2014

I wanted to write a wrap up post for 2014, but I kept starting and deleting, starting and deleting. I just couldn’t get it to come out right! So I decided to do it in a list form since I love them so much! Overall, 2014 was pretty great!

21 graphite portraits drawn

6 watercolor paintings made

3 camping trips

1 brand new car

11 plushies made

5 hiking trips

175 blog posts written

1 completed oil painting

3 new video games played from start to finish

1 surgery for my cat

9 postcards exchanged via Postcrossing

2 garden beds built

26 letters my daughter learned to write

2000+ photos taken (holy cow, I take a lot of pictures.)

I’m sure there’s more, but those are the biggest things that stood out to me for 2014! What were some of your favorite things of 2014?

Happy New Year! I spent New Year’s Day getting to sleep in, playing Zelda, and doing lots of art with my best bud. Now that’s a good start to a new year!

I tell myself that I don’t make New Years resolutions, but that is a bunch of bologna. I think the word ‘resolutions’ just puts me off – I find it has taken on a meaning of things I MUST complete otherwise I have failed, and I don’t want that kind of stress! But I do like thinking about goals I have for a freshly laid out new year ahead of me. So (like most things in my life that require some thought) I made a list. Goals, hopes, and dreams for 2014.

Give my blog a facelift. A revamp. An overhaul. When I initially put this blog together in June I had very little (read: zero) solid plans about it’s content. But I knew that if I over-thought it, over-planned it, and over-analyzed it, I would never actually get it off the ground and launched. So I took a couple weeks to come up with some basics and pore over layouts, and now here I am. Six months later, I’m ready for a change. I have a better (though still not perfect) idea of what I want the content of my blog to be, along with the tone as well. And I want the visuals to match that. Along with the revamp, I really want to venture further into the blogging world – discovering other blogs, participating in other events (doing my first 30Lists was SUCH a great experience!!) and hopefully meeting some fab bloggers along the way!
Get my art displayed publicly. I don’t care if it’s a gallery (my long shot goal) or at a fair, I really want to make more of an effort to get my art out there and bring in more commissions. This goes hand in hand with promoting my art online as well. I haven’t quite ironed out all the details about HOW to promote my art online, but I’m getting there.
Daily journaling. I really like to write in my journal. I find it extremely therapeutic. In fact, when I get way too self analytical or old doubts creep into my brain, I always go write it out in my journal. But I always seem to slip into the habit of only writing it when I’m having a mental crisis which (fortunately, I suppose) means barely once a month. So I’m really going to try and stick to writing daily – even if it’s just two sentences before bed.
Exercising/yoga. For awhile there I was doing great with daily exercise, but around mid-November it just fell apart and I’ve done NONE (in terms of specific workout time – this doesn’t count ‘natural’ daily exercise that comes from having a three year old!). I really want to get back into the habit of workout time. It’s not just about body image, though that’s a factor. It’s more about improving myself – back when I was working out regularly I could feel the difference in my body – my strength growing, my endurance for running getting better. And that was a GOOD feeling. I miss it, and I want it back!

Those are my four biggies for 2014. I have some littler ones, (sticking with the 1AM Promise, planting a bigger garden, redoing our living room. . .) but I’m definitely putting more focus into the major ones. Do you have any big goals for 2014?