A few of my goals for 2012 - by Catherine

One of my goals for 2012 is to get married to this man. Sometimes, I get teary-eyed just thinking about it. Like right now as I wrote that.

Another of my goals is to learn how to watercolor, something I've wanted to do for quite a while now. My interest in it probably started as a child, marveling at my grandma's paintings that graced the walls of our home; then there was painting the grand canyon with Angela using the portable watercolor set she gave me for my birthday. Today, I bought all of the supplies for my first class tomorrow. Can't wait to mix New Gambouge, Alizarin crimson, Burnt Sienna and Yellow Ochre into a masterpiece (or maybe just a blob of an apple on a table, but you know).

My 2012 Goal- January

So my goal was spurred by a few moments/epiphanies/realizations:


1. I have realized I am kind of mean sometimes.
2. This is not who I want to be.
3. I want to be known as someone who is kind and someone who builds and uplifts others.

Then I heard this quote by President Monson: 

“When we deal in generalities, we shall never succeed. When we deal in specifics, we shall rarely have a failure. When performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of performance accelerates.” 


And I thought about my former roommate, Kasia, who is an amazing person. When we met for roommate prayer every night, we would share what we did for someone that day. I decided to try that up again and record it (be accountable). If nothing else, it's gotten me to think more about what I do for others and try to focus more on those around me. It has also helped to take an abstract goal like "Be kinder" and make it more tangible and concrete. 


Here is the record for January.


Jan 1- Instead of running off to do something else after church, I stayed to help fix lunch
Jan 2- Asked mom what I could do to help and then immediately went and did it (cleaned bathroom)
Jan 3-Did dishes at dinner to help out
Jan 4- Called back the girl who I visit teach even though I really didn't want to talk on the phone (yeah it's been a rough day, okay)
Jan 5-Instead of leaving the baby in the bouncer chair and using my time to clean up so I could go home on time, I had the thought to play with her because I knew she had been at day care all day and probably had not had one-on-one interaction.
Jan 6- Tried to be nice to my co-worker and resisted the urge to get offended when she was condescending. Told her I hope she has a nice day.
Jan 7- Supported a friend in my ward who was getting her Endowments out today by going to the session with her
Jan 8- Decided to sit next to someone in the ward that a lot of people talk poorly of.
Jan 9- Resisted the impulse to feel offended and was still nice to that person.
Jan 10- Smiled at a stranger
Jan 11- Tried to be really kind, genuine, and cheery on the phone after a long day.
Jan 12- Was friendly to my new co-worker at the gym.
Jan 13- Mopped the floor
Jan 14- Called one of my sisters to see how she was doing
Jan 15-Made garlic bread for the missionaries
Jan 16-Visit taught
Jan 17- Asked my co-worker about her weekend and tried to genuinely care. Tried to see co-workers as God sees them.
Jan 18- Noticed someone in Institute didn't bring scriptures, so I let her use mine and I shared with someone else
Jan 19- Read a book to the boy at my job at Fitness World when I could have been cleaning up so I could leave earlier. Sought to build kids, love kids, not just make sure they don't kill themselves.
Jan 20- Expressed emotions to parents instead of "shutting off" and running from problems. Tried to humble myself and confront issues (another rough day, ok)
Jan 21- Went to the temple. Tried to be kinder to Mom and less critical.
Jan 22-Gave someone the benefit of the doubt when I could have felt offended, hung out with some people all day to be nice, even though I felt like a third wheel
Jan 23-Told mom I loved her
Jan 24-Gave someone a sincere compliment
Jan 25-Attempted to be better at keeping in contact with old friends by writing them an email and telling them things I like about them
Jan 26-Rough day...uh...smiled at a stranger?
Jan 27-Made some scarves for children in the homeless shelter
Jan 28-Consciously tried to be less competitive during frisbee and to be kinder to people while playing
Jan 29- Made food for the missionaries, prayed for them, tried to get over the fact that I don't like one of them
Jan 30-Prepared the spiritual thought for FHE
Jan 31-Started planning a birthday party for my friend

Mom 2012 Goal

Ok, so my goal for 2012 is to become known as "The Great Communicator". Don't everybody laught all at once, please. Details include - not interrupting, gentle not intense (intense meaning over bearing or too opinionated), listening more, (telling less), keeping my volumne turned down, not giving my opinion too readily (wait to be asked), being kind in tone and message.

Ok, so it took me 60 years to stop picking my fingernails. We'll see how long this takes me.

2012 Goal Emily

I have two goals for this year. The first goal is to be more calm - hence the "sunrise on a calm morning" photo. I am by nature a somewhat high strung intense kind of person. I can get worked up about little things and overreact. So my goal this year is to think before I act, react more slowly, and keep my voice calm (especially when interacting with my children). Here's to a new year of calmness.

My other goal for the new year is to learn to play 50+ hymns from our church hymnbook on our piano. Below is our "family" (read "Emily's") Christmas gift. I love it! It's a digital piano, so I can practice even when the babe is taking one of her short naps or all the rest of the crew is in bed. Right now I have picked one hymn for each week through June. I practice about 20 minutes a day and that seems to be more than enough to learn the one hymn and even move ahead each week. Here's to a new year of music!

2012 goal Jana

This is one I didn't think about until considering what to post for this challenge, but I definitely have been wanting to do it so I will make it official:

Stop cracking my knuckles - fingers and toes. 

Very bad habit.  I managed to stop several years ago, but started again when a doctor friend told me that it was a myth that it was bad for you.  Regardless of the health consequences, it is an addictive, bad habit and I want to stop.  Since grade school (when it was cool to crack your knuckles) I have been popping - not front to back - but sideways, the highest joints on my fingers.  In high school, I discovered I could also pop my toe knuckles front to back and sideways.  I am constantly cracking my toes when my shoes are off.  Okay, TMI! 

That is my goal.  And it will be very difficult to stop.

2012 goal Angela

 I wanted to post about something I wanted to learn this year. I really want to master using a digital SLR camera. I don't know if I will be successful at starting a photography business and while I think it would be amazing to contribute financially to my family, I've realized I need to learn to use it before I try and start a business (yeah, I know that should seem like a no-brainer to me, but I guess I'm just kind of hasty with things). So here's to learning something new in 2012!!

A few new hairstyles for the brave in heart

With the risk of being trite when I'm supposed to be posting something I did for someone else (are we still doing that?), I wanted to share two new awesome hairstyles I discovered.

1. The classic fishtail. Contrary to how it sounds, it does not look like this:

(thank goodness). It looks more like this:

It didn't work as well with my hair since it is layered, and is a little tricky to get at first, but I think it's a great spin on the classic braid once you get the hang of it. Click here for a great tutorial online.

2. The Waterfall Braid: I am yet to perfect this (obviously) but there are a lot of tutorials online

3. The "Vintage Bohemian Updo!" I found this one randomly online here. If you can ignore all the times she says "vintage," it actually makes for a great tutorial. I haven't actually done it yet, so no pictures yet. But it looks like it would work great for shorter hair.