12 in 12

via 

I am not a big New Years Resolution kind of girl.  I have some core commitments and some things that are more like life goals that more or less have to do with what sort of person I want to be.  But this is stuff I work on year round and don't wait until the new year to tackle.  They, like life are more of a work in progress that something to be declared and started at a set point.

I love the idea of the 30 by 30 list that bloggers like Nicole have done and Jen is doing now, aiming to accomplish, do, see or try 30 things the year before turning 30 years old.   I really like the way their list have a nice balance of big kind of accomplishments and smaller little projects.  I had high hopes of doing my own 30 by 30 list last year, but thought twice about it once I realized I would be growing a sweet little babe, working full time and oh, moving across country, trying to get a new house settled and becoming a mother all at the same time.  So I made the wise decision to focus my year leading up to 30 on those big changes.  But I still like the idea creating a list of sorts to tackle some of those projects and whatnot that I need a little nudge to do, plus it would be such a fun way to get a sense of accomplishment.

So in the spirit of the 30 by 30 since I missed the chance to do a real 30 by 30 and since it is the new year I am going to be doing a 12 in 12.  Twelve things that are not really resolutions but more things I want to learn/do/accomplish this year.  Twelve things to do in a twelve months span.  I think it will be fun to check in from time to time and share how they are going.

So here they are:

1) Try a new hair cut and color.  I change my hair up by growing it out and cutting it off but the last couple of years I have noticed that I have the same go-to hair cuts in this cycle and I would like to change things up a bit.  As for the color I have wanted to try something new and have just been too scared--I have great natural hair color and to be honest time is a tickin away on how much longer I can enjoy color free hair so I want to enjoy it while I have it but I would like a change.  This year is the year to do it!

2) Learn how to wear lipstick.  I am really more of a lipgloss kind of girl.  In the last year I have tip-toed into the realm of lip stain lip glosses.  Lipstick makes me cringe and either think of middle school when we were all obsessed with wearing way too much in totally wrong shade all the time or my grandma who I am pretty sure has been wearing the same shade for decades.  I would like to get over the cringe and learn to work it in.

3) Decide on a paint color for the formal living/dining and then paint!  Pretty straight forward...if I could ever make up my mind!  

4) Run in a race.  Yep, I run 3 times a week and have never run in a race (more on this later).  I would like to give a whirl.

5) Refinish the bed frame I bought at the flea market.  This may seem a bit to-do listy but I really want to tackle this project because it is the starting piece for decorating the guest bedroom.

6) Begin building our food garden in the backyard.  This will be a multi-year, multi-phase project but woohoo I can't wait to start it!  I am pretty sure that in Texas I could garden 9 months a year if I planned it out carefully, but I have much to study, read, plan and plot this year!

7) Get the "creative room" pulled together.  We have a home office but we would like it to be part office, part music and part crafting space.  I would really like to see it pulled together to function in all those different ways so that our family has a little space to retreat and work on projects.  

8) Visit the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum.  I am from the Oklahoma City area and have very strong memories from that day.  I haven't had the chance to go to the museum but I would like to very much.  

9) Take Adelaide to the place where T and I got engaged.  I know she will love it!  I think we will make a special family holiday of it!

10) Visit at least two art museums NOT in my city.  We have a membership to the DMA.  I have big plans to not only beat the heat by taking little miss there in the summer, but taking full advantage of the exchange program that allows us free entrance into 500 other museum nationwide.  Yes.  I geek out just thinking about the possibility.

11)  Finish a sewing project from a pattern.  Ok, the tea towels I made don't really count as sewing.  I really need to put my machine to good use this year, but let's just start with finishing a project!

12)  Attend at least one concert.  Our late-night, rock show going days have definitely slowed since little miss arrived.  It would be nice to get to at least one this year, because watching music live in a room with other people is a spiritual experience that I miss.  

So there it is--part to-do, part resolution, part belated bucket list, 100% me.  Wish me luck?