15 Things in The Year of the Sheep

It's a brilliant tradition I've started here, isn't it? Writing a list of stuff that I want to do each year, and then not quite doing it. But I really love it. Because a) lists and b) life.

Lists because I'm an organiser and a writer and it just makes things feel better when it's all written down. And life because when I don't quite get things done it's normally because other awesome stuff has happened instead. Last year I wanted to assist on some photo shoots, and I didn't. But instead Olympus and Kidspot knocked on my door and said "hey, do you want a camera?". And I said hell yes I do. And I also didn't hit my goal of six blog posts a month, but I did go on two of the most amazing holidays ever.

So, yeah. Lists are good, but sometimes life is better. With that in mind, here's my 15 things to do in the Year of the Sheep. Gong Xi Fa Cai!

1. Read more. Specifically, read at least fourteen books in twelve months. Which is hilarious as last year's goal was twelve books in twelve months and I didn't hit that. Lets call this one a s-t-r-e-t-c-h goal shall we?

2. Read more blogs. Hands up if you don't read blogs like you used to? I know I don't, and I miss it. I miss the discoveries and the different voices, all the pretty things and thoughtful things and all the connections.

I want to get back into the habit of reading blogs regularly, and commenting on them too. And because I'm an ex-corporate type who knows that goals should always be measurable, I'm going to randomly quantify this one. Let's say - three thoughtful comments a week. (I've just done this weeks! Hurrah!)

3. Blog more. Specifically, blog at least six times per month. (Anyone getting déjà vu?)

4. Write more. About everything. Specifically, write a My... post every, single month in 2015. 

5. Related, pitch at least five stories to magazines. This may not sound like a lot, but it's the right number for me right now.

6. Finish my 365 project on Instagram. (You can follow along at #jorpins365.) And continue to grow my followers in the process. (No, I'm not telling you what my goal is on that one!)

7. Hit fifty sales in my Etsy shop, Jorpins Vintage. 

8. Finish three walking events. I'm looking at one medium length trail walk (22km), one fast paced short walk (10km), and one long and steady walk (50km). The trail walk is coming up in two months. Eeep!

9. Walk 1500 kilometres by the end of December. That's only 30km a week. Easy.

10. Sort my health out. Living overseas it's easy to neglect things, to put off the visits to the dentist and the pap smears and the skin checks. It's time to sort all that out. Find a good women's health GP. Actually go to a physio and a chiro like I've been saying I would for, oh, at least three years. Stick with the plan my awesome dentist has put in place. (I can't believe I just called a dentist awesome. You have no idea how huge that is for me. Dentists normally make me cry. A lot.)

11. Cook at least one new meal for the family each month. We've been in such a terrible cooking rut of late, time to haul ourselves out of it.

12. Related, attend two cooking classes. I've booked in for the Kenkō Kitchen one, any ideas on the second one gratefully accepted!

13. Watch twelve movies. And blog about them.

14. Organise my office, and keep it organised. I'm half way there, but the final push has been somewhat delayed for lack of motivation. I want a place for everything, so I can keep everything in its place.

15. Do more road trips! When we lived in Asia I travelled all the time. Back home to Australia, meeting up with the husband when he was off on business trips, taking advantage of being so much closer to the rest of the world. In Hong Kong, we'd travel to Singapore and Macau. In Korea we'd drive to national parks, historic towns and ski fields all over the country, and occasionally I'd pop over to Tokyo. We really did travel a lot. One time we even flew to Amsterdam for a weekend! Crazy!

Anyway, I adore my life in Sydney but I do miss the travel. So I'm going to do more road trips, more getaways. Just a night here and there, maybe on my own, maybe with the hounds. Most definitely with loads of country op shops and photo stops along the way. I'm a bit excited about this one!