Backwards and Forwards

Before January runs away from me I wanted to do a quick post reflecting on the year just passed and making plans for the one to come – call them resolutions if you will. Though my husband (who works in psychology research) loves to quote research studies to me about how publicly declaring your resolutions makes it less likely you’ll actually follow through on them. It’s supposedly something to do with the announcement seeming like an accomplishment therefore you think your work is done. Every study has its outliers though :) So here are a couple of my intentions for the next year…

1.  Do a photography course.
2. Join and regularly attend at least one meetup.com group when I move to Edinburgh in a few weeks.
3. Try and average at least two visits to the gym per week.
4. Write at least one new short story.
5. Blog more regularly. 
6. Get a sewing machine and learn how to alter at least one piece of clothing.
7. Cook at least one new recipe every month.
8. Bake something every month.
9. Have at least two date nights a month with my husband
10. Read one non-fiction book per month.

I’ve tried to make them measurable and not raise the bar too high because I have a dissertation still to do for my masters that’s going to gobble up a good chunk of the year and also because I want to have more definitive boxes to tick at the end of the year.

As for the year just gone by, the lovely Jamie Rose from the blog Petite Panoply did a nice review of her year recently that I’m going to partly borrow. So here are the various highlights of my 2012:

Favourite films (watched in 2012): Monsieur Lazhar, Ordinary People, Blue Valentine, Gremlins, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Ted, The Five-Year Engagement, Moonrise Kingdom.

Favourite TV series: Homeland and Game of Thrones.

Favourite books: Vanity Fair, One Big Damn Puzzler, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Middlesex, Notes on a Scandal, All the Pretty Horses.

Favourite memories: Getting married (hands down), honeymooning in Central America, my hen party, getting my first librarian job (commencing soon), finishing the diploma stage of my masters, meeting my new nephew, each and every all-to-rare reunion with friends and family.

Favourite blogs (discovered in 2012): Papercrowns, Dresses on a Clothesline, Human Sea, Simple VillageGirl, The Imaginist, Ol’ Green Eyes, Hickory and Juniper, Toad and Feather, Honeybunny in Wonderland, Freckled Italian, Rose and Whimsy.

Favourite bands: The Barr Brothers, Trampled by Turtles, The Lumineers, The Head and the Heart, Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s, Old Crow Medicine Show – it was a rather folky year music wise!

So that’s a wrap on 2012 and here’s to hopefully a very happy 2013.