2011 Priority List and Goals – January Check-in

I thought it might be a good idea to review my goals at the end of each month and see if I am still making sure to prioritize them. I also thought this would be a good time to shift, adjust, add, take away as needed. So here we go. This is the list I posted on January 1.

Family
1. Read and do workbooks with David daily (Project A Book A Week with David).
We’re doing well on the reading and have done it every single day except for the two days when I was in Los Angeles. I tend to read to him when he’s eating or when we’re waiting for the bus. We read longer on the weekends and then we’re generally just sitting on the couch. We haven’t done as well with the workbooks but that’s partly because I haven’t created a schedule for them. When he’s at school tomorrow, I’ll pull out the 3-4 new ones and put them on a rotating schedule which should make us stay more focused.

2. Take photo of full-family and write updates weekly (Project Us Right Now).
This is going wonderfully. I make a point of taking photos of all of us each day we’re all home. I am so glad I decided to do this project and so thankful that my family is being super-accommodating about it.

3. Write a daily diary of us + gratitude (Project Daily Diary)
This, too, is going well and I am making sure to do it each day. This is one of my favorite things to do so I take the time and prioritize it.

4. Start a family night where we all play games or watch movies together (Scheduled for Sunday nights 6pm)
We started this and have had one every Sunday except yesterday because I was out of town. All of us have come to love it and look forward to it each week.

5. Sign up for a mommy/me class with Nathaniel (this still needs to be scheduled)
I haven’t done this. I will prioritize it for February. I still think it’s a great idea.

6. Schedule minimum bimonthly date nights with Jake
We’ve gone out on two date nights in January and have some coming up in the next few days as well. So far, so good.

Health (Project Healthy For Life)
1. Do a combination of walking and running daily, work your way up to 5K a day
So far, so good on this one, too. I’ve exercised at least 2.6 miles every single day in January for a total of 81.06 miles.

2. Complete the 100 pushups schedule
I had started this and was doing relatively well but then it caused a huge TMJ problem so the doctor told me I wasn’t allowed to do it anymore. Hence this item will have to be stricken off.

3. Do strength exercises 3x a week
I haven’t started this. I am thinking I might change this to stomach exercises. Not sure yet. I will figure this out in February as well.

4. Track exercise+food+sleep+water using the fitbit
I am definitely tracking sleep and exercise. The rest not so much. Too much work for not necessarily equivalent reward.

5. Get minimum 7hours of sleep every night and 8 on the weekends
I am doing relatively well on this. If not 7, I definitely get at least 6.5 most nights. Actually I’d even say I get 7 most nights.

6. Eat at least one serving of vegetables daily and chicken/fish 3 times a week
Doing well on this too. Almost 5 days out of 7 I eat my veggies and I am still buying and eating the chicken throughout the week.

7. Walk at least 8500 steps a day and work your way up to 10,000
According to the fitbit, my January average is probably around 8,000. Actually closer to 8500 if I count CHA which was considerably higher of course. Still, this is an area I’d like to focus on some more.

8. Walk/Run a 10K
This is more like a November goal 🙂

9. I also want to work on the coffee+graham crackers intake but not sure of the plan here yet.
I bought some lemons so that if I am really craving more than the 3 cups of coffee, I can drink lemon water. But ideally I’d like to go down to 2 coffees at least. Not ready for this one, yet.

Art + Photography
1. Draw and paint a portrait six days a week (Project Six Portraits a Week)
Changed this one so it’s drawing only. But going great so far.

2. Art journal weekly (Project Weekly Art Journal)
This, too, is going great so far.

3. Sketch something small daily (15-30mins)
This is not happening at all. I have a sketch class coming up really soon and I am hoping that will do the trick to get me started here. I am still really really interested in doing this.

4. Go on a Monthly photo excursion alone or with a photo buddy
Sadly, I didn’t do this at all. I actually haven’t gone photographing in a long time. I will try to schedule one in the next two weeks.

5. Write weekly extended photo articles on my blog
This, too, hasn’t happened. I will brainstorm some ideas so I can get this going to at least once a week.

6. Figure out for once an all if I want an etsy shop and what will go in it
no ideas here yet.

Scrapbooking
1. Create one layout a week just for me
Well I must admit CHA sort of put a damper on that. However, I did make layouts for Little Yellow Bicycle and Maya Road, neither of which is existing design team work so I’m going to say that they count!

2. Do monthly The Girls’ Paperie layouts
Ahem I made 8 layouts and 3 projects this month using the new products.

3. Do monthly Pink Paislee layouts
And three layouts here.

4. Do monthly Creative Therapy layout
Did a canvas but I’m going to count that. And did two layouts for upcoming prompts as well.

5. Do monthly Write.Click.Scrapbook layout + write one more week during 2011
Did all of them up until May.

6. Successfully teach all four scheduled 2011 classes at Big Picture Classes and the one I am a part of in Masterful Scrapbook Design
So far, so good. The BPC classes start in the middle of February. I hope to see you there!

7. Aim to do 5-6 guest design spots or classes (that I teach) this year
Doing well on this so far. I have 4 classes total at BPC, 2 with DebbieHodge, I have guested for Little Yellow Bicycle and sort of for Maya Road, and have one more opportunity coming up. So far, so good.

8. Submit to one magazine a month (maybe, I can’t decide if I want to do this just yet.)
Well I am submitting. I’m going to. Soon.

Reading
1. Read a book a week (Project A Book a Week)
2. Read one book with David each week (Project A Book a Week with David)
3. Regularly attend both book clubs
All three of these are going great and right on schedule.

Writing
1. Write at least one long thought/idea oriented blog post a week
I’ve sort of been combining this with art journaling a bit and I wrote so much in the beginning of the month that I didn’t want to write after that. I have a long list of ideas here, though, just need to sit and write.

2. Write one new class (if you have requests, please share)
3. Write one downloadable pdf for my site or etsy (if you have requests, please share)
I haven’t done either of these yet. I will reserve some time in February to focus on them.

4. Write+email a newsletter each month
Doing this so far! Next one goes out in a few hours 🙂

5. Possibly do NaNoWriMo (not sure of this one…)
We still have quite some time till November thankfully!!

I decided to add one more here mostly because it’s been so beneficial during January.
6. Journal at least 5 times a day. Even if just for 15 minutes a day.
I definitely did this in January and hope to continue as my classes come to an end and my daily encouragement goes away.

Learning
1. Learn to draw and paint portraits (Project Six Portraits a Week)
Working on this one, see above.

2. Take 5-6 online classes this year (already signed up for one with: Misty, Stephanie, Ali, and Melody so maybe I should aim for more)
I loved, adored and cherished each one of these classes. I have already signed up for two more: sketchbook delight which is all of February and Recycled Journal Pages by Pam Carriker who I am a huge fan of and her class was January 1 but you can join anytime and it’s free so go check it out. There are two more Strathmore free classes there and I signed up for those, too. I haven’t just yet, but I know that I will also be taking Christy’s class because it looks irresistible. After they are all done, I will likely sign up for this mixed media class sometime in the spring. Yes, I have a problem. All this while I am teaching two classes in February (three actually) and another in May and one more in September.

3. Learn to write an iPhone/iPad application (sort of out there but achievable – let me know if you have an app you want)
Sort of working on this one. Chasing down some ideas. Nothing started yet.

4. Learn how to make a stop-motion movie
No progress here.

I meant to add more here. I haven’t been able to yet. But I am trying to learn to sketch, paint, draw, art journal so there’s a lot going on there. I might try something in the spring when I am a little less busy.

Community (This is a particularly hard one for me.)
1. Reach out to people I admire more often (leave more comments/send emails)
2. Invite one book club member out to breakfast/lunch once a month
3. Go out to breakfast/lunch once a week (to work or elsewhere)
4. Ask one of the moms in David’s class out to lunch/coffee once a month
5. Do a weekly-open house for Nathaniel’s moms group
6. Invite guests over for dinner at least once a month
7. Stretch: Do a get-together or attend one

I am embarrassed to say I’ve failed almost all of these. I have been reaching out to people but mostly to offer help. I have a long post I plan to write about this but I want to reach out more and offer help more in 2011. But I haven’t been leaving comments or sending emails for just praise. No breakfasts or lunches this month so far for any of the ones in 2-4. No open house yet but this will start next week. I have inlaws here this week. We have had two guests this month for dinner, so that’s the only one we have been doing. I really need to either reset expectations here or do more of these.

And that’s it for January. Overall, I think I did pretty well especially considering I had CHA to prepare for. Let’s hope February is productive as well.