Accountability

I'm the kind of person that likes lists. I make lists, and I check things off my list. Heck, I've even been known to put things on my list that I have already done, just so I can cross them off. I like check marks, happy faces, and anything that holds me accountable for what I plan to accomplish in a given day/week etc.

I was thinking about all these resolutions I've made and how many of them are things I want to do daily (take pictures, read the bible), a few times a week (workout), or monthly (volunteer, try new things). I needed a way to keep track of all of this information and hold myself accountable. I like check marks and happy faces remember?!?

So, I started looking around and found this neat site: Joe's Goals.

It's free, and online, which means you can use it from where ever you are. You input what your goals are and then you can put check marks in each box as you complete them. If it's a daily goal, you can check it off daily. Better than that, you can see every day ever that you got a check. I love that it doesn't just go away after you've done it, you can go back and see how many times that goal has been accomplished. If it's not a daily goal, you can create a log book which shows up right under your weekly checklist. Then when you do something relating to that goal, you can make a note of it. This is totally right up my ally. Thought some of you might be interested in it as well, so I just wanted to share :)

Project 365

So, about Project 365 ...

I am going to make a serious effort to take at least one photo for every day in 2010. Just saying that sounds crazy, but here's the thing: not every picture has to be phenomenal. I would be kidding myself if I thought that I could take an awesome picture for 365 straight days. Some pictures will probably really suck, and I'm okay with that, as long as it's a picture. Not going to lie, some pictures may even be taken with my camera phone on days that I just can't get it together. Hopefully more of them will be decent photos than not, but we'll see.

I set up a photoblog to document my year in photos. If you would like to follow along, feel free to do so here: My Photoblog

I think I will try to post a collage of my photos at the end of each week here, but I can't guarantee that will always happen.

One day down, 364 to go. haha!

New Years

New years is a holiday I can really get behind (and there are a lot of holidays I can't say that about haha). Of course, having someone to kiss at midnight would make this holiday exponentially better, but even without that, it's one of my favorites. :-P

I love new years because it's a chance to start over. I know it's just another day, but the idea of a new year, a blank slate, and a chance to get things right, makes me feel very happy inside. It's a chance to start fresh, and I have a serious love for the prospect of wiping the slate clean because more often than not, I find that I feel a need to just start all over in different aspects of my life. Now, I do realize that I could do that any day of the year, but something about January 1st just feels different. Maybe it's that everyone has a blank slate, or maybe it's just that others understand when you decide to start over. I don't know ... hard to explain.

Goo Goo Dolls - Better Days

And you asked me what I want this year

and I try to make this kind and clear

just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

'cause I don't need boxes wrapped in strings

and designer love and empty things

just a chance that maybe we'll find better days

So take these words and sing out loud

'cause everyone's forgiven now

'cause tonight's the night the world begins again

Here's looking toward a WONDERFUL 2010, filled with possibility and adventure.

Happy New Year!

photo from Notebookdoodles

Photoshop - color

I spent my afternoon today playing with photoshop. What should I have been doing? Oh, just grading multiple sets of writing papers and writing report card comments ... oh well. I'm new at this whole photoshop thing and there are a lot of things I want to learn how to do, I just never seem to have time to sit down and learn it. Today, I played around with color.

LOVE it! :)

Resolutions

Usually around the first of December I start thinking about the coming year and what I want to accomplish. I want my resolutions to be meaningful, to be things that will add value to my life, and to be things that are actually within my reach. Success is a big key here ... I don't like to fail at things.

Each year (starting in 2004) I have written a letter to myself giving an overview of the previous year, and stating my goals for the next year. At the end of the year it's interesting to look back and see how much was accomplished before making goals for the next year. It's also interesting reading back over the old ones to see how life has changed and remember what I was like each year. 5 years ago I wrote this (5 years?!? Can we just hit pause for awhile, time is going WAY too quickly!!):

Every year I make it a goal of mine to try to be a better person than I was in the previous year ... you know, to help someone or do something that makes a difference. I mean really, it's always good to strive to be better right?

Every year since then I've tried to have that same goal, and I can honestly say this year I am ending the year a better person than I started. In fact, the word better doesn't even begin to describe the night and day difference from a year ago and today. That definitely could not be said of each of the years between then and now. This year, I'm pretty happy with the person I have started to become.

So this year, after much thought, I have landed on a few goals for the coming year (or at least a few I am willing to share publicly with you):

- volunteer at least once a month

- read through the entire bible

- try at least one new thing each month (could be as simple as a new type of food, restaurant, activity, etc)

I'm pretty happy with these goals. They are measurable, I think each one is attainable, and each will add value to my life. Each one will help me to become a better person than I was the year before, and that is the ultimate goal.

I have one more goal, which I'm not sure is entirely attainable, but I want to make it a goal anyway. It will be my, "give it my best shot" goal because it most likely will not be 100% successful, but I'm going to make the effort anyway. I am going to (attempt to) participate in Project 365. The idea is to take at least one photo every day for a year. This requires actually getting out and taking pictures, so it's really a pretty lofty goal, but I'm going to give it a shot. I think it could be really neat to look back on a years worth of photos and remember where I was and what I was doing when I took them. As an added bonus, hopefully my photography skills will improve, and I'll get more comfortable with using my new (or not so much new anymore haha) camera with the daily use.

4 years ago I wrote this, and I swear I could have written the same thing today:

Time this year sure has flown by. Sometimes I wish I could just make it stand still for awhile. Give me more time to do the things I want ... It's like you blink and a whole year has gone by.

I swear each year goes by faster than the one before! Where does the time go? I wish there was a pause button for life. There are a lot of changes in store for this coming year, and while I am excited at the prospect, I also wish I could just hit pause for awhile and soak in every minute of this life I have right now. Change can be a good thing, but there are some things I don't want to change. There are some things, and some people, that I want to stay the same forever. Nothing can stay the same forever, I know this ... I'm just not ready to let go of it all yet. And, who's to say what will happen this year ... yes, a pause button would be nice...

However, things are looking up :)

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

I got a new KitchenAid stand mixer for Christmas and couldn't wait to try it out. What better excuse to make cupcakes than using my new mixer?!? I have gotten to the point that I have so many cupcake recipes I want to try that it is difficult to decide on just one to bake at a time. I went back and forth, and finally decided on peanut butter cupcakes this week. These are officially my favorite cupcakes EVER! Seriously, yum!

Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Fluffernutter Frosting

Next time I make these (oh, and there will be a next time!), I'll make a little more frosting. I had enough to cover the batch, but just barely. Plus, they would look much prettier if they had a larger dome of frosting on the top.

And let me just say, baking is SO much easier with my new mixer! I am in love! You just put the ingredients in and walk away to let it mix; it's wonderful! Thanks, Mom! :)

So here's the recipe in case you want to try these too. And trust me, if you like peanut butter, you NEED to try these. It's like a delicious peanut butter explosion in your mouth. yuuummm!

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

6 T unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup smooth peanut butter

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 large egg

1 t vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

milk chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 standard muffin cups with paper liners. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl; set aside

In a bowl of a mixer, on medium speed, beat the butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar until smoothly blended and lightened in color, about 1 minute. Scrape down bowl and add egg and vanilla. Beat for 1 minute until batter is smooth. On low speed, alternately add flour mixture in 3 additions and milk in 2 additions, starting and ending with flour. Mix until flour is incorporated and batter is smooth.

Fill each paper liner with a generous 1/4 cup of batter. Bake until tops feel firm and are lightly browned, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

Remove cupcakes fro oven and place several chocolate chips on top of each. Allow chocolate to soften enough to spread. Spread to cover top of cupcakes and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting Ingredients:

1 cup marshmallow fluff

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/4 t vanilla

1/4 t salt

1 1/3 cup powdered sugar

1-2 T milk

Directions:

In mixer bowl, on low speed, combine fluff, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt until blended. Scrape down bowl, and add powdered sugar. Beat until blended. Add just enough milk to make frosting the desired consistency.

It's better to give ...

For Christmas, I made this for my mom:

By made, I mean I took the black and white pictures, bought a frame, picked out a mat, had it cut to size, then put it all together. I think it turned out wonderfully!

It took FOREVER to find a picture for the letter "m" (seriously, I drove around for something like 4 hours one day just trying to find something that would work), and I had a heck of a time finding a frame that would be long enough, but not too wide either. But, in the end, it came together nicely (I actually wanted to keep it for myself I liked it so much haha!).

I was pretty excited to give her this; I was sure she was going to love it. Sure enough, she's called like 4 people already this morning and explained it to them in detail. I love when you give someone something that you know they really love.

I did good this year :) It is definitely better to give than receive (that's not to say I didn't like receiving all the wonderful things I got this morning too hehe).