Virginia Beach Housewife: End of Year Checkup

As 2013 concludes tonight and we prepare to usher in a brand new year, I wanted to look back at all that I have accomplished (or not!) over the past 365 days. A few years ago, I switched from making resolutions...which are always so broad, and thus never accomplished...to making goals, or a to-do list of sorts, for the year. So far, it has produced much greater success, so let's check out this year's and how I did!
In case you're curious, original goals are in regular font, and my progress/comments are in bold.
1. SLOW DOWN! Ever since I became a mom almost three years ago, I feel like my life has been go, go, go! Part of it is most definitely my fault, though, as I hold myself to pretty high, if not darn right unrealistic, expectations...work out at least five days a week, make homemade dinner nightly for the family, complete daily cleaning tasks, take on ridiculous projects during nap time, take the boys to every activity imaginable, etc. Don't get me wrong...I enjoy doing a lot of that stuff (not so much the cleaning), but by doing ALL of it ALL the time, I have burnt myself out some. So in the coming year, I'm going to skip some of it...if and when the need arises.
This one is kind of subjective, so it's hard to tell. I feel like I have a little, but certainly not as much as I probably should have, so we'll leave that as questionable!
2. Redo house door knobs. When we first moved into our house almost three years ago (!), Josh began switching out the door knobs. Well, he got about halfway through the process and gave up, so we have tons of mismatched door knobs throughout the house. At this point, I really don't want to deal with the whole switch them out process, especially because it would mean getting new keys for us and family members and stuff, so I'm going to spray paint them. I've seen tons of tutorials online about doing this, and the general consensus is it holds up, so we'll see!
Done!

3. Front makeover: mailbox, porch, landscaping. We've already planned to use some of our holiday money to purchase a new storm door for the house which I think will help its aesthetic immensely! But why stop there, right? Our curb appeal could use a real boost, so I'm getting on it!
Accomplished! And when I wrote it, I honestly didn't think I could get Josh to do the landscaping part, so we'll consider this a major win! I didn't buy a door, but painted our old one instead. And that lovely texting-while-driving incident helped with the mailbox! Next up: shutters!

4. Launch Etsy shop. Last year, I started my party planning business, Dream Bashes, and have had a lot of fun planning various parties. In doing those parties, I designed a lot of printables, came up with lots of party plans, and created lots of theme-appropriate decor that may be (*hopefully*) desirable to some party-people out there. I plan to get on this really soon, so I'll share more details with you when I do:)
Done! And happily fulfilling orders ever since, although I do need to get around to updating my inventory with some of the stuff from more recent parties...
5. Lose the rest of the baby weight...once and for all! No, seriously this time. I lost MOST of my baby weight, and then October or so came around. And after a few weeks of not being able to keep myself in check, I finally figured I may as well abandon efforts through the holiday season, but resume in 2013. The good news is I only have about 10-15 pounds to go (I haven't actually weighed myself in weeks and refuse to do so until tomorrow when my plan starts, so I'm not sure exactly where I'm at)...much less than the 60ish I was dealing with last year, so I wholeheartedly believe I will be able to do this once and for all
Still stuck at that 10-15 pound mark, and very frustrated by it!!! Some of it's from lack of effort, and some of it is from stuff just not working like it used to! So in 2014, I guess I either need to figure it out or just deal with my new normal!
6. Accessorize. Considering there are many days my definition of "dressed" means yoga pants and a workout shirt, I tend to no longer spend a lot of money in the clothes department. I have found that most of which I tend to purchase these days is simple and basic, but I have also seen several examples (a la Pinterest, of course) where people dress up these basic options with accessories. I've never been one to accessorize, but this seems like the perfet solution for transitioning my daytime basics into nighttime appropriate (dare we say, even stylish) attire.
I've actually been so much better at this and really enjoyed doing it.
7. Potty train Colton. I've been lazy with this big time, but as Colton quickly approaches 3 and all his friends are already potty trained, I'm thinking it's time to get this party started.
Done...in 3 days nonetheless!
8. Date night. We did better in 2012 about getting out, but still did not get out nearly as often as I would have liked. One problem seemed to be that we were relying on family members who oftentimes had the same busy schedules we did, and we didn't want to burden them. So, this year, we're going to put on our big girl/guy panties and actually pay for childcare...once a month at least.
Again, definite improvement (namely because we discovered the monthly JCC Parent's Night Out for $10 per kid!!!), but we're still not getting out monthly. That's mainly because of our own scheduling conflicts, though, so I think this is about as good as it's going to get!
9. Levi's big boy room:( My baby is a mere few days away from his first birthday, which means by this time next year, he will almost be 2 (AAAHHH!). Colton was in his big boy bed at about 20 months (mainly because of Levi's impending arrival), and the transition was a super easy one, presumably because he was so young! So, I'm thinking it would be safe to say Levi will make his transition sometime around the end of next year.
Accomplished!

10. Improve some of our lighting issues. We have hideous nipple lights throughout the house. My budget probably does not allow for replacing all of them, but I hope to get some of them out of here in favor of more attractive options.
None of the nipple lights were replaced, but we did do the fan in Levi's room (can see it above) and got some new lamps for the living room, so some progress.
11. Plan a family trip. We actually have another big trip with my entire family on our agenda for August, but I want to make sure we also get in a little vacay...even if it's just one night...for the four of us.
We made it to Florida twice, including a really nice stay at the Boca Resort.
12. Maintain some basic grooming. As pathetic or stereotypical as it may be, as a stay-at-home mom, I often neglect some of the basics of my own upkeep: haircuts, eyebrows, painted nails, even regular shaving of my legs(!). But I'm not just a mom, and I think it's really important for me (and for my husband) that I stay on top of those things! TMI?
This one was just stupid. I've done better, but really...who cares?!? I think I was reaching for a 13th!
13. Redo guest bathroom. This one was on 2012's list, but I never got to it. Therefore, it still remains as the only room in this house I have yet to get my paws on. Now's the time!
Done!