This past weekend we travelled to Boston to visit my sister-in-law. While we were there we decided to visit the Museum of Science. We have been there before, but it was several years ago (Zane wasn’t born yet). I’m going to divide our photos up into five parts, so as not to overwhelm my readers 🙂 This first set is from the New England Habitats exhibit.
Like most people we enjoy celebrating the New Year, but we are introverts and big parties aren’t really our thing (especially not since we had kids…no hangovers for mama!). So, our New Year’s Eve was pretty quiet — I didn’t even make it to midnight. My husband and I drank a little champagne and talked about Viking sagas and manual camera settings.
On New Year’s Day we always get together with my in-laws for a lucky meal and a few fun traditions. We light twelve candles in honor of the 12 months of the year.
And, we write down the things from the last year that we want to leave behind, and then burn the scrap of paper in the fire. This year, my list was pretty short. All in all, 2012 was a good year. I’m looking forward to discovering what 2013 will bring.
From T.S. Eliot’s “Little Gidding” —
For last year’s words belong to last year’s language
And next year’s words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
Happy New Year! 366 days have come and gone, and now a new year has begun. As always, the beginning of the year is a time of hope and anticipation. And, of course, a time of resolutions.
Here are mine:
1. Paint the basement and put up the curtain walls.
2. Work on creating my “mom cave” so I can be creative without distractions.
3. Finally finish college and have a graduation party!
4. Read all of the books that I got for Christmas, before next Christmas.
5. Write letters to my grandmother once a month.
6. Stick to the budget I created last fall, which was completely disregarded in December…
7. Schedule time to be alone, time to be with my kids (individually), and time to be with my husband.
8. Put up pictures in the hallway.
9. Work on Lillia’s ballet performance scrapbook.
10. Grow some stuff! (Vegetables, flowers, whatever strikes my fancy).
11. See my friends at least once this year. I miss them.
12. Learn how to use my new camera — techniques and composition.
13. Work on the Anna Maria Horner feather quilt (the only craft on this list, for a good reason).
“Winter Twilight” by Anne Porter:
On a clear winter’s evening
The crescent moonAnd the round squirrels’ nest
In the bare oakAre equal planets.
As the year draws rapidly to a close, I thought it might be fun to take a look at my New Year’s Resolutions from the beginning of 2012 to see what I did/did not accomplish. I’m not doing this to make myself feel bad, but I think it will be enlightening, and entertaining.
1. Unpack our stuff, and organize the basement.
Yes! I did this!
2. Learn to crochet.
Nope.
3. Knit something that a person (or animal, I suppose) can actually wear or use.
Sadly, no.
4. Organize my craft supplies.
No.
5. Help my kids to sleep in their own beds.
Sort of, but not really. Lillia still wakes us up most nights, and Zane is still sleeping in our bed (though he does sleep in his crib for naps).
6. Finish thank you notes for the wedding (yikes! that was in 2010!).
Ha! Never gonna happen.
7. Send out thank you notes for the baby gifts.
I hope I did this, but I can’t remember which means I probably didn’t 🙁
8. Blog for confidence (see button on the side).
I didn’t really do this as a formal project, but blogging has become an integral part of my self-identity.
9. Do a 365 day photo project.
I made it 16 days. I’m just not a joiner.
10. Do a major clothing purge and donate what we don’t want.
I did do a major clothing purge, but everything I discarded is now in plastic bins in the garage!
11. Do something special with my husband on our anniversary, sans kids.
Yep! We went out to dinner at the restaurant we went to on the night we were engaged.
12. Give something to charity every month, even if it’s only a dollar.
Yes! I’ve been donating $5.00 a month to Vermont Public Radio all year.
13. Participate in some political activism.
Yes. I helped get the Green Party of NH up and running, but I had to step back when I started classes.
14. Save $20 a week for an iPad, as my current computer is on its way out.
No. I’m really bad at saving money. And, my laptop is fine.
15. Create a handmade gift for every member of my immediate family next Christmas.
What was I thinking?!?!
16. Have a ridiculously immature birthday party for myself (turning 31!).
It wasn’t too immature, but I did get my pink cake!
17. Write letters to my grandmother at least once a month.
I wish I had done this…
18. Find time to read to both of my kids everyday.
Yes – most days – I made a real effort!
19. Explore all of Walpole’s nature preserves.
Still want to do this, but will have to wait for Spring.
20. Cook dinner with my husband once a month.
We did this once. It was fun.
21. Be better about blogging! and make this my own space.
Oh heck yeah! I love my blog 🙂
22. Overcome my fear of tofu, and use it more in my cooking.
Hmmm…I didn’t really do much with tofu, but I did experiment with some other fake meat. Tofurkey hot dogs are awesome!
23. Read at least two new fiction books. Doesn’t seem like much but, trust me, that would be an accomplishment!
Yes…and then some! I did A LOT of reading for my class, mostly fiction. I think I actually read about 8 fiction books this past year.
It’s interesting to observe what types of goals I accomplished, how hard I worked to accomplish them, and what types of goals were just not even attempted. I can see that I did pretty well with cleaning/organizing, reading, blogging, and interpersonal relationships, but I didn’t accomplish any of the goals that involved crafts. I think that says a lot about my priorities (and perhaps the amount – or lack thereof – of free time I have!). I’ll definitely use this information when planning my 2013 goals, which I’ll be posting very soon. I’d love to hear yours!