2012! Hello!

Since four resolutions last year seemed ideal for resolution domination, I’m going to go with four again this year.

1. Resurrect CookTheBook.ca. I really enjoyed starting my “cook through a cookbook” project, and then all of the authors (myself included) went and had babies, and the thing died as our priorities shifted. But now I have a freezer full of amazing, local meats that I think would do the recipes in my Orchard Table book proud, and I’m really starting to feel a passion for food and cooking again. The site itself also needs a bunch of work, but I think it’s all manageable, and I’m excited to get back in the kitchen and start sharing that.

2. Get Crafty. We established long ago that I am scared of crafts. But there seems to be a strange shift after becoming a mom where I think along with magical spit and the ability to lactate I may have developed a propensity to craft. Specifically, there are three projects I’m planning to undertake this year: A terra cotta pot fountain, a set of 24 fabric book pouches as a reading advent calendar for next Christmas, and finishing Isaac’s baby book (which is scrapbooking-esque). I’m not actually any sort of stranger to tools or glue-sticks or sewing (though it has been a quite while for the latter) so I’m cautiously optimistic about making these things (and hopefully some others) in 2012.

3. Find a sport for 2012. I use the term “sport” loosely, because I don’t actually want to join a team or play a game, but I do want to find a twice-weekly physical activity to commit to in 2012. I’ve been loving the mom & baby bootcamp classes I’ve been doing, but my baby is about to age-out of those, and they’re held during workdays anyhow. I need to find a before or after work thing to get into. I learned long ago that I am not a gym rat and don’t work out when left to my own devices. Criteria are pretty low: there must be a regular schedule (ideally 2x/week), and there must be an instructor to lead/design workouts/correct for form & posture. So far I’m thinking swimming, running, yoga or gym classes like spinning or zumba. Suggestions welcome!

4. Document my Life List. I have been meaning to do this ever since Maggie posted hers a few years ago. I’ve always had a running tally of stuff I’d like to do in my brain, but never committed it to paper (pixels?) and checked it off. After seeing what a powerful thing it can be to share your goals and desires with a community, and getting a little motivating shout-out of my own on her blog after sharing one of my achieved items, I’m really feeling like I need to get the damn thing down already. Bonus: it will make for handy resolutioning in years to come!

So, there you have it. Four resolutions to help make 2012 another fantastic year. How about you? What’s going to make your year great?

So, that was 2011. I’m sure a whole bunch of stuff happened, and if you click on that archives link in the sidebar, you can read all about it.

It can probably be summed up by saying “We had a baby, and were quite busy with the care and feeding and globe-toting of said baby. Also, there was poop.”

I did write some resolutions at the beginning of the year, so let’s check in on those, yes?

Figure out / Survive the first 9 months of parenting. Well, I certainly survived. Figured out? Sure. I’ll be bold and say the first nine months were pretty awesome. We were blessed with a happy baby who didn’t have colic, started sleeping through the night with some regularity around 5 months, lets us drag him across continents and over oceans without melting down, and is damned cute to boot.

I’m feeling pretty well-rested and also dropped the baby weight and then some while eating shocking amounts of whatever I want. I am riding this wave of good-baby hubris as far as it will take me. And now that I have been an incredible braggart, I am sure the other shoe will drop any second. But, the resolution only stated ‘first nine months’ so for this one I say Resolution: WIN!

Take more photos. I didn’t exactly get to the “photo a day” thing I was aiming for, but I did take a lot more pictures in 2011 than the couple years prior. A new baby and the amount of travel we did this year made for a natural increase in picture-taking. We also picked up a couple new lenses (10-20mm Wide-Angle and 50mm f/1.4) that makes using the camera and getting the shot I really want a lot more pleasant than the kit lens ever did.

I also finally got our more portable camera fixed this year after breaking it in 2009, so between that and my iPhone I’m more likely to have a camera on the go as well. I also developed a medium-sized instagram habit, which upped my (cheezy and heavily-filtered) photo count considerably. You can, of course, see the year in (seriously baby-heavy) photos on flickr. Therefore, I’m also calling this one a Resolution: WIN!

Increase our net worth by 10%. Blew this one right out of the water. As of the 1st of December, our year-over-year net worth is up 22%. Basically because we landed on a combination of being totally miserly, saving all of our big tax refund from 2010′s investments, and having our condo appraisal up this year (though the condo value only accounts for 4% of that 22%). Other than that, we stuck to our modest savings goals throughout the year, and let our managed accounts do their (mediocre) thing. Looking at projections for next year, assuming most things stay the same, we can expect the same kind of performance. So perhaps 10% was really lowballing it. Regardless, it’s the number I picked, and while we’ll aim higher next year, for now I can firmly call this a Resolution: WIN!

Run 5K (again) by the end of the year. Hah. Hahahaha. HAAAAAAAH. No. Did I run at all this year? Unless warmup jogs for bootcamp count, no. But, as I alluded to back up at the top, I’m in better shape now than I was before I got pregnant. Partway through my third trimester, I ended up with a lot of SI Joint trouble (where the hip bone connects to the… something… bone?) which sent shooting pains up and down my back and legs whenever I did things. Like walking. Or sitting. Or getting out of bed. Cure? More cowbell less activity. One of the few “injuries” where not walking or staying mobile is actually the best thing for it.

By the time Isaac came along I was intensely stir-crazy. And that feeling really just hasn’t gone away. I started attending Fit4Two classes, starting with the general mom & baby fitness, then moving into bootcamp & aquafit, and it’s been amazing to keep moving and get stronger. I never did get back into running, since I really dig this little family thing we’ve got going on, and the last thing I’ve wanted to do when Neil gets home is dump Isaac and literally run away from them, but I’m certainly into a habit of fitness that I want to continue once I’m back at work full time. Nonetheless, I did not run at all, let alone 5k in 2011, so I have to say Resolution: FAIL. But maybe a Life: WIN.

Three outta four ain’t too shabby. Did you make any resolutions? How did you do?