So February’s and March’s goals were all pretty much a bust. The other ice rink closed for the season the weekend before I tried going. I invited people for an evening gathering, but opted to make it less stressful by holding it elsewhere. I did sign up for my spring volleyball league, which was then cancelled last week due to lack of interest. (I thought about taking this as a sign from the heavens to give up on an activity that I only semi-enjoy, but instead I signed up to play at a new, closer venue. Hopefully playing there will be people who don’t care if we win or not, but I haven’t found that those people tend to pay to play sports.)

Since they didn’t work out, let’s try three new goals for April, shall we?

1. Send a postcard to a little person or two. This last trip to Salt Lake was, I believe, the first trip I’ve taken as an adult where I sent no postcards at all. Since I’d meant to send cards to my favorite kids (as well as to some of my favorite adults), I’ll instead ship off a couple of D.C.-based cards to them. They’re small, and I hope from their perspective, the cards of animals from the National Zoo are just as good as cards of animals located in Utah.
2. Make homemade pasta. Last year my folks gave me a pasta maker and a ravioli pan. I haven’t yet used them, but would like to give them a shot. Plus, think how awesome it would be if I could achieve a decent pasta in time to put under our homemade sauce.
3. Weed through my bookshelves. I have a really hard time getting rid of books, but I know there are things taking up space on my shelves that I didn’t care enough for to read a second time, and it would be good to clear them out.

How are your goals (of the New Year, birthday, or randomly set date variety) going?

I should probably have recognized that my goals for February were too extensive when I came up with them nearly halfway through the month.

March will also be challenging, given I’ll be in Salt Lake for a good portion of it. So here’s my thinking:

First, I’m going to give myself an extension on February’s goals, which were:

1. Ice skate at the two new rinks in D.C. I’ve been to one and need to get across town to the other sometime in the next two weeks.
2. Mend all my clothing that needs it. I only got as far as gathering some of the clothing together. No actual repairing has occurred as of yet.
3. Begin a 100 push-up program. I keep putting this off — partly because I’m lazy and partly because I know that our upcoming trip will throw this off.

We’ll consider them a success if I accomplish them by the end of March.

And I’ll give myself three smaller goals for March that also seem manageable:

1. Sign up for a spring volleyball team. I took both the fall and the winter off and that was probably a mistake. I’d like to get back into this, at least for a few months.
2. Go to a yoga class. Either here in Dupont or at a studio in Salt Lake while I’m there.
3. Invite people over for an evening gathering. An incentive to tidy! An incentive to bake! An incentive to hang out with our elusive friends!

It was a three-day weekend, which means I have 50% more weekend to report:

• Dinner at our friends’ house. Lots of delicious food, concluding with homemade cherry turnovers.
• Breakfast with Rudi before his ride.
• Laundry.
• Beginning The Woman Who Died a Lot.
• The usual February letdown begins, but a little later than normal … and perhaps a little less severely, at least so far.
• New reverse lights for the car — and proving that there was a screwdriver in it to access the panels.
• Snacks and shopping at Union Market followed by additional shopping in Virginia (where I had to go to return a library book).
• Three episodes of Doctor Who.
• A cold wind means my homemade sweater joins my turtleneck and handknit woolen accessories.
• The farmers market brings produce, breakfast, and a bouquet of tulips, ranunculus, and anemone.
• Chai and muffins for brunch.
• Duckpin bowling. Rudi wins two out of three, but I don’t care.
• The documentary Kings of Pastry.
• Finishing a pair of socks for Rudi — the first in probably 9 months. (Photos to come later this week.)
• Sleeping ridiculously, luxuriously late.
• Getting dressed into workout clothes, but never actually working out. (It’s not really the thought that counts.)
• The beginnings of a deep clean.
• A fresh tablecloth.
• Colorful fairy lights restrung around the periphery of the living room.
• Tuna sandwiches.
• Good Neighbors.
• Disappearing into the bedroom with my book and a cat during intense tv.
• Savoring the first few pages of Kindred over a cup of tea. (This is not a zine to be read quickly.)

How about you? How was your weekend?

Last month, I wrote that I was going to eschew annual goals in favor of three more manageable monthly goals.

I am pleased to report that I accomplished January’s goals, which were:

1. Do not buy hot drinks in disposable cups. I cut back on to-go drinks in general, but also started carrying a travel mug with me in my messenger bag most of the time.
2. Attend a Tuesday night swing class/dance. My resolution-making started mid-month, which didn’t leave me many options for swing classes. I fudged it, sending an email in January inviting friends to attend the first swing class in February.
3. Get my reader card for the Library of Congress. Now I just need to figure out what I want to look at first!

Again, we’re more than a third of the way through the month when I make my goals (I’ll work on that in March), but here’s what I hope to accomplish in February:

1. Ice skate at the two new rinks in D.C. There are now three outdoor rinks in D.C., and, while I’ve skated at the rink at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, I haven’t been in several years. A trifecta would be awesome for the season, but I’ll settle for checking out the new rinks in Georgetown and over by the Navy Yard.
2. Mend all my clothing that needs it. I have knit items that need darning. I have rent fabric items that need patching/sewing up. I have buttons that need to be refastened. I keep thinking, I’ll get to that later and put things back into the closet or drawers, but they’re just taking up valuable space if I don’t ever get to the fixing stage.
3. Begin a 100 push-up program. When I did the ropes course last summer, I discovered that while my leg strength is acceptable, my arm strength resembles that of the 90-pound weakling. I have a goal for later in the year that requires a good deal of upper-body strength, so this seems like a good time to get going on it. (I will try regular push-ups, but if I can’t manage any, I’m totally going for the ones where you work off your knees instead of your toes to start with.)

How about you? How are your resolutions going?

I thought I’d join Amanda in her weekly summary of where a weekend went:

• Snow in the late afternoon/early evening Friday meant fewer people out and about, allowing me a much coveted table at the local tea house. Chai and naan with my book, followed by tea and a cookie with Rudi.
• Finally reached Gramma by phone at the rehab facility.
• Dr. Who (we’re still several series behind the current one).
• Cuddly cats.
• Clean laundry.
• My cold, as I promised it would be, is on its way out.
• Lunch — a delicious salad with out-of-season blackberries and raspberries — at a new-to-me restaurant with Sarah.
• Followed by a remarkably tasty PB&J macaron.
• I stopped by the Library of Congress.
• And then headed over the river to the library of Arlington (to return materials before I accrued fines!).
• Rudi, en route home from skiing, gallantly picked me up, saving me from weekend metro waits.
• Starting new books and knitting projects.
• A quick trip to the farmers market, sun-warmed in the early afternoon.
• A teen mystery set in D.C. arrives from a publisher unrequested.
• Alone in the car means blasting one of my sing-out-loud playlists — and pressing repeat on “Accidentally in Love.”
• Joining Rudi out in Bowie for the delightful Wreck-It Ralph in our quest to see all of the nominees in the animated category of the Oscars. (Brave is the only film that remains and the Red Box in Columbia Heights has it.)
• A full moon.
• Home in time to talk to family.

How was your weekend?

I’m appallingly bad at keeping annual resolutions, be they public or private, so instead this year I’m going to try something different: I’ve decided that I’m going to try to accomplish three things each month. If something is working but requires additional reinforcement, it can be carried over to another month, but if something isn’t working or has been accomplished, let’s cross it off the list and work on something else.

For January, my three goals are:

1. Do not buy hot drinks in disposable cups. I am guilty of running out to the local coffee shop for a cup of tea when I’m lacking teabags at work, and the waste that creates is not insignificant. I will take ingredients to make hot beverages into the office and will also bring in a travel mug, for those instances when I truly am out of luck in scrounging anything to flavor my hot water and need to seek outside assistance.
2. Attend a Tuesday night swing class/dance. We’ve talked about going dancing regularly for years, but rarely move anything but our lips. They hold weekly dances nearby, and I have eschewed volleyball for the next couple months in favor of a weekly date night with Rudi. Let’s start out right by getting to at least one this month.
3. Get my reader card for the Library of Congress. I was supposed to do this last year and got only as far as filling out the pre-registration form. I will get my butt over to the Hill and pick it up sometime this month.

How about you? Do you make resolutions or goals for yourself? Are you any good at keeping them?