The glass is half full: my year off

A great post on Ashley Batz's blog last month got me thinking about goals. She posed the question "what would you do if you had a year to yourself?" At first I got all excited thinking, wouldn't that be cool, a year off to do whatever I wanted. And then I realized I do have a year off! And I'm already halfway through it.

Obviously I won't be flying off to Italy or going to yoga everyday what with being 8 months pregnant and all. But I haven't really been looking at my time off in the right light, either. I've mostly been wallowing in a sort of self-pity for being a useless, jobless waif who can't go back to work until after the baby comes. What I should be focusing in is what I'm going to do this year to make my life a little more awesome (besides becoming a mom).

After some thought, I've made 8 goals for myself to accomplish before December 6, 2011.

Learn to grill

We just bought a natural gas grill, much easier to use than charcoal. I can already manage hot dogs start to finish. Next, I'm gonna start learning vegetables.

Read one nonfiction book every month

My preferences are for the work and talent-related books I got totally hooked on while working at ZURB. Things like "The M Factor." I'm also hoping to finish two autobiographies: Betty White & Tina Fey.

Become a food canning pro

Our canning garden is going strong with tomatoes, peppers, radishes, green beans, corn, cucumbers and zucchini. We're planning on several types of salsa, spaghetti sauce and various pickled things. I've got two canning books and the varied experiences of my families to get me started.

Find one job every month that I would love to apply for

I won't be back in the job market until next year, but finding places I'd love to work will help me realize what I want to do and where I need to build my skills before getting back out there.

Make 2 new friends (couples count as one)

Yep, this one sounds pretty sad. But without people to hang out with, Brian and I would stay inside all the time. We already haven't gone to the movies since November. Having friends expands your horizons.

Get 100 volunteering hours

This is a two-fold goal. First, I love volunteering and truly believe it helps in building useful skills. Secondly, I have a 15-year-old brother who seems to think having to get 40 volunteer hours before May 2013 (high school graduation) is a crippling and impossible requirement. I'm going to prove he's a huge whiner.

Write 2 blog posts per month

Doesn't matter what they're about or how long they are, this is merely a test of my willpower.

Take a class

Any kind of class. I've got a recommendation from my brother-in-law to take Developmental Psychology, but I'm also going to count community education classes. Anything where I learn something new.

My year off started December 6, 2010 and for the sake of continuity I'm going to try to accomplish all these things before December 6, 2011.

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