2021 New Years Resolution Recap & Scores

It's time for the one constant thing on this blog for the past several years - my new years resolution score sheet. There's one more week of 2021, but I don't expect any of these will get accomplished in that week, so here's my summary of the year!

1) Weekly Prayer Journal - 0.75 points

I did this really faithfully January-June, and then I went back to work after maternity leave and I let "busy life" overwhelm me until the end of October, when I tried to pick it up again with mixed success...so about 3/4 of the year = 3/4 of a point. I think I will do this again in 2022 as it did serve the purpose which was to get me to pray more and think about prayer more, but I will choose a different journal for 2022 as the one I did this year was "geared towards women" in the devotions written for each week, and that frustrated me. I would rather do my own blank journal and follow the old ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) format I think, but I used a template journal this year to help motivation get going.

2) Baltimore Half Marathon - 1 point

This was so tough. Training was tough, doing it was tough, but I *did* make it and I did run 95% of the time (5% was when I stopped for bathroom break at the halfway point, took this selfie at mile 12, and fell down around mile 11 and had to assess my scraped knee for damage). Up until mile 10 I felt great, but after mile 10 I was burnt out. I don't think I'll do the Baltimore Half again. I maybe could be convinced to try another half marathon, but it would have to be a different course with some sweetener in the deal (St. Michaels beach half? Disney princess half? I'm considering either, but would rather return to triathlons if I'm being honest!) 

3) "Complete" a cookbook - 0 points

I just don't think this one is in the cards for me, partly because I rarely use cookbooks. I reference them, I love to read them, but actually following the recipes? Not for me. The romanticism of it has made me resolve this a few years in a row, but it's time to shelve this dream and take my cooking/baking pursuits elsewhere.

4) The 2021 reading women challenge - 0.75 point 

I love this list for expanding how I read (because while I love to read, on my own I mostly read junky books - this and my book clubs force me to expand my mind). Here's the challenge books and what I read - I took off a quarter point for the two books by men and the two books that I didn't finish reading.

Technically don’t count as they are by men (but not white men so…I’m saying it’s OK):

1. A Nonfiction Book Focused on Social Justice - Color of Compromise, Jemar Tisby
2. A Book by an Indigenous, Native, or Aboriginal (person) There There by Tommy orange

Technically don’t count because I didn’t finish these:

1. A Short Story Collection by a Caribbean Author - how to love a jamaican
2. A Book by a Trans Author - an unkindness of ghosts

Books I read that counted:

1. A South American Author in Translation - Hurricane Season by Fernanada Melchior
2. A Crime Novel or Thriller in Translation - The Tenant, Katrine Engberg
3. A Fantasy Story by an Asian Author - Broken Stars (short stories translated by Ken Liu but at least one by a woman so I’m counting it)
4. A Muslim Middle Grade Novel - aint so awful falafel by Firoozeh Dumas
5. Reread a Favorite Book - Heidi by Johanna Spyri
6. A Book About Incarceration - Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas
7. A Book by a Neurodivergent Author - The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
8. A Book Featuring a Queer Love Story  - Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuinton
9. A Book about a Woman in Politics - What She Ate by Laura Shapiro
10. A Book with a Rural Setting - Christmas at the Island Hotel by Jenny Colgan
11. A Book w/Cover Art by a Woman - Such a Fun Age, Kiley Reid (cover art Vi-An Nuygyen)
12. Book Longlisted for the JCB Prize- Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anaparna
13. A Novel by a Latinx Author - Gods of Tango by Carolina De Robertis
14. A Cookbook by a Woman of Color - Chai, Chaat & Chutney, Chetna Makan
15. A Book with a Protagonist Older than 50 - The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornicech
16. A Book with a Biracial Protagonist - The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
17. A Book About the Natural World - Thru Hiking Will Break your heart, carrot quinn
18. A Poetry Collection by a Black Woman - we want our bodies back by Jessica Moore
19. A Book by an Arab Author in Translation - girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Al-Sanea
20. An Author from Eastern Europe - The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexivich 

5) Try online scrapbooking - 1 point

I absolutely LOVED this. Google Photo Books are $10 for a 20 page book with up to 4 pictures on each page, the captions are in there for me, it's so much easier than printing 4x6 photos! On occasion I still print and catalog 4x6 photos by hand, when it's just one or two photos, but mostly I've moved into the photo book life, and I'm never looking back. 

Total 2021 score: 3.5/5 (70% pass rate) - better than 2020 in terms of score, but I also committed to less.