This is one of my favourite posts to write, but I feel like you know that already. Most people throw away their resolutions after a few months, but I love to keep very specific track of everything I try to do throughout the year, so here we go. Here’s how 2018 went for me.
Read at least one book per season.
For winter, I read Jen Kirkman’s I Can Barely Take Care of Myself and Lindy West’s Shrill. For spring, I read Rachel Dratch’s Girl Walks Into A Bar…, David Sedaris’ Me Talk Pretty One Day and Jim Gaffigan’s Food: A Love Story. For summer, I read The Duplass Brothers’ Like Brothers, Mike Reiss’ Springfield Confidential, Ijeoma Oluo’s So You Want To Talk About Race and Penny Marshall’s My Mother Was Nuts. For autumn, I read Bill Cunningham’s Fashion Climbing. So I guess you can say YEAH, I crushed this resolution.
Go to the gym or do some kind of physically strenuous activity at least ten times a month.
January - 8 times
February - 2 times
March - 3 times
April - 9 times
May - 13 times
June - 4 times
July - 0 times
August - 9 times
September - 5 times
October - 3 times
November - 5 times
December - 23 times (hahah, can you tell I was trying to be extra impressive this month?)
So that means that I worked out for 23% of the days of the year, which is better than 2017 (which was 17%) so that makes me feel great. I know it’s just a number and I shouldn’t care about things like that, but I do so what can you do. Going to strive for an even better number next year.
Juice at least five times a month.
January - 24 times
February - 6 times
March - 6 times
April - 1 time
May - 15 times
June - 8 times
July - 3 times
August - 5 times
September - 1 time
October - 1 time
November - 0 times
December - 25 times
Okay so there were five months when this didn’t happen. But I mean… look at January and May and December. I feel like I go nuts with the juices every five months or so. Weird. Still love this resolution.
At least once a month, go to a nice restaurant that you've never been to before.
January - Fuck! Nowhere!
February - The Wilcox (the lobster poutine was nuts) & BlueBlood Steakhouse (good, but definitely overrated)
March - Martina (killer pizza), The Spotted Pig (the gnudi is obviously a dream but with all the terrible things that went on here, it just felt wrong to be any kind of a fan of this place), Butcher Bar (definitely not as great as Astoria blogs tell you it is)
April - Prime by Jean Georges (crazy overrated/overpriced), Emeril’s Delmonico Steakhouse (so, so great - this man can do no wrong)
May - Javelina (so good!), L’Artusi (literally the best pasta I’ve ever had in NYC)
June - Bocca (only okay)
July - Astor Court (lovely as hell)
August - The Russian Tea Room (overrated, average food)
September - Cherry Point (so, so good)
October - Nowhere!
November - Dante (quite good), Del Frisco’s (really good meat), Rainbow Room Pop Up Bar (incredible), Ofrenda (best quesadillas), Pil Pil (really good tapas)
December - The Spaniard (crazy good burger), Le Rivage (average, though the snails were good)
There were only two months when this didn’t happen! That’s pretty sweet.
Take Baby Dog on at least two dog adventures per month (this could include going to Central Park, Astoria Park, dog dates, etc.)
Oh boy, was this an eager resolution. I did take her to Central Park as much as I could when the weather was warm, but of course I could’ve taken her more. She also went to some dog friendly cafes, so that was good too. If I keep this resolution for 2019, I’ll definitely revise it to be a seasonal aspiration instead of a twice-monthly one.
Properly go on a date with Nathan at least once a month.
I kind of can’t even believe we did this every single month except September (which he travelled for most of), sometimes even a few times a month! It was great! I could list everything we did here but that seems… like something a crazy person would do (said the person who counts her juices & workouts on a daily basis).
Learn how to meditate.
I think I did? For a few months I tried to do it and it seems like something I need a lot more practice with. Also, maybe I was doing it wrong, but I didn’t really understand what I was supposed to get out of it. Obviously it’s great for a lot of people, I’m not trying to be a dick, but I think I was just missing something about it in general.
Once a month, write a letter to someone that I haven’t seen for awhile.
Hahahah, awww. Not a chance in hell. I did this once and I’m pretty sure I mailed it to the wrong address.
Once a season, do a week-long juice cleanse or follow a completely raw food diet.
Again, NOPE! Too hard.
By the end of the year, stop waitressing and start editing full time again.
I was reeeeally close to having this done in June, but then backed out of it. Lots of reasons. Some personal ones just for me to know. But I’ll keep working towards this goal. I happen to not completely hate waitressing, so until I do, I think I’ll keep doing it.
Some other notable things that happened: I was on Nathan’s podcast Positive Anger twice, which was really, really fun. I started doing my monthly roundup posts (May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December) that I think I’ll continue to do. So many great photos were taken (which reminds me that I need to make the 2018 photo book sometime soon). My attempt at Halloween domination continued. Went on some memorable vacations to Las Vegas and Vermont. We celebrated my dad’s 95th birthday. My grandmother turned 100.
2018 was kind of a good year, I think. It’s so hard to tell when you’re looking back at it. It wasn’t the best or worst, but it’s over now so we can only look forward. Definitely going to try and make this one a wicked one. Thank you so much for continuing to read and encourage all of the nonsense that I post on here, it means more to me than anyone will ever know.