Checking In With Myself

Earlier this year, I posted that there were some things that I wanted to do this year. In an effort to keep myself on task, here's the list and the progress (or lack thereof, in some cases) that I've made.

- Take a craft class or two at Michael's or AC Moore.
Is it bad that I haven't even looked into this yet? It really is something that I want to do, so I think that before the summer is over I'll take a look at the fall schedule and see if there's anything that stands out to me or that strikes my interest. I know that one or two people said that they'd be interested in looking into this with me, so I'll keep you all posted.

- Paint at least 3 pcs of pottery (1 done already!).
Well, I have 2 done and in the house already; a bowl and a picture frame (the latter was part of Steve's wedding gift). I'm sure that before the year is out I can get in a third, maybe even a fourth and fifth piece of pottery. I'm also sure that there are people out there that I can convince to come with me to paint. :)

- Start walking at least 4 times/week for 30 minutes at least.
OK, here's one where I've been slacking. There was about a week where I was walking on a regular basis, and a couple of weeks where I went walking twice a week. Then I got caught up in wedding craziness and the walking fizzled out because (ready for lame excuse) I was too tired. I actually am angry at myself for not doing this one more, so this coming Monday I'm going to make a more honest effort to get my hind quarters out of bed and hit the pavement. I bought a CD player for my walks a while ago, so I need to start making good use of that $17.

- Go to the beach for the day at least twice this summer(Hampton Beach State Park, probably).
I'm going to have to downgrade this to at least once. I think I can do at least once this summer no problem. Considering that we spent a week on a beach in Jamaica, I think that I can excuse myself for a downgrade to once.

- Read and FINISH 10 books. This is harder for me to do than it sounds.
Since February I've read at least 5 books, if not more. I'm in the middle of 2 more now. This will be no problem.

- Finish that blasted afghan.
I got about 10 more rows done about two months ago. I might bring it with me this weekend to get some more done on it, and on August 25th Kimberly and I are hosting a Stitch N' Bitch at her apartment so I'll be bringing that along for that event. It's do-able, but it's going to take some effort. Steve and I measured it and it's about 2/3 done at this point. So... I just need to plug a bit more on it.

- Volunteer a bit more (as time allows).
This wasn't as hard as I thought it might be, though I'd like to do a bit more. Steve and I are both a part of the Communion Prep team and have recently been recruited to be some of the team leaders for the First Impressions Team at our Church. So while it's not helping the homeless, it's still volunteering and providing valuable services for our Church community. I'd like to do some more though, so I'll be keeping my eyes/ears open. Now that the wedding is over I'm sure that this won't be as hard as it seems.

- Actually make/finish the scrapbook I've been putting off.
I purchased the material! That's a start, right? I'm going to work on a couple of pages this weekend if we have some time on Sunday.

- Finish the other craft projects I have outstanding and maybe start/complete a couple more of them.
I took the football latch-hook, fabric, and stuffing out so that I can make that into a pillow sooner than later. I'd like to add that to our football chair before August 10th, which is the first Patriots Pre-Season game. That's a goal. I also have a scarf that I have to finish before the winter, a pretty pink one, so that's another goal that I have. That... and the aforementioned blasted afghan.

- Pass Microeconomics and start taking my Grad Classes.
Not only did I pass Micro, I got an A! I was very nervous about that, so that was a huge encouragement. I may not be able to start taking grad classes until the spring, so my new goal is to start studying for the GMAT, take that, and I'll start classes next spring probably.

So that's my update on those things. I'm going to do this again at the end of the year to see what I've gotten done or have made progress on. Things will evolve and become finished, and I'll develop new little goals of things to do. Then I'll get to look back and see how far I've come. This is like my own little Carousel of Progress. Which reminds me...

"There's a great big beautiful tomorrow, shining at the end of every day..."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Current Music: Journey, "Separate Ways"