2011 Goals

I love doing a list at the beginning of the year of goals for the year. Anyone else do SMART goals at work? I am trying to work on the measurable part for this year.

Photography:
-Open up and Etsy shop
-Use my tripod more, try to work on longer exposures (waterfalls, ocean surf, night cityscapes etc)
-Write at least 2 photography tips posts a month
-Save for a new camera body (I would say buy it but that depends on Canon)
-Try time-lapse photography with my new remote

Exercise/Health:
-Log at least 500 miles on my new treadmill
-Lose weight (I have a number in mind but I am not putting it out here)
-Lift weights at least once a week
-Stretch every day I run
-Go out to eat less, no more than 2 meals a week on average

House:
-Paint the last bedroom
-Buy dressers for our room and organize clothing so it isn't spread around 3 rooms and the attic.
-Paint more used furniture, at least 2 pieces
-Save for a new garage
-Clean out the attic (and be ruthless!)

Personal:
-Trip to St Lucia
-Put more thought into fashion/style and include it on blog more
-Find a new job
-Get to know my new extended family
-Take more weekend/day trips

20 goals, let's see how I do!

2010 Goal Review

On the first of the year I did a post detailing out some goals for 2010, before I make one for 2011 tomorrow, shall we see how I did?

Photography:
-Use my longwood season pass to shoot a lot more macros - Done! And I loved it and I think it made a huge difference in my photography +1
-Use my awesome new tripod to start shooting waterfalls - Didn't do +0
-Autofocus micro-adjust all my lenses with the LensAlign - didn't do all, but I did some +0.5
-Use the video mode on the 5DM2, and do something with them - I used it, but I haven't figured out what to do with them. +0.5
-Finish scanning and editing the slides from our 1987 trip - I finished all the scanning of the slides, Dad still hasn't found the couple of rolls of negative film +0.5
-Do something with the XT instead of letting it sit around collecting dust - I tried to but I ended up messing up the sensor when I tried to clean it before selling it +0
-Get in front of the camera more - fail, maybe next year +0
-Write more photography tips posts for this blog - done +1
-Look for macro subjects all year long, not just in the spring - done, though I still mostly stuck with flowers, I just found them at Longwood.
4.5/9

Exercise/Health:
-Get back into running, especially outside, log at least 100 miles - I did run outside for a couple of months, and at the gym for a couple of weeks, but I probably barely made 100 miles. +0
-No more sodas at lunch at work (too much caffeine) - fail I managed to skip them here and there but not really consistently. +0
-Try out the yoga and pilates classes at my gym - I tried out the pilates class at work, but I won't really count that fail +0
-Continue trying out new recipes, aim for mostly healthy ones we did do this, but we need to do even more next year +1
1/4

House:
-Organize the attic - no +0
-Purge stuff we no longer use - in progress, we did have a yard sale and sold a bunch of stuff, but there is a lot more that we can get rid of +1
-Get more into gardening and landscaping - I tried, and realized I didn't like it very much. But I will keep trying +0.5
-Buy rugs - We did buy a few but we have a lot more to go +0.5
-Office furniture - Done!! I am very happy with how the office turned out +1
-Paint both spare bedrooms - One is done (though just barely!) +0.5
-Try sprucing up used furniture - I painted the vanity and I love how it turned out! +1
4.5/7

Personal:
-Make some friends near home to hang out with outside of work - I mostly made photography friends to go to get togethers with but I will count that because I love my photography girls +1
-Spend time with Rebecca before she leaves the USA - Done +1
-Plan (and take) a trip to England and Scotland - England/Scotland was pushed aside for Egypt so we still made it on a BIG trip so I will count that +1
-Visit family more often - We did do a decent amount of this, though I want to do more next year. I have some new family I would like to get to know. +1
4/4

15/24, not great but not bad. Things change and I tried to make this a rather ambitious list for the year. I think it would help in 2011 if I review my progress each month. I think I missed several of these because I forgot about the list to an extent.

2010 Goals

The older I get the more I focus on celebrating dates that are specific to myself and those close to me (wedding anniversary > Valentine's day for example). To me my birthday is a better time to reflect and assess than new years but what the heck why not make some goals anyway.

Photography:
-Use my longwood season pass to shoot a lot more macros
-Use my awesome new tripod to start shooting waterfalls
-Autofocus micro-adjust all my lenses with the LensAlign
-Use the video mode on the 5DM2, and do something with them
-Finish scanning and editing the slides from our 1987 trip
-Do something with the XT instead of letting it sit around collecting dust
-Get in front of the camera more
-Write more photography tips posts for this blog
-Look for macro subjects all year long, not just in the spring

Exercise/Health:
-Get back into running, especially outside, log at least 100 miles
-No more sodas at lunch at work (too much caffeine)
-Try out the yoga and pilates classes at my gym
-Continue trying out new recipes, aim for mostly healthy ones

House:
-Organize the attic
-Purge stuff we no longer use
-Get more into gardening and landscaping
-Buy rugs
-Office furniture
-Paint both spare bedrooms
-Try sprucing up used furniture

Personal:
-Make some friends near home to hang out with outside of work
-Spend time with Rebecca before she leaves the USA
-Plan (and take) a trip to England and Scotland
-Visit family more often

That seems like enough of a list, I can always add more as the year goes on right? Wish me luck, that is a LONG list.

About Me

Since the profile thing has such a limited amount of space I am going to put my old about me section from my website in a post! Brilliant!

I was born in Upstate NY, which is to say not a suburb of NYC. There is more to the state than just the city! I grew up in a small town called Apalachin. A town who's entire claim to fame is a mafia meeting that took place there in 1957. Well before I was born by the way! We lived in the same house my entire life, Mom, Dad, my older sister Valerie and myself. Our pets were always cats. The orange one in the picture with me on the red couch was named Buster. Buster and Sunny are the two cats I remember most from growing up. When I was almost done with high school a pregnant stray cat, now named Kit-Kat, adopted our family and gave my parents their current cats. Mocha Delight (I named her) and Mr.Goodbar (named by my sister, though that cat turned out to also be female). My sister also has two cats, the aforementioned Kit-Kat and another named George.

I had a very quiet nice childhood. My favorite things to do were read (which I still do too much of) and ride horses (which I also still do when I can afford it!). I graduated from the Owego-Apalachin School District in 1996. And went on to Penn State to study Chemical Engineering. I graduated from PSU in 2001. I took time off to co-op at The NIH and at Biokinetics. After graduation I returned to Philadelphia to work for Biokinetics.

As of May 2005 I left ALB and started a new job in The Bay Area. As in California. A pretty big move for a girl like me who lived in the same house, in fact the same room until she left for college, and my parents still live in that house. I now work at an actual manufacturing facility which is something I have always wanted to do. Finally I am getting some hands-on experience. Plus it is a great company. An AMAZING company.

Another great thing about this move to CA is that Michael moved out here too. Michael and I have a long and complicated history that started in high school. Yup one of those! Though he and I might have met at a much younger age. His mom was my preschool teacher. He went to Clarkson University, where he got his B.S. in Civil Engineering and then on to Virginia Tech to get his M.S. in Geotechnical Civil Engineering. Since we moved to CA he got his PE, and is trying to find a band that he can play bass in.

My best friends are both named Rebecca. Law Student Rebecca. and I met in middle school and weren't friends at first. Then a snowstorm on the day of her birthday party (and everyone else going home) gave us a chance to really get to know each other. We have been best friends ever since. She now lives in Minneapolis, and we only get to see each other once or twice a year. Pharmacist Rebecca doesn't have a blog, silly girl, lives back in Upstate NY near where we grew up and also married her high school sweetheart. She was in my kindergarten class though we didn't get to be really great friends until about middle school as well. We thought we were really smart in high school to write notes to each other in French, and our French teacher used to call us "The Sunshine Twins" because we were always so cheerful, and so much alike.

Personality

I was born in July and I think I am a typical Cancer.
Good traits: Emotional and loving, Intuitive and imaginative, Shrewd and cautious, Protective and sympathetic.
Not so good Traits: Changeable and moody, Overemotional and touchy, Clinging and unable to let go.

Likes

To Do:

Read. Especially Diana Gabaldon Novels and other historical fiction. Ride horses, jumping is one of my favorite things to do. Work out, I am attempting to take up running, and pilates. Sleep (can never get enough of that). Organize (I am having an intense affair with my label maker!) and clean! Play The Sims. Collect smushed pennies. Visit historic homes. Bake, I go overboard at the holidays.

Movies:

Gone With The Wind, Last of the Mohicans, The Others, Bridget Jones, Elizabeth, Heathers.

To Eat:

CHOCOLATE (which I try to keep to a reasonable amount), fruit (especially granny smith apples, nectarines, cantaloupe, peaches, raspberries, strawberries, grapes, oranges), ice cream (french vanilla with M&Ms), cupcakes (especially mine!), cookies, chicken, couscous, soft pretzels, cheesesteaks (YUMMY!), pizza, cranberry juice and grey goose vodka, FUDGE.

To Shop:

Aldo, Ann Taylor Loft, Arden B., Banana Republic, DSW Shoewarehouse, Nine West, Organized Living, Old Navy, Target, Victoria's Secret.