Now that we’ve properly rung in the new year, Bangor style, it’s time for some resolutions. For those of you unfamiliar with Bangor, Maine’s NYE tradition, we all trek downtown to see a beach ball covered in Christmas lights thrown from the top of the building on the corner of the square. Yes, it sounds silly and foolish but our unique little ball drop draws thousands. It’s awesome. Trust me. But without further ado, I bring you our 2012 resolutions.
Resolution #1 – Plan An Awesome Wedding
This is probably the most important resolution in my mind, hopefully Colby’s too. I can’t wait to marry Colby and I know the day will be fabulous regardless, but I really want to try and avoid the whole “wedding factory” feel. I’m scared to death of a cookie cutter wedding. I’ll definitely be hard at work over the next few months crafting up ways to make our wedding day extra special and unique.
Resolution #2 – Finish Up Those Lurking House Projects
We have them, you have them, everyone has them. The projects that you need to do and really have no good reason not to tackle, but you keep putting them off, and putting them off, and putting them off some more. Ours include finishing the bathroom remodel. The bathroom was the first room that we decided to tackle during the month between closing and move in day and it’s close to done, real close. The major projects left are to finish the shelves above the towel hooks, finish installing the vent, and building a bathroom vanity. What kills me is that we have everything we need for the vanity…the tile, the sink, and the faucet that we’ve collected incredibly cheaply. We just need to buck up one of these days and build it. Some of the other lurking projects include finishing our 10′ his/hers desk (we’re actually working on that right now), finish painting the dining/hallway/staircase trim, and finish painting the kitchen cabinetry (I started that project over a year ago…doh!).
Resolution #3 – Spend More Time Outside
The first summer we owned our home (summer of 2010), the weather was gorgeous and we spent zero time outside. We found ourselves immersed in a bathroom remodel, office remodel, trying to paint every room in the house, and remove as much ugly carpeting and paneling as humanly possible. We succeeded but didn’t spend nearly enough time outside. The summer of 2011 was better. I logged some serious hammocking hours this summer and knocked a few books off my reading list including the epic novel Gone With The Wind. This summer I want to spend even more time outside and actually start tackling a few landscaping projects. I’m hoping it’s not biting off more than I can chew but I’m thinking a backyard patio, stairs to the walkout basement workshop, a new basement door, and maybe even a DIY cinder block outdoor couch (we inherited sooooo many cement blocks when we bought the home and we need to use them for something). And maybe even a new front walkway with stone stairs and garden wall to hold the hydrangeas.
Resolution #4 – Fancify The Good Ol’ Blog
So, a few months ago I chose to move the blog to my own, self hosted domain primarily so I could have creative control on the layout, functions and features. Have I capitalized on that? No. Does it drive me crazy that I have complete creative freedom and have not taken advantage? A resounding yes. So this year I vow to start implementing many of the features I’ve been dying to add. For instance, I would love to add a house tour page, sidebar buttons for videos and archives, and much more. I would love to improve navigation and add some fun features. Oh, and I still need to switch out all the old pictures since they’re way too big to load properly now that I’m not using the free WordPress.
So there you have it, four major resolutions for 2012. Now with this public proclamation, here’s hoping we abide by it.
Pssst…How was everyone’s new years? Anyone want to share their new year’s resolutions?
