2012 – Looking Back

2012 was my year to savor. My goal for the year was to slow down, be grateful, mindful, and joyful. I hoped to pay attention and notice all the moments of joy and amazing abundance in my life.

When I look back now, I see that I did savor so many of our moments Even though some of this year was extra-tough for me, I still did a large amount of amazing things that were aligned with my goal to savor and especially when I think about where I am at this moment, I am filled with overflowing gratitude for my life and all the love I am surrounded by. I loved this word so much, I know it will stay with me forever.

Here are some specific goals I had in mind for this year and how they worked out:
Family
1. Read to David daily with a focus on longer, more involved books. (We will incorporate these into David’s Book of Good Memories)
This project didn’t take off as well as I would have liked. Mostly cause our mornings are quite rushed now and as Nathaniel is getting older (but not old enough to follow yet) he’s less willing to sit quietly while I read. I might turn this into a nighttime activity with just David and me for 2013.

2. Take photo of full-family and write updates weekly (Project Weekly Diary).
This project went well and we didn’t skip one single week in 2012. I definitely plan to continue it for 2013. I am loving getting to have so many photos with my family.

3. Write a weekly diary of us and daily gratitudes for me and David (Project Weekly Diary) and the gratitudes are on the left column of the blog.
I did the weekly diary but not the gratitudes. Somewhere along the line, I dropped this practice and I really miss it. I am determined to bring it back for 2013 and have a plan.

4. Continue our family night where we all play games or watch movies together (Scheduled for Sunday nights)
We sort of fell off the wagon for this one, too. We did spend a lot of time together and went out to dinner, etc. But not playing together. I do hope to rectify this in 2013, as well.

5. Create letter-focused spreads and art with Nathaniel each week (Project Letters with Nathaniel)
This one, we did. Both Nathaniel and I really enjoyed it very much.

6. Create at least one crafty spread a week with David about things that made him happy that week (Project David’s Book of Good Memories.)
I am not sure why, but David resisted this project a lot. We still managed to fill up a whole book and now he really loves looking at it, so in the end, it was a success.

7. Volunteer in both David and Nathaniel’s schools at least twice each semester. (I know this doesn’t seem like a lot but it’s the minimum I hope to do.)
In honesty, I am not sure if I did this. I definitely spent some time in both classes but not nearly as much as I would have liked.

8. Schedule minimum bimonthly date nights with Jake
We were pretty inconsistent with these. We skipped a bunch and then did a bunch in a row. All in all, We didn’t have 24 but we probably had more than a dozen.

Health (Project Healthy For Life)
1. Continue running daily, work your way up to 5K a day
Some good news and some bad news here. I ran every single day in 2012. I did manage to make it to 5K a day and did that for a while. But then I sort of fell off and went back down to 1-2miles a day. I am working my way up but it’s been hard.

2. Find a trainer so I can add basic weight-training and strength exercises weekly
Well…I found one and was actually doing exercises every day when some bad life events got in the way and so I now have exercises and need to go back to consistently doing them first.

3. Track the food I eat each day. (not fun!)
yes, well, this never happened.

4. Continue using the fitbit daily with a goal of 10,000 steps a day
This was working like a charm until my fitbit broke in the fall. Since it was its third time dying, i just gave up on it and don’t use one anymore.

5. Get minimum 7hours of sleep every night and 8 on the weekends
I am pretty good about this one. Even though I likely sleep fitfully, I do sleep at least 7 hours each night.

6. Eat at least one serving of vegetables and protein daily
Well I’ve been ok on protein thanks to the amy’s bean burritos but not so great on veggies. My diet is a mess all over the place to be honest. I don’t eat badly (well maybe except the chocolate) but I really don’t eat well either.

7. Start a meditation practice
I did a lot of work on this one. I took a 6-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course that literally changed my life. It was amazing. I also discovered Tara Brach and listened to her podcasts daily. I meditated pretty regularly until the fall and am determined to bring it back into my life. I also took a Science of Mindfulness class which was excellent. Meditation changed my life and I cannot say enough good things about it.

Art
1. Sketch minimum four times a week (Project Weekly Sketching)
done. I did a lot lot lot of sketching in 2012.

2. Art journal weekly using hand-lettering at least half the time (Project Weekly Art Journal)
this, too, i did a lot of and all of them used hand-lettering.

3. Take at least three art classes
I took a lot of classes in 2012. I listed some of them here. I actually took even more than that list.

4. Experiment with at least three mediums
hmm.. I used the Tombow watercolor markers for the first time. I used a little bit of the gelatos. But that’s mostly it. I’d like to do more experimentation in 2013 if I can.

5. Try sketching using different sizes. (Really big+really small)
not so much.

6. Focus on and hone one specific sketch style. (or two or three!)
this one, I think I did. At least one style for sketching and one for art journaling.

7. Experiment with collage once a week (Project Journey into Collage)
also did this one.

Storytelling
1. Continue to create for my design teams (Maya Road, My Mind’s Eye, Write.Click.Scrapbook)
I said good-bye to WCS sometime during 2012 but I did my commitments to all three.

2. Create at least four pages (2-spreads) in my book (The Savor Project)
done

3. Design a class around different ways of storytelling
I didn’t design any classes in 2012. I have several small ideas but I am not feeling motivated to do them for some reason. Interestingly, it looks like Ali’s going to teach a “ways of storytelling” class in 2013 and I am sure she’ll do an awesome job of it.

4. Aim to do 1-2 guest design spots or classes (that I teach) this year
I did teach one class for Debbie Hodge and one for Gossamer Blue and I have a guest spot coming up early in 2013. I also was on Paperclipping Roundtable a few times, does that count?

Reading
1. Read a book a week (Project A Book a Week)
Oh yes, and more. I think I read about 90 books this year. A lot of them are young adult and such quick reads, but still…

2. Read daily to David (longer, more involved books) (Project Reading with David)
covered this one above.

3. Regularly attend both book clubs
I did go to one book club regularly but the other one was a miss for at least half the year. Partly cause of my crazy times and partly cause they picked books I really didn’t like.

Self-Reflection
1. Write at least three long thought/idea oriented blog posts a week
I had some holes in this but I tried to do a lot more of these this year and really enjoyed them.

2. Journal five days a week
Journaling didn’t happen. Can’t decide if I want to resume this one or not.

3. Take at least two self-reflection-focused classes this year (already signed up for Body Restoration)
See above link of classes. I did at least three of these this year.

4. Do the exercises in A Minute for Me, daily
Interestingly, I didn’t do any of these. Not sure why.

Learning
1. Take two classes locally
I took MBSR and The Science of Willpower and The Science of Mindfulness.

2. Take four online classes this year
Done

3. Learn to drive on the freeway
not done 🙁 I did go on both freeways this year so it’s not a total fail but still nowhere close to where I’d like to have been by now.

4. Learn to ride a bike
no progress here.

5. Learn to collage
Up for debate. But I did do a page each week.

Community (This is a particularly hard one for me.)
1. Go out to breakfast/lunch once a week
Not sure I was so regular but I did meet with friends more than usual.

2. Invite guests over for dinner at least once a month
We did so-so on this one. Probably ten this year.

3. Extend an invitation to someone new once a week
hmm.. probably not. But A few new ones nonetheless.

4. Leave comments on blogs I read once a week
bleh. didn’t even do well finding new blogs to read.

5. Respond to comments on my blog + return emails within 48 hours
yes, ok, i really sucked on this one!

I also took four out of the five classes I needed to get my coaching certification and I signed up for the certification process (starting in February) and started seeing clients. A big dream and a large commitment for both 2012 and 2013.

And there we go. 2012 was a year of big ups and big downs. I am quite grateful to get to close it on such a positive note and I still love and adore my word, savor, and decided to keep my ring so I can still remember to cherish and savor my moments and bask in the joy and gratitude of the overflowing gifts in my life.

I am so deeply lucky.

And, with that, good-bye 2012. Thank you for your lessons and gifts.