New Year Challenges

I don't usually do New Year's resolutions. They typically end up being unattainable and are broken within the first 3 months if not weeks. So why, oh why was my mind bombarded with potential goals this year?!?! And not little goals like "make regular 6-month check appointments with the dentist".... Nope... Here's what this year seems to hold:

1. Victorian Literature Challenge: I love to read but reading is now my life in grad school so I rarely do pleasure reading. I decided to do the lowest challenge

Wives and Daughters (Gaskell)
Mansfield Park (Austen)
Bleak House (Dickens)
Les Miserables (Hugo)

Technically Austen is pre-Victorian and Les Mis is French but let's not split hairs...

2. Expand Food Horizons: Try one new recipe a month from either sub-Saharan Africa or Mediterranean area. I brought home a wonderful Ghanaian cookbook this summer and received several new ones recently as gifts so I should be well-equipped.

3. Cards: Write two cards a week. It can be to one of my kids on Ghana, someone having a birthday or anniversary, a thank you note, my parents, Grandmom, a certain brother with a challenge college course load... So far this has been going fairly well as long -- as I designate a night of the week to write cards!

4. The Bike Race: Here's the doozy... WHAT was I thinking... The other two goals are pretty much cake and really easy overall. But this one is the serious, life-altering challenge. I VOLUNTEERED to ride a bike race with a friend. There was no prodding or guilting from his corner, I brought this one on myself. But so far so good. I am starting slowly, going over the same route every day, getting used to the feel of the bike, the soreness in my rear, and the shouting of the new muscle groups I have disturbed from years of slumber. And I have had some great support from sweet friends in SB who made first few weeks pretty great -- thanks for the gifted and lent equipment! This afternoon I found myself almost itching to go out on a second ride which was an interesting and unexpected feeling. And this has actually been a great way to work on resolution number 1! Thank goodness for Audible and Librivox :) So I'll let you know how it goes.

5. The Blog: Write a blog at least twice a month.... So expect another post in the next 11 days :)

How I went from zero to five so quickly is beyond me, but it will be interesting to see how these all pan out.