Last year we included something fun we wanted to do in 2015. Edith: I don’t know much about writing poetry, but I think it’s fun to try. I resolve to write a poem for each of my family member’s birthdays this year. And maybe for the Wickeds’ birthdays, too! Liz: I ordered P90X3 – so I’m going to complete the 90 days of the program (I worry about her concept of fun), Barb — I resolve to enjoy being in Maine more this summer. To take a trip to Monhegan and another to Bar Harbor and to spend some serious time at the Boothbay Harbor Historical Society (which will only partially be work), Julie: My goal is to keep up with a gratitude journal, Jessie: I want to learn some basics of Icelandic, and Sherry: I am going to learn to kayak this year.
So Wickeds did you keep your fun resolution or not? How about doing it differently this year?
Liz: Ha, funny you should mention workouts….No, I have to confess I didn’t. I slacked on my workouts in 2015. I certainly didn’t complete any one program, either. This year I’m going to take a different tactic – I’m going to resolve to move more, where it’s a walk on the green, a high impact Body Combat session, or Qi Gong. Putting all of those things together will be more balanced anyway, and will put less stress on myself.
Edith: Total fail! I don’t even remember writing that goal, that’s what a fail it was. Wait – only a ninety percent fail. This fall I wrote a seven-stanza limerick poem for Margaret Press, the mystery and true-crime writer (and past Al Blanchard Award winner) who has hosted my writers group for more than a decade. She’s retiring and moving to her native California to be closer to family. I read the poem aloud at our farewell
dinner – “There once was a writer from Salem…” – and Margaret was delighted. This year? I resolve to write poetry only as the spirit moves me. <snort>
Jessie: Já,ég gerði. Which means, yes, I did make some progress on my Icelandic goal. I downloaded a couple of apps on my phone, began listening to some YouTube videos on basics and signed up for and started lessons using Mango. It’s really fun and I like the way it stretches my brain differently than the other sorts of activities I try.
Barb: Yes and no. I did enjoy Maine more this summer. I did make it to the Boothbay Historical Society, partly to research the book I’m writing now and partly to do some research on our old house. I didn’t make it to Bar Harbor, but I did get as far as Castine, which is the next peninsula over. I did several library talks in Maine over the summer and found it a delightful way to explore the state. Didn’t make it to Monhegan. This year!
Sherry: I did go kayaking thanks to my friend Mary! As soon as she saw my fun resolution she invited me to kayak at her lake house. I went last June and, although I didn’t go very far, I gave it a try. I have an open invitation to go back and one of these days (well, when it warms up) I’ll take her up on it!
Julie: Beware writing goals on a blog! While I did actively practice gratitude, I did not keep up with the journal. Will try again this year. I’m tempted to try something I saw on Facebook–write down every great thing that happened, and then read them all on New Year’s Eve. I suspect I’d lose track of that my March at the latest. Sigh.
Readers: Did you make any fun resolutions that you kept?
I have to ask: Jessie, why do you want to learn Icelandic? (Although learning any language is a good mental exercise.) I can’t remember making any specific resolutions for 2015. If I said “File,” I failed miserably. But I did attend the Edgars in New York for the first time, and while I was there I visited one of my all-time favorite paintings that I hadn’t seen in 40 years, and took myself to a fantastic Broadway play. Indulgent? You bet! But if you only do it every few decades, you spread the cost out, right? For 2016: FILE!
I’m not sure filing is fun but it will probably feel great when it’s done! What’s your favorite painting?
Hans Holbein’s portrait of Thomas More, in the Frick Collection. It is one of the most moving portraits of anyone I have ever seen. What is funny is that Holbein’s portrait of Thomas Cromwell, More’s nemesis, hangs on the same wall at the museum, facing More. Cromwell looks like a pig. Funny aside: when my daughter visited the same museum a couple of years ago, she fell in love with the More portrait as well.
I plan to visit Iceland and would love to be able to understand a few basics. Also, I really admire how much effort the Icelandic people and the government have put into keeping their language uniquely Icelandic and vital when the world is so interconnected and it would be easier to let it become diluted by foreign words.
I never make New Year’s resolutions. I find I worry enough without adding a guilt list to my over-taxed mind each year. However, I do set a goal for myself each month. This month I am trying new recipes. I hope to do it for twelve months, but if not, that’s okay. Oh, no! Now I’m worried! If I started this in January, does it make it a resolution?
I’m not a huge fan of resolutions either — they are like a weight of things to be done. That’s why I wanted to pick something fun to do. I love your posts about your cooking project! I’m cheering you on!
We’ll see how long this will last!
I asked my son his resolution. He said, “World domination.” I can’t compete with that.
Now that is a fun resolution!
So funny!
I don’t remember if I made any for 2015, but it turned out to be a pretty good year! This year I am, with the help of a friend, working to be more mindful about the choices I make on both a micro and macro level and, and making those choices count toward my bigger goals. Which is kindacrazy speak for doing stuff that gets me further toward where I want to be. Wishing everyone much success, joy, and peace in 2016!
Mindful is a good thing.
That sounds really smart! I need to do that too. I tend to drift along on the currents of life.
Somewhere along the line last year, I added doing more mud runs than I had originally planned when I realized I was in line to do one a month for 7 months in a row if I added a couple more.
This year? With the way the schedule is falling for the events and other things in my life, I think I will be cutting back. Unless I can find a friend who is as hooked on them as I am to do them with me.
I’d admire the whole mud run thing but can’t imagine doing one! If you get as much rain as I hear you might, there ought to be plenty of mud this year.
And they will have the swim back at the Camp Pendleton mud run instead of the never ending cargo net crawl!
I hadn’t thought about how the drought changed training!
Hah! Don’t even have a hint of what it was!
It’s okay. You don’t need to!