2011 Recap

Time to sum up 2011 and what better way than to look back at my resolutions I made at the beginning of the year. 2011 was a strange year. I manged to travel to Scotland and Puerto Rico, allowing me to put two more pins on my map. I went to at least one game for every New England Pro Sports team (minus soccer, b/c I don't consider that a US pro sport). I said goodbye to way too many friends as they left Boston for new adventures. I became an aunt for a third time, got to show my dad around Boston when he visited me this summer. I banged my knees falling at a Pats game and have had a rough time with my health. I had a roommate briefly and dated someone for 4 months. 2011 was a crazy year and I'm glad to put it behind me.

So, let's take a look and see how I did with those resolutions I made back on 1/1/11.

1. Less status updates and more gym time. Well, I have cut back on my status updates on FB, however, every time I started getting back into a gym routine, I either injured myself [knees from my fall] or was battling stomach and other infections that not only kept me out of the gym, but home from work as well.
2. Travel for myself. This I did do. Edinburgh, Scotland. San Juan, Puerto Rico. Washington DC to see old and newer friends.
3. Drink less than I did in 2010. Well, I did get sick after drinking Vodka shots with Russians, but thanks to my stomach, I wasn't able to drink too much. So, yes, I'd say, I did drink less than 2010.
4. Lose and keep off the 20 pounds I want to lose. Yeah, this did not happen. I did loose some weight, but not enough and mostly b/c I had no appetite while sick.
5. Take better care of myself. Nope, I failed at this. Too many late nights/early mornings, sacrificing sleep for fun. 2011 was not the best year for my health and well being.
6. Do a better job keeping in touch with old friends. Yes, I'd say I did a better job keeping in touch with old friends. I met my pen pal of 18 years at her wedding this year. I got to see old friends I used to babysit for while living in San Diego and met up with an old coworker in the spring to catch up.
7. Spend less money by buying less "things". I cut back on trips to Costco, Kohls, Christmas Tree Shop and Target. I have been pretty good with resisting buying items for the home. While I may have bought some things off friends moving away, I spent more money on travel this year than I did on "things".
8. Work on spending less time on Facebook, the internet and chat and spend more time connecting with people face-to-face. Ok, so I did cut back on posting status updates and thanks to a promotion at work, I have had less time to Facebook, chat and send personal emails to people. I have talked more on the phone or via Skype with family and friends who are far away. I wasn't as social as I was in 2010, but I did spend less time online and managed to meet new people this year.
9. Listen to myself and only do the things I really want to do. (Basically learn to say no and not feel guilty about doing so.) I still need work, but I have managed to say "no" a little more than usual this year. I still did a lot of things b/c others wanted me to or there was this expectation. I still haven't learned to put myself first.
10. Smile more :) I have smiled more this year, despite not feeling 100%, saying goodbye to dear friends and hitting some rough patches. I know others noticed the smiling b/c a colleague asked if I was alright a few weeks back b/c I wasn't smiling like I normally do. This happened to be when I was sick and ended up taking 3 days off for a 5 day weekend to rest. So, yes, I did manage to smile more this year.

So, not too bad on the resolutions this year. Now I have to think about ones for 2012.