Resolutions

Resolved:
In 2011, I will
Read more. For school and for fun. I got a few Dickens novels and some poetry with my Christmas gift card, I'm still working on Don Quixote and want to add more of Jane Austen to my repertoire.

Write more. Some of you may know that I've been writing a book for several years. It is nowhere near finished, and it is not in any form that I would show someone I didn't know yet (rewrites ahoy!), and so I want to go further with it. Maybe not finish it, just work on it more. Also, I want to really dive into my last semester of schooling (!) and write what I need to write well. Perhaps I will even try for extra opportunities!

Be more active. I am going to try to go to the rock climbing gym in town once a week. I might also do a pay-per-class for dance and I'm hoping to walk Penny more often. I have NO energy at all and on the few times I am active I tire so quickly it's embarrassing.

Be more creative. I have a new book called Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists by Carla Sonheim which has 52 exercises for boosting creativity. I was looking for something less along the lines of a "how to draw" book and more like a creativity guide. This fits the bill! I'm not going to force myself to use it on a weekly basis, but I will try! This also will force me to face a few fears, as one section asks that I go to a live drawing class for a few sessions (with nude models! EEP!) which I will do, because I am extra-bad at drawing people and this will help me to figure out the form (I really want to figure out how to draw backs, I think the upper part of the back is so very beautiful!). I may or may not blog some of the assignments, so look for some original Kate art coming to a screen near you! The first section is "inspired by animals" which I am much more comfortable drawing, so you will definitely see some of them!
I also got Squiggles: A REALLY GIANT Drawing and Painting Book by Taro Gomi. It has hundreds of pages to fill in! I want to get everyone to fill in one page. Perhaps I'll share scans of that.

Be more daring. And no, that doesn't mean going bungee jumping or skydiving (pointed cyber-glances at Carrita and Catia). It means not being afraid of things like asking people if they want to hang out, going somewhere and trying something new. I guess it fits in nicely with my other resolutions.

Graduate. That's right, this May I am planning to graduate! To do that I need to pass the Program Administration and Child Development content areas of my Comprehensive Exams. I passed the Theories section last semester and got conditional passes for Research&Evaluation and for Child Development, but the flu prevented me from re-writing both. Basically, this means studying (and we all know how good I am at THAT!). Beyond that, I am only taking TWO classes this semester and one of them is a practicum. I am super excited about this.

Get a job in my field. Wow. So, starting in January I'm updating my resume and sending it out to various organizations. I'm thinking something with United Way sounds good, but I'm exploring every option. My main trouble is getting the courage to put myself out there, so again this falls in line with being more daring. If any of you have connections to nonprofit orgs. that do family education and outreach, let me know! I am not going to limit myself geographically (which is SCARY! where will I be this time next year???), so even my Canadian and European friends can suggest something. Exactly HOW cold does it get there?

Get my own place. I am almost more excited about my first apartment/town home/rent house than I am about my first real job. And no, I'm not considering anywhere I've lived these past two years as my first apartments because I'm still in school and they aren't MINE (meaning I don't get to decorate outside of my bedroom). My main goal for graduation: NOT to move back home!


Help people more. Simple.

I think these are a bit easier to follow than really specific resolutions, so I'm hoping I will stick with them! We'll see. I hope 2011 is a good year for all of us, no matter where we are and what we may be doing.