Sunday, December 28, 2014

29 before 29: The Recap


I think I did pretty well for my goals this year for this being my first attempt at a concerted effort to accomplish 29 things in one year. Below is what I accomplished before my 29th birthday on 12/29/2014. I wrote several posts about I did so you can see the links to revisit those posts but I also provided images from additional things I did.
  • One month no spending
  • Knit something other than a neck warmer
    • This one was tough. Originally, I decided to knit a pillow and as of 12/28 (today) it was almost done but I wasn't motivated. It was sitting on the table next to my new laptop when I was inspired to turn the knitting I had been working on for a year into this laptop case with leather straps.
  • Write more, specifically in this blog
    • I did a lot of writing and you can read it all here. Sometimes it was really hard to write about a Disney movie or something. In the next year, I want to blog more about other things that happen.
  • Complete 200 Jazzercise classes
    • I almost missed this one but I finished my 200th class with three days to spare. Lucky too because I got sick the day after. I am proud that I completed a workout routine for a year. I averaged 4 classes a week but at this exact moment in time I am maybe just a little sick of aerobics to pop music.
  • Learn to make sausage w/ casing
  • Teach Girlfriend 3 new tricks
    • Here is a video starring Jake that he made for me to showcase Girlfriend's tricks:

  • Read 12 books
    • I did some reading this year. Honestly, I was really behind on this goal come Summer. In fact, at the beginning of the Summer I had only read 1 book and am super proud that I busted it out. Of the twelve books I read, I was really only excited about two and there were two others that I liked okay. I started writing about them and then it just turned into another thing to write about and I hated it.
  • Go to the opera/ballet/symphony
  • Eat rabbit
  • Watch all Disney animated movies (There are 54 counting Big Hero 6.)
    • Later this week or maybe tonight, I plan to write a whole post summarizing everything I learned about Disney movies including my favorites and least favorites as well as what I learned about myself.
  • Run a race
  • Put money in a savings account aside from my Christmas fund, possibly using the week in the year method
    • I started a savings account and put some money in it and it took a lot of work and effort to do it and it was the worst because anything involving money is the fucking worst. I hated this.
  • Make some sort of fermented beverage
  • Email my grandma 4 times
    • I am terrible at keeping in contact people unless I call them and then I feel guilty so my goal was to email my grandma more so that I felt connected and she knew I loved her. I did it and it worked and I felt better about myself and more connected to my grandma. She is great.
  • Mail cards to my mom, dad, brother, grandma and grandpa for their birthdays and Mother's/Father's day
    • Similar to above, I am really terrible at mailing cards and gifts so I made this a goal which I barely made happen twice (Father's Day and Andrew's birthday).
  • Get a passport
  • Use my passport to leave the country
  • Hike in the desert
    • I hiked in the desert alone on my way to Vegas from Orange county last Summer. Actually, funny story that sums up my goal of being more adventurous. When I got to the trail head, they hadn't opened the parking lot for the day even though it was past the time to open. I got really nervous and started to get back on the highway but thought about my motto for the year of "More adventure, less worry." I just parked the car on the side of the road and snuck in and had an awesome hike. Nothing happened to the car. Turns out when you just do things, it is awesome. Check out my pictures here.

And here are the goals that fell by the wayside:

  • Sell one thing on Etsy
    • I had this idea to create an Etsy shop and sell several different things. It never happened because it took too much time and money.
  • Save $300 in a Christmas fund
    • I made a lot of excuses and in the end it would have been really nice to have this money put aside.
  • Get another tattoo
    • This comes down to money. Everytime I had the money, I didn't pull the trigger and when i didn't I wished I did. Last night, I sent an email to a tattoo artist and we are working something out for the next few months. This will be on my 30 by 30 for sure.
  • Go surfing
    • Sometimes you get drunk and make a list of goals and when the rubber meets the road you aren't really interested.
  • Hit my goal weight
    • This was a dumb goal that had not real basis in reality. I wanted to hit an arbitrary number for some unhealthy reasons. You can see several posts where I came to terms with my weight.
  • Camp with Jake more
    • This or some version of this moves to my 30 by 30.
  • Do ten diamond push-ups successfully with perfect posture
    • See the "Go surfing" and "Hit my goal weight" for more information
  • Learn the foxtrot with my friend Kate
    • Kate had a baby and I stopped watching "Dancing with the Stars" so who cares.
  • Get my oil changed 4 times
    • I got my oil changed once last year. My poor, poor car. Too bad the guys at Jiffy Lube are too pushy.
  • Write a children's story
    • I sat down and wrote out a plan for this twice. I even talked to work Amanda about this to get motivation and it just never happened.
  • Play in a soccer game
    • See "Go surfing"
18 out of 29 isn't too bad. So what did I learn? 
  1. This is a really fun thing to do and I want to do it again.
  2. Your list of goals shouldn't be made drunk while listening to Kelly Clarkson
  3. SMART goals are smart for a reason.
  4. There needs to be more of a balance of short term and long term and less things that rely on the full year.

No comments:

Post a Comment