little black journal

I’ve been doing a lot of list-making and goal-setting lately – I’m thinking about projects I’d like to do around the house, Shane and I are making more long-term plans for our finances, and I’m filling my little black list-book (yes, I have a book of lists…)  with places I want to go, things I want to make, and books I want to read.  I’m a gal with high hopes and lofty aspirations.  The execution?  These days I’m adding a lot more to my lists than I’m actually crossing off…  But in the spirit of follow-through, I’m looking back at my New Year’s Resolutions for a first-quarter evaluation. And…don’t judge.

Read the Bible in its entirety.  I’m a few days behind where I need to be (if I can power through 22 chapters of Deuteronomy and Joshua today, I’m golden!), but I’m hanging in there.  This has been harder than I anticipated.  Carving out 10 or 15 minutes a day is not so bad, but spending all that time with the God of the early Old Testament?  Wowsers.  He was a demanding, angry, vengeful God.  As a child in Sunday school, I heard how nice it was for God to give Noah a heads-up so that he could build his ark and save all those animals – we tend to forget that He sent that flood to wipe out the rest of mankind.  In God’s defense, people been actin’ crazy back then, but still, it’s a stark contrast to the stories of compassion and kindness and sacrifice I’ve come to know so well through Jesus.

Catch up with a friend over coffee every week or two.  Lately we’re spending most of our weekends in the company of friends, with Friday nights full of laughter and good food, but real, deep, life-giving girl talk?  I still want more of that.

Read the Economist leaders each week.  Fail.  Total, utter fail.  I think I struggled through three issues of the Economist before just throwing my hands up in the air and reaching for my laptop to read about the latest in home decor and Spring fashion.  The magazine was just so dang dense. I’d stumble upon something digestible, like a paragraph on New York City’s infestation of bedbugs, but then I’d turn the page to find a dissertation on the state of the economy in China.  And with all the reading I’m doing in the Bible and for book club and to keep up with the Hunger Games craze, spending two hours on a Sunday slogging through the Economist wasn’t working for me.  So I’m on the lookout for a simpler way to stay in the know on current events (does The Daily Show count?).  Stay tuned.

Check out one new (to us) Seattle restaurant each month.  Score!  We’ve got this one down.  Chloe and Locol in February, Skillet and Madison Park Conservatory in March, and plenty of goodness lined up for April and May.  Easy-peasy.

Juice at least once a week.  Semi-score.  We’re juicing most weekends, but I’d really, really like to find a way to work this into my weekday routine.  And I could stand to mix it up a little more – apples, kale, celery, lemon, guzzle and repeat.  Maybe it’s time to venture into the wild world of watercress?

Cheers to steppin’ it up from here on out.