I Resolve...

I'm coming to the end of the second day of January and I have yet to formalize my New Year's resolutions! I had originally started blogging about the garden today, but that post can wait till tomorrow--I need to be resolved.

As I mentioned the other day, I am over making big resolutions that are destined to crash and burn by March.  This year I like the sound of a few daily things, a couple of things based on the week, and everything else project-based--more of a goal for 2017 than a resolution. So what are these fine resolutions/goals? I give you... 2017!

Daily. Either last year or the year before I thought I might meditate for 15 minutes or so a day. Turns out I'm pretty crappy at meditation. But I like the idea of having an in-the-present, mindful time every day. Should I resolve to do a zentangle a day? I have the book. ("A Zentangle  A Day". Really.) Though I am intrigued by the concept, I can't really see committing to doing it every day. Making a zentangle project, sure. But random tangles every day? Too much, too new. Nope, for daily meditation/mindfulness/focus, I'm going to spin 15 minutes a day every day. I even started a Facebook group, Spin15, for it and got a couple of friends in Atlanta to participate. I'd like to see it grow.

Another daily goal is to take a picture and post it on Tookapic as part of their 365 project. I got this goal from Stacy Reno, and so far I'm loving it! My daily pics there have both been taken from the deck of Stone's Throw--one yesterday at sunset, and today's at sunrise. Even though I can only post a pic a day, I had to take this one tonight just because I could. It's amazing the way the iPhone can take photos even at night with no tripod.

The final daily goal took both more thought and a convoluted direction. I had originally planned to keep it simple and just blog every day, but I don't want to set myself up for failure (again), and I have other outlets for writing. Besides the blog, I have a bound journal where I put the hard stuff, the ugly stuff. The stuff that's in my head, and occasionally my heart, that I can't share with anyone, but which I need to get out of there nonetheless. That journal is carefully handwritten forcing me to take it slow because there are no erasures or do-overs. I also dabble with the idea of writing a book--no, NOT another non-fiction how-to book. I'd have to slit my wrists first. Fiction, baby. One of the multitudes of stories that run around my brain getting little, fussy paw-prints everywhere. And then there's the Artist's Way project that I tried (and failed to complete) last year (or was it the year before?). So a daily focused writing or artist's pages. More than a Facebook post or a twit, I mean tweet (which I don't do anyway).

And that's enough for every day.

Weekly. I already wrote a mini-rant about the concept of the week--how the Babylonians screwed us over and how we should just ignore this concept of time that is not based on any earthly (day), lunar (month) or solar (year) event. However we have been inundated since birth with the idea of weekdays and weekends and starting over every seven days. My nod to this completely irrelevant marker comes in two goals, and both are health-oriented (what are the odds?). For the first, I am going to work out one day a week. I can do more, I can increase to two or more in later months, but I can't do fewer. I am also only going to have a cocktail or wine with dinner four nights a week. Yeah, that seems like a lot, but right now it's probably closer to seven so I'm going to set myself up for the win with four. In February, three.

The Year. Now come the really fun goals--the ones for the year. This year I want to...

Glass: Close out the Atlanta studio and sell it; finish setting up the Austin studio, build a strong website with a good on-line wholesale store and put a marketing plan in place that replaces the wholesale shows I used to do; develop new work (potentially including glass covered books); figure out the best way of photographing it for on-line sales.

Wood: Design and build the headboard for our bed and my desk, and refinish and inlay our dining room table.

Stone's Throw: Put in the raised bed gardens and a koi pond; start keeping bees; plant the existing gardens; repair and put back into service the waterfall, stream and ponds; furnish, list, and begin renting out the apartment; remodel the master bedroom (just the floor) and the master bathroom (everything).

Ikebana: Start a study group and teach regular Ichiyo ikebana classes; continue working on my Master's certification.

Spinning: Begin the Master certification process; put the great wheel together and paint on the finish and sealer.

Farm2Yarn: Identify outlets for my roving; build an on-line store; develop a retail fiber business.

Weaving: Sell or donate the 60" LeClerc Nilus loom; finish setting up the textile studio; weave a first project on the AVL loom.

Jewelry making: Set up a silversmithing/jewelry area; Join the Austin Gem and Mineral Society and start learning lapidary techniques.

Paper: Experiment more with suminagashi and European paper marbling; learn book-binding.

Cooking: Make fresh bread and pasta at least once a month; learn to make Kombucha and ferment vegetables with a mortier pilon; strain and finish the infusions I made.

Soap Making: Make enough soap for our use and for gifts, and work though a good part of my soap supply stash.

Art: Take a drawing class (already scheduled); restart wheel-throwing pottery (sign-up for another class); cover the longhorn skull I got in December with stones or glass.

Entertainment: Dinner and a movie out with my sweetie at least twice a month; travel for spring break; summer in Montana.

Wow. That sounds like a very full, very fun year!