December Report Card

Today is the last day of 2012.  How crazy is that?  I'm glad that I've been doing these monthly resolutions, because it seems like this year has gone by so fast.  I can look back and see that I did some productive things and that I had both high moments and low ones this year.  Life is going to change for me in 2013, that much I'm certain.  It will mean starting college and maybe starting my career as an editor.  It will mean becoming an adult.  It will mean (hopefully) publishing my novel.  

There's a lot to look forward to in 2013, though I admit that the prospect of such change scares me a little.  

For now, I'm going to focus on what my goals were this December and if I completed them or not.  

Read Eight Books

I'm actually kind of surprised that I was able to complete this goal.  But with the help of some very enjoyable books, this goal wasn't as hard as I suspected it might be.  The sixth book I read was The Carousel by Richard Paul Evans, followed by Hero in Hiding by Mitchell Bonds and Star Wars: Outbound Flight by Timothy Zahn.  I'm currently reading Cinder by Marissa Meyer.  

Grade: A+

 

Enjoy My Birthday

 

As I said in my mid-month progress report, this was a success.  I had a great time with my family.  

Grade: A+

 

Get Back To Writing

I'm bound and determined to finish this novel at some point in the not-too-distant future, so this was a big one.  As I said in my mid-month report, my cousin and I had managed to start two sections and my goal for the rest of the month was to finish them.  I finished one and started working on the other one, so I'm content with that.  This is probably going to be a resolution that will reappear come January.  

Grade: A

 

Bonus: Set Up My New Computer

Finally, I got all the parts and had some time to put together my new Windows 7 computer!  I'm loving it so far.  

No computer of mine is complete without a Timmy sticker from ThinkGeek.

Overall Grade: A+

I had a great December and somehow managed to complete all of my resolutions to my satisfaction.  Woohoo!  How did you do?  

Hope you all had a great Christmas and are looking forward to the new year.  

This post inspired by Kelli at SheLearnsAsSheGoes.

Christmas Traditions

I don’t know about you, but I love the traditions that my family has every Christmas.  I think it just makes this time of year that much more special.  Here’s some of my family’s Christmas traditions.  

Watching Christmas Movies

Christmas movies can be a lot of fun.  Sure, many of them are cheesy, but you only get to watch them once a year without people looking at you strangely, so you may as well enjoy it.  Some titles that my Mom and I watch every year are: It’s a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, The Bishop’s Wife, Miracle on 34^th Street, The Christmas Card and Home Alone 2.  If my brother takes the time to sit down and watch a Christmas movie, we always watch A Red Green Christmas, since that’s his favorite.  

Annual Christmas Ornament

Every year since our first Christmas, my parents have given us each a new ornament every year.  That way, once we’re out on our own we’ll have several ornaments for our tree that have real meaning to us.  My mom painted a few of our ornaments herself, which makes them extra special.  Others show what we did or learned during that year or what we were interested in.  My ornament for this year is a TARDIS.  

Making Christmas Cards

This has been a tradition for my mom and I for quite a few years.  We usually send out about 40-50 cards and make them all.  We try to keep the design simple so that it’s not too time-consuming to make a bunch of them, but they always turn out pretty cute.  Here’s a picture of the card we made this year.  

 

The Christmas Pickle

This is a pretty common tradition for a lot of people.  How it works in my house is that my parents hide the pickle ornament somewhere on the Christmas tree, and then the rest of us have to try and find it.  It can be pretty tricky, since the pickle is green and so are the branches.  The person who finds the pickle gets to open one of their presents before everybody else.  

What are some of your Christmas traditions? 

Next week I’ll be looking at how I did on resolutions for this month.  Until then, Merry Christmas to all of you! 

Mid-December Progress Report

With work, my birthday, reading, watching The Hobbit and Christmas baking/cards, the first half of December has flown by.  I hope that it slows down enough for me to be able to enjoy Christmas and spending time with my family on that day.  Let’s see how I’ve been doing on my resolutions for this month…

Read Eight Books

It’s a little over halfway through the month and I have read four books towards my goal.  Looks like I’ll need to pick up the pace a little bit if I want to make it.  So far this month I have read: The ThreeMusketeers, A Change of Fortune, The Star Wars Trilogy and Streams of Silver.  I’m currently reading The Lightbringers by H.C.H. Ritz.  I’m planning to read Hero In Hiding, Star Wars: Outbound Flight and an as yet undetermined eighth book.  We’ll see if I can make it!

Enjoy My Birthday

Since my birthday has already passed, I believe that I can call this a success.  I went with my parents to a local café that has a 95% gluten free menu.  Mom and I had a great sandwich and some broccoli salad for lunch, then for dessert we got a gluten free cream puff which was heavenly.  After this, we headed to the mall where my Dad went and did his own thing and Mom and I went shopping for shoes and clothes. 

Mom and I ended our trip at the mall with a bubble tea with tapioca pearls, which was delicious.  I like the way I make them at home better, but it was interesting to get one from a shop.  Once I got home, I opened my present from my brother and his fiancée which was a Star Wars mug and a Death Star tea infuser.  Yeah, they know me well.  

Get Back To Writing

This was a tough one for me this month after writing so much during November.  I knew of a few things that I had to write, but none of them appealed to me much.  Luckily, my cousin/co-author came to the rescue.  When I went with her to see The Hobbit (which is definitely worth watching, by the way), I spent the night.  Together, we were able to look through what we had so far and discuss what we thought about how the story is unfolding and what we might need to revise.  Not only that, but we were able to play off of each other and write another 3,000 words spread over two sections.  Neither section is complete yet, but each has a strong start.  If I don’t do any other writing this month, I’ll at least have done that.  I would like to see myself finish those two sections, though.  

My resolutions for this month are going pretty well, overall.  How about yours?  Are you finding it difficult to fit your goals into your busy Christmastime schedule?

This post inspired by Kelli at SheLearnsAsSheGoes.