Resolutions for 2014

1. Take a tour of the U.S. Capitol building.

2. Create and prepare an original food recipe.

3. Support someone's artistic expression.

4. Patronize a bed and breakfast on vacation.

5. Grow a robust beard.

6. Read a graphic novel for the first time.

7. Learn to use advanced video editing software.

8. Successfully complete the 30 Day Plank Challenge.

9. Focus on long-term, big-picture perspectives.

10. Convince someone else to complete one resolution.

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Revisiting 2013 Resolutions

1. Travel to a new state.
[Hoped to use our summer travel time to head to Austin, Seattle, or Portland - all of which would have qualified here - but a return visit with friends in Tampa was in order.]

2. Learn to cook a perfect homemade veggie burger.

[Disappointing, mostly because I simply let this slip my mind throughout the year. Ready the black beans and oats, I'm revisiting this one soon.]

3. Make faster decisions.

[Did I feel more decisive in 2013? Sure. But it took me, like, ten minutes to decide if I achieved this resolution, so...]

4. Visit the American Museum of Natural History in NYC.

[A perfect birthday present from my love. Also...DINOSAURS!]

5. Volunteer or donate to a new cause each month.

[This is the one resolution I changed midyear (see #10 below). I adapted the sentiment to focus on sorting through our excessive clothing collection and donating a significant portion to charity. Dozens of clothes-filled shopping bags later, resolution complete.]

6. Purchase a musical instrument.

[Why didn't I just purchase this harmonica and call it a day?]

7. Mail a hand-written letter to President Obama.

[This was a cute idea when I thought of it last year, and then I remembered I have terrible handwriting. I'm sure the President was very disappointed.]

8. Take a photo from the top of a mountain.

[No hiking in 2013, unfortunately.]

9. See Mumford & Sons live in concert.

[Nope. And given the recent announcement that they're taking an indefinite break from touring, this one hurts.]

10. Change one resolution in the middle of the year.

[As #5 elaborates above, check.]

(Original Post: 'Resolutions for 2013')

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Revisiting 2011 Resolutions

1. Last six consecutive months without biting fingernails.

[Wish I could say I lasted six consecutive days. Ugh.]

2. Travel outside the United States.

[Spain...check! Morocco...check!]

3. Converse with strangers more often.

[Sure, there were many exchanges while traveling abroad, plus four Midwestern women I chatted up at the Newark train station, but little else throughout the year.]

4. Contribute to D-I-Y Foreign Aid Revolution.

[Another year of Kiva loans, but was hoping to engage in something a bit more hands-on.]

5. Go skiing for the first time ever.

[Nope.]

6. Focus more on U.S. policy, less on U.S. politics.

[It was mostly policy in the front half of the year, but how am I to resist indulging in the slow motion car crash that is the GOP primary?]

7. Go tubing down the Delaware river.

[To be honest, not even sure why I wanted to do this.]

8. Wash Jeep for the first time in over three years.

[And I wonder why the paint is peeling...]

9. Watch Lord of the Rings Trilogy back-to-back-to-back.

[There and back again.]

10. Accomplish more than half of these resolutions.

[Not as many as I had hoped, but any year that involves a trip to Europe and Africa is an incredible year.]

(Original Post: 'Resolutions for 2011')