December Goals

As another month ends, it comes time to recap the meager goals that I set and give you a little glimpse into my month.  I just flipped through my cell phone photos for the month and there are hardly any.  A few of the m'hencha that I made, one of my to-do list for Christmas break, and a couple of Kyle on Christmas day, spoiling my parent's dog.

So here are the goals:

• Roast a turkey!  We hosted a small party of people to help us share a turkey I got from work.  It was really great!  And despite a potential turkey disaster, dinner was delicious.
• NOT have a crazy Christmas schedule.  I think it's safe to say this is one of the laziest Christmases I've ever had.

December has actually been a really rough month and I'm glad to see it go.  I spent the first week confined to the couch due to post-Mexico travel illness.  I'm just glad it didn't happen while we were on vacation.  Then I had a surprise business trip pop up and as I briefly mentioned here, it was awful.  And because I missed so much work after vacation, then illness, then business trip, the rest of my month was pretty insane work-wise.  Then finally, blessed Christmas vacation arrived, but by Christmas night I was wiped out with the beginnings of a killer cold.  I spent the vast majority of Thursday and Friday back on the couch.  Torture.  Zero progress on my Christmas Break To Do list.

So that's the bad.  Here's the balance:  we spent a GREAT night doing a brewery tour in honor of a friend's birthday.  We spent a wonderful Sunday afternoon socializing and eating great food with friends.  Even though I made a serious miscalculation when it came to cooking time for the turkey, it turns out there are ways to keep a turkey warm without drying it out for three hours before dinner (oven on low, turkey covered in lots of foil, a pan of water in the oven to keep moisture in).  I swear, I can cook anything, until you put me on a schedule then it's like I've never seen a kitchen before.

2013, however, has been monumental.  It's been such a good year that you can totally smack me for complaining about December.

I married this guy on a beach in North Carolina.  He believes in me, sometimes more than I believe in myself.  He teaches me to look at things from a different perspective, almost daily.  He shows me how to be more generous, and I teach him how to be a little more Dutch.  We are a great pair. 

We wanted an affordable destination wedding.  The whole wedding party stayed in a beach house, making wedding weekend one of the most fun vacations I've ever had.

A couple weeks later we had a reception in Michigan so those who couldn't make the wedding could still celebrate with us.  It was great.  Because we had nothing else going on that day, we were even able to make most of the food that was served!

Summer was amazing.  There were several camping trips and family gatherings.  I had four other cousins that also got married this year, so lots of family and weddings!

This fall, I got promoted to a managerial position.  I'm still learning the ropes - dealing with people problems is a very new experience.  It's a good challenge though.

And of course, shortly after that we spent a wonderful week in Mexico, soaking up the sun and the sand (and a whole bottle of sunscreen).  It was our honeymoon!

We bought one souvenir in Mexico:  a molcajete and tejolote.  The Mexican version of a mortar and pestle.  I am hoping it lasts for years!

I had some goals for 2013.  Here's what I wanted to do:

• Live simply.  Enjoy time with friends, go camping, keep a few hobbies.  Hmmm.  It's hard to keep things simple when planning a wedding, but I don't think I stressed about it too much.  A couple mini breakdowns, but I had lots of support to work through it.  And the rest of the year has been pretty simple since then.  Still busy, but full of joy.
• Gardening is a big part of my year.  Last year's garden was an experiment, this year's garden was a labor of love.  My goal was to garden deliberately, and not waste time on something that isn't working.  I'm not even going to pretend to have had a reasonable garden.  I gardened in a huge space and therefore, went way overboard.  I have enough tomatoes to last for a couple years.
• Talk more.  Cultivate relationships.  I think I would have done better at this if I had this goal sitting in a visible place.  It's hard for me to talk to people.  I've been considering just how often I really talk to people that I consider to be close friends.  It feels like I should be talking to them more.  However, when I go out now, either to a grocery store or a restaurant, I try to be the kind of customer that makes employees remember why they enjoy customer service. 

So, that's it.  That wraps up the year.  If I picked a theme for 2013, it would be my new favorite saying:  cada dia es mejor.  Every day is better.  The best days are yet to come.