2012 in Review

Last year I had a lot of fun reflecting on my resolutions so I've decided to do the same for this year to see how I fared. So here's how my resolutions for 2012 actually went down:

Love
Continue telling my husband one thing I love about him every day - Check! When he was home, that is.
Go on a date night once a month - Again, he was gone for most of the year. But we did go out a lot after he got back!
Get to church together more often - Fail. I can't remember the last time we went.
Be a little more understanding of how stressful his job can be at times - Still working on this one.

 
Cooking
Try one recipe a month that scares me - Fail. I was actually uninspired to cook this year and repeated a lot of meals throughout the months.
Be more consistent with Meatless Mondays - Fail. I didn't meal plan very well.
Get over my fear of leftovers - Fail. I'm still picky about leftovers and think I will always be.

Fitness
Wake up early to work out - Fail. I just need to come to terms with the fact that I am not a morning person. Ugh.
Yoga once a week - CHECK! Except I fell even more in love with yoga this year and ended up doing it every day on my own if i didn't make it to a studio.
Continue exercising 4-5 days a week - Most weeks I make it, other weeks, life happens and I end up going 3-4 times instead.
Work on my military style push ups & pull ups - CHECK!
Hold an unassisted handstand for as long as possible - CHECK!
Increase my overall strength - BIG CHECK! And so proud of myself. My deadlifts, snatches, kettlebell swings, squats....all have improved greatly!


Beauty
Get more haircuts - I actually took care of my hair this year. Yay me. So check!
Actually get a pedicure for once - I got ONE pedicure this year. I guess I am just not the type to pamper myself. Ridiculous.
Continue my natural skin care regime, start applying to hair/body - Sometimes? 

Life/Other
Continue playing my piano 3x a week - YUP! And now I play with Caleb :)
Get certified in 2 new certifications - Finances and timing precluded this from happening, fortunately, I will be getting certified to teach yoga in 2013 :D
Organize all of my files - Nope.
Finish painting the living room, hallway and kitchen - Finished the living room and hallway, still working on the kitchen. So...fail and check?




Caleb
Have faith in my own maternal instincts - For the most part, check!
Learn to say no to having all of the latest, coolest baby products out there - Check! I did a very good job of not shopping for things unless we really needed them.
Try not to stress too much and learn to appreciate the moments - I definitely did a lot of growing this year and realized that I'm a pretty relaxed mom. So a big fat check to that!
Arrange all of his photos and memories into a photobook - Fail! But I did arrange everything onto our Apple Time Capsule. Does that count?
Enroll him into Baby Sign Language Class on Post - CHECK! But it didn't stick, hah.
Breastfeed for the first year of his life - Sadly, we only made it to 8 months since he weaned himself.
Once he can eat solids, make ALL of his food from fresh veggies/fruit - Check!

Overall, not too shabby. I didn't expect to accomplish everything since that's pretty much impossible with life. But I am proud to say that I achieved most of my important fitness goals and that I grew a lot this year in my first year of being a mom.

However, for 2013 I'm ditching the planning and the checklists. I'm keeping it simple and won't be making any concrete resolutions. We'll be having another baby, moving with a strong possibility of the move happening overseas, I'll be starting my journey of yoga teacher training, and eventually I hope to go back to school to finish my ultimate dream of being a Physical Therapist. I'd rather just concentrate on getting through these big ticket items with my family than nitpick at goals.

As much as I love making resolutions, this year all I want to do is spend less time on the internet and more time with my family, and spend less time worrying about unnecessary crap and more time smiling. 2013 will be another fun year and I'm more excited about the memories in store for us than worrying about a million resolutions to upkeep. That's it.

And because I can't ring in the new year without saying goodbye to the old, here are a few memorable moments from 2012:

• In January, I said goodbye to my hunk again. And I had a guest poster for the first time.
• In February, I met one of my favorite bloggers. And she's become one of my best blog friends! I also revealed my love story.
• In March, I witnessed my husband and 80 other deserving soldiers receiving one of the most coveted awards in the Army. We also traveled to DC, Savannah, and Tampa.
• In April, I ran the dirty girl run with a bunch of awesome Fitfluential ambassadors.
• In May, Caleb turned 6 months, I went to New York for the first time. Fell back in love with Boston, and did CrossFit at the Reebok One headquarters.
• In June, I bonded with a new friend at a family retreat with the Army, and talked about being at the "halfway point".
• In July, I turned 26.
• In August, I was beyond happy to report that my husband safely returned from war.
• In September, we went on another marriage retreat, I revealed all of my favorite healthy living spots here at Bragg, and I talked about intermittent fasting.
• In October, I reflected on 31 days of yoga, protested the West Boro Baptist church, and we fell in love with Seattle.
• In November, we went to Korea, Caleb turned one, I announced our second pregnancy.
• In December, we celebrated four years of marriage, and spent a very merry Christmas back home.

So that about sums it up for 2012. It was definitely a busy year for us and after looking back on this blog, I realized we ended up doing a lot of traveling. No complaints here about that!

As always, I thank each and every one of you for sticking with me throughout the year. I'm so proud to be a part of this supportive community and I wish everyone else an amazing 2013.

Cheers to a new and wonderful year!