2014 Resolution Results

I had 3 main goals in 2014. First, to start and complete a Project 365 (taking at least 1 photo every day for a year with my DSLR and sharing on my blog). Second, to stop yelling at my kids completely. And third, to make my health a priority by exercising regularly throughout the year (with a measurable goal of running 300 miles in 2014).

Here’s how I did.

  1. Project 365 has been a breeze. There have been at least a handful of shots taken desperately at 11:30pm because I almost forgot, but I have successfully taken a picture every day with my DSLR AND kept up with sharing them in a weekly blog post titled Catch the Moment.   Added bonus/challenge for me – I took them all on the Manual setting! You can review them if you’d like by clicking this link. I plan to make a small photo book with the year of photos. What I loved about it was that it forced me to capture things I wouldn’t normally. Boring moments that are too easy to forget. It forced me to find beauty in the ordinary. I noticed the sun beams shining through the clouds over a sprouting cornfield on my way to work in a whole new way. Doing the project has increased my interest in casual photography and I would like to think that practicing for a year in manual has also increased my skill somewhat.  Success.
  2. Project Stop Yelling has been more of a challenge, but not a failure by any means. I realized about 3 months into the year that PMS has a great deal with my patience and my patience has a great deal with my yelling. I have recognized that my yelling has more to do with how I’m feeling than what my kids are doing. When you find yourself saying things like “stop acting like a 2 year old” to your 3 year old, you have created an “it’s me, not you” situation. I still have some progress to make and I stopped trying to count how many times I yelled but I know this year was much better than last and I think 2015 will be my best year as a mom yet. Progress.
  3. Project Run 300 Miles was destined to fail from the beginning. I had strep twice, the flu, and 3 separate stomach bugs in the first 6 weeks of the year. When I tried to pick it up again in mid-February, a knee injury slowed me waaay down. It’s been a gradual and slow process. Not to say that I have maintained the necessary level of motivation throughout the year to reach my goal of 300 miles, regardless, but the cards were stacked against me from the beginning. I don’t have good knees. I really have no business running. I hate running, until I’m done running. Then I love it. I love the challenge because it’s hard for me and I love the feeling of accomplishment when I run further than I thought I would or could. On a positive note, I did run further this year than I ever have before (my longest run being 3.6 miles) and I did run my first entire 5k in September. My goal was to run 25 miles per month or 300 miles in the year and I ended up with a total of 89 miles ran.  Disappointing. Ultimately my goal was to maintain my weight loss from 2013 with regular exercise and a healthier diet. My goal in 2013 was to lose (and keep off) 20-24 pounds. I maintained a 25 pound weight loss throughout 2013 and the first half of 2014.Right now I am at a 17 pound loss and I am not okay with that. I’d like to get back to a 25 pound loss and stay there.  I’d call this one Breaking Even – a mixture of small successes and disappointments.

I will be building off of these three goals from 2014 as we move into 2015. Photography, Family, and Fitness. Up next on Mommy in the Midwest: 2015 Resolutions. Stay tuned. 🙂

Did you make resolutions? Did you keep them?

~C~

catch the moment: week fifty-one

Okay y’all, it’s 11:22pm on Christmas night and I know I won’t have another chance to do this before next week. I can’t start slacking off 51 weeks into this project, can I?  So here are my merry, festive, week-leading-up-to-Christmas pictures.  Week FIFTY-ONE, guys! Wow…

Linking up with Sarah, Mindi, and Stephanie.  Who’s interested in joining for the new CTM365 starting in January?  Come on… it’s really not that hard.

351/365 – Wednesday, December 17th:  We met up with some friends for dinner then headed to the library for a little Christmastime event they told us about. This “elf” showed us all kinds of critters and then the big reveal (about an hr + later) was his reindeer! It was pretty cool! Theo thought it stunk…12-17-14

352/365 – Thursday, December 18th: Sharing secrets with Santa (be still my heart). This morning, after checking out the living room, Theo came to my bedside and said “you know Mom, there’s more than one Santa. You know that, right?”  I asked him why on Earth he’d think that, to which he replied “because the one at the mall this year was different from the one the year before.”  HOW??  Well, in this picture he looks pretty smitten with that jolly man (or maybe he’s just thinking to himself, “this is a hoax”). Too smart.  Too observant.12-18-14

353/365 – Friday, December 19th: Can someone say hashtag bathroom selfie? Ryan’s parents kept the boys for the weekend. I went to a concert with these girls and some others that we met up with later while Ryan did a little shopping.  What a fun night.12-19-14

354/365 – Saturday, December 20th. More Christmas shopping, wrapping, etc etc etc.  And this is what my house looked like when I finally gave up and went to bed Saturday night. 12-20-14

355/365 – Sunday, December 21st: I was craving some comfort food and made-from-scratch potato soup sounded good.  What was even better is that Theo (not usually interested in helping me in the kitchen, unlike his brother who won’t leave my side typically) wanted to be involved in every step of making the soup. We spent a nice hour bonding and cooking together and I loved it. And he loved the soup! Funny how that works.  Here’s the recipe12-21-14

356/365 – Monday, December 22nd: Our 3rd annual Christmas card tree. It got all the way down to the baseboard by Christmas day. Receiving Christmas cards is something I look forward to every day this time of year!12-22-14

357/365 – Tuesday, December 23rd: I decided to prep everything that I could prep ahead of time on Tuesday night since we were hosting Ryan’s parents on Christmas eve and Christmas day. It was a ton of work Tuesday night but so worth it the next 2 days.  First time I ever bought fresh jalapenos, too.  We had THIS white chicken chili for lunch the next day (amazing). You are so welcome for the recipes this week. 🙂 12-23-14

So next week I will wrap up this year of photos! Crazy…looking forward to seeing how everyone else who completed the project this year wraps it up.

Which picture is your favorite this week?  Those first two with my cuties enjoying the Christmastime festivities sure make me smile. So do my girlfriends. So did that soup. Okay, what’s new? I can’t decide.

xo,

~C~

catch the moment: week fifty

Say what!? Did I just type “week fifty”???? Every night I have plans of blogging about something…ANYTHING! But there’s always a list of a hundred other things to do this time of year.  Why do the weeks and days leading up to the most wonderful day have to be so stressful and jam-packed with tasks?

Can’t believe there are only a couple weeks left in this project and this year! I plan to keep moving forward. Learning about photography. Maybe finally take a class.  Get better equipment. Practice, practice, practice. Linking up with Sarah, Mindi, and Stephanie for these last 3 weeks of Catch the Moment 365 (2014 edition).

344/365 – Wednesday, December 10th: A few minutes of cartoons before pre-school while I finished packing their lunches.12-10-14

345/365 – Thursday, December 11th: That “Oh-Crap-it’s-11:29pm-and-I-haven’t-taken-a-picture-yet-today-and-it’s-December-11th-and-I’m-not-gonna-screw-up-this-Project365-now” shot? Yeah, this is it.  The little tree in the boys’ room. 12-11-14

346/365 – Friday, December 12th: Cute little downtown Franklin, Indiana on a Friday night.12-12-14

347/365 – Saturday, December 13th: Took some pictures of this sweet little Santa for his mama/my good friend. 12-13-14 348/365 – Sunday, December 14th: Finally! I’ve only wanted a mantel for 2.5 years on this giant brick fireplace.  We had one built and Ryan and his dad installed it on Sunday.12-14-14

349/365 – Monday, December 15th: A little more detail of our newest piece of furniture. This thing is HUGE! I don’t even know how to begin to decorate it! I need STUFF.12-15-14

350/365 – Tuesday, December 16th: My little holiday Batman.12-16-14

What’s your favorite this week? That sweet little Santa with his big beautiful eyes on Day 347 stole my heart.

xo,

~C~