The report and a new list.

A few years ago, my BFF Carrie started doing this thing..."25 Things to Do While 25," etc. I stole her idea and have really liked it, so I'm continuing. We've both had to cut the list a little short as we've gotten older, since life would get more and more overwhelmingly full as the years went on, but I still like the idea. So I'm continuing it! But first, a report on this last year!

SEPTEMBER 8, 2013: 7 done, 2 in progress, 6 incomplete

1. Do an street art installation of some kind. Rules: Must be impermanent! No damage to property allowed.
I'm gonna count this. Not exactly a "street art installation," but it was fun and whimsical and public. And no damage to property. 

2. Self-publish a book of poetry and sell it (online, local stores, etc.).
DONE! Officially available for purchase as of January 26th. You can buy your copy here. 

3. Complete the T-shirt quilt project that's been languishing in various closets for over ten years.
It's still languishing. 

4. Become a certified secondary school teacher and receive my Bachelor's degree.
DONE! Although I still haven't actually seen a physical Bachelor's degree, so it doesn't feel real. I have my teacher's certification though. 

5. Eliminate red meat from my diet (uuggghhh...I love it so much! I don't even eat that much! Oh, this is going to be hard.)
Ha ha ha!

6. Eliminate the use of non-biodegradable plastic bags (shopping = reusable canvas, trash = biodegradable).
Do you have any idea HOW HARD it is to find biodegradable trash bags? 

7. Learn to juggle. (Shout-out to Carrie Chapman!)
In progress? I can kinda do it, but not consistently. 

8. Travel to a place I've never been before, and be cool about it. (Sometimes I suck at traveling...I get stressed out. I want to live life more stress-free anyway!)
DONE! I'm gonna say our Mediterranean trip was a success...I was relaxed and cool about things the whole time, even when our trip back home took 27 hours. 

9. Do yoga outdoors.
DONE! At the last minute...at 10:30 pm on September 7th, I ran into my inlaws' front yard and did a few brief poses. 

10. Build a bookcase. A sturdy one. One that shall stand for many years. But also be affordable and easily rearranged and transported.
In progress, but will need to be put on hold for a little while. Possibly a few years. Materials for this are expensive, and we need to pay off some debts first. So our books will just sit on the floor, driving me crazy, for a while. 

11. Go on a hike. (I didn't hike AT ALL this past year! How silly!)
DONE! I lived in West Yellowstone all summer, after all. My parents and I hiked the Riverside Trail in August. 

12. Attend a Parson Redheads show.
Nope. But I do get to see Brette in a week at our 10-year high school reunion! 

13. Do the temple work for at least 5 family names.
Nope. But I'm slowly making progress on genealogy. 

14. Complete reading the entire Book of Mormon with Jacob.
DONE! Finished on December 30th! We started reading roughly a year ago--right before we moved into our new place, our home teacher challenged us to read the entire Book of Mormon over the next year, and we're pleased to say we've done it.

15. Go on a spontaneous road trip.
Nope. Partly because the best time to do this is the summer, and we couldn't exactly leave the Playmill. 

(I have a bucket list, too. Wanna see it? Click here.)

Not too bad. I think 15 things is a little much, so we're cutting it down a little. And I'm totally stealing Carrie's number of things. It was kind of hard to come up with 8 things, just because Jacob and I aren't really sure what the next year holds for us, but here are the goals! A lot of them are financial, but more on that later, I think.

1. Get $1000 in savings. 
A lot of money management programs recommend getting money into savings before you try to pay off debts. It seems counter-intuitive, but this savings fund is for emergencies, and there will ALWAYS be emergencies. This way, when you begin to pay off debts in earnest, you won't be financially "interrupted" by needing to pay for a new pair of glasses, or fixing the car or something. (Not that we have a car...)

2. Pay off all credit card debt. 
We've got a few thousand in credit card debt right now, which isn't too bad, but we'd love to be credit-card debt-free by September 8, 2014.

3. Pay off five student loans completely. 
I've got like, 14 of them, some larger than others. I was going to specify an amount, but I like the idea of just paying five student loans off. Bam. Gone.

4. Go an entire month without paying for eating out once. 
Eating out is one of my biggest weaknesses, and I'd like to slow down. And if I want to pay off debt, I'll have to. Notice, however, I just said without "paying" for eating out. If someone else wants to take me out to eat, that doesn't count. Really, we won't be able to afford eating out at all, but sometimes you get weak, and having this goal will be fun motivation.

5. Recover a chair. 
Or make a chair cover. They're kind of the same thing, but one involves fewer staple guns.

6. Face a fear. 
This is a hard one to measure, and I have a few in mind, but it's something I want to do. I originally wanted to "overcome a fear," but that's a lot of pressure to put on yourself within just a year, and how do you know when you've actually "overcome" it? So I'll just face one down this year, and if I also "overcome" it, more power to me.

7. Do a paid voiceover, television, or film gig. 
The time has come, people. I've done plenty of live theatre, and it's time to expand my horizons a bit more.

8. Do a "photo-a-day" or "video-a-day" project to document one month of my life. 
Maybe it's a little self-centered, but it's always seemed like a cool project. So I'll do it.