2011 Goals-Reviewed.

I thought I would take the time to review my 2011 goals to see what kind of follow through I had this year. For the most part, I’m pretty happy with the results, but I do plan on trying to improve the quality and achievement of my goals in 2012.


Here are the 2011 Goals.

1. Resurrect our backyard deck that has been mutilated since the Daytona 500 in February 2010. Note-do not remedy a boring race with alcohol and home improvement projects.

• This definitely did not get done. We did manage to get nice grass growing in both the front and back yard though.



2. Plan NY & Bama trips. I need to see and spend time with my Nana and Grandpa and will possibly try to make that trip in the spring. (if it’s not still snowing-gasp.) We would also like to make a trip to Ryan’s dad’s lake house over the summer.

• Done & Done!! We went to NY in May and Alabama for the 4th of July.



3. Start referring to Hank as "Big Sexy". He is striking enough to call for such labeling.

• Unfortunately, this never really caught on fire like I thought it would.



4. Read more. I plan on backing off from the memoires, autobiographies, and published essays that I’ve been reading and getting back to reading more fiction. I’m planning on starting with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. I didn’t choose this one based on the title alone, although it probably would have been enough for me.

• I did a lot of reading this year! I read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, Water For Elephants and You Had Me at Woof, just to name a few.



5. Write more. It’s therapeutic to communicate and I’m beginning to prefer blogging as my medium. Words in print are far more permanent and concrete than those that are spoken. I like to think about what I want to say and how I want to say it in order to accurately document my life at any given time. For instance, I can look back at this in a few years and wonder, why the hell did I ever want to call Hank, “Big Sexy??”


• I would say I accomplished this for the most part, but I’d like to take it a step further in 2012 and take a couple of writing classes.



6.  Prepare for and run a 5k in the spring. This one’s for fluff. I’m capable of doing this now, but still need to find a race to participate in.

• I did two of these! The Waxhaw Town and Country Run in the spring and The GingerSnap 5k in December.



7. Plant a garden. I’m thinking small at first. Tomatoes, cukes, onions, lettuce, green beans, etc. Luckily Doreen is a Master Gardener (for real, she’s certified) and will be able to help me manage growing in red clay.


• I didn’t even come close to doing this. We had so many other needs in our yard, that it seemed a little crazy to spend the time and money on a veggie garden. I probably won’t even attempt it in 2012 because we have some landscaping issues to address that will take priority over the garden.



8. Save for a new camera. I’ll only be saving this year because I won’t allow myself to buy anything until I complete the next goal.


• Done! I did this a little backwards though. I’ll explain when reviewing the next goal.



9.  Learn the ins and outs of my camera and expand my overall knowledge base of photography. I love photography and want to be better at it.


• I did this, but I bought the new camera (totally going against what I said) and then learned the ins and outs of it, instead of learning on my existing camera before buying a new one. Classic Liz move, but I got the job done.



I hope to post my 2012 goals sometime in the first week of January!

-liz