Happy New Year!

The year is already off to a good start with going to a 1-hour spin class this morning!  Whoo hoo! 

In the afternoon, I went around to Michaels, AC Moore, TJMaxx, Ross and Bed Bath and Beyond, thinking that I could score on some after Christmas sales.  I guess I was late to the party because there wasn't a lot of inventory left and the stores have started transitioning to Valentine's Day.  Meh, no biggie.  More money in my pocket.

Ok, time to revisit my 2012 Resolutions to complete by January 1, 2013. 

Overall, it was kinda an "eh" year in terms of meeting my New Year's Resolutions.  However, I embarked on things that weren't on the list, so I feel like that kinda balances things out.

• Read 20 books that I've never read before. I wasn't into reading as much this year as I should have been.  There was too much time spent on Pinterest and YouTube.
• Complete all the races that I did in 2011 and beat my times.
  - St. Patrick's Day 8K: 52:43. Meg and I already registered, so that's a good first step. Now it's just a matter of finding my running legs. Time= 54.20.
  - Capitol Hill Classic 10K: 66:14 Didn't do this race.
  - Kensington 8K: 51:35 Didn't do this race.
  
• Use 25 brand new recipes that do not use a crock pot and is not a casserole. 5 of those dishes have to include some sort of seafood. Hmm, I made it to #14, none of them were seafood related and some of them I cheated and used a crock pot. Seafood's still a little too intimidating for me.  Plus, I'm not a fan of fish.  On a better note, I've perfected my chicken marsala and dal nirvana.
• Reach 785 sales on Etsy. This was a very lofty goal.  I'm currently at 714.  I did make some very good sales at the office and offline though.
• Lose at least 10 pounds by April 30 and spend the rest of the year maintaining that weight. HAH, yeah right.  Well, at least I maintained my weight all year, despite all the baking that I did!

Things that I accomplished but were not on the list:

• I taught my first origami class! I hope there will be opportunities to do this or something similar in 2013.
• I dipped my toe in the online dating pool and while I'm not seeing anyone at the moment, it was a good learning experience and exercise in putting myself out there.  As an introvert, I felt like this was a huge step for me.

2013 Resolutions to complete by January 1, 2014

• Decorate my bedroom and living room.  Right now, the majority of the bedroom walls are still void of any artwork, so it's time to fix that.  I have some pieces that I have saved for my bedroom, but it's not enough to fill an entire wall.  I hope to find some good pieces in the spring during yard sale season.  As for my living room, I have one wall left.  The thought of putting up a vinyl quote in both rooms crossed my mind.  I'll have to look to Etsy for something inspiring.
• Save enough money to buy a new car.  My youngest cousin will be graduating from college in the Spring, and the plan is to give him my car (2002 Civic) as a graduation present.  Which means that I'll have to figure out what I'm going to drive after I hand over my car.
• A modified version of one of last year's resolutions: use 15 brand new recipes that do not use a crock pot and is not a casserole or baked good. 2 of those dishes have to include some sort of seafood. 
• Continue to have an open mind about online dating.  I don't think I fully utilized my 6 month membership last year because I only dated 2 guys (1 only lasted one date and the other guy 4 months).
• Get to at least 800 Etsy sales.

Next stop: 30th birthday in February (gah!) and a Bahamas cruise in March!  There's a lot to look forward to in 2013 already!