August New Year

It's August, which means . . . it's the new year! Yay! Hooray! Ticker Tape and Streamers!

Alright, now that that's over -

Seriously though, I do think of August as the new year because that is when I get a new planner. I'm very attached to my planners - in high school I made a dorked out custom binder called The Agenda of Champions - and take those little calendars very seriously. This has a bit of a different flavor this year though, because this year is likely to be our last year in Madison.

Yes, sadly (happily?) Jorah is supposed to graduate in the spring, and then we will officially be done with school. And Madison, at least for the present. It's a hard fact to face - I'm turning 26 this year, and I've lived here since I was 19. When we leave, I'll have lived here for 7 years - about a quarter of my life. We've been very happy here - and never happier than this last year in our own house on the Near East side.

In true New Years style, I've decided to come up with some Last Year's Goals - some of them are habits I want to get into, and some of them are one time kind of things I want to accomplish. I got this idea from a favorite blog of mine, my topography*. Because I'm going to be 26, I picked 26 Things to Do in the Last Year. I'm going to list them in the side bar to help remind myself.

Here they are:

1. tell people when they piss me off rather than get all angsty and hurt
2. ice skate at Tenney Park
3. submit patterns for publication
4. finish the Madison Heartwarmer using the weaving technique
5. go to the Farmer's Market whenever possible
6. get a tattoo
7. make steps to get this sleep thing sorted out
8. get back in the habit of going to the gym
9. put at least 1 pattern a month up on Ravelry
10. join/start a knitting group
11. try to get into Camp
12. get some healthy strategies for letting work go
13. update the blog frequently (at least 10 times a month) and use photos
14. go through the stash and list unloved yarn as trade on Ravelry
15. go through the house and take things to Goodwill every 3 months
16. put all music on the computer and then onto SB's old ipod
17. read NEW books, not just the same old favorites
18. no knitting patterns by other people until after dinner
19. walk the Lakeshore Path out to Picnic Point
20. go to Thursday music at the Terrace
21. go out on Lake Mendota on some form of boat
22. celebrate Jorah's graduation in style
23. visit The Fold
24. go to a Badger football game
25. don't let being nice mean I'm not tough with people who deserve it
26. call people I want to hang out with and ask to see them

Another thing I want to do at the end of this year is throw myself a graduation party. I may not have been in school, but working at Lakeside has taught me so much, and I'm wanting a little recognition too. I keep joking with Jorah that when he gets his Phd, I'm going to get my Masters in Popular Knitting from the Lakeside School of Retail. I say it jokingly, but I have considered fonts for the certificate I plan on making myself.

*(My Topography is great, by the way. She's a writer, artist, photographer, and 2nd grade teacher, and her kid is the most gorgeous kid on the internet.)