I did not do so great at accomplishing the goals on my 31 Before 31 List. Not outstanding at all. However, I would say that some of these list items were accomplished in a more abstract or unexpected way. Therefore, here are my reasons and justifications for not doing more of the things on my list.
Overall reasons: I/Aaron and I had a lot less free time than I assumed. And, as many of these involved him to some degree, it was harder to accomplish. Also, first year of marriage was not a walk in the park. With Aaron finishing his dissertation, us up-in-the-air regarding where/if/when we will move, and other things going on in our lives and those of our friends, life was stressed and strained. So, generally on the weekends we were happy just to be in the same room and not going anywhere.
The List (how ominous!)
1. Ride a Roller Coaster - Not accomplished, unless you count this roller coaster of a year.
2. Go to a professional football or basketball game - Not accomplished, though I hope to do both while we are in Atlanta (more on that in a later post). I did go to a Carolina Railhawks soccer game, so I was not without live sporting events.
3. Go camping with Aaron for two nights - Not accomplished, but I did sleep on an air mattress for a bit during our move. Still does not count, does it?
4. Make Creme Brulee - like I would not do this one - accomplished! I have my torch and am ready to make creme brulee whenever I please!
5. Read three books from my compilation "100 Best Books" list - I read two - Atonement and The War of the Worlds - but could not get that last one in. Admittedly, Anna Karenina and Atlas Shrugged still frighten me with their heft.
6. Visit a state I have never been to - I can now cross Kentucky off the list, thanks to my cousin Katie getting married there.
7. Take the Amtrak with Aaron for a weekend getaway - Not accomplished, but I did send Aaron off on his first Amtrak journey to Washington, D.C.
8. Train and then run in a 5K - not accomplished...again. One day, I will put my running shoes on and do this!
9. Make my grandmother's rump roast for friends - not accomplished, the making it for friends or anyone. I have lived a year without rump roast, how sad.
10. Throw a movie-themed party - not accomplished due to embarrassment about the perpetual state of moving in/moving out in our apartment. Have I mentioned that between Aaron and I we moved three times in a year? Yeah, not recommended.
11. Figure out how to play Wii Golf - accomplished! The Wii Golf demons are exorcised and, while I am not good, I am less frustrated when playing now, which was the point of this item.
12. Watch four movies from AFI's 100 Best Movies List - half accomplished? I think I watched two - Bringing Up Baby and Doctor Strangelove - but there is a chance another snuck in there and I forgot to take note of it. Not too worried, especially since I am further along in this list than my books list.
13. Go to the Outer Banks - not accomplished. Aaron and I decided to revisit Asheville instead of the Outer Banks. I still would like to go there, but it is a little farther to drive now.
14. Read the Old Testament in a year - dead in the water. I got way behind on this from the start. Since my goal in doing this was to read all the books I have not yet, maybe I will skip the first few books and jump to major and minor prophets, the ones I know I have not read.
15. Read the biographies of George Washington and John Adams - not accomplished. I barely finished His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph Ellis before the cutoff date. Largely due to the fact that the book was a little dry and I found I knew more about Washington than I realized.
16. Spend Christmas and Aaron's birthday with Aaron for the first time - accomplished! Yes, it took me seven years, but I finally saw him over the holidays. I think the fact we are married now helped a little.
17. Eat dessert at Hayes-Barton Cafe - not accomplish, but I think I found a better dessert place in Raleigh - PieBird!! If you are ever in the Raleigh area, eat there. Great dinners (shepherd's pie is astoundingly good) and excellent desserts. Salted Honey Pie for me and Bananas in Pajamas for Aaron!
18. Try one new recipe or dish a month - done! I found that I do this monthly anyway, so it was an easy list item to cross off. Group Favorite: Cowboy Caviar, Dinner fav: Fried Chicken Saltimboca, Dessert Favs: Oatmeal Pie and Salty Honey Pie
19. Read 26 Books - so very accomplished. I read more than I thought, so my 2012 reading goal is 30 books. I am currently five books ahead of my goal. I think I may need to increase it for 2013. Best Reads: Atonement by Ian McEwan, Zone One by Colson Whitehead, and Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.
20. Have people over for dinner four times - total fail. Although I did bring dinner over to other people's homes. Not the goal, though. Hopefully I will do better at this in the new place.
21. Floss regularly - nope. I do not like flossing. I know I need to do it, but nothing about it appeals to me...except the whole thing about fewer cavities and keeping my teeth. New place, new routines? Fingers crossed!
22. Reach 75 geocaches found - not accomplished. I think I went from 45 to 50 over the course of the year, and that is only because we went geocaching with a friend while in Indiana over Christmas. It was cold but fun.
23. Make different homemade breads six times - Well, I think I made four: quick breads, rolls, and muffins. Bread making is hard! Things don't rise correctly, are sticky or too dry, too dense, not cooked through. It is frustrating at times to bake bread.
24. Figure out a working monthly budget for groceries - done! I am still working on making a meal for dinner on a regular basis and not relying on sandwiches or (homemade) chicken nuggets, but I am getting there. Refrigerator pies (a more gender neutral way of saying quiche) have been a lifesaver.
25. Put together a jigsaw of over 1000 pieces - argh! Double argh! Over Thanksgiving, my parents set up a card table with a 1500 piece puzzle for Aaron and I to do. We worked on that thing day and night. However, we had to leave it with probably 100-150 pieces left. My parents said I should count it, the purist in me says no, so I will leave it up to your discretion as to whether I accomplished this goal or not.
26. Give blood - seriously, you thought I would actually do this? Ha! I get tunnel vision when I see someone with the colorful arm wrap after giving blood. It is not the blood, it is the needle. I am going to stop writing about this now before I faint or something.
27. Go to the Farmers Market once a month - nope. Did not go there at all!
28. Make a dish with mussels - Yes, I made a dish with mussels. Yes, it was the mussels you buy frozen in their own sauce and only have to reheat. Yes, I counted it.
29. Aaron's choice: Write a 6,000 word short story where the key plot point involves a chair - Sorry, bud, but I did not write it. I think I scared myself after making a list of chairs. Do you realize how many plot points there are involving a chair?!
30. Make paella - I did not do this, but I am going to one day. I have the saffron and everything.
31. Create an Easter Egg Hunt for Aaron - This was awesome to watch. I wound string around the apartment leading to the first Easter Egg that had a little treat (candy or Target dollar bin thing) and a clue to where the next egg was hidden. A dozen eggs later and Aaron received the grand prize - The Muppets movie!
There is my list of mostly unaccomplished things. I have found over the past two years I have done this that goal-setting is great, but it is also okay not to have done them all. Some goals should be easy to do and some aspirational. Because, if you only set goals for yourself you knew you could easily accomplish, how would you grow? With that said, I am not doing a 32 Before 32 list. Instead, I am making a list of things I want to do while I live in Atlanta. Some will be about seeing and doing Atlanta-centric things (Coke Museum, Braves games, etc) while others will be about my own personal growth (books to read, 5K's to run, etc). And I am going to allow the list to flex and grow as I find out more about this city I am living in.
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