Blogging Break

A few weeks ago I started a new little chapter in my life. I became an Independent Stampin' Up demonstrator! So exciting! I love crafting. I love Project Life, stamping, scrapbooking, and lots of other random crafts. In order to help spread the word and get my SU business up off the ground, I am starting a new craft-centered blog. Unfortunately, I have limited time to keep up with both blogs. So I decided to take a 2 week from this blog to help prep and get both blogs back on track. I'll be back on May 19th with my usual weekly features and a few new content tweaks.

Monthly Life Goals May 2014

Before I get to this month’s goals, let’s check in on April’s goals and my progress.

April Goals:

30 Day Challenge: 30 Minute Daily Walk -- Failed! I walked at least twice a week, but I didn't hit everyday like I wanted to.
30 Day Challenge: Daily meditation -- Success! I took a few minutes each day to center my thoughts.
Finish three more OSW sets -- Success! I actually surpassed three sets and finished all twelve sets. I had planned on finished twelve sets by Christmas and I finished half a year early. Woohoo!
Complete a Day in the Life post -- Failed! Yet again the end of the month snuck up on me and I didn't finish this task.
Visit three new parks with Arthur -- Success! We need to put more parks on our list soon.
Pay off Discover student loan -- Success! One bill down.
Visit the Farmer's Market twice -- Success! We went exactly twice this month. Once for popcorn and berries and once for sausages and popcorn. Yeah, we love popcorn.
Pinterest Challenge: Document/plan some baby activities -- Failed! Just never got around to it.

May Goals:

30 Day Challenge: New Music -- Highlighting new music every day this month. Hopefully!
30 Day Challenge: Documentary a Day -- Yep, I'm going to try and watch a documentary a day. They may be 30 minutes or two hours.
Complete a Day in the Life post -- Third time's a charm, right?
Schedule a craft class -- As a new SU demo, I want to start building my business. May seems like the perfect month to start pushing forward.
Take a day trip somewhere -- Maybe the beach. Maybe the aquarium. Maybe the zoo.
Go on a preplanned picnic -- The weather seems perfect for this.
Pinterest Challenge: Document/plan some baby activities -- Second month attempting this task.

Odds and Ends

Here is my randomness for the week:

Dropping the stroller on my toes causes nastiness... Yep, that happened yesterday
I have acclimated to Bay Area weather; 70 degrees is too cold, 78 degrees is too hot; yesterday was 90 degrees (ugh!)
Popcorn is awesome, that is all
Why do I love cheesy tv shows?
Dark chocolate m&ms are my current addiction
I need to drink more water
I've fallen down the crafting rabbit hole this past week and yet I'm okay with that
I'm super excited about creating our Summer Bucket List
Baby jumpers are freaking adorable
Sparkling lemonade is absolutely delicious
I want more crafting supplies but I seriously shouldn't

Thanks Abound

Another round of thank yous...

My fellow social committee members -- For putting on an amazing Easter social on Sunday! I think everyone who came was pleasantly surprised about the amount of activities and goodies the babies got. I'm actually looking forward to helping plan our summer social.
Michael's -- Yes the craft store. For opening up their classrooms for free usage by the community. The mom's group was wanting to have a craft night, but no one has an apartment large enough to accommodate. Then I got an email from Michael's announcing the change. Perfect timing! Now I just need to call them and get some available times.
Sunny days -- I love the warm sunny weather we've been having. It's been perfect for playdates in the park and long walks.
Amazon -- For fulfilling all my baby proofing and pool accessory needs.
Stampin' Up -- For partnering with Becky Higgins to create a new Project Life line. I can't wait to be able to order from the new products. In fact, I just joined as a SU demonstrator to take advantage of the new awesomeness.

Odds and Ends

Here is my randomness for the week:

Super looking forward to the Easter Party on Sunday. And I'm actually enjoying all the prep. Yes, I'm weird.
I really really really need to get started on reading the book club selection. We meet in 7 days!
I now own at least 8 partial Project Life kits. I have a problem.
Pumpkin Spice coffee with Vanilla Creamer is amazing!
Jillian on Workaholics is the funniest character on that show.
J leaves on Saturday for a two week work trip. Not really looking forward to him being gone.
I need more wine in my life.

A Few Thoughts on Parenting

I don't often write about parenting concerns here. Mostly that's because there are so many great "mommy bloggers" out there. I don't feel that I have anything groundbreaking to add to the conversation. However I recent article sparked all kinds of thoughts in my head. Note: The thoughts in this post are my own opinions. Although I do pick a side of this topic, I do not begrudge anyone on the other side.

While reading through my blogroll, I ran across this article from Huff Post written by Bunmi Laditan: I'm Done Making My Kid's Childhood Magical. Immediately, I screamed "Yes"! Don't worry, I didn't scream out loud, but it was a huge internal reaction. The gist of the article is that we don't need to plan these elaborate activities and parties and buy our children the hip expensive clothes. Providing the necessities and showing love is enough. Allowing our children to explore and play by themselves is just fine. We don't need to plan every second of every day.

I don't have a daily schedule of crafts and activities. Somedays they are left mostly on their own to play and entertain themselves. Obviously that's not quite true with the little one, but I still make sure he has time to explore (safely of course) on his own without my direction, help, or interference. Somedays I have too many chores or a massive headache and don't feel like being an "on" parent. And that's okay. I am not harming my children.

I have often felt the mommy guilt that I don't do more on a daily basis. Occasionally I doubt my ability to parent. And then I turn around see my children exploring their worlds, happily playing. I see my 11 year olds actively seeking out new information and new games. I see my 6 month old finding his independence in play and mobility. And I didn't have to scour Pinterest, run to the craft store, and spend hours making something they probably won't even remember.

For the record: I do have a kids' activities board on my PInterest account. I do occasionally pull things off of it to try. But I try to resist the feeling that I have to. Those activities are fun extras not our day to day routine.

Laditan's last thoughts resonated deeply within me:

It is not our responsibility to manufacture contrived memories on a daily basis.
Planning elaborate events, daily crafts, and expensive vacations isn't harmful for children. But if the desire to do so comes from a place of pressure or even a belief that the aforementioned are a necessary part of one's youth, it's time to reevaluate.

Thank you for reaffirming my decision to step away from the perfect mommy race and be the parent I was meant to be.

Monthly Life Goals April 2014

Before I get to this month’s goals, let’s check in on March’s goals and my progress.

March Goals: This month was horrible when it came to my monthly goals.

30 Day Challenge: 200 squat challenge – Failed. I started out with great intentions, but then my plan fell apart about midway through the month. I want to get back on track with this challenge.
30 Day Challenge: Stuff Reduction – Failed. I managed to get rid of a few trash bags worth of stuff, but I really wanted to do more. I just never seemed to make time for a thorough clean out.
30 Day Challenge: Photos of inspiration – Failed. Never even started this one. Although I am still participating in the Fat Mum Slim Photo a Day.
Sell read books (HPB or other place) – Failed. Never made it up to Fremont.
Pinterest Challenge: Check links/clean out at least one board – Success! I did a ton of clean up on my boards. Got rid of some duplicated. Got rid of some pins without actual links. I need to keep this going.
Plan/Schedule/Finish Routine Blog Posts Through April – 80% success. I'm almost there. Just a few more posts and I'll be set through April. But at this point, I need to work on posts through May.
Get a Haircut — Success! I chopped off a ton of hair. It had reached the scraggly stage and I needed a change. Now I have a short bob with volume.
Complete a Day in the Life post – Failed. Never got around to it. Going to try again in April.

April Goals:

30 Day Challenge: 30 Minute Daily Walk -- I already walk twice a week at Shoreline, but I need to increase this to daily walks. I'm aiming for daily short walks in addition to my two big walks.
30 Day Challenge: Daily meditation -- I have near constant headaches and at times feel very stressed out. I need to take a few minutes everyday for my mental health. I think a few minutes each morning of meditation may help me out.
Finish three more OSW sets -- My goal is 12 sets by the end of the year. I've already completed four. I hope to finish three more this month.
Complete a Day in the Life post -- I wanted to do this in March and it completely slipped my mind. Let's try this again.
Visit three new parks with Arthur -- The weather is certainly perfect to be outside. We haven't been to many of the nearby parks and I want to remedy that.
Pay off Discover student loan -- So close... I only have about $150 left sitting in there.
Visit the Farmer's Market twice -- We haven't been to the market except for sausages for months. The winter months are a bit lean on participants and produce. Now I'm looking forward to peaches and berries.
Pinterest Challenge: Document/plan some baby activities -- I have pinned a ton of kids' activities. Unfortunately, that's all I've done. I want to get some supplies to actually do some of these activities. Now that Arthur is bigger, I need to engage his mind a bit more.

Thanks on Thursday

Another round of thank yous for another round of time…

Good friends -- I've made some good friends here in California. It's nice to be able to get together for activities or even just to chat.
Good books -- After a fairly mediocre start to the reading year, I am back on track with some good books. They left me relax and dream of other worlds. They are my great escape.
Sleep -- The boy is finally giving me some consistent sleep. I am so so grateful...
Baby laughter -- It never fails to make me feel better. Love that little boy!
Good weather -- The great weather has encouraged me to get out and get moving. I would never exercise this much outside when I lived in Indiana.

Odds and Ends

Here is my randomness for the week:

I think I might be an over-achiever when it comes to certain projects (case in point: Easter social)
Sunshine makes me happy, but also hot! Need to always take my hat and sunscreen for walks.
Watching 5-9 month olds "play" together is hilarious!
Baby poo explosions always come out of left field
I need to use my retired SU DSP so I can buy more! This is my crafting philosophy.
My luggage really really needs to get delivered. I would like something to take on the plane...
Arthur is officially crawling! Someone save me! And the non-baby prooofed items in the living room!
I think my reading malaise it lifting. Looking forward to some great books
I really really want to go to the theater to see a movie (maybe Muppets while in Indiana?)
Still hate cooking, but have been doing it a ton lately (and I'm not talking skillet meals or mac and cheese, I mean real recipes)
Craving some good muffins (blueberry, lemon poppy seed, pumpkin chocolate chip, cranberry orange...)
Flakey people seriously piss me off... Already written off a few members of the mom's group. We won't be best friends if you can't at least update your Meetup RSVP. It's not hard people!

One Year Ago

Sometimes Sweet started a journal day for every Thursday. I love the idea and find it easier to follow a prompt rather than think up my own. So, here we go:

Prompt #3: They say hindsight is 20/20, and with good reason- looking back at something always gives us a better view. We're often able to really see how our choices and decisions then shaped our today, and examine what we would have done differently given the chance. When looking back though, we often look way back, but for this exercise stay a little closer to present time and look back just 12 months. If you could go back just one year, what would you tell yourself? What advice would you offer about everything you've experienced?

One year ago I was pregnant with Arthur, but I hadn't really told people. This takes a bit of explanation. In summer 2012, I found out I was pregnant and promptly told everyone. I was so excited. And then in August, I had a miscarriage. It destroyed me for a few months. By Christmas 2012, I was ready both mentally and physically to try again. But I was still extremely scared and anxious what would happen. In January, I became pregnant and tentatively started to hope. As March began, I was still in a "wait and see" mode. I didn't want to get everyone's hopes up just to lose another baby. I wasn't even allowing myself to imagine what my future would look like and be like. I didn't want to become attached. And so I spent most of February and March pretending everything was okay when I was a wreck inside.

Obviously that pregnancy went smoothly and I now have a beautiful healthy baby boy. If I could tell myself one thing it would be to not worry so much. Things will work out. You don't always have to expect the worst. Sometimes things really do turn out great. It's hard for me to be optimistic. If I could, my life might be a little bit easier.

Thank Yous

Another round of thank yous for another round of time...

My new mom's group -- I found a group that I really click with. And I've found some great new friends. I hope we can create some long-lasting friendships.
My daily planner from Thyme is Honey -- I have finally found something that keeps my day organized and I can keep up with it. So easy!
Arthur -- Being his mom is such a joy. Most days he's easy. I am grateful for a relatively easy child.
Our Keurig -- Best Christmas present ever. I am grateful for my morning tea or coffee. Getting up at 6am daily is tough for a non-morning person like me.
The rain -- We desperately need rain here in California. It won't be enough to end the drought, but every little bit does help. Plus, I love falling asleep to the sound of rain.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my birthday. I am now 32 years old. And I have to say that my 30s is turning out to be a pretty great decade. Here's to another year full of adventures, trials, and celebrations.

Odds and Ends

Here is my randomness for the week:

I have so many projects I want to start... curse you Pinterest
need to buy plane tickets
the kitchen floor is bugging me, but that means a deep clean with a clingy baby
pureed peas smell disgusting
when I get five minutes to myself, I'm so scatterbrained nothing gets done
other moms can be super judgey (hope I'm not like them)
wondering what Director of Membership really entails
I'm almost behind on my blog... I need a day dedicated to blog post writing/planning/scheduling
my birthday is less than a week away (Hello 32!)
every moment spent with my baby is so precious (sorry for the sap)
thinking we need to buy an umbrella stroller to save my back during traveling
want to hard-core plan our summer family vacation up north (as in Northern California not the Great White North)
there are too many movies to watch and books to read
didn't realized how much I missed listening to the rain until this past week... love that sound!
my wardrobe is tired and ill-fitting; wish I had money to go out and splurge on a new one
but I did find some comfy slip-on sneakers to make me feel better about non-fitting clothes
everyone keeps telling that Arthur looks exactly like me; all I see is J when I look at him
I'm so far behind on my Bloglovin' reading I may just mark all as read and start fresh

Monthly Life Goals March-2014

Before I get to this month’s goals, let’s check in on January’s goals and my progress.

February goals:

30 Day Challenge: Cleaning of the entire house – Failed. I so did not even get started on this goal. I did keep up with most of my cleaning schedule, but I really do need to deep clean other areas.
30 Day Challenge: IMDB 250 movies – Success! Another 28 movies watched from the list. I am behind on the reviews, but we did watch them.
30 Day Challenge: An apple a day – Failed. I bought some apples and just didn't keep up with eating them daily.
Pinterest Challenge: Make 5 things from my Pinterest boards – Success! Using a "This Week's Projects" board has encouraged me to make more things off of my boards. I made multiple recipes and cards based off of pins from the board. I even tried a towel laundering trick to make the fluffy and nice smelling.
Update Netflix queue – Success! I finally fixed our queques so that they are separated and updated. Now I can add, watch, and delete things without J getting confused.
Update TBR spreadsheets – 50% success. I got most of the random lists of interesting books into the spreadsheets. I haven't yet checked for duplicates or done
Make Valentines for the mom’s group and stamp club ladies – Success! We had a fun little party for the babies even though it rained out our park time and we had to retreat to a bakery. I made 20 homemade Valentine's for the little ones.

March Goals:

30 Day Challenge: 200 squat challenge -- I haven't lost a pound in two months and that's with walking 5-7miles a week and watching what I eat. Maybe this will help me shed some pounds or at least get me more into shape.
30 Day Challenge: Stuff Reduction -- I want to keep working on getting rid of the clutter. Every week I want to focus on a room of the apartment. That week I will systematically go through the stuff and try to reduce by trashing, recycling, selling, or Goodwilling. (W1 Master Suite; W2 Office; W3 Living room/Kitchen; W4 Boys' Room)
30 Day Challenge: Photos of inspiration -- A part of my Day Zero Project, I want to take photos of everything that inspires me. Some of this may be able to cross posted to my FMS Photo a Day Challenge for March.
Sell read books (HPB or other place) -- I have four bags ready to go. This will help me get rid of the clutter.
Pinterest Challenge: Check links/clean out at least one board -- I am sure that I will continue to make things from my boards, but I really need to start cleaning up the boards. I'm sure I have some missing links and such.
Plan/Schedule/Finish Routine Blog Posts Through April -- I'm nearing the end of what I had prepped and scheduled around Christmas. I want to get ahead to leave time for spur of the moment posts and new things.
Get a Haircut -- I haven't had one since I was pregnant. I desperately need a new look.
Complete a Day in the Life post -- My goal is to do one of these each season.

Music Memories

Sometimes Sweet started a journal day for every Thursday. I love the idea and find it easier to follow a prompt rather than think up my own. So, here we go:

Prompt #2: We all have songs that really mean something to us. Often just hearing it can take us right back to that place and we are able to re-experience the memory associated with the song. Sometimes good, sometimes bad, but either way music has the ability to really draw things out of us and evoke deep emotion. Choose a song that has a particular meaning to you. Tell the story of the memory associated with the song, sharing as much detail as you can. Take us there; let us experience it with you.

My memory isn't just one song, but a mini playlist. My junior year of high school, I drove a few of my friends to and from school. We had our own little carpool. I quickly realized that I hated listening to the radio in the morning (tons of talking, not enough music). And so I began to create mixtapes to entertain us in the morning (and in the afternoon). Yes, they were cassette tapes. This was before most cards had cd players and definitely before mp3 players. I diligently sat at home with my boombox in front of the stereo and started taping. Every morning, I would listen to the radio until I picked up my best friend, Beth. Funny aside: she lived the closest to school (1 block away!) but I always picked her up first. We would pop the tape in and start our day right with some headbanging top-of-our-lungs singing of The Offspring. And then we would cool down to some Barenaked Ladies and Five Iron Frenzy while throwing in some Korn and Snoop Dog. It was always a party. We would then drive around picking up my other carpoolers and eventually make it to school. In the afternoon, we would pick up wherever we left off on the tape. That tape lived in my car for two years. I only played it on the way to and from school. It was a special tape for a special occasion. Those mornings and afternoons were my first taste of true freedom. I had a car, I was all on my own, I had my friends with me to enjoy the ride. Anytime one of these songs pops up in my iTunes shuffle, I immediately go right back to high school hanging with my friends and my little white Hyundai Accent rocking our way to another day at school.

P.S. I know there were more songs, but for the life of me, I can't remember them all. And the tape has disappeared into some landfill somewhere...

At a Crossroads...

Sometimes Sweet started a journal day for every Thursday. I love the idea and find it easier to follow a prompt rather than think up my own. So, here we go:

Prompt #1: Everyone has a time in their life they view as a crossroad. Sometimes you can see it as it's happening, and you're able to choose one way or another. Other times you may not realize you're there until you look back, and see what a turning point it really was. This week, write about a time you view as a marker in your life; a distinct place where things changed, for better or worse.

My crossroads came in June of 2011 and it wasn't all amazing. After an entire year of unemployment and feeling stuck, I finally made a huge change in my life and moved to Nebraska to be with J and a fresh start. I had decided to make the move almost a year before then, but I was stuck in Indiana because of a custody fight. My ex didn't want me to move the twins to Nebraska. And so we began an almost year long back and forth. It was draining both financially and emotionally. After that year, an agreement was reached. One I was not that keen on. But it was a change and it allowed me to move ahead with my life instead of being stuck in limbo. Come June, I packed up my entire life into a U-haul, left my boys with mom until they could fly out, and drove 10 hours to another life. It felt like my life started anew. From that point forward, things have increasingly gotten better in my life. My relationship with J has deepened. I finally found who I could be with for the the rest of my life. I moved into a different career. Even though I am not currently working, I have worked in new and different fields learning new skills. I have found a new support system of friends with like interests (crafters and moms!). And finally, I have added another member to my family with the birth of my beautiful Arthur. While the choices weren't optimal, I feel like I eventually made a decision and set my life on a better path filled with endless opportunities.

Monthly Life Goals February

Before I get to this month's goals, let's check in on January's goals and my progress.

January goals:

30 Day Challenge: Creative writing prompts -- Failed. I just never seemed to make time for this.
Pixar movie marathon -- Failed. Just never got around to it.
Create a cleaning schedule (daily, weekly, monthly) -- Done! I looked at Pinterest for ideas, collected my own ideas, and created my own schedule.
Clean out our health and beauty projects -- Done! I got rid of a ton of travel sized and expired products. Plus, any leftover travel sized containers went onto the counter to use soon.
Take inventory of our food cupboards -- Done! I got rid of a few thing and organized the rest. Now I can easier grab our most used items.
Lose a pants size -- Failed. I'm down about 1/2 a pants size. Hopefully my recent return to consistent exercise will make this a reality soon.
Take a substantial walk (1-2 miles) at least once a week – 50% success on this. While still in Indiana, I didn't walk at all (it was below zero!). Once I got back to California, I restarted our weekly walk at Shoreline with the mom's group. That event gets me at least 2 miles every week (sometimes more). Now I need to commit myself to walked at least another day during the week.

February goals:

30 Day Challenge: Cleaning of the entire house -- I plan on implementing my cleaning schedule that I created in January along with a general deep clean of the apartment. Room by room, area by area, I want this place to be a good starting point for the rest of the year.
30 Day Challenge: IMDB 250 movies -- I do a twice yearly movie month anyway. I though I would make this February's movie month focus on the watching a chunk of those 250 movies I committed us to watching almost two years ago.
30 Day Challenge: An apple a day -- Kind of silly, but I like the challenge. Plus, I love apples.
Pinterest Challenge: Make 5 things from my Pinterest boards -- My boards are being cluttered with all kinds of ideas, but I don't usually do anything besides look at them. I resolve to make at least 5 things (recipes, crafts, etc) from my boards.
Update Netflix queque -- I need to finish transferring my movies over to my profile so J quits bugging me. There's no real easy way to do it.
Update TBR spreadsheets -- Another not fun chore, but these spreadsheets are in sore need of some cleaning out and organizing.
Make Valentines for the mom's group and stamp club ladies -- Arthur and I signed up for a Valentine's day party with one of the mom's groups. My goal is to make my own little Valentine's for all the babies. I have some great card making ideas. Plus, Michael's has all of their Valentine's supplies on sale.

Thanks for the New Year

I haven't done one of these post since a little after Arthur was born... Time to get back into the habit.

1. Indiana family and new family -- For a great Christmas break even with the snow and canceled flights It was nice to see everyone and have everyone meet Arthur. We had tons of fun.

2. A friend's successful surgery -- A friend who had surgery right as I left for Indiana is on the mend. So thankful for her good recovery.

3. California weather -- As nice as it was to see family for Christmas, I did not miss the extreme cold temperatures. I even caught a horrendous cold while there. Thankful to be back to the lovely warm weather and sunshine. I've been wearing sandals nonstop since getting back.

4. Monday mom's group meeting -- Every Monday we meet to walk at Shoreline, grab lunch, and generally catch up. I probably wouldn't be walking this much (2-3 miles each time) if not for the chance to hang out with some pretty cool moms.

5. My own bed -- The bed in my mom's guest room is just so uncomfortable compared to my own. As soon as I got back, I started sleeping better again.

Monthly Life Goals January

Yearly New Year's Resolutions never work very well. They're usually too much, too long, and too ambitious. I decided to take my cue from many other bloggers and shorten my life resolutions to smaller chunks. I'm aiming for monthly goals. Some of these monthly goals will be 30 day challenges and others will be one time events. I want a nice mix of goals that are more likely to be accomplished. I started my monthly goals with January 1st, but have obviously waited until I returned to my blog to post my first month's goals.

January goals:

30 Day Challenge: Creative writing prompts -- I crave writing, but always seem to push it aside for other activities. I hope this makes me focus on writing if for only a few minutes a day. This is also a goal for my Day Zero Project.
Pixar movie marathon -- On my DZP list. We received Brave and Monsters University from "Santa" for Christmas. Woohoo! Two more to add to our list.
Create a cleaning schedule (daily, weekly, monthly) -- I need to be better at cleaning on a regular basis. I clean but it tends to clump together into one epic day after which I am exhausted. I saw the idea of daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning routines on other blogs. I love the idea! This goal is to create a schedule and then get started.
Clean out our health and beauty projects -- Part of a year long clean out project. I want to start with the bathroom cabinets. I probably have expired make-up and other randomness that can be cleaned out.
Take inventory of our food cupboards -- Another part of the clean out project, I need to do a serious inventory taking of our food cupboards. We have a multitude of random sauces, spices, and other things. Some may be expired. Others just need to be rediscovered so they can be used. Plus, knowing what's in there should help with grocery lists and meals planning.
Lose a pants size -- The holidays are over. It's time to get serious about losing the pregnancy weight plus some. I gained weight after my miscarriage in fall 2012. And I obviously gained weight while pregnant in 2013. I want to get back down to my comfort zone (size 8-10).
Take a substantial walk (1-2 miles) at least once a week -- This should help with the previous goal. I need to become more consistent with my walking. Meeting the mom's group on Mondays should help me keep this goal.

Top Ten Tuesday -- 2014 Goals and Resolutions

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join. If you can’t come up with ten, don’t worry about it—post as many as you can!

Blog and Reading Resolutions:

Read over 50,000 pages -- Dropped it a bit from last year. I like having a fairly manageable page goal instead of a book number goal.
Get rid of at least one box of books -- Again, same as last year. Really want to free up space in the office closet.
Add in my new features/update weekly schedule -- Really this is adding in more of my Project Life spreads and my monthly goals posts.
Focus on reading my own books -- Not necessarily a library ban, but limiting my visits. I have way too many books sitting in the closet to constantly be picking up outside books. I'm setting a goal of 80% of my 2014 reads to be ones I own.
Focus on my perpetual lists -- In fact, I am using my perpetual challenges for a majority of my year's reading challenges.

Life Resolutions:

30 Day Challenges --- Instead of yearly goals, I need to focus on smaller and shorter goals. So, I will be posting monthly goals containing a mix of one time activities and 30 day challenges. As an added bonus, many of the 30 day challenges I am scheduling will knock off a few Day Zero Project goals.
Documentation through Project Life -- I started in October and am absolutely loving the process. I hope to keep my momentum through 2014. I purchased a January PL class through Studio Calico to start the year off right. Hopefully I will get some good tips and inspiration to sustain me. I will be sharing our spread monthly.
New food adventures -- I don't really like to cook, but I love new recipes. I want to focus on trying at least one new recipe a week. I have many cookbooks and multitudes of recipes saved online. I need to start weeding out the crap and the ones we love. Maybe I'll create theme months... or weeks... or quarters. This is one of the new features that I'm still thinking about starting on the blog.
Losing the baby weight -- I gained 30 pounds with Arthur on top of the extra 15 I had been carrying around since my miscarriage in August 2012. I want to make 2014 the year of getting back to being comfortable. I want to get down to my prepregnancy weight. I'm starting this off with a January month goal of losing a pants size. I'm eating better, I just need to exercise more.
Exploring the Bay Area -- I feel like we've only seen a fraction of things in our area. Since we won't be taking a big out of area vacation this year, I want to spend the year exploring our local region. I've already got a few ideas of fun with the boys during the summer. I'm also kicking around a possible weekend trip to Yosemite... In fact, my word of the year is EXPLORE! I don't really follow through with all the One Little Word hoopla, but I am going to attempt to use my word and feature it in my Project Life pages.

Revisiting the 2013 blog and reading resolutions:

Read over 60,000 pages -- Nope... Got pretty close with 53,622 pages.
Get rid of at least one box of books — Definitely accomplished this one. However, I think we only got rid of one box. I hope to make a bigger dent in 2014.
Finish any series started — I did a fairly good job on this one. I joined the Seriously Series Reading Challenge to help me focus. With that, I finished 10 series. I'm hoping to repeat my success next year.
Finish 75% or more of the reading challenges I join —Woohoo! This is the first time that I met this goal. So excited!
Read more on the iPad — Read more than I have ever have before on the iPad. But I still need to decrease our physical book inventory. I'm sure I'll keep reading ebooks in 2014.
Be stricter about DNFs — I DNF'd 3 books this year. I probably could have added about 2 more to that total, but I'm okay with not. I am getting better at putting books aside if they don't interest me at all.
Read the book before seeing the movie — Fairly decent job at this. I read a ton of books that I had already seen the movie years ago. I also read a few in anticipation of their movie release. Continuing this in 2014.
Do at least six readathons — I did 10 throughout the year. Great accomplishment. I'll probably do most of these for 2014.
Focus on my perpetual lists -- Failed at this goal. I read maybe 6 books off my perpetual lists. My failure is the reason I decided to change up my reading challenges for 2014.
Limit by book buying — I think I only bought 7 or 8 books throughout the entirety of 2013. I call that a success! Unfortunately, I probably added about 30 free ebooks to the iPad. I really need to work on resisting those free deals. Just because it's free, doesn't mean that I have to download it...