The One with the 2012 Resolutions.

When I looked up the word "resolution" on Dictionary.com, I found some very inspiring words that will help me write this post - words like determination, firmness, decision, judgment, perseverance, tenacity, strength, fortitude, and lastly of course, resolve.

This year, I hope to be transformed. Psychologically, spiritually, emotionally, and physically. While I do feel that I am in a great place of happiness right now, I know that there are things within my reach that will allow me to be even happier. Right at my fingertips, in fact.

I waited a little longer than I wanted to put together this post. It's an important one that took some pondering, but I wanted to get the ball rolling sooner rather than later... and it seems that later is here. But it's never too late, really, to make and share goals. Right? Right.

So, here we go.
Get a decent job.
Since I am no longer at Weber, I am in Salt Lake for good... which means that I am no longer employed at the Housing Office at Weber. I'm hoping for this one to happen within the next week or so. I have already begun the hoards of applications online - over 40 now. I've interviewed twice and have a fairly potential opportunity. I plan to hold onto this job - whatever one I end up with, that is - until it is time for me to move to the East Coast.
Go to church.
Interestingly enough, I have felt very spiritually fulfilled for some time (mostly in the last year and a half) without going to church. I have been meditating on occasion and have been praying often. But even in the last month or so, things haven't really been feeling quite as solid in the spirituality field. I want to go back to attending church regularly and taking care of my beliefs, morals, and ethics.
Lose 10 pounds.Listen, I know it seems a little crazed. But I promise the weight is there to lose. I know how to lose it, and I know that it's possible. Physically, I am in a place right now where I am very comfortable with my body. However, I feel that I still have room to grow... or shrink, rather. I want to be tiny; there, I said it. I was so very lucky to be blessed* with the bones of an African Bush Elephant, so I always feel a bit on the bulky side. I want that feeling to go away, so I'm going to do whatever I can to make it so. I'm not obsessed with losing the weight, no. It's just something I want. And by eating right, I can do it. I also choose to make it easy. (And when I reach that goal, I'm going to share every little detail about the entire process. I can't wait for that!)
*Denotes sarcasm. In case you were wondering...
Save money.With the expensive city that never sleeps on the horizon, having a deep savings account built up before I leave is a must. This means budgeting. This means frugal spending. This means bargain-hunting (one of my favorite things, really!), coupon-cutting, and watching every dollar I spend. Not so much to ask so that I can continue to pursue my dreams, is it?
Expand my song repertoire.
Anyone who knows me well knows that I am constantly working on building my sheet music library. I buy, trade, barter, and borrow and tuck it all away into my collection. One of my favorite things to collect, however, are the more obscure musical theatre style songs... like Scott Alan, Jonathan Reid Gealt, Kooman & Dimond, Pasek & Paul, Georgia Stitt, etc. I have more than 100 different unique female songs that I haven't really touched since they came into my possession. I would love to learn one song every two weeks. Easy-peasy.
Expand my cooking repertoire.
Easy cooking, healthy cooking, super tasty cooking, cheap cooking. Find recipes, try them out, tuck them away so I don't have to be homeless in New York. (Any suggestions are totally welcome! Please!)
Improve as a performer/build my performing resume.
There are some shows that I'm itching for this year. I will prepare my audition materials and do my best at callbacks and cross my fingers for a casting call. If given those opportunities to be in a show or a few, I will utilize every resource I can to grow with every step of the process.
Blog more.
I absolutely blogged more last year than I did in 2010. That's thanks to the Tributes back in November and thanks to the fact that I only started blogging in September in 2010. I want the number to escalate again this year. It won't be easy. If I want to beat last year's number - 59 posts - I will have to post more than once a week. I have faith that I can do it. It has become such a joy for me to have the past documented like this; I get to go back and "re-feel" things. I recommend it to anyone. Really! Try it out.
Be more positive.
I don't really need to elaborate on this, do I? It's pretty self-explanatory: I just want to wake up on the right side of the bed more.
Be a better friend/daughter/sister. Be a better person.
I'm not always the nicest friend. Even to those I'm closest to. Sometimes I get defensive or testy or annoyed or bored. I want to be a rock to my dear ones. I want to be patient. I want to be the best friend, the best sister, the best daughter anyone could ask for.

There they are. All 10 of them. Wow, that's a lot, huh?

But I can do it. I want to do it.

2012 is going to be a big year - for all of us - I can feel it. I feel that this year will bring incredible changes, hardships, bumps, smooth-sailings, adventures, surprises, upsets, heartbreaks, you name it. It won't be an easy one, but it will be one that we, with time, will treasure. I choose to take 2012 one day at a time, to soak up every tiny little thing and to continue to live my life to the fullest.

The One Where I Recap the '11 Resolutions.

Last year, on January 4th, I took the time to blog about my 2011 resolutions.

I'm going to take the time today to recap those resolutions. I fought doing this because... well... I didn't do all of them. It's a little embarrassing to say, "Hey, here's what I said I would do in 2011, and I didn't really do it. I only sort of did it."

But I did sort of do it. More than sort of, I guess. I'll stop all this jabber and just move on so you can see exactly what I mean.

So... here they are... Angela's 2011 Resolutions:

Lose 18 more pounds.

Resolution semi-achieved, but not really. I lost 13 pounds throughout the rest of the year. That means I still have another five to go. Within this resolution, I also aimed more materialistically at fitting into a size 2. And I did. You can read about the day it first happened here. Size 4 is still the most comfortable, but a 2 just as comfortably can't be that far away. Right? The most important thing is that I have maintained healthily within all the weight I've lost. I've figured out what foods are healthy and what foods aren't, when to stop eating, and how to continue to enjoy food. I do gorge myself on occasion (and I'm not ashamed of it, which is also progress), but I can always come right back with healthy eating. It's been easy, honestly.

Work out.

Resolution not achieved. This is the one I'm most embarrassed by. It lasted about two months, working out at least four times a week. I ran a lot, I walked a lot, I went to the gym, I even bought a Wii Fit and used that as my source of working out for a little while. And then, somewhere along the way, I stopped. It became a burden more than anything, and I was getting behind with school. So I weeded out one of the only things I could. I'm not proud of it, and I really would like to work it into my life again, but this year didn't seem ideal.

Get A's.

I took 11 classes this year (worth 32 credits), from January thru December. I got an A or an A- in 7 of the 11 classes. I got two Bs, a C, and a D (yikes). I worked my tail off and walked away with a cumulative 3.4 GPA (over those three semesters that I took). I can't complain too much. The resolution was to make my grades as perfect as I could; while I do feel like that C and that D weren't necessary, I did what I could, and I certainly did better than last year. What more can I ask for there?

Make new friends.

Boy, oh boy. My garden of friends grew beautifully. While my time at Weber State did lessen and some of the friendships I built there did fade, I grew to know more people elsewhere and on many different occasions. In addition to the new people around me, I was also able to hold onto the sweet friends I had before. I weeded out some of the negativity that was constantly in my life and allowed myself to build a positive circle of friends, one that I feel completely safe, completely taken care of, completely equal, and completely happy in.

Improve as a performer.
It is my hope that this will be a resolution I aim for constantly. I hope to never reach the point where I stop improving, and I know it is in my control that I continue to learn. This year was very good to me, and I had a blast with every second of it. In A Tale of Two Cities, I was the villain: a first. As many of you will recall, Tale was a tender little experience for me. I met and got to know one of my favorite directors (and favorite people, too); I met and got to know some very talented individuals. I met and got to know some wonderful audience members. And I learned from every single person I came in contact with. For the first time ever with a show, I was utterly and completely open to learning absolutely everything I could. It was a humbling experience and one that I will never, ever forget. Immediately following Tale was Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. In the role I was dying to play, in a role I dreamed of playing, and in a role unlike any I had ever played. The rehearsal process was wonderful... easy, even. And every second was fun-filled. Truly. That show was a PARTY all the time. Every performance was an adrenaline rush. I spent so much time with some of my very best friends. Even now, I ache for it. Right after Dirty Rotten was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. This was a role I had played before, and thank goodness for that, because the music came easily to me while I struggled with just about everything else. I'm not a dancer, but the role of the Narrator in this production was involved in many a number with the ensemble. It pushed me more than I thought it would, honestly. It made me really hunker down. As time rolled on, I did begin to feel comfortable in the role. The audiences were hysterical, and the cast was SO FUN. I loved feeling like a rockstar in the costumes; I loved belting my brains out. I loved it, and it exhausted the bejeebies out of me. After Joseph came A Christmas Carol. I sang a couple of solos, danced a ditty, and had a few lines. The role was very small, yes, but the role isn't always what makes a show special. More often than not, it's the people. And these people, from the very beginning, became a family to me. I loved rehearsals with (again) one of my favorite directors/people, and I loved the eventual performances, even if it meant five costume and wig changes. It was the most perfect way to celebrate the season. And it really was a beautiful little show. All in all - and I say this with hopes that no one will misinterpret this by thinking that I'm blowing my own horn - I feel that, yes, I did grow as a performer. I was pushed and pulled and poked and prodded and torn down and lifted up. If I didn't improve in all of that, I've got some rethinking to do, don't I?

Graduate.
Yeah. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO did it. Finally.
And I am so thrilled and... even proud of myself.

Move to Salt Lake.
Yep. I can check this one off, too. I made the move back in June, and I am so happy to be here. I love the city, and I love being this close to everything. We may not live in the coolest or classiest apartment complexes, but it's really not too bad. Now that I've graduated, I really won't have to go to Ogden anymore. And I can't say I'll miss it... because I love it so much here!

Bring more positivity into my life. Redefine friendships.
This one goes hand-in-hand with the "making new friends" resolution. I feel that this was absolutely accomplished. I am so grateful for every single one of my friends, old and new, and for the positivity they constantly bless my life with. I am the luckiest girl in the world, I know that.

Life was so sweet to me this year. I may not have passed the resolution test with flying colors, but I got by and I got by and I'm proud of how I got by. I may not have exercised as much as I wanted; I may not have gotten ALL A's in my classes; I may not have lost five more pounds... but the things that REALLY counted happened, didn't they? I can say that, can't I? I really can't complain.

I'm happy with you, 2011. You made me better and you made me want to be better all the time.