How'd I Do?

Now that we are nearing the end of 2012, I have started to look back at the resolutions I made at this time last year to see how I did.

1. Maintain my weight - I felt like I did really well with this up until I got pregnant over the summer. It has been a struggle coming to terms with gaining weight, even though I know it is necessary for a healthy pregnancy.

2. Exercise more regularly - I was hoping to be able to exercise 3 or 4 times a week, even for short amounts of time, but I did discover some new things with regards to exercise. Eric and I started going to power yoga once a week in April and we loved it. I have had to take some time away from it since then because of the heat involved in power yoga (not good for pregnancy!), but I am looking forward to starting back up again next year. I also tried Jazzercise after I got a groupon to try it. It's not bad, though I think I still prefer Zumba.

3. Make music for myself.

a. Start every day with music - This happened some of the time....

b. Be more comfortable playing the guitar - After putting guitar lessons off, I finally started them in December. I plan to take lessons every other week for a couple more months until the baby is born and hopefully that will help increase my guitar skills.

c. Write more songs - Time really got away with me on this one. I wrote one song this year, as opposed to the minimum of 3 I was hoping for. There's always next year!

4. Continue to read more - I far surpassed my goal on this one! I was hoping to read 12 to 15 books but actually read 32 as of right now. I read several different series this year including the Hunger Games trilogy, the Mazerunner trilogy and prequel, the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series. I am also currently in the middle of the Harry Potter books and the Tudor series written by Philippa Gregory that chronicles court life during the times of the Tudor reign in England. 

5. Write more - This was a total fail on my part and I just couldn't keep up....

6. Have more deep, in-depth discussions in my life - Same for this one, though the posts on FB were interesting to read when I did actually do it.

7. Develop my Music Therapy business

a. Get my website up and running - This I kind of met halfway. I wrote one blog post on my website, which is more than I did before but it still needs a lot more work.

b. Finish designing my Music for Wellness and Self-Discovery course and teach at least one section of this course this year - I finished designing the course and actually offered it at St. Mary's Women's Wellness Center but did not get enough participants to actually teach the course. I have plans to offer it again in 2013 at a different time that might work better for people.

c. Present at conference - This one actually happened! I applied in March to present about interventions with children and adolescents in inpatient psychiatric facilities. I designed it to be an interactive presentation because they tend to be more popular. I was chosen to give my presentation and it went really well. I had over 100 people in attendance (I know because I ran out of handouts) and people were sitting on the floor and out the door.

8. House projects

a. Install new carpet in the other 3 bedrooms. We are hoping to do this in January/February - Check!
b. Install new kitchen counter - Check!
c. Install new kitchen floor - Check!
d. Organize closets and drawers - I got a lot of this done but not everything...
e. Paint the barn - Check!
f. Paint the fence - Didn't happen but I'm sure it'll be back on the list for a later date....

9. Things to look forward to - All of these things happened:)
a. Our 3rd trip to Europe
b. A weekend trip to Cincinnati to go to the zoo
c. More than likely a weekend trip in October to celebrate our 6th anniversary
d. American Music Therapy Association conference again this year

So yeah...not everything happened but I still feel like I improved in a lot of areas, so I'm calling it a success! If anything, it has made me more mindful about things.

Stay tuned for my 2013 resolutions!

2012 Recap

1. What did you do in 2012 that you'd never done before? Gave a presentation at the AMTA national conference, took a small child on a European vacation

2. Did you keep your New Year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I would rather look at my resolutions more as goals. I kept some from last year and will probably come up with some new ones for next year.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth? My nephew was born in November and my good friend Holly had her daughter in October.

4. Did anyone close to you die? The world lost way too many great people this year. I was not necessarily close to anyone who died but I was close with people who lost their loved ones. Hopefully 2013 will be better…

5. What countries did you visit? Spain, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, and Germany

6. What would you like to have in 2013 that you lacked in 2012? More free time, to have a healthy baby, more music therapy contracts, more time to spend with my family

7. What date(s) from 2012 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

January 20-21: Marriage retreat in New Harmony       

April 20-21: Drumming CMTE and SMWC Alumnae Reunion

May 2 – 18: European Vacation

June 2: Anya’s birthday party

June 4: Anya’s 2^nd birthday

July 14: The day we found out we were expecting another baby

August 24-26: Weekend in Cincinnati

September 13: The day we found out we were having a boy

September 23: Gender Reveal Party

October 11-14: American Music Therapy Association national conference

October 13: Gave a presentation at the national conference

October 20-21: 6^th Anniversary spent in Indianapolis

November 14: The last day of any sort of regular schedule working at Crosspointe

November 16: The day our nephew was born

December 8: Anya’s first Suzuki violin performance at Barnes and Nobles

December 12: My 31^st birthday

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Giving a presentation at the AMTA national conference, taking a toddler to Europe and back with everyone still in one piece and sanity intact

9. What was your biggest failure? Not getting as many more music therapy contracts as I had hoped

10. Did you suffer illness or injury? I sprained my ankle in Bratislavia and it was bad enough that I had to go to PT for several weeks.

11. What was the best thing you bought? My plane tickets to Europe and all the great food we bought while we were there!

12. Whose behavior merited celebration? All the people who have made it a priority to spend time with me and make things special.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? Can’t really think of anyone off the top of my head. There are always people whose choices make me cringe, but I guess it’s really none of my concern.

14. Where did most of your money go? Our European vacation, carpet, kitchen countertop, and new tile

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Our 3^rd European tripJ

16. What song(s) will always remind you of 2012? In My Arms by Plumb

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

i. happier or sadder? Happier

ii. thinner or fatter? “Fatter,” thanks to this pregnancy

iii. richer or poorer? Probably about the same, though I’m about to get poorer because I’m not working as much

18. What do you wish you'd done more of? relaxing and just enjoying life (same as every year)

19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Worrying (same as every year)

20. How did you spend Christmas? We are planning to spend the Saturday before Christmas with my family and the Sunday before Christmas with Eric’s mom’s family. We will probably do our own family Christmas on Christmas Eve morning and then spend that evening with my mom’s family. Christmas Day will be spent with my dad’s family over lunch and then with Eric’s family later that evening.

21. Did you fall in love in 2012? Already there!

23. What was your favorite TV program? American Horror Story (though I’m not sure how much more I can take!), New Girl, Whitney, Modern Family, Parks and Recreation, Private Practice, Grey's Anatomy, The Office, Revolution

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? No

25. What was the best book you read? The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, The Hunger Games trilogy, part of the Tudor series by Philippa Gregory

26. What was your greatest musical discovery? The ukulele, Mumford and Songs, Trace Bundy

27. What did you want and get? To go to Europe, new carpet, new tile, new kitchen counter, to be pregnant

28. What did you want and not get? more time to relax, the fence painted

29. What was your favorite film of this year? The Hunger Games (though I didn’t really get to see too many movies)

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? I celebrated with family a few days before; we got strombolis from Pizza King and had my mom’s cherry cheesecake. I had to work on my actual birthday, but that evening we had a quick dinner at Qdoba and then came home to eat ice cream cake. I turned 31J

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? more relaxation, less worrying

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 201? Started out the year wearing “skinny” clothes and am now in maternity

33. What kept you sane? Not really sure…

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? I’m not even sure…

35. What political issue stirred you the most? The election – I hope we can get through the next four years without things falling apart even further…

36. Who did you miss? Friends that I don’t get to see often

37. Who was the best new person you met? Lauren, Sarah

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2012. There were so many that I wouldn’t even know where to begin. One of them is that you can’t put a price on the time spent with your kids when they’re young. Also, life is short, so don’t leave things undone.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. “Your baby blues, so full of wonder/Your curly cues, your contagious smile/And as I watch, you start to grow up/All I can do is hold you tight” (In My Arms – Plumb)