Resolutions - Did I make it?

This is the original resolution, the update from a few months ago, followed by today's comments. Hopefully you can follow that since today is marked with "today". 2012 was a pretty amazing year, though the last month has been complete shit. I hope things turn around in the new year.

1. Write more...I've not been inspired at all this last year and I'd like to finally get something accomplished. Even if that's just a simple article on a hike. 

Well, I wrote a paragraph that could be the start to a novel. And I've blogged. But I wouldn't say this is going well at all. 


Today: Yeah this was still awful. I wrote an article on marriage which was good (very controversial, so many comments!) but I can't say writing is a priority right now. I want it to be but I just don't feel good about anything I could potentially write about. Need to do more travel writing outside of this short picture summaries I do here on the blog.

2. Be climbing 5.8s regularly. John thinks I should make my goal 5.9s since I already do 5.6s (mostly) clean and just did two 5.7s this week. But I'm being realistic. There's plenty of skills I need to develop in these higher climbs (hello crazy lunge I did Monday!) and I know 5.8 is more what I can accomplish.That's not to say i don't think I'll be doing some 5.9s by the end of the year, I just don't think I'll be doing them well. 

I just did my first 5.8 this past week. I've been doing 5.7s and some go well some suck, though I have finished every attempt. So I've been wanting to feel a little more comfortable before taking the next leap up. Then John challenged me so I tried an 8. It was really hard and I slipped twice, but I got to the top. I'll probably still stay at 7s for awhile, with 8s sprinkled in. So we'll see where I am by January.

Today: Still doing mostly 7s with some 8s. Actually I haven't climbed in 4 or 5 weeks. And may not for a while still. Got some stuff preventing me at the moment. Hopefully I'll get back to the gym before spring but I offer no guarantees. As a plus, I did do a 5.9 before I went on hiatus. It was no where near clean, but I did it. So if I get a regular schedule going again I be the 8s will come.   

3.Go on an overnight backpacking trip. We talked about this a lot last spring/summer and never actually did it. We stuck to day-hikes. So, it's time. 

Did this! Read about it here. We had a second 2-nighter all planned. The it was 110+ degrees so we decided not to go at the last minute. It's was probably a good idea to cancel, but I'm still sad. We've been unable to reschedule. Maybe in October?

Today: Never did reschedule a 2nd trip but we did go on that first one, so resolution accomplished.
 
4. Stop buying bread, bagels, buns, ect. I don't know if I'll be able to make ALL my own bread products as sometimes I get lazy and just want to run to the store and buy hamburger buns. I do want to make a good effort though. I've already made 2 loaves! I love my bread machine :) 

We still buy buns but I haven't bought sandwich bread. Still perfecting a few recipes. Just made rosemary basil white bread with herbs direct from the garden - big success. Not too 100% store-bought bread free, but having fun with it. Today: = same.

5. Try at least 3 new things (physical activity, food, hairstyle...whatever)...3 seems like a pretty low number for this, so hopefully I exceed the goal. But if I end up breaking my leg snowboarding (new thing #1!) and end up on crutches for months, I want to be able to still meet that goal. (go me and my optimism!) And I have recently done rock climbing and eaten Vegemite, so even though those happened at the end of 2011 I feel like it's part of the be adventurous goal, so I've gotten a head start.

I probably have food-wise, but I don't know what I've done. Did go hiking in the snow. Tried some new beers. And that's all I can think of right now. But I'm sure I'm doing ok here. Oh wait! I shot a gun! That counts as a huge new thing. Go me!

Today: Pigs ears, bacon ice cream, skinny jeans (tried, didn't buy, they suck), tried some new meds (does this count?), archery, yeah, let's just say I have this one under control. What will I get myself into next year?

6. Stop eating at chain restaurants. The only reason we do is that we're too lazy to cook or are on the road and not willing to drive a little longer to find something better. If we go out it should be to a good restaurant that's unique and appealing. there's no reason to eat at Applebees. It's really not good, wastes money, ect. 

Not doing as good as I'd like, but it has become less. Really need to just stop going out all together.

Today: this has been awful since I moved. There's nothing but chain restaurants. Ugg I hate my new city. Please let no one have recorded the day I said I'd rather live in the city.  

7. Summit a mountain. Maybe it's cheating since this is something I do just about every year, but here it is. It might be Old Rag again, which I know I can do. Or it'll be something wild like Mt. Rainer or Pike's Peak...depending on where we decide to go on vacation.

Went to the highest peak east of the Mississipi while in Asheville, but we drove so it doesn't really count. Done a bunch of hikes but not sure there were summits. Work on this is Sept/Oct. Or cry.

Today: Cried. Saw many overlooks but no great peaks. I can't say all the hiking I did was a fail just because they weren't peaks, but I wish I'd been more proactive on what we did. And that the one peak I had thought would happen hadn't been wrong in the book. Made it to a point where it was going to add 4 miles to go to the peak and back...and I was beat so we just took the 2 mile trail back to camp. Lame day. 


8. Activate Mission East Coast Exile. That means we'll either move to Colorado, at least actively make plans to make said move in the next few years, or decide to move elsewhere. As long as we get some better plans in place we don't actually have to leave yet, there's more to figure out still.

We've been talking about this a lot the last few weeks but aren't much closer to a plan. It'll likely be a few more years because we're trying to be realistic.  



Today: I have a loose plan, but until jobs offers start coming in the EC is home. It's really hard finding a job in another city!

9. Raise a pig. And by this we're actually going to give John's uncle a pig to raise, but we're building the shelter, the pig, and all food.We'll take care of it when we visit, but Uncle Glen will do the daily grunt work. Or we may scrap the whole pig idea and just get chickens. But we want to do something farm-y. 

So not happening. Need to get some land of our own as John's uncle is no fun. Today: same. Maybe one day, maybe not.



10. Have a pig roast. This will likely be at John's sister's wedding. Which is pretty much the best idea for a wedding reception ever...other than my own ideas, anyway. 

Sort of did this for the wedding. There was a pig roast, but the caterers took care of it. We'd like to do something ourselves. Likely won't happen this year. So we give this one a half done? Today: more of the same. But we ate a lot of pig. Done every which way.