revisiting resolutions: part i.

 {perfection, from The Pursuit Aesthetic}

We're almost halfway through 2011 -- seriously, where did the time go? -- so I figured it was time to do a self-evaluation, time to check in with myself and how well I'm doing on the resolutions I set nearly six months ago.

Back in January, I wanted a year full of celebration. I wrote: 

I want our home to be clean and livable and full of color and life. I want to have fresh flowers and good-smelling candles and colorful accents that let people know our home is fun and livable and that our door is always open.

To accomplish an overall joy-filled year, I set a few major goals:

-Cook through Jamie Oliver's cookbook
- Develop a usable, uniquely me closet
- Bring music, joy, and color into our home
- Celebrate milestones
- Have a quiet time ritual
- Make the most of our weekends together
- Eliminate complaints from my vocabulary

Honestly?

I think things are going well.

Trust me, I know the things we want on January 1 don't always translate well throughout the year. I've seen many a resolution and goal go by the wayside as the days, weeks, and months pass and life gets in the way.

But this year? This year, I've felt a shift.

I'm cooking more. Despite not blogging about it as regularly as I would have liked (though you can see a few recipes here and here), I have made my way through a lot of Jamie Oliver's recipes. We restocked our pantry, and we try to grocery shop more regularly, though this is an area we could improve on a bit.

As far as a unique closet goes, I'm working on it. I'm making more purposeful purchases. We have a relatively small clothing budget, but I've used some extra income to buy a few quality pieces that I think I'll enjoy for years to come. I'm better at looking through inspiration pictures and deciding ahead of time what I need/want and why.

We play music more (although we're still saving money and space to move my parents' piano into our little apartment), mostly while we cook. We probably could get better at turning off the TV, though I admit, we really enjoy crashing on the couch at the end of a longer-than-necessary Monday. I light candles more, and Jordan maneuvered our budget around to give me some money each month for home purchases. (Got to love that Dave Ramsey!)

This year I've hosted a couple of brunches, a pretty fabulous 25th birthday party, and baby showers galore. We've got summer picnics and friends' new babies to look forward to. We've kept up our weekly date night ritual, even making the trek out of Tallahassee to Thomasville a couple of times. We're celebrating on a pretty regular basis, and I love it, love the way our life is shaping out to be.

Our weekends are simple. Not having homework has made a huge difference in our lifestyle; now we know why the rest of the world enjoys Saturdays so much! For a while there, it did feel like we were traveling a lot, and even though I love visiting family and friends -- or when friends and family come to see us -- I get a lot of joy from just being home with Jordan: running errands, going out to eat, reading on the couch. I definitely think a few road trips in between are great, but I find that spending the majority of a month's weekends at home results in a calmer, more organized week.

I'm still tweaking my quiet time, but I'll say there's a marked improvement from where I was a few months ago. My aunt had the brilliant idea that I could have a few minutes of quiet time each morning when I get to work, and it's been going really well. I rotate between the book of common prayer and Jesus Calling, though I also decided to tackle the book of Ephesians for a few weeks... That book is chock full of the Spirit's truths.

Life is good. Don't get the wrong idea: There have been tears shed, hurts experienced, plans thrown out the window. We've had our fair share of job and health scares and family crises. But 2011 is being good to us. It's the year I hoped for us, dreamed for us, and I'd like to think that's because -- with a lot of prayer and grace -- we're sticking to the vision we created back in January.

There's always room for improvement, though, and tomorrow I'd like to share some summertime resolutions I've been mulling over for a few days, ways I can improve my day-to-day quality of living and continue to experience a joy-filled year.

In the meantime, I'm curious: How are your new year's resolutions going? What are some ways you hope to improve in the coming months?