made sushi about twice this year and both times it did not turn out well. I just don't have the patience to roll them tight enough!
17. Use reusable bags
SUCCESS I have stopped bagging my food when I go to grocery stores. When I spent time with my friends in Boston this summer (link) they thought I was really weird for carrying my groceries out in my arms instead of sticking them in a bag.
With 7 failures and 10 success, I think I did pretty well. Oddly enough, when I wrote this list I knew that making sushi, daily pictures, and my other failures were unlikely to be accomplished. I want to be pushed into doing these more difficult goals but I can't view them as unlikely. In that mindset, I have little drive to work toward those goals. I'm going to keep that in mind while writing my list this year. I need to create goals which I will need to work on but I still think I can accomplish.
I also feel the need to say that I have really loved my life this year. I just looked through all my blog posts from the last year and am really happy with all the things I got to experience and all the fun I've had. It's easy to forget everything in the day to day shuffle of homework but I am incredible blessed. Here's to another year of new experiences!
