cynthiaannmorgan

2014 resolutions will be about fun/adventure, cooking, reading, home, health, personal growth

Have more FUN and Adventure
*Weekend trip with each sister
*1000 Motorcycle riding hours
*50 miles of hiking
*Scuba diving trip
Cooking
*100 vegetable recipes from vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison
Reading
*50 + books, including all those on my bookshelves that are unread
Health
*No sugar and grains with only one exception per month
*Daily walks and stretching and strength
*work up to 10,000 steps, stretching 10 mins, strength 10 mins
Home
*Fix up back yard, get storage shed
*Paint bedrooms and bathrooms
Personal Growth
*do something that scares me weekly
*go to a conference
*take a class
*join a new group

YAY, a new year!

2012 was a great and horrible year!  Great because I did simplify my life:  got rid of some unnecessary expenses, (saved 30% of my pay), moved to working from home and did more of what I like (more dog time, more teaching, lots of quilting).  Horrible because my dog got me in lots of trouble, clutter has built up,  and indulgence, laziness & procrastination has set in.  Overall, though a good, good year!

2013 is going to be about Simplifying and Adventure.  I'm exciting and scared at the same time.  It means letting go of some things and trying new things.  It will be good for me!

Some of the things I'm going to be doing:

• Declutter my house once and for all (and keep it that way)
• Learn some new creative, fun things:   cooking lessons, learn to ride a motorcycle, write a magazine article
• Take some adventures...at least one per month:   Snowshoeing, new hikes, art museums, plays/shows, trips (Chicago quilt show in April, NYC, solo road trip)
• Less TV and computer time, more reading, dog-training, creative or active time

Wish me luck!
Happy New Year to everyone!

Cynthia

Well, I managed the 50 trails and 50 books for 2011.  What a fun year!  Getting a dog really helped with the hiking...and I lost 15 lbs in the process.  War and Peace almost killed me...it was the first book I started in 2011 and the last one finished (and I needed a 2 day grace period to finish).

For 2012, I'm going to continue with hiking and reading as much as I possibly can, but not going to put numbers to it this year.   What I am going to do is:  Simplify my life and finances in all ways.

This means declutter, get rid of excess possessions, cut expenses (try to live on what I think my retirement income will be), don't overschedule my activities, and finish what I start.

In January, I got rid of the cable tv service...so I saved time and money.
In February, I started using the public library services again for audio books and ebooks.
In March, I started cooking more at home instead of getting take out
Next up....

• Stop procrastinating !  Read & take advice from Steven Pressfield's book...the War of Art
• Clean up home office
• Clean up extra room and fabric stash
• Clean out garage
• Finish UFO's
• Get back to daily morning walks
• Work out - Stretch and weights...get strong and energized

Wish me luck!
Cynthia

Last year was the first that I chose a doable, but challenging resolution...to do all the recipes in Alice Water's wonderful cookbook, The Art of Simple Food. It was a great year with many many good meals, dinner parties, lunches, and gifts of food. Lots of successes and a few failures...and I finished about 340 of the 350 recipes.

So...for 2011 I want to do something else that is enriching, doable but a big challenge. One of is something I do quite a bit of and want to expand on it, and the other is something I like but make alot of excuses about doing.

So, I will read 50 books this year! One of them must be War and Peace, but all the rest are whatever I want to read at the moment. Books, ebooks and audiobooks all count.

AND, I will do 50 trails this year! Hiking, biking, skiing, snowshoeing all count...and I can't repeat more than 10 trails.

Wish me luck!

A couple abstract sketches from photos showing scale and proportion