I (sort of) made it with a (mostly) grateful heart.

Well, I blogged until May in 2017.  That's not too bad, right?  I'm not really beating myself up about it.  My summer work schedule was crazy, and honestly I was doing well to tread water. 

For reference, this is the plant I bought at the start of the summer:

And this is what it looked like oh, maybe two to three weeks later?  (maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much):

And that was after repotting it and watering it regularly.  You may be thinking that it's a good thing I don't have pets.  Or kids.  And you'd probably be right.

Then it was fall, we went to England for my husband's 40th birthday, had Thanksgiving a couple of weeks after that, and now the holiday season has come and in a matter of hours (for me) will be gone.  Oh time.  You always pass.

I did live with intention for much of the year I think, and now it's time to check in with those goals I set for myself.

1. Read at least 3 books that I already own/have but have never read.  What kind of person owns books they've never read?  Me.
End of year report:  I read two books I already owned but never read.  Two out of three ain't bad, right?

2. Co-write some songs.  Everything I've written in the last few years has been solo.  I'm grateful that I've built up a body of work, but I want to learn how to write with different voices.  Who wants to join me?!
End of year report:  I did co-write a few tunes with a few different friends.  I properly sat down with David and with Lindsey and we churned out a couple of tunes (which may or may not ever be heard by anyone other than us), and my friend (and way better song-writer than me) Matt had me collaborate on a tune of his that turned out really cool.  This is still something I want to keep pursuing.

3. Try or do something new every day.
End of year report:  Ha!  In reality, every day is a new day, and I did do new things this year, but was I intentional about it every day?  Not really.  I did just wrap up a 25 Days of Christmas Music challenge on Facebook and listened to 25 different Christmas albums in 25 days.  That was intentional, and was a new thing for me.  I quite enjoyed it!

4. Listen to and if possible, begin audio recording people's stories.  All kinds.
End of year report:  I didn't really get started on this goal like I wanted... Did I hear some stories?  Yes, but I didn't start recording.  This is still something I'd like to do down the road.  We'll just have to see what road that is...

5. Have lunch/tea with someone fun at least once a month.
End of year report:  Ouch.  Not as good at this as I wanted to be.  I did get together for lunch/tea with three different people this month.  I was making up for some lost time, I think!

6.  Give something to someone(s) at least once a week.  Tangible items, time, service, money, whatever.
End of year report: Again, I failed at the exact goal, but I tried.

7.  Pray for others more than myself.
End of year report:  I feel like I did pretty well at this.  I'm by no means tooting my own horn (which would be the exact opposite of the intent of this goal), but I was more intentional in my prayer life for others and whether or not it helped, I don't know, but with prayer, nothing never happens (and yes, I know that's a double negative).

As I type this, the Chiefs seem to be redeeming themselves from their rocky middle-of-season slump, and I think that kind of sums up my year.  I did have a rocky middle of season slump, but at the beginning of the summer, I also bought a charm for my bracelet that says "GRATITUDE."  I knew it would be necessary for me to intentionally be grateful everyday and say what I was grateful for, even if I didn't always feel grateful.  That kind of ties in with an article I read today about New Year's Resolutions that I'll leave here.  A year of (mostly) intentional living comes to an end and I am grateful going into the next year.  Not because this year was bad, but because where I am is where I'm supposed to be and I know that.  I'm grateful to be on this ride.