Birthday Goals from my 26th Year {Review}

Good Morning! Life has sort of gotten a little crazy right now and I'm sorry that I haven't always been the best blogger, but I'm looking forward to things calming down in the next couple of weeks and having time to finish up some projects (I have chairs that are practically begging me to re-upholster them at this point) and then share them with you guys! 
But, today, I want to share with you the birthday goals that I made last year - and a review of how I worked to accomplish all of them (haha, yeah right) almost half of them. I definitely made many diverse goals last year, and in attempt to reach them all, I've had a fun adventure along the way - even if I may not have achieved each and every single goal. 
1. Make a quilt.   So, I think it must be pretty obvious that I didn't make a quilt. I mean, trust me, if I had made a quilt, you would all 100% know about it. BUT, and this is a big BUT, I did learn how to use my sewing machine. And I've started working more with fabric in some projects so, here, like I mentioned above, I'm focusing on the journey part of this. And maybe one day, I will make a quilt. Maybe. One day.    2. Attempt one "out of comfort zone" DIY project each month. 
The point of this was to push myself to try new projects and tackle more challenges. I think it's safe to say that here, I went above and beyond. From lampshades, to coasters, to anniversary gifts, and more - I'm chalking this one up to a HUGE success.    3. Go skydiving. (Full Disclosure: This was on my "25 before 25" bucket list. I'm hoping this time, I will actually face my fears.)
I didn't go skydiving. I want to go skydiving but it's expensive and a little scary, but still something I want to do. So, one day, maybe I will - but maybe I need to stop setting deadlines for myself and just do it when the time is right.   4. Become more financially stable: build up my savings and pay off my credit card.
I wouldn't say that I was hugely successful in this - but yes, I did build my savings a bit and I did pay off the majority of my credit card. I do still have some progress to make, and to keep continuing with, but I feel good about what I've done with this goal this year.   5. Run 365 miles.
I have no excuses, I have no good explanations - this just didn't happen. I did run my first 5k, so that was awesome, but then um, running sort of fell out of my daily routine. And then I joined a gym, and um, I need to get back into my daily routine. In short, this goal was a disaster. Oops.   6. Live passionately and spend more time celebrating life and how lucky I am to be where I am and how blessed I am to have Josh, as well as the most wonderful family and friends, in my life.
Major, major success - at least I think so. Josh and I have grown so much in our relationship this year - we're planning for the future, enjoying living together (on to our second apartment now!) and raising our adorable fur baby! I could not be more grateful, feel more blessed or be any luckier to be a part of this relationship and to know and love Josh. I am also incredible grateful for my family and I am thankful everyday to be a part of an incredible and loving family - one that I cherish every single day.   7. Practice yoga more efficiently.
Sort of like running 365 miles, this just didn't happen either. I'm not sure if it's because of the time sessions take up, or simply the fact that I have to drive 15 minutes to get to the nearest reasonably priced hot yoga studio, or for some other reason - but unfortunately this goal was not met. Maybe in my next life.   8. Learn Spanish. I just want to be able to do more than say Hola, Como esta?, Muy bien gracias, and Adios. Seriously, my ability to speak Spanish pretty much ends there.
Before, I could say hi, ask you how you were, tell you how I was, and say goodbye. Now I can say a few other things. I can tell you the days of the week, I can count a bit higher than 10, and if you ask me where something is, I can point and tell you either "It is here" or "It is there." You should know that I'm especially proud of my 'here' and 'there' ability. This may not be quite what I had in mind when I said I wanted to learn Spanish, but I think that baby steps here are important.
9. Make a conscience effort to not only make a weekly menu, but to actually stick to it.
I think it is important to look at these goals as a living document - allowing room for change as needed. In this case, change is allowed and I'm going to count this a success. While I didn't make specific meal plans every single week, I do now have a much better system in place, and so I almost never walk into the kitchen without a strong plan of what we're going to have for dinner. The point of this goal was to alleviate the stress of "what's for dinner tonight?" and I think it's safe to say that I have definitely done that.
10. Create a cookbook with all of my favorite recipes (and ones passed down from family) broken down into categories and indexed.
11. Learn how to cook 26 different soups. I can currently only cook 1 type of soup from scratch (and does using pre-made chicken stock really count as "from scratch"?) and while it is delicious and I could literally eat it every day, I would like to expand my repertoire.

I'd like to pretend I can cook 19 soups tonight, but that's probably definitely not going to happen so I won't even pretend. Instead, I will own up to making 7 delicious soups and totally failing to make the other 19. In my defense (because it is my birthday goal), that's a lot of different soup and maybe I shouldn't have been so over excited about the soup project.

12. Keep a meal diary with the hope that one day, this will turn into a lifelong practice and something that I simply do on instinct.

I did buy all of the materials to make a cool DIY one, but then never took the time to follow through with it. I think I have a slight problem with this. Maybe that should be a goal for next year? Learning to get better with the follow through.
  13. Grow this blog by writing in it on an almost daily basis (Monday through Friday) and allow myself to enjoy the experience and to follow the journey that it takes me on, wherever it may lead.

Finally, my last goal, and one that puts a huge smile on my face. With the exception of the past 5 or 6 weeks where daily blogging has fallen to the side due to an insane amount of busy in my life, I have grown this blog from the 10 readers I had last September, to the over 5,300 that I had this September. I have beyond loved every second of this experience - from making amazing friends, learning new things, and just getting to know myself a little bit more. I am so glad that I started blogging and I am so excited to continue on this journey!

  ~~~~~   Like I said before, I didn't really accomplish each and every single goal I put on this list last year (the unofficial tally is at 5 1/4 - 1/4 for the soup goal), but I am embracing the journey and the process and am enjoying knowing that it isn't always about the end goal, but the paths on which we find ourselves trying to get there. I cannot believe that tomorrow I will turn 27! I am a huge fan of birthdays - mine and everyone else's - and I cannot wait to celebrate!
I hope you have a wonderful, wonderful day - I'm looking forward to ending my 26th year on a wonderfully positive and energetic note! Happy Tuesday!