Final 2012 Resolutions Progress Report


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Personal Finance

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  • Save $1,204 in the Gift Fund for my parents. I now have enough in the account for roughly two international airline tickets. My parents don’t seem to be retiring soon so I’ll resolve to add another 1,500 in 2013. This is one of my life’s biggest dreams. My parents have taken a total of 4 days (one day per graduation for my brother and me) off in the span of over twenty years.

  • Contribute $2,000 in a Roth IRA for 2012. The buying of a car kind of derailed me. FAIL.
  • Make $3,000 outside from full-time job income. $2,553.78/$3,000. 85% completed. I had the same goal in 2011 and didn’t make it past $2,000 so this is an improvement.

Leisure

  • Try 10 more Vietnamese recipes. 10/10.

    1. Ca Farci (stuffed tomatoes)
    2. Banh Tom (sweet potatoes and shrimp fritters)
    3. a) pickled carrots and daikon b) dipping sauce c) pickled bean sprouts
    4. Thit Heo Kho (braised pork belly)
    5. Bo Luc Lac (shaken beef)
    6. tomato egg drop soup (I add tofu to linked recipe to mirror my mom’s recipe.)
    7. Ca Kho (fish simmered in caramel sauce)
    8. Banh Mi (traditional baguette sandwich, I made mine with shrimp)
    9. Bo Kho (beef stew with rice noodles)
    10.Egg Rolls (wood ear mushrooms, shrimp, pork, vermicelli as filling)

    This was the second year I’ve completed this resolution. Just two years ago, I didn’t know how to make one Vietnamese dish and now I know twenty! I think I’ll repeat this resolution one more time in 2013, forcing me to learn the harder stuff. Gulp. Like pho.

  • Complete 10 sewing learning projects. 6/10. FAIL.
  • Read 50 books. 50/50. I finished with 11.5 hours to spare! I’ll be doing a guest post for a friend soon about my favorite 5 reads. I’ll link when it’s published!
  • Read one Neil Gaiman book. American Gods was a really fun experience.
  • Build a fort.
  • Blog at least three times a week per blog. This is one of those resolutions I make knowing I will definitely fail. I made it because in striving for three a week, I may hit one or two and that’s better than zero. I may have to quantify this goal for 2013. I do better when my goals are quantifiable.
  • Finish Sketchbook Project 2012 in time. Finished product here. I made this goal because I hadn’t started my sketchbook and it was due January 15, 2012. Now in 2013, I’m repeating this resolution for the same reason. I am a procrastinator at heart.
  • Visit two new states. Arkansas and Washington
  • Go to Marfa, Texas with Kim.

Relationships and Well-Being

  • Visit my sister in Pennsylvania.
  • Volunteer 10 hours outside my commitment to Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America. 10/10.
  • Work out at least once per week. If I take the average, I completed this goal going months where I worked out three times a week and a few months where I hardly worked out. I will quantify this goal even more for 2013.
  • Write my morning pages at least 120 times this year. 104/120. 87% completed.
  • Buy myself flowers four times. 4/4.

Question: Are you comfortable still working on goals that you know you won’t complete?