Today is my birthday! I’m actually writing this the night before, because tomorrow I’ll be hanging out with Ian at a vineyard and an Italian restaurant and who knows what other shenanigans. I was looking around for a good my-birthday-this-many-years-ago photo to accompany this post and realized that photos of me on my actual birthday are in short supply. So I promise to take some/have Ian take some whilst out and about today 🙂
Anyway, I am officially 28 by the time this posts, and it’s time to revist ye old 28 Before 28 from last year and see how I did. Bold equals met, italics equals not.
- Actually plant things in the flower bed areas in the front of the house. I planted jasmine vines on the stakes, and bulbs for tulips, daffodils and irises in the ground. The jasmine is still doing well. Otherwise, only a handful of the daffodils and irises bloomed, and none of the tulips. Sigh. Green thumb, I do not have you.
- Clean out my office closet. It’s the repository for all things I’ve saved because of the minuscule chance I might use them someday but probably won’t. This will be a major undertaking. Done! Finally tackled this, it’s much better now. March 2012.
- Travel out of country. Visited Victoria, B.C., Canada in May 2012 as part of our Alaskan cruise.
- Travel somewhere new within the US. Visited Alaska in May 2012.
- Bake a pie completely from scratch, crust and all. Done! I’ve actually done two of these! A strawberry rhubarb pie and a brown sugar cinnamon apple pie.
- Screenprint something on all of the blank apparel I currently have on the shelves (45 shirts, 4 tote bags). Uh, no. I still have lots of blank stuff. Partly due to time, partly due to indecision and partly because I like to have the perfect combo of colors & design, and I’m not sure I have the right designs for some shirts yet.
- Make double-digits in the DA shop sales on Etsy. Achieved! Aug. 2012.
- Host a giveaway on my blog. I hosted my first giveaway in January 2012.
- Start offering sponsor ad spaces on my blog. I started offering sponsor spaces beginning January 1, 2012. (And there is still time to snag your space for November!)
- Get a new office chair that is friendlier to my back. Check! New chair = way better than old chair. Nov. 2011.
- Stay consistent with Pilates (at least once a week). This is half and half. I was very consistent for awhile, and then I lapsed, and now I’ve been consistent with my new workout routine for going on 2 months, which is partly-but-not-strictly Pilates, so… Somewhat?
- Obtain a sewing machine and start teaching myself to use it. Machine obtained Jan. 2012. Still learning to use it, but I’ve made some pillows and a maxi dress so far.
- Re-awaken my piano playing. I’m thinking if I play once a week, I’ll consider this met. I played once or twice, but otherwise neglected this. Bad Amanda.
- Obtain a nicer digital camera, preferably of the Nikon SLR variety. Purchased Jan. 2012. Still love it. 🙂
- Try one new-to-me restaurant a month. We tried so many new restaurants in this past year, it was awesome! I’m not sure it was strictly at least one new one per month, but I know some months we did plenty more than one new place, so it all evens out and I’m calling this one easily met.
- Go on a getaway/vacation with just Ian, no other family/friends. This did not happen, sadly. Though we are having a little staycation this week.
- Go thrifting in Austin. I actually haven’t ever done this. Now I have! Several times, even.
- Go to a pawn shop, just to see what it’s like. I also haven’t ever done this. Still haven’t been.
- Pay off my car loan early. I’m not quite done, but I did make some extra payments this year, so I only have 2 or 3 months left at this point. Yay!
- Find & start using an acceptable bookswap site as a replacement for the beloved Goodreads Bookswap that will be no more soon. I’ve started using PaperBackSwap.com. It’s not quite as awesome as Goodreads, but will do. April 2012.
- Go to a live concert. I saw The Civil Wars in downtown Austin. Jan. 2012.
- Go to a live comedy or theatre event. I did several of both! Saw comedy on the cruise and at Cap City Comedy Club, and have seen two plays this year, too.
- Pay down my credit card debt to less than 50% of my credit limit. Ha, no. Not even close. Getting a plan in place to do better this year.
- Go out stargazing with a star chart. Did not get around to this sadly.
- Write one poem a day for a month. Yes! I did this in September 2012. You can see the poems here.
- Finish the screenplay that has been sitting at 60% done for far too long. Nope. Not even close. I don’t think I even touched it once. Fail.
- Acquire 5 new long-term/repeat freelance clients. Sadly, with most small businesses, once they get their initial needs met (logo, business cards, etc. maybe a website) they don’t generally need anything else for awhile. I have 1 or 2 new repeat clients, but did not hit the benchmark 5.
- This one is secret. (My list, my rules). But if it happens there will undoubtably be a blog post about it, so not secret forever. This did not happen, so still a secret.
New List
And now for the whole new 29 Before 29 list! Here’s the things I want to accomplish before turning 29 a year from now.
- Take a vacation with just Ian, no other friends or family.
- Reach 150 items in my shop inventory.
- Go through my old old old poetry archives and re-work at least 30 poems to no-longer-embarassing status.
- Bake/cook something requiring ramekins.
- Improve sewing skills by creating 5 new clothing items.
- Participate in NaNoWriMo and “win.”
- Learn more about jewelry construction.
- Get to see my little sister.
- Paint the walls in at least one room a color other than the current boring off-white everywhere.
- Pay down my credit cards to below 40%.
- Stick to a strict monthly budget for unessential shopping.
- Create at least 10 typographic digital prints for the shop.
- Stay consistent with my workout regimen.
- See/attend one of each of the following: play, concert, comedian, and festival.
- Learn how to do food canning.
- Learn how to apply make-up correctly, even though I don’t plan on wearing it every day/full-face. It’d be nice to now *how* for special occasions.
- Go to the beach with Sienna.
- Actually read the manual for my camera.
- Create one new design for screenprinting each month (so, 12 total).
- Create a few pre-made blog designs for general sale.
- Advertise on one new blog a month.
- Open a retirement account.
- Bake & decorate a tiered cake.
- Discover/invent a new alcoholic drink that is based on cream soda as a mixer.
- Take a cooking class with Ian.
- Save up and get the months-long treatment plan my chiropractor recommended.
- Find people/friends who can model the other sizes of shirts in my shop that don’t fit me so I can get product photos of everything on actual people.
- Try to stock the pantry and freezer with basic mixes and sauces for easy use.
- Blank for now. To be filled in soon.
Do you do a yearly list of goals (New Years or birthday-based or otherwise?)? What kinds of things do you put on it?
