Resolutions, belatedly

So many blogs I read do these great posts recapping how they did on their prior year's resolutions and making new ones, but the general chaos that seems to be my life right now meant that I missed that boat.

A quick look at my 2014 resolutions.  Haha, looking back, I set them Feb. 1!  So maybe being behind the curve on resolutions is just my thing the last few years?  Anyway, lots more detail in the original post about what my intentions were, but here's the basic pass/fail test: 

• Travel -- one new-to-me country, 6 fun trips NOT FOR WORK AT ALL.  New country done x3 (India, Nepal, UAE).  Fun trips?  Houston (doesn't really count since I drove), Mardi Gras, New Mexico (stayed at the same hotel where I stay for work, but with hubby and no work purpose to trip), home x2 (over the Fourth and Christmas), Pittsburgh, Portland, San Antonio (I said by plane, didn't say it had to be out of state!).  That's 8 trips for fun, done.  PASS.

• Unplug before bed -- total fail.  I think I forgot this was even a resolution!  FAIL.

• Entertain -- 6 dinner parties including 3 new to our home couples.  Sigh.  I wish I'd done better with this.  I did pull off a pretty large surprise party for my husband, so we definitely got 3 new couples.  And I can think of three other non-book club dinner parties (Italian friends, our anniversary, and the blueberry dinner) , but I definitely didn't plan out smaller dinners every couple months with friends at home as I did before.  Maybe I should give myself partial credit for hosting houseguests at least four times?  FAIL.

• Legit PR -- FAIL.  Miserably.  2014 included 3 marathons, 3 half-marathons, 15 other races (5k-20k), and ZERO legitimate PRs.  I'm a little surprised to see that I had 21 races throughout the year, and three months (Feb., Aug., Oct.) only had 1 race each. 

• Significant number of running commutes -- FAIL.  I barely did this at all.  Partially because I did a lot more yoga, and I can't really do both.  If I'm doing yoga, it is after work, and I have to bust my butt, driving as fast as possible to get there from the office.  Even if I ever was able to leave the office at 5 to have time to get to the 6:30 class on foot, I'd still have to deal with getting my yoga mat there, running home afterward, etc.  Just not doable.  And I don't think prioritizing yoga was a bad choice overall. 

• Lose weight -- FAIL.  I'm about where I was last year, if not a little higher.  I stayed within the same range that I've been in for the last decade nearly, so I guess this wasn't really a priority. 

• Finish our wedding scrapbook -- FAIL.  I made some progress early in the year, but I really should make that a goal before our sixth anniversary in April. 

• Complete a 30 day Bikram Yoga Challenge -- PASS.  Done in April, complete with a few days of doubles.  I also attended pretty regularly all year. 

Overall, I don't think I did well.  I wish I'd done periodic check-ins to remind myself of my resolutions.

This year?  I want to make some of the same ones I had last year and actually do them in 2015! 

• Legit PR.  Any distance, but legit.  I think this is a long shot. 

• Return of the running commute.  I barely ran to work at all in 2014, after doing it for almost all my possible commutes in 2013.  Remember how 2013 included about 4 legit PRs and 2014 only included 1 that was illegitimate at that (a new-to-me distance)?  Hmm, I don't believe in coincidences!  But I'm probably waiting until Feb. to implement this.  It's blasted cold here lately!  We've had lows in the 30s lately and sometimes highs in the 40s (60s and 70s this past weekend, but they say more cold is coming).  I'm going to be gentle with myself.  Plus, January is a Bikram yoga kind of month for me.  The 105 degree heat feels good with the cold temps outside.  I really like to be warm! 

• New to me country.  Odds are that it will be Morocco, but as long as I get to check out a totally new country, I'll be proud of myself. 

• Laying out morning clothes the night before.  My husband is awesome at doing this and I'm not sure I like it, but I'm doing it.  In the end, I feel like it means less sleep for me.  I still wake up at the same time in the morning (anywhere from 4:30 to 5, depending on the day of the week (run v. boot camp)), but now that my clothes are laid out, I probably go to bed 1-2 minutes later than I would have.  So it's less sleep overall, but I look more put together?  Not that anyone cares.  But I will admit, that it's nice not to have to think about it in the morning, and if something takes longer than planned (filling a water bottle, putting a contact in inside out, whatever), I've got an extra minute or two. 

• Dental appointment.  I am very consistent about going to the dentist twice a year for cleanings, but when I went in November, I had "the beginnings of a small cavity" and they said I need to come back and have it filled.  That sounds awful so I've been dragging my feet.  It needs to get done -- preferably in the first 60 days of 2015. 

• Church 26 weeks of the year.  So far we are at 0.  We did better last year when it was MORE difficult with my husband's work schedule!  Need to get back on that horse.

How about if I only set 6 for this year?  Better chance of achieving them? 

I thought about putting something about languages on there, but it's going to be a half-@ssed year -- I want to keep up the Chinese but my husband really wants me to get back to Italian if we're going to visit his family in the fall, which is the current plan.  Maybe I should resolve to study a foreign language at least 30 mins per week and attend one foreign langauge class per week?  That would let me to go back and forth between Chinese and Italian. 

I really should do the entertaining one again.  I love that resolution and this past year shows me that if I don't think about my resolution, it doesn't just happen on its own accord, so a resolution might get me to have people over more. 

I definitely should put the scrapbook back on the list.  It's not going to get easier as the years pass!  I need to get it done already and put it with our wedding books.