Welcome 20-14!

This year I resolve to try to start saying "Twenty-fourteen" like the cool kids, instead of "Two-thousand-fourteen". It's been a hard habit to break!

Welcome 2014!

I have many, many more resolutions, though, most of which will probably be too much for me to sustain over the course of the year, but as I've noted in the past, for me it's sometimes more the making of the challenge than the challenge itself that fulfills me :)  My resolutions from last year were sadly neglected. That said, I am putting these new ones in writing and hope to check in frequently with myself to make sure they are becoming reality.







Monthly Challenge

I could also add doing more fun stuff like this!
But this shouldn't be a resolution,
it should just be a way of like! :)

I am going to go with what I resolved last year: a monthly challenge, each of which is something I have on a non-priority bucket list somewhere in the back of my mind. Most of them are fun, and will hopefully provide me with a way to relax and de-stress and just enjoy this life I've been given.

Copied and pasted from last year:

January: Write 4 poems, read more poetry and get inspired by it
February: listen to one hour of music (radio, possibly new music or a new station), every day. Listen to more MPR (I am paying for a sustained membership - why am I not taking advantage!?)
March: learn more about classical music, composers, go to Casa de la Música and enjoy my newfound knowledge, learn to recognize instruments by sight and sound
April: learn the names of flowers and plants, and be able to recognize many by sight. I'll probably focus on a region, like the paramo
May: Make 2 ethnic dishes a week. Countries I will be researching: Malaysia, South Africa, Singapore, Afghanistan, Nepal, Liberia, Malaysia, North Africa (Morocco perhaps?), Syria, Czech Republic, Tahiti, Burma, Greece, Romania
June: create a new craft from somewhere online, like Martha Stewart's crafts web site
July: Buy and make something with a Whimseybox (or 2). I did do this (the buying part) but not the making. So this year my challenge for this month will be to use some of those supplies to do something fun. Some are messy (Rit dyes - yuck!) but I guess that's why we call it a challenge!
August: Run a 5K (July and August might switch depending on the dates of the 5K I join)
September: (new) Try a new craft (ha! Andrés will love this one!). I'm thinking like painting on canvas or knitting or something I really don't know how to do.
October: (new) Spend the month creating with my sewing machine. This should probably be a yearly challenge, but this month I will focus more on being systematic about it and learning new stitches and becoming more talented at it :)
November: make a Joseph Cornell box, immerse myself in the images of his boxes
December: complete a crochet blanket (afghan) for the family. I should be able to pull this off since I am participating in a CAL this year. 


Reading Challenge

Last year I resolved to read 60+ books. Well, that didn't happen. I got to 29, which is quite likely an all-time low for me :)  But 60 was really just too much in the grand scheme of things. This year I am not going to worry about how many I read (there are SO many I want/need to that it is an endless battle!), but instead I want my reading to mean something, to teach me, and to be fun.

1. I resolve to read one book in Spanish each month. I really want to improve my Spanish, pay more attention to the detail of the language. I've been ignoring it for years and that's shameful! I used to be really in tune with the language, and I want to get back that love for it that I used to have. Especially now that I have two kids who speak it :)

We'll continue with the family bonding
(this is my favorite resolution, probably!)

2. I want to read one chapter book with the boys over the course of each month. We brought home tons of chapter books this trip and I am excited to get started on them. Currently we are reading "I Funny", and while it isn't really that good in my opinion, they really love it. I don't think they get even half of the jokes in the plot, but the jokes that they do understand send them into a fit of giggles. I think they are both enthralled with the story of this boy in the wheelchair. Which is good, as they need to get more exposure to different types of people.





Work Challenge

At work I've decided that I will read a new article on my expertise each week, take notes and incorporate the ideas into the daily grind, so to speak. So far this week I've read about multiple modalities. This should be a good challenge, since we will be attending TESOL in Portland, Oregon in March and I need to keep up the inspiration. It's been years since I was involved in TESOL, and I'm excited to start connecting with teachers and teacher trainers on a different level again. Plus, this year our new director at CEC wants us to create more academic agreements with universities from around the world, so we have his "permission" to use EPN (our university) as a starting point for more networking. It could bring new and exciting things! We need that around CEC, in my opinion.

Personal Challenge


1. I still want to open an Etsy shop. I still want to create more crochet. I am going to crochet more this year, get more serious about finishing projects, and then see where that takes me. Opening an Etsy shop will not be a goal, per se, but if I crochet a lot this year I will need to do something with all of my creations :)

2. Kristin is getting married this year, and I will be in the wedding, so I need to lose 50+ pounds. Yes, I am back to square one. Last time I lost the weight I was four years younger, but I did it in 3-4 months. I still belong to Weight Watchers so I plan to track, and so far this week I've remembered to do my exercise routine twice. Which is two times more than I have been! :)  Go me!

3. And finally, I want to really immerse myself in family. This isn't so much a resolution as a reminder. I feel like I am pretty good at this, but lately I have felt myself slipping, and I don't want that to happen. More phone calls, more texts, more nice words, more appreciation, more family game nights, more playing what they want to play, more understanding, more encouragement. For my whole family - immediate and extended.

Miss these guys so much!

So, there's a lot in store for Twenty-fourteen. I am excited to start fresh.