2012 "this year i will" review

01. finish decorating our home + plan a house warming party.
    check!  being able to decorate our very own home was so fun. i love how everything fit together, with the highlight being the awesome orla kiely wallpaper (i have become such a wallpapered accent wall fan and we are planning to do it again in the next house we buy!). see the house warming party post here, and our home tour here. (for those who don't know: we purchased our little brown house in illinois last december and lived in it just under a year before moving to colorado.)

02. paint a canvas.

    check!  it is far from being a masterpiece; i learned that i am not so great with a paintbrush but that it was fun to try. i so admire those with natural talent, like this friend.

03. stick to our budget for a whole month without making any exceptions.

    check!  it was hard with having a house and the million things we needed {and wanted} to buy for it, but we did this for the month of february!

04. run a marathon.

    check!! i had the best time running mayor's marathon in anchorage, ak with my sister this summer. it was one of the highlights from my year and i'm excited to do it again!

05. bike as much as possible during the summer/fall months.

    check! in the spring i was able to transfer jobs to an office just a mile down the street from our house, so it worked out perfect to even bike home for lunch everyday. now that i'm in colorado without a car, i get to ride my bike to the park-and-ride everyday, plus to the grocery store and other nearby errands. ps: did you know husband bought me my bike for my birthday when we were dating?? he's so sweet. i hope i never have to replace it!

06. send thank-you notes to kind people.

    i sent a few more notes in the mail than normal, but i could still work on this. i really enjoyed using scraps of paper + magazine clippings to decorate my blank card-stock. 

07. start a small herb garden.

    check! we ended up with a little indoor pot & 2 hanging outdoor deck baskets. i foresee our garden experiments growing next year!

08. read a book.

    check! i struggled with this one...i am just not one to sit down and want to spend my spare minutes reading. the book i finally settled on was actually a great re-read from a class i took in 2006: leadership and self deception.

09. grind my own wheat and bake a loaf of bread with it.

    mission accomplished! i might have waited till the last minute (yesterday), but i finally conquered my fear of grinding wheat. i followed sharon + brit's healthy bread recipe, with a few adaptions since i couldn't find all the ingredients. sadly it did not turn out as good as theirs - i haven't gotten used to baking at high altitude - and was pretty dry + crumbly, but i'm glad i tried. it is so nice to enjoy homemade sandwich bread for lunch everyday!

 

>> see 2011's list here <<