guys like dolls

You could say that this year was the year of the hippie. I gravitated with increasing intensity towards all things natural and less wasteful. Everything from becoming mostly vegan at home (with the exception of cheese, which I still haven’t found a great substitute for yet) to using handkerchiefs instead of kleenex and only natural cleaning products. Even Lola eats vegan dog food.

I harvested my first crops from the yard (tomatoes, onions, spinach, and peppers were the big winners) and Joey and I are still eating seasonal local produce from spud. I eat many more vegetables now, like eggplant, squash, and carrots – which I’m sure is hard to believe for those who knew me even just a few years ago.

A big change for me is that I started working 80% time at work (4 days a week, 80% of the pay). This has helped me find a better balance between work and home and I feel much more relaxed.

Overall, I feel this past year has been very productive and I’ve become more aware of my actions. I hit about 70% of my goals, though I didn’t do as well on the few I outlined in last year’s post. Here were the specific goals from last year:

• explore more 3d art projects – I completely failed at this this year. I started taking an art class, but then dropped it because it wasn’t exactly what I expected.
• get a six pack – Well, the six pack isn’t there! but I am in much better shape than at the start of the year. I feel pretty healthy, so I’m not going to worry too much about the fact that I didn’t accomplish this. I’ll still keep dreaming though.
• volunteer and donate – I wanted to start giving back and this went very well. I gave blood and volunteered at a community farm near us. Joey and I researched many charities and donated to the ones that we believed in. This was an increase of infinity percent given that the year before we didn’t do anything, and I believe we made smart choices.
• keep working on the house – This goal, well, it feels like it is ever present. I know we made progress, but I still don’t feel satisfied. The yard needs a lot of work, but recently Joey and I have been making a concerted effort to get this done. (Sounds like what I said last year… hopefully next year will be the winner!)
• camping/backpacking frenzy – We did indeed go on a frenzy this year, which Lola loved. I had never been backpacking before and we went three times, culminating in a week long trip. Our hikes and runs have been more regular and we’ve now explored all of the dog friendly open spaces close to our house. We even had a tick adventure.

Highlights from next year’s resolutions:

• start an additional hobby – Time for something new! I am already very into gardening, cooking, reading, puzzle-ing, and such like that – so none of those count.
• grow more food – Since October I have been keeping track of all of the food that Joey and I purchase. I’m going to continue doing that for a year to figure out how much food we consume, and thus how much I would eventually like to grow. This year I have 96 sq ft of veggie space, so I want to harvest a lot more than I did last year – and keep track of it!
• floss more – I know this is common, but I’ve never made this resolution before. My trick – I’m going to allow myself to floss during the day instead of only at night.
• run a marathon or hike 30 miles in one day – To me, these are fairly equivalent in terms of effort. Hiking takes longer, and usually involves a lot more hills, but I find it a lot less boring than running. We’ll see which one wins.
• volunteer and donate – I want to continue in this category, especially in terms of giving my time. I hope to contribute to several organizations this year.

This is the year of turning 26 – hope it goes well.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 31st, 2009 at 10:08 pm and is filed under blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.