Progress Report

As time passes, it's easy to forget some of the New Year's resolutions we set out to accomplish just a few weeks ago. I was talking to someone about this at work and had to stop and think for a second about how we were doing.

Despite not really thinking about them day-to-day, we have made some headway on our goals.

• Take more day trips and weekend getaways. 
• We've had a spontaneous (and freezing) picnic at the park
• This weekend we're planning a day trip on the Heartland Flyer (our local Amtrak train that goes to Fort Worth, TX). Gray is gonna flip out with excitement!

• Break out of our usual dinner lineup.
• I tried a great spinach enchilada recipe from Real Simple and have incorporated some stir fry meals into our routine that seems to be a hit. I also have a new pumpkin dump cake recipe from Michael's side of the family that I plan to make soon. I've been checking out recipes on Pinterest, but find myself saving desserts instead of dinner ideas. Oops! 

• Tackle some of the major home improvement projects we've been talking about for years. 
• Michael is helping our architect friend Jack with some graphic design work, so we're bartering for his space planning expertise on our master bathroom. We met with Jack to talk through our ideas and measure the space a couple of weeks ago and he's drawing up several options to gut and remodel the whole thing. I'm excited to see what he comes up with, but am also nervous about seeing what it's going to cost.

• Make specific plans to nurture our passions and hobbies:
• Michael
• Mike started a four-month upholstery class this week that meets a couple of evenings a week. Despite being the only male in the class (and one of the few under the age of 50), he thinks he's going to enjoy it. 
• I've heard some talk amongst his buds about planning some regular mountain biking dates soon.
• Lindsay
• Other than trying to update my blog more often, I haven't done much to nurture my writing and I sure haven't dusted off my tennis racket. 
• Gray
• We've been taking Gray to the weekly music classes at our local library. He really seems to enjoy them and he talks about them all week. 

Of course, my personal resolutions are probably the most neglected out of everything. In the evenings, I end up doing things like our taxes instead of nurturing my interests. I need to get better about that.

Even though we've done fairly well overall (for only being a month into 2012), I'm sure our resolutions will slip further to the back of our minds if we're not careful. That's why I'm going to post them on our fridge or somewhere visible so we'll stay accountable and also take time to acknowledge our accomplishments. How are you all doing on your resolutions?