2014 To Do List and January Goals

Hey! How was everyone's holiday!?  Before I get into ours, I thought today would be a good day to kick off posts for the year with the annual to do list.  Given the year long time frame I had to work on my to-do list, I think there was a bit too much room to procrastinate on some of the individual items.  However, the monthly things that I held myself accountable for went pretty well, except for Pinterest goals.  And, well, that's easily explained by my lack of craftiness/crafting motivation.  Clearly food and photography are more motivating, so I'm taking that into account for 2014.  But first I've got to grade myself on this past year...

 1. Get caught up on pictures taken at the end of the year and upload them to share with family  (Because of the #2 on my to do list, I've been really good about keeping my pictures from all sources uploaded and organized.)

2. Take one picture a day for an monthly online album and then a hard copy book at the end of the year
(JAN, FEB, MAR, APR, MAY, JUN, JUL, AUG, SEP, OCT, NOV, DEC) (I didn't stick to a picture a day, but came close.  I'm almost done with December and have a Shutterfly coupon all ready to go, so I'd say I crossed this one off the list, too!)

3. Frame and hang more pictures of the kids  (I'm really glad I put this on the list, because it definitely kept me accountable and we have some lovely 8x10s that we put in big frames in our living room that I just love - will probably do more in 2014)

4. Read 50 books (Sooooo close! 43!  I'm giving myself an 85% score on this one - that's like a B+, right?  Here's my 2013 list on Goodreads, and you can read all of my reviews, so far, on the blog here.)

5. Run a marathon (Aaaaand, no.  As I've said, never say never, but not anytime soon.)

6. Do a trail race  (Soaring Eagle!)

7. Run 1000 miles total for the year (Well, if I had trained for and run a marathon this year, I'm thinking I would have easily met this goal.  Getting to 717 is pretty good (a 70%), and I'm definitely over 1000 kilometers!)

8. Run an overnight relay - (Ragnar Northwest Passage was so great, can't wait to do it again!)

9. Volunteer for at least one race (Handing out Nuun at the Seattle Rock n' Roll Marathon was awesome, and I really want to add this in a more official capacity for 2014!)

10. PR in something  (Barely squeaked one in with a 54:01 10K!)

11. Do more yoga (I definitely have done more than I ever have in past years, given so many great opportunities to work with Jasyoga, hoping to do even more this year.)

12. Go on another family overnight trip (Orcas Island was a great family getaway.  Now if we could only get my night owl daughter to sleep...)

13. Potty train a soon to be three year old and transition her out of a crib (Yay baby girl!  She made this pretty easy, 'nuff said.)

14. Find a new eye doc, get new glasses (Exciting stuff, eh? But: accountability! Done!)

15. Finally roll over that one lingering 401K into my existing IRA (Zzzzzz, but again, done!)

16. Make a will - even a free online one for the time being (Yeah, didn't get around to it - it's a tough thing to figure out, especially when you live very far from any and all family.  Will try again this year.)

17. Make at least one new meal every two weeks/twice a month (Easy goal, loved doing this and will just continue to do in 2014.)
(JAN, FEB, MAR, APR, MAY, JUN, JUL, AUG, SEP, OCT, NOV, DEC)
January favs - Seven Flavor Beef and crockpot cream cheese chicken chili
February favs - Thai green curry meatballs and million dollar spaghetti
March favs - Buffalo Chicken Salad and Barefoot Contessa's Minestrone
April favs - Baked Ziti (tried others, but this is the only one added to favs!)
May favs - Buffalo Chicken Casserole and Nancy's Chopped Italian Salad
June favs - Fire Roasted Mac and Cheese with Feta and Grilled Ginger Sesame Chicken Salad
July favs - Pesto Orecchiette with Chicken Sausage and Blue Cheese and Smashed Avocado and Roasted Tomato Grilled Cheese
August favs - Buffalo Chicken Burgers and Thai Chicken Rice Bowls
September favs - we did try at least 3 or more new meals, but they were all a bust! Biggest hit was making Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Muffins. 
October favs - Slow Cooker Steak Chili and Thai Quinoa Bowls
November favs - Chicken Hoisin Rice Bowls and Pesto Pasta with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Roasted Asparagus  
December favs - Crockpot Jalapeno Popper Chili and Turkey and Black Bean Enchiladas

18. Try something from Pinterest, other than food, once a month
(Didn't happen really - SO not my thing.  I wish it was, alas...)

19. Make a loaf of bread (I suppose I should specify sandwich bread or a yeast based bread loaf.  I was so lucky to get some friendship bread starter and I made a BUNCH of bread in the spring.)

20. Do a no shopping month (I thought this would be an easy one, but then I'd buy the littlest things that were on sale that I couldn't pass up.  Plus, Oiselle releases new stuff pretty consistently throughout the year and, well, it was just TOO HARD.)

About 15 and a half out of 20 ain't bad!  I think for this year I'm going to cut the to do list in half and add in monthly goals, since I seem to fare better with a shorter time frame.  

The to do list for 2014:
1. PR in a race - hopefully a 5K.
2. Volunteer at a race.
3. Do another trail run, or two, or three...
4. Run a 5K with my son.
5. Clean out the junk areas in the house - a couple of closets and drawers are getting scary.
6. Learn how to use the DSLR in manual mode.
7. Plan another family trip.
8. Make that damn will.
9. Read more books than I did in 2013.
10. Redecorate/refurnish the kids rooms.

Goals for January!

• Make a batch of soup just for my lunches/eat less frozen meals for lunch.
• Plank/do core work at least 6 days a week - giving myself one day a week to space out.
• Get some PT for my wonky leg.
• Refill contacts prescription. (exciting!)
• Make scheduled maintenance appointment for my car. (more excitement!)

Happy New Year all!  If you have a 2014 goal, to-do list, etc., please feel free to link it in the comments.  I'd love to read them!