With only a day left until the end of 2010, it’s now time to once again pull out this list, which consisted of my 120 New Year’s resolutions for the year.
At halftime in July, I’d managed to accomplish 46% of the things on the list. How did I do in the second half with the other 54%? Well, let’s see.
- Go to Morocco. – Made it there, thanks to volcano, almost didn’t make it back
- Go camping at least twice next summer. – does camping out on a couch count?
- Find my dream apartment and move into it. – don’t know if it’s my dream, exactly, but it’s a vast improvement and I’m officially moved in as of last week – just under the wire
- Get my own washer/dryer and finally stop dragging my laundry around like a friggin’ nomad. – new apartment has ’em both
- Get a dishwasher. – new place has got one of those too
- Replace my 12-year-old car with something newer and zippier. – zoom zoom 🙂
- …or else get rid of it and join CommunAuto. – opted for the new car instead
- Successfully fight that unfair, BS speeding ticket. – court date hasn’t happened yet; stay tuned
- Complete and edit my NaNoWriMo 2009 project. – um, not so much
- Participate in NaNoWriMo 2010. – sat this year out
- …and win. – you can’t win if you don’t play
- Buy those new dishes I was eyeing at the Ottawa kitchen store. – and I love ’em
- Buy a spice rack. – new kitchen, new spice rack
- Paint my kitchen yellow. (I’ve always wanted a yellow kitchen, for some reason.) – not yet, but I intend to this spring
- Go skiing at least three times. – I’ve been skiing for the past five days straight, so I’d say I killed that one
- Go snowshoeing.
- Visit Cathy. – and Casey, of course
- Visit Andrea and Jim. – yay Mars!
- Convince Andrea and Jim to come visit more often. – mission accomplished
- Host Etrek Montreal-fest 2010. – y’all are welcome
- Eat breakfast (other than coffee) more days than not. – coffee and a granola bar counts, right?
- Buy a vegetable steamer.
- Find a new volunteer project.
- Celebrate Canada Day someplace where people are actually happy to be Canadian. – yay Mars 🙂
- …with fireworks. – yay Martian neighbours 🙂
- …and some typically Canadian music like Blue Rodeo or Great Big Sea. – when I’m up I can’t get down
- Buy new socks and throw out the ones with holes in them.
- Reprise Buy Nothing Week.
- Roast marshmellows over a fireplace. – does a backyard fire pit count?
- Have a board game brunch. – several times over
- Eat crepes at CDL. – mmm, crepes
- Host a wine and cheese. – mmm, cheese
- Host a fondue party.
- Make homemade sushi.
- Play poker.
- …and win.
- Finish reading Don Quixote. – I gave up
- …in time for the January book club meet-up. – yeah, not so much
- Watch the rest of the UK version of Life On Mars. – haven’t had a chance to yet
- Attend the St. Patrick’s Day Parade – but of course
- …and fail to remember much about it later. – wow, I was far too sober this year
- Turn 30. – kinda inevitable
- …with minimal freaking out. – 30 actually feels pretty good
- Go to New York City. (I heart NY). – great mother-daughter trip this past fall
- Go to Quebec City. – didn’t make it there this year, sadly
- Get through the winter without succumbing to the winter blahs. – it was a short winter, so that helped
- …and weighing less than I do now. – hah!
- Win tickets to something on the radio. – haven’t really tried
- Get a letter to the editor published in the newspaper. – haven’t submitted any. Wow, I’m lazy!
- Attend the Salon Passion Chocolat. – missed it
- …and the Jazz Fest. – yep
- …and the Comedy Fest. – Tim Minchin rules!
- …and Bluesfest Ottawa. Great Big Sea
- …and Nuit Blanche. – it was too bloody cold
- …and the FrancoFolies. – it rocked
- …and FantasiaFest. – that film was weird
- …and a bunch of other festivals. – Beerfest!
- Keep walking to work every day, as long as I live within walking distance. – it’s the only way to travel
- Pack lunches and avoid the takeout trap. – managing on average four out of five days – not too shabby
- Pay someone an undeserved compliment. – won’t say who
- Learn to sew well enough to hem my own pant legs and sleeves. – my tailor can rest assured he’ll still be getting lots of business from me in 2011
- Don’t get the flu. – epic FAIL
- Call my grandfather. – often
- Learn CSS.
- …and update the look and feel of this blog so it’s not so ugly. -sorry, folks, still uglyville
- Blog more often. –
- Read the Israeli news headlines more regularly. – in spurts, but I try to keep up
- …in Hebrew, to keep my language skills from going completely rusty. – I think my reading skills are nearly gone, sadly
- …and listen to online radio or watch online TV broadcasts in Hebrew, too, for the same reason. – doing better on this score
- Update my online (Flickr) photo albums. – mostly up to date
- Update my offline (printed) photo albums. – yeah, not so much
- Buy fruits and veggies from the farmers’ markets instead of the supermarket. – I heart Marche Jean-Talon
- Vote. – there haven’t been any elections
- …in an election where my vote actually makes a difference. – yeah, like that’ll happen
- Visit the Contemporary Arts Museum on freebie Wednesday.
- Go to at least one rock concert. – went to three, by my count
- …by a band that has been around for less than 15 years. – KT Tunstall in November
- Watch the Cannes Lions winning ads.
- Carry on an entire conversation with a francophone without letting on that I’m anglo. – this works better in Morocco (and in France) than it does in Montreal
- Try 10 new restaurants in Montreal. – I’ve lost count but surely it’s been more than 10
- Find a good answer to the inevitable questions about my name that doesn’t involve exasperation, or a long backstory. – it’s like Sara, with an i
- Clean the oven.
- …using baking soda (?) – sorry Urban Green Girl, but it doesn’t work as well as you said it would
- Organize my DVD collection.
- Set out to buy clothes and actually end up with clothes. – some of them are even pink
- …and no shoes. – I think I did this once
- Master the art of the experience brief. – I didn’t, but Jasmin is working on it
- Get more (consumer) insightful. – oh, definitely
- Retrieve my old electric keyboard and actually remind myself how to play it.
- Reduce the procrastination to a manageable level. – Sporcle is evil
- Pay my taxes. – they come off my paycheque automatically, so this one has been easy
- …and put the refund towards travel. – see #1
- Win my 2009-10 fantasy hockey pool. – I placed second
- Draft Ovi in the 2010-11 fantasy hockey pool. – sadly, no, and Malkin has been underproducing
- Go to at least one Habs’ playoff game – contingent on them actually making the playoffs, of course. – went to three of ’em. Helped that the Habs made it to the conference finals.
- Keep kosher(ish) for Passover. – um… the less said the better. my mom might read this.
- Couchsurf. – repeatedly
- Host couchsurfers. – several of ’em
- Help at least three friends plan trips. – it’s the next best thing to traveling myself
- Invent a new smoothie recipe. – bananas and kahlua – surprisingly good together
- Watch the Olympics on TV. – glued to the set
- …and see the Canadian team win the hockey gold. (Hey, I can hope, right?) – epic WIN!
- Improve my Spanish from a 20-word vocabulary to at least a 50-word one. – still on the to-do list
- Watch Mad Men Season 4.
- Upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 7. – on my netbook, but not on my desktop yet
- …preferably without losing my mind in the process. – TBD
- Go apple picking in the fall.
- Sell my old backpacks.
- Clear out my closets and drawers. – now I have no clothes left
- …and participate in a clothing swap.
- …and donate whatever I cannot swap to charity.
- Drink more green tea instead of coffee. – I heart david’s tea
- Finish the pile of books that are sitting on my “to read” shelf. – I have a new pile now
- Get my grandmother’s chicken soup recipe from my mom.
- …and learn to make it.
- Convince my mom that the world isn’t going to end in 2012, regardless of what the Mayans said. – I’m still not sure she’s entirely convinced
- Go karaoking. – we all live in a yellow submafine
- Go kayaking.
- Laugh a lot.
- Spend less time in front of the computer making these lists, and more time actually doing the things on them. – been too busy to blog, does that count?
Grand total? That’s 76 out of 12o items accomplished, or 63% of the list. That’s up from 46% at halftime, making the second half of the year arguably less productive than the first. On the other hand, I did accomplish some biggies, like the new apartment, so I’ll say it’s a wash.
What are my resolutions for 2011? Stay tuned…
Happy New Year, everyone!