My New Year's Resolutions:
1. Live a Healthier Life
By focusing on reducing stress, I've found myself benefiting from a side effect that I didn't anticipate: weight loss. In my attempt to live healthier, I've started exercising more and while I don't think it's reduced any stress, I lost 12 pounds and that makes me happy.
2. Utilize my Creativity
I'm making progress on my digital photo album goal. So far, I've organized and printed two books: Beancakes 2009 and Beancakes 2010. Blurb dot com has an awesome feature that allows you to put your blog into book form. I decided that I should do this because my blog is essentially Lola's digital baby album, and printing it as a book eliminates the possibility of Blogger's server crashing and all of Lola's baby memories disappearing into the Black Hole of the Internet.
Other than digital photo albums, I've also been playing with felt. In May, in anticipation of spending some time on an airplane (for our trip to Palm Springs), I made two toys for Lola.
The first one was a little wool house.
The gnome family lives here. They are a bit of an extended family, so I thought it would be best if they could enter and exit through both the front door and the roof.
I also made her a travel bag for her little cars.
The inside of the bag serves as a road.
Each numbered slot is a storage spot for a car. Here, you can see the prius pulling in.
4. Read non-parenting books
I feel like I was really on track with this goal, and then halfway through the third novel in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I began to lose speed and practically stopped. Then, I started reading a book of essays (The Braindead Megaphone), recommended to me by Rachel, and I found myself moving along again. Since then, I've also read How It Ended by Jay McInerary (also a book of essays, this time recommended by Amy) and Thank You for Smoking (recommended by Josh.) I'm currently reading Brave New World (also recommended by Josh), which surprisingly, I've never read before. It's good, but it skates on the edge of my book requirements, so I'm treading lightly.
Wow, you are truly amazing!
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I do for myself (no excerise, no crafts) is read. I am in a book club, and if you want to "join" via the net, that is totally cool. We can skype about the books together. I can give you the list if you like. I am loving the one I am reading at the moment!