Recap of 2015 (books, goals, etc.)

Well, 2015 is officially done. It's been a crazy year, but a pretty huge one for our family and also for me personally. I decided to set a handful of goals for myself this year, and although I can't say that I completely conquered and mastered all of them, I did work on all of them. I improved and grew in all of them (well, except for the sewing one. I still can't sew.) and that is important to me. I'm not sure if I will ever be able to say that I completely conquered any of these, because they're all about growth and maturing anyway, but it's exciting to me that I put genuine effort in and can see real results for each of them (except the sewing...). Here were my non-book related goals for 2015:

• get the exercise routine I didn't make happen in 2014
• get into a better place with the dogs
• redo entire wardrobe
• rediscover Jesus
• sewing basics from Mrs. Mayhew
• clean the shower

I think I can safely say that, after two years in a row of having "sewing basics from Mrs. Mayhew" on my goal list, it's not going to happen. It might, someday, on accident, but I'm not going to put it on my list again. I clearly don't care all that much about learning how to sew. But I did clean out my clothes and start building my wardrobe back up again, focusing on what actually fits and what I feel comfortable in. I did have a lot of ups and downs spiritually this year, but I discovered several different ways to get in the Word even if its just for a few minutes each day. I do still get frustrated with the dogs and the issues they create, but my relationship with them is night and day better than it was a year ago. I don't clean the shower as often as I probably should...but I AM actually cleaning it occasionally so there's growth there too. And my exercise has come in and out in spurts as I've learned what works for me, but I've landed pretty solidly into a routine that's helpful, consistent, and that I'm loving (and I have the extra motivation of working hard to lose some weight, which is going well!). All in all, I can look at that list and feel comfort and peace rather than anxiety and guilt for not following through. I honestly feel like growth happened in all of those, and that's a great feeling (...except for sewing).

Now here comes the crazy part. When I started 2015, I had an almost three month old baby and I felt completely underwater with the house and the dogs and my own cleanliness and nursing and sleep schedules, etc. etc. I knew I wanted to read some books in the new year, but I had absolutely no idea what realistic expectations were or should be when coming up with a number. So instead of a set number goal, I made a small list of books that I'd wanted to read for a long time and just hadn't gotten around to yet. I thought that if I read those fifteen or so books by the end of the year then I'd be more than content. Well...I read those, and then many many more. I blew my reading goals right out of the water, almost completely because I started listening to audiobooks. There's no way I would have been able to read anywhere near as many books as I did this year without audiobooks. I highly recommend them! I will say though, that I think my audiobook days are on hold for a while, since my little baby ears are getting older and more aware (and more picky...she only wants Veggie Tales from my phone playing all day every day, not books read aloud). But some of my goals for this year address that, in an effort to keep the reading going strong. I'll get to that in a minute though. Here's the list of all the books I read this year. (For the sake of my sanity, I'm not going to link them all to my blog posts, mostly because that would take me the rest of the day. Just look at my Book Reviews page for all the links.)

1.  Yes Please, by Amy Poehler
2. Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand
3. Serena, by Ron Rash
4. Harry Potter #3, by JK Rowling
5. The Rosie Project, by Graeme Simsion
6. Harry Potter #4, by JK Rowling
7. Dash and Lily's Book of Dares, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
8. Harry Potter #5, by JK Rowling
9. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, by Mindy Kaling
10. Eleanor and Park, by Rainbow Rowell
11. Wild, by Cheryl Strayed
12. Harry Potter #6, by JK Rowling
13. Harry Potter #7, by JK Rowling
14. A Long Way Down, by Nick Hornby
15. Through Painted Deserts, by Donald Miller
16. Bud, Not Buddy, by Christopher Paul Curtis
17. The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins
18. Bossypants, by Tina Fey
19. The Best Yes, by Lisa Terkeurst
20. House of Hades, by Rick Riordan
21. When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead
22. Crash, by Jerry Spinelli
23. Monster, by Walter Dean Myers
24.  The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman
25. Simplify, by Bill Hybels
26. Still Alice, by Lisa Genova
27. Al Capone Does My Shirts, by Gennifer Choldenko
28. This is Where I Leave You, by Jonathan Topper
29. Designed to be His Help Meet, by Debi Pearl
30. Wonder, by RJ Palacio
31. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee (reread)
32. Night, by Elie Wiesel
33. Half Broke Horses, by Jeannette Walls
34. Cold Tangerines, by Shauna Niequist 
35. A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini
36. Three Times Lucky, by Sheila Turnage
37. His Needs, Her Needs, by Willard Harley
38. My Heart's at Home, by Jill Savage
39. The Impossible Knife of Memory, by Laurie Halse Anderson
40. Diary of Anne Frank, by Anne Frank
41. The Silver Star, by Jeannette Walls
42. Silas Marner, by George Elliot
43. The Sky is Everywhere, by Jandy Nelson
44. Al Capone Shines my Shoes, by Gennifer Choldenko
45. Landline, by Rainbow Rowell
46. Isla and the Happily Ever After, by Stephanie Perkins
47. Okay for Now, by Gary Schmidt (reread)
48. Al Capone Does my Homework, by Gennifer Choldenko
49. Liar & Spy, by Rebecca Stead
50. Ghosts of Tupelo Landing, by Sheila Turnage
51. In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan
52. The Storied Life of AJ Fikry, by Gabrielle Zevin
53. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
54. No Country for Old Men, by Cormac McCarthy
55. The Martian, by Andy Weir
56. Killing Kennedy, by Bill O'Reilly
57. The Rosie Effect, by Graeme Simsion
58. And the Mountains Echoed, by Khaled Hosseini
59. Go Set a Watchman, by Harper Lee
60. Copper Sun, by Sharon Draper
61. Room, by Emma Donoghue
62. Revolutionary Road, by Richard Yates
63. Killing Lincoln, by Bill O'Reilly
64. Out of My Mind, by Sharon Draper
65. I am the Messenger, by Markus Zusak
66. First Boy, by Gary Schmidt
67. Orbiting Jupiter, by Gary Schmidt
68. 7, by Jen Hatmaker
69. Let it Snow, by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle

I know. It kills me I didn't get to 70 books too. Maybe next year.

Speaking of next year, I've come up with a similar plan as far as goals go. A short personal list for my life, and a short book list that I'm hoping to surpass by lots. Things are changing in the reading department once again, with (what I'm assuming to be) the absence of audiobooks, but one of my personal goals is much less television and more reading instead. We created a playroom that's separate from the TV room this week, and I have already read and/or completed three and a half books since then. And the TV hasn't been on once other than when JT has been home. I'm thinking that will prove to be incredibly helpful with a lot of my goals. :) Without further ado, here's my personal and reading goals for 2016:

Personal Goals:

• Get dressed/ready for the day by 9 am: When I was in the middle of thinking of goals one day last week, I realized it was 3 in the afternoon and I hadn't brushed my teeth. #lifeofastayathomemom Well no more. Because that's just silly. 
•  Exercise 5 times a week: Thanks to my new Christmas present the Fitbit and my tendencies toward obsessiveness, I've exercised every day this week already (which, if you're counting, is actually six, not five). I'm hoping that this magical new combination of the treadmill and the Fitbit and the Kindle that sits comfortably on the treadmill, this one will be a matter of maintaining throughout the year rather than the creation of a whole new goal.
•  Less TV, more books: Fairly self-explanatory. I watch way too much TV, and that should probably stop. It's easy, it's handy, and it's brainless. I am capable of doing more with my days than watching How I Met Your Mother all the way through for the sixth time.
• Less noise, more quiet: I love background noise. Whether it's music or podcasts or audiobooks or Netflix, I always have something playing. That should probably be lessened too...I think I'm finally ready to learn how to just have quiet. 
• More intentionality with friends: This one's vague, as a lot of these are, but I'm that introvert who has good friends and gets sad she never sees them instead of just reaching out and inviting them for a walk or a cup of coffee or lunch. I've always been that friend, and I'd like to keep pushing myself to initiate a little more, and to also make my time with friends a little less about me and a lot more about them.   
• Monthly dates with JT: This unfortunately won't be possible every month (for example, he will be spending a lot of the summer in Florida), but we really do want to make this a priority when we are physically able. 
• Weekly dates with Charlotte: I don't mean for this to be anything crazy or complicated or stressful, but just that I try to do one fun, intentional, different-than-the-norm thing with Charlotte every week. 

Reading Goals:

• For the Love, by Jen Hatmaker
• Good News for Weary Women, by Elyse Fitzpatrick
• Bittersweet, by Shauna Niequist
• Bread & Wine, by Shauna Niequist
• Parenting with Scripture, by Kara Durbin
• Love and Respect, by Emerson Eggerichs
• The Excellent Wife, by Martha Peace
• The Underdogs, by Markus Zusak
• Every You, Every Me, by David Levithan
• Every Day, by David Levithan
• We Were Liars, by E. Lockhart
• Reality Boy, by AS King
• Forgive me Leonard Peacock, by Matthew Quick
• Lindsey Lost, by Suzanne Marie Phillips 
• Belle Porter series
• To All the Boys I've Loved Before, by Jenny Han
• Odds of Getting Even, by Sheila Turnage
• Attachments, by Rainbow Rowell

It's not a huge list, once again, but it's just the ones that I want to make sure I read this year. Just like last year, I'm not requiring of myself that I read them in this order or that I even finish this list before I read other books not on the list. Just want to make sure that at the end of 2016, all of these are crossed off. (For those who are curious, this is a mix of books that I genuinely want to read because I've heard they're good or are by authors I love...and books that got thrown into my cart as impulse buys at the Green Valley Book Fair this summer that I now feel morally obligated to read but only have mild interest in. So that should be interesting.) 

It's been a great year, for books and for goals. I'm excited for this new one.