ANYway, 2012. What happened in our lives that year? Some stuff happened. Some stuff didn't happen. Let's review the stuff that happened:
- Epic Garden 2012 was attempted and, overall, I'd call it a success. For never having a green thumb which I could call my own before this point, I was able to learn about and facilitate the growth of some wonderfully healthy vegetable plants from seed to fruit development. I would change an awful lot in the season ahead (which really would just involve better planning on my part), but generally I am happy with how it all turned out.
- In April I was able to spend a long spring break weekend in the great City of New York with my best friends from college. My hope is that this will be an annual trip, not exclusive to New York necessarily.
- We were able to host a lot of people in our home over the year from family members to dear friends from Grove City College. One of my best friends, Megan, got married in August and my house was full of GCC people and I never wanted them to leave.
- Speaking of weddings, it was a big summer for the Dean and Rapsas families. My brother got married to an old friend of mine from church camp in July, and a week later Aaron's brother got married to his wonderful Ashley.
- In November I changed jobs from working as the Administrative Assistant (I preferred the title "Gatekeeper", but I was the only one on board with that) at a pediatric therapeutic clinic and day school to becoming a Financial Aid Counselor at a graduate school. I am thrilled in my new position (One reason = Business cards!).
- Aaron and I renewed our house lease for the next two years. I love me the security in that.
- Aaron became his favorite professor's graduate assistant, and is getting more on track in preparing to apply for doctoral programs in fall 2013.
- We continued to get more solidified in our church's Life Group and become better friends with the fantastic and goofy young adults in our church community.
Etc Etc Etc. So now I'm at the start of the journey through 2013, looking ahead at all of the forks in the road, deer crossing signs, and No Passing Zones that lay before me. Though I may have just lost sight of the metaphor, I know by looking at my Evernote docs and Pinterest boards that I have lofty ambitions for 2013, so much so that I've allowed myself to extend the "deadline", so to speak, to my 30th birthday (July 15th, 2016. I think?). I'll share a few now, a few later. So here are some:
- Read a classic book every month until my 30th birthday. This equals to 42 books. Side note: I already finished my first month's book! The Great Gatsby was a super quick read, and I just came back from the library with A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. Aaron asked if I was going to wait until February before starting my next book... though tempting (I could totally use the time to further my drumming abilities in Rock Band--Lego Edition), I decided to keep chugging along in case one of the books on my list is a particularly slow read (I'm looking at you, Dostoevsky, no matter how unjustified!).
- Read through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. The reading plans that take you through the Bible in a year have always been somewhat intimidating to me, even though I pride myself in being a quick reader, since I try to read this more intentionally than, say, The Great Gatsby. 3 years seems much more my pacing for this particular goal.
- Learn how to appreciate poetry. I have no idea how to read or compose poetry. at. all. I like Rudyard Kipling because his poetry rhymes. I like songs. I like Dr. Seuss. I don't understand poetry meters, and I couldn't separate a masterpiece of a poem from a poorly-written one.
- Start running. My main reason for not attempting this yet has been a whiny "but I don't have running shoes! Or workout clothes!" Or ENDURANCE. A friend of mine has wanted to start a running club, so that would be a good entry point. But I want to start running since it's one of the more accessible forms of exercise, and because I have an unhealthy love of sitting.
- Be more intentional about my higher education goals. I want to go back to school and get my Masters degree. In what? In everything. And that's the problem. I want to hammer out my interests, my skills, my career goals and figure this whole thing out, even if, in the end, I realize that graduate school is not for me.
- Learn how to sew. I got a Sewing for Dum-Dum Heads type of book for Christmas. First I need to learn how to sew all the buttons back onto my winter coat. Then I want to learn how to make skirts because I can never find any that I like. Then I want to make and give stuffed animals.
Etc. Etc.!
So that's a start. I hope to make it a point to track my progress on these resolutions and introduce others once a month. Until then!
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