So that was 30, huh?

What a year. I lived in six different apartments/houses in three different states (Colorado, Utah, and Washington). It was a pretty rough year for us, really.

Shaun lost his dad six days after we temporarily moved to Washington to be close to his family. Now, my dad's cancer treatment has stopped working and he's quickly getting sicker. We're working on a plan to go home to Denver so I can be within driving distance of his place in Rock Springs, Wyoming.

So, yeah, things are kind of crappy.

On to more positive things. I still managed to cross a good number of things off my list.

1. Ride a motorcycle. The opportunity never came up and I did nothing to try to make this one happen. Shaun did get his motorcycle driver's license over the summer, so there’s a good chance he'll get a bike and we'll go for a ride one day.

2. Go to the teahouse in Boulder again. Blogged here.

3. Sew my own lingerie. Undies for sure. Possibly something else, too. Started this one, but I don’t have a sewing machine. Hand sewing stretched elastic sounds like a bad idea. I’m on the hunt for a cheap (thrifted) sewing machine and I’ll try to get these undies finished this year.

4. Try pad thai. We barely did any eating out this year, and I kept recipes cheap and simple. Still, I’m surprised I didn’t make this happen.

5. Go on a 90 day spending fast. I didn’t declare a spending fast at any point, but I’m positive I went at least 90 days without buying anything unnecessary. Still, I’m not crossing this one out.

6. Fire a gun. Finally did this and had a blast. I was really good and hit a couple small targets from 200 feet. Definitely something I’d like to do again.

Me and the Zombie Killer. My hair was so short!

7. Make sourdough bread (with my great uncle Ken’s recipe, if anyone still has it). I made quite a bit of bread this year, but no sourdough. Mom keeps saying she’ll get the recipe for me. It hasn’t happened yet. Maybe this year.

8. Buy new running shoes. I’ve been saying this for a couple years now. Although my five-year-old Nike Free 5.0 shoes started to get holes in the toes and the soles were obviously disintegrating, my broke ass had no plans (or money) to replace them. Luckily, my loverboy surprised me with a new pair for Christmas. Can’t wait to wear them when I’m over this cold and back at the gym!

9. Find jackfruit and make something out of it. Blogged here.

10. Wear red lipstick in public. Blogged here.

11. Bake (vegan) French macarons. Blogged here.

12. Go to yoga class every day for 30 days. Yoga classes are too damn expensive for a girl with my income. Bummer. Definitely plan on fixing this once I'm back in Denver and working somewhere awesome.

13. Learn how to can. Super simple! I haven’t canned anything because we haven't stayed in one place for more than six months and I don’t want to pack and move food. Maybe when we settle into a place this year, I’ll get on it.

14. Spend some time in front of the camera. Shaun took pictures of me on a few occasions. Even did a little bit of video. I’m still really awkward in when being filmed or photographed. I have plans to work on that.

15. Read at least 15 books. I’m really embarrassed to say this didn’t happen. Not even close. I read 1Q84... and a bunch of cook books. Those don’t count.

16. Make cupcakes for Marcelo. Didn’t spend enough time in Denver to make this happen, and cupcakes don’t ship well. Sorry, homie.

17. Fix the fan on my laptop... or just buy a new laptop. Blogged here.

18. Hang out on the beach. Blogged here.

19. Come up with a good veggie burger recipe. I now have a quinoa loaf recipe that can also be made into burgers. It’s delicious, especially when covered in mushroom gravy.

20. Go out to dinner by myself. Went to Shogun. It was awkward. I was the only customer in the entire restaurant.

21. Draw or paint a picture of my Monk and Mao kitties. I printed the photos I plan on painting. Unfortunately the canvasses stunk like mold from being stored at Shaun’s dad’s house and we had to toss them. I’d still like to do this.

22. Fix my broken chandelier. Blogged here.

23. Stop being afraid to say no. I did okay on this one. I could have done better, but I could have done a lot worse. I’m calling it a success.

24. Make raw cupcakes. I started experimenting with raw recipes earlier this year and found out I have a really hard time digesting large quantities of nuts. I made some great raw ice cream sandwiches for Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately most raw cupcakes are nut-heavy. Crossing this off was not worth the bellyache!

25. Start learning Spanish with Shaun. Our course starts on January 22^nd! Yay!

26. Run 100 miles in one month. (That’s only 3.33 miles per day!) Spent less time running and more time lifting weights and discovering interval training. I finally added running back into the mix in the last few weeks, but not in time to run 100 miles.

27. Get my twitter lists under control. Blogged here.

28. Be happy in a bikini. I’m so glad this happened! I even bought myself a new bikini to celebrate since I had been wearing the same one for seven years. And, with the way I’ve been working out, I’ll be even happier in my bikini by the time summer gets here.

29. Eat a vegan corn dog. Blogged here.

30. Dance. Most of you probably think this is weird, but I didn’t dance at all. Not once. I don’t dance. Ever. I don’t get dancing. Music does not make my limbs flail about. Shaun and I want to take tango lessons, but that’s different. That’s art. Grinding and gyrating at a club? No thanks.

That's 18 out of 30. Better than last year!

I've been too sick and fevery to look at the computer for the last few days, but I'm getting better and my new list will be up soon. I'm doing things a bit differently on this next one and I'm excited to share it with you!

Happy New Year!