Annual Goal List 2014-2015 Edition

2014 was the year of travel and plot twists. Every year I think to myself that I could never know how the next year will be. I had no idea at the beginning of 2014 that I would get to see Morro Bay, have an Epic Road Trip with my Mum, live in New Zealand for 2.5 months, visit Kentucky twice, set foot in a few other States in between, get engaged, work on horse farm as well as a vineyard, hike up/across many streams and fall into a few.

This year I chose to say yes to everything that terrified me and it has paid off. A year ago I don't know if I would have been willing to learn to drive a tractor or climb a rock wall. Actually, I know I wouldn't have. I was invited to go rock climbing in the past, but I couldn't get the nerve up to do it. This year I practiced saying to myself, "No fear!" before doing scary things. I proved to myself that I am as brave as I hoped I could be. What I learned is that everything is still as scary as it was before, but I'm just not going to let that stop me.

Onwards to this year's highlights:

Hiking Clouds Rest in Yosemite. I wanted to test my limits and see if I could hike 14 miles. Turns out I can. I felt really accomplished and more confident with my abilities. (This turned out to be well timed since I did so many crazy hikes in New Zealand later in the year.)

Clouds Rest in Yosemite, June 2014

Meeting Connor. He had just moved to California just as I had made plans to leave California. We ended up doing a bunch of things together because he wanted to see parts of California for the first time just as I was doing everything for the last time, or so I thought. I'm excited to see what the future will hold for us.

All the travel. I got to see and do so many things and meet and spend time with so many people. I'm glad I blog, because it would be so easy to forget how many opportunities I had been given this year. I hope to continue to keep my eyes open and my spirit willing in the upcoming year.

The Green Dragon is still my most favorite place on this Earth

Goals for 2014:
1. Knit up more of the yarn kiwipurler has gifted me.
Status: 1/3 done. I had hoped to knit up 300 grams. I only knitted 100g. I'll just continue plugging away. I do plan on knitting up a sweater with the Mythral she gifted me.
2. Borrowing from the 2011 goal list, I'm putting the spin for a large project back on the list.
Status: Complete. I did finish spinning the yarn and it is with the weaver. There isn't a timeline for when I'll get the blanket, but I've done as much as I can for now.
3. Knit Justin his socks that I promised him several years ago. It needs to happen.
Status: Complete. The socks haven't been displayed on the blog just yet because it is an unreleased pattern. I'll show them off at some point.
4. Find a community outside of knitting to spend time with.
Status: Ongoing. I've joined more communities, but it has become clear that as I grow and learn, so will the communities of people I spend time with. The knitting community seems to be a constant in my life though, which I am pleased about.
5. Choose a new job and do it.
Status: In flux. I had applied to jobs before deciding to move to New Zealand. I applied to jobs in New Zealand before being proposed to and coming back. So I'm looking for a job again. But I had an interview and remain with high hopes.
6. Sew myself a dress. Or in lieu of that, sew a project bag.
Status: Complete, but not by me. I cheated. I paid Maria of A Needle Runs Through It to sew up project bags for me. I suppose the goal really should have been, "Have project bags made out of that fabric I'd been hoarding." I'll still give myself points for taking a class on pattern drafting even if I didn't make a dress afterwards.

I think I did pretty well on my goal list this year. I feel like I achieved beyond this list. The amount of travel I got to do was significant and unexpected.

Goals for 2015:

1. Develop stronger cooking skills. Specifically, I'd like to develop a menu of different meals that spans at least a week. This year I had to go gluten free, which means I have to be much more mindful about food. All my guilty pleasures had gluten. It's been interesting discovering foods that feel like a treat and adhere to my new diet. 

2. Put together a wedding. This is a bit of a challenge because I didn't grow up designing a dream wedding in my head. Connor and I are now working on what we would like the day to look like. Connor is a champ and is supporting me while I'm busy discovering that I have more opinions than I thought I did. 

3. Declutter my life. I have so many things! I don't need all those things. I can feel the weight of owning more than I truly need. I also have a large amount of paper records/things that need to be sorted. We all have that large box of paper that you ought to have organized years ago, but now it's sat in that container for a decade and you still aren't motivated to go through it. This is the year for that.
4. Write a comic book. Over the years I'd often think about putting out a comic book. The topic has changed over time, but the desire to make one has remained. I'm not sure if I want to complete a project of this magnitude in just a year, but I think I'd like to just start working on it.

5. Knit Connor a sweater. I haven't started yet because I believe in the sweater curse. I'm not even swatching. But I have the yarn and a good idea of what I want to knit. Super bonus: we are such a similar size that I can make a sweater that we will both fit into. I'll just have to roll up the cuffs.