12 Goals for 2012

I'm a sucker for an excuse for a fresh start, but I'm useless at resolutions. In many ways, the dark of winter seems like the worst possible time to give up or start anew. But, like I said, I find something hopeful in a new year, especially after one that was difficult. And, I'm a sucker for a list. So, I've come up with 12 goals for 2012. (That worked itself out nicely, didn't it.)

1. Buy more (Canadian) music. Between youtube, podcasts, and streaming music on CBCR3, I haven't been buying as much music as I used to. But there are so many artists that I love, especially youngish Canadian musicians. Going to make it a priority to buy more music. 
2. Read 24 books. This was a goal for last year as well, and I maxed out at 20, but some of those were quite long, so I think I can hit 24 this year. (I see some people doing 50. At one point that would have been no problem for me, I'm a fast reader, but knitting kind of gets in the way of that.) 
3. Sew more. I don't think my sewing machine made it out of the case at all in 2011. I've been meaning to get back to it for ages now. I'm thinking I'd like to sew two pieces of clothing for myself. 
4. Knit 3 sweaters for myself. Fairly self-explanatory. My ravlery queue is a mile long so I've got lots to choose from. 
5. Deepen yoga practise. I've been doing yoga regularly again for the past four months. It's time to branch out from the DVDs, change it up and create my own programs, maybe finally tackle the 8 weeks of yoga program. 
6. Send more mail, encourage friends and family to do the same. Letters, postcards, notes, little gifts. 
7. Buy more local and handmade. We've got a nice little farmers market here that operates seven months out of the year. I need to go there more. 
8. Write more. Here at least once a week. 
9. Plan more meals. I've been doing this a lot the past month or so as the naturopath put me on a restricted diet. I'm almost through the month, but I definitely want to keep planning meals. It's a lot of work, but really helps with better eating. Ideally, I'd like to be able to take a day or evening, even, to make mulitple meals that can be refrigerated or frozen for meals throughout the week. 
10. Bake more, buy less candy. I've got a sweet tooth. I never thought I'd get through the month with no sugar, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. (The no bread, mushrooms, or potatoes on the other hand...) So, the sweet tooth. It's still there and I need to work at eating less pure sugar. Misguided as it may be, I think that if I bake more and eat less candy this may solve the problem a little. A cookie versus a whole bag of sour patch kids. That has to be more nutritious, right? Going to give vegan baking a try, too. 
11. Clear out the clutter. I've been trying to do this for months and months. It's slow going. But it's really time. I've got messes all over the house. Most of the kitchen table is covered with my stuff. 
12. Save money. This is difficult to do when paying off a sizeable student loan, but I'm going to try to sock away a few dollars here and there.

What are your plans for 2012?