I have great news…are you ready? It’s Saturday!!! One of my favorite times of the week is waking up on Saturday morning with plenty of time to spare (you know…around 9:00 or so…we’re not talking early here, people). There’s something about having an entire day open and free to accomplish and tackle projects, take day trips, go to the gym…whatever your heart desires and the day can handle! The day is simply full of optimism and promise at that point.

So, on this optimistic Saturday morning, I thought I would share some of my goals for 2012. I’m not a big fan of setting resolutions because I think you should make necessary changes asap…not wait for the beginning of the year. However, I am a very goal-oriented person. There are things (for myself) that I’ve pushed off until “after the wedding” (do you know how many times I’ve said those words in the last six months?). So, here we are…”after the wedding”…and I thought it would be a perfect time to start myself with some fun goals.

So here we go:

• Make a quilt: two of my great-grandmas were quilters. One on my mom’s side and one on my dad’s side. I, very luckily, ended up with a quilt that great grandma “Y” made and it covers the bed in our guest bedroom. She has since passed (when I was little), but my great grandma Ruth (mom’s side) is still here. Mostly, I remember being at her little apartment when we would make trips back home to Texas to see family. I remember her making bean soup (and letting me put as much salt as I wanted in them…isn’t that a weird memory? I have no idea why this was a big deal to me…although I’m sure I was just flexing my independence from mom’s watchful eye, haha! I ate some verrryyy salty beans at her house). I also remember her quilting. I remember the frame in the back bedroom that could pretty much stretch across the whole room as she would be in the middle of hand-stitching one of her quilts. She doesn’t quilt anymore…but that’s because she’s 94! She was extremely talented and her work was exquisite. So, in memory and ode to my great-grandmas, I want to make a quilt. In fact, I’m pretty sure this is the one.
• Make my own cleaning projects: This is one of those things I’ve simply been keeping front-of-mind to accomplish for quite some time. So, now that I’ve written it down (I’m an OCD list-maker), it will happen! Not only will this save money, but it will also rid our home of some harsh chemicals.
• Take a yoga class: again, this is one of those things that I’ve been wanting to do, but just keeps getting pushed aside. This is the year of yoga! As a previous marathon runner, I’m looking forward to working up a sweat and getting a good workout without beating my body up.
• Learn my camera: (more on this below)
• Make a piece of clothing (for myself): I specified because I’ve made clothing before. In fact, I made our flower girl dresses. But I’ve never made a piece of clothing for myself. I haven’t been specifically inspired by anything as of yet, but it’s only January 7. And accessories (like scarves, bags, etc.) don’t count because I’ve made those too.

 Yep…a Canon EOS Rebel T2i. It’s like a dream come true. Seriously…I’ve been eyeing this camera for a very long time. I did in fact put it on our registry, if you caught that a minute ago, in hopes that someone would decide to be super duper uber generous to us (well, people WERE generous…but an $800 camera would have taken the cake on generous, if you know what I mean). BUT it ended up working out perfectly; in classic Alina fashion, we ended up getting it for $625 with an in-store sale + 10% off coupon. That also just happened to be almost exactly what we had in gift cards, so we walked out with this baby for freeeeee!!! A BIG thank you to everyone who gave us Target gift cards!

So, I want to get to know my camera. I spent an evening watching YouTube videos on ISO, aperture and shutter speed, so I’m happy to say I now know how to work my camera in manual mode…but that doesn’t mean I quite have a feel for which settings are best in which situation. For now, I can use Canon’s pre-set modes while I dabble in manual, but I’d like to have a MUCH better understanding by the end of the year. Like, as in I could explain it to someone else with confidence.

Finally, I do have one more goal. It’s always been my goal to see all 50 states before I turn 25, which seemed really easy and reasonable at the age of 18, when I set the goal. Now, I only have a little over a year and a half left! Ack! I only have 20 states left, but that includes Hawaii and Alaska…so, wish me luck.

I mentioned above that I’m an OCD list-maker. Seriously…I would live and die by my lists. There’s something about finishing an item and being able to cross it off. I’m just like my step-mom in that if I accomplish something that wasn’t on “the list,” I will actually physically add it to the bottom of the list, just so I can cross it off! Crazy, I know.

I like to do the same thing with states. I’ve had various maps printed out since I set this goal so that I could cross off states as I accomplished them, but I decided to make one I could hang on the wall to display. I found a printable map here and tweaked it a bit to make it my own. I put it in an 8×10 frame (so it should print nearly perfect for an 8×10 frame…let me know if it doesn’t) and colored in the states I’ve been to with a dry erase marker. You could color in the states on the paper itself, but let’s face it…dry erase markers are way more fun.

So, for the first ever MYU free printable, I thought I would share it, both as a thank you and as an encouragement to travel and try something new this year.  Click HERE or the picture below to download!