New Year Again?

Another year come and gone... Here are my previously unfinished New Year's "goals" from previous years.

Long-term Goals for the year 2009:
Find some way of earning income. (I have 12 piano students now, which is providing enough for me to pay for my own piano lessons, voice lessons, and theatre and dance classes. But I would like to find something that I can do on my own time... I know, I'm too picky.)

One-time projects:
Get my bookcases organized and neat. (I got closer to done, but still not as thorough as I intended to.)

So, for 2010, my goals were:

Long-term:

Better sleep schedule (check!)
Improve cooking (check!)
Improve singing (check!)
Improve general house cleanliness (Um... not so much. Although it's pretty clean right now!)

One-time projects:
Clean off bookcase (getting there)
Make a layered cake (nope)
Make Regency dress (I cut out... some of it...)


Now for 2011 goals:
Long-term:
Seriously begin cookbook recipe collection and rating.
Improve my money-management and business skills.
Keep working on helping keep the house more neat.
Keep thinking and looking for other job possibilities.

One-time projects:
FINALLY FINISH the bookcase
Finish the Regency dress

Happy New Year!

The End of 2009

It is usually the practice at the end of a year to reflect on the past year, see what you wish you could change and then come up with appropriate "New Year's Resolutions" to help you towards that goal of a "better you." Or something like that. I have given up on New Years Resolutions because anything associated with New Years Resolutions is inevitably given up before the end of January.

I reflect on the past year, and look forward to the New Year. I also think of things that I hope to have accomplished by the END of the next year; rather than some repetitive task that I must do every day or fail, I come up with more long term goals, and strive to be as diligent as I can in completing or following them.

Last year, my list was:

Long-term Goals for the year:
Get on a better sleep schedule. (I kinda did... for a few months. It hasn't been successful since Thanksgiving, though. Something to continue in the next year!)

Improve my cooking skills, especially in areas that I don't enjoy. (This was definitely successful, especially since the goal was to "improve" not "become a world-famous chef" but also something I will continue to focus on)

Find some way of earning income. (I have 3 piano students, and it's earning me enough to cover some of my expenses. If I end up an old maid, I would likely make enough money to at least not be a burden to my parents, and hopefully enough to support them if necessary... still looking into other possibilities though.)

Improve my singing ability. (Um, no. Not really. I feel closer to confident in my ability to harmonize... a little.)

One-time projects:
Finish redecorating the bathroom. (No... not a good idea financially.)

Finish setting up my sewing area. (Yes!)

Finish sewing the shirts Kara, Jess and I began last year. (No... but that should be taken off, because it's not MY fault! I keep waiting for both of them to be available at the same time... I'm beginning to wonder how we found the time to start them in the first place! =P )

Get my bookcases organized and neat. (I did clean off several disgusting "inspirational" romance novels that I picked up at the library booksale - $5 for a huge box. My goodness, the stuff that passes for "Christian" fiction nowadays... but not the thorough organization and elimination I was hoping for. That will be continued.)

Begin the skirt I've been wanting to make. (No. I've made several other things with fabric that we already happened to have, so I think I'll wait on the skirt until I find just the right fabric on sale...)

So, for 2010, my goals are:

Long-term:

Better sleep schedule
Improve cooking
Improve singing
Improve general house cleanliness


One-time projects:
Clean off bookcase
Make a layered cake
Make Regency dress


I've also been thinking about unavoidable things coming up in 2010... such as the approach of my 19th birthday. I'm terrified of 19. Turning 16 felt like a milestone, but it was still young. One of my friends was convinced that we were "old" when we turned 17 in June 2008. 18 should be scary, as legal adulthood, but for some reason 19 is the age that I've been dreading.

I'll be graduating from highschool... FINALLY! And beginning my self-study "college" work. If I attend college, I will probably begin in the fall of 2011.

Also, it will be my last summer competing in swimming. I'm hoping to achieve some times that will be a good "end" to my swimming, even though I will, of course, continue to swim. The times I get this summer will probably be the fastest times I will ever get in my life, so I want to make them good ones!

Since turning 19 is definitely inescapable, I've decided to look forward to it, along with everything else the year will hold! I'm excited to see what God will do in the next year.

New Year’s Goals

These are just some things that I’ve been wanting to do. Hopefully they will be much more satisfying than my usual New Year’s Resolutions; which are generally made at 1 o’clock in the morning on New Year’s day while high on chocolate, sugar, caffeine and running on adrenaline, and then dropped after a week of attempting whatever it was. Like, crunches every day. That was a really bad idea. Probably inspired by the insane amount of food I had consumed over the holidays.

Goals have two main differences from resolutions for me. My resolutions are usually something that I HAVE to do every day, or the resolution fails, while goals are either a one-time accomplishment, or something that I want or need to do and can keep working at, even if I don’t succeed every day. And the second difference is, with goals, if I don’t accomplish it I feel like less of a failure, because it was only a goal, and not something that determined the year’s value.
And so, without further ado, my 2009 goals.

Long-term Goals for the year:
Get on a better sleep schedule.
Improve my cooking skills, especially in areas that I don't enjoy.
Find some way of earning income.
Improve my singing ability.

One-time projects:
Finish redecorating the bathroom.
Finish setting up my sewing area.
Finish sewing the shirts Kara, Jess and I began last year.
Get my bookcases organized and neat (this might begin with a post publishing a picture of the very embarrassing condition of my bookcases before and end with a picture of my success... :P )
Begin the skirt I've been wanting to make.

I've been considering these since a little before New Year's, and I've already begun the long-term goals, so I know that I'm serious about wanting to do all these things. Next year we'll see how well I did. :D

~Lizzie