Hi Friends. I hope you had a very Merry Christmas like I did. I think it was my best Christmas ever. But now that it is over, I am excited to be looking towards the New Year and thinking about my resolutions.

If you have followed my blog since I started it in 2008, you know I am a big fan of New Year’s Resolutions and that here on the blog each January, I share my resolutions for the year with you.

But I thought this year it might be fun to do a recap on what I resolved for 2011 and see how I did. So you can see my resolutions for 2011 here. And here is a little update on how I did on each one…

Resolution 1 was Get Healthy–well I am excited to say that I made great strides here.  I lost 20 pounds this year and dropped 2 dress sizes. I am definitely feeling better, but need to continue to make time for exercise, yoga and regular massage in 2012.

Resolutions 2, 3, and 4 weren’t quite as successful.  Staying home and nesting seemed to be a challenge for me this year. When I was home, work always seemed to call. We are all having to work harder than we had to post recession, so my bike rides and reading for pleasure were fewer and farther between than I’d hoped this year.

 

Resolutions 5-8 weren’t really in the cards for me either.  My dream of regular cocktail parties with friends, weekend craft projects, getting all my daughter’s photos in albums and cooking new and exciting things, were also victim to lots of work. The theme of 2011 seems to have been work, work, work! But I’m not complaining as work brought many exciting accomplishments this year.

Resolutions 9, 10 and 11 fared much better.  I did get the chance to take up fly fishing this year and I LOVED it.  Thanks to a great trip to Blackberry Farm in Tennessee, my fly fishing wish came true and I look forward to more trips in 2012 honing my skills for this relaxing sport.  I also tweeted more than last year and made some great new friends there. And thanks to my weight loss, I was motivated to take more time for myself. I spent more time this year on little ole me and I am much happier for it.

Resolutions 12-14 were also hits! Gratitude is a big theme in my life.  And though I fell a little short in writing my thank you notes this year compared to years past, I spent a lot of time thanking people in other ways and giving thanks for my many blessings. 

I love keeping my gratitude journal thanks to this great app as it helps me remember each day all the things I am grateful for.  I definitely relaxed and took charge of my life this year.  In fact, thanks to working with my business coach, I really was able to take a step back from a lot of responsibilities in my firm so I could focus on our big strategic plan and let others step up to help in other areas. And what a great job they did! I said ”No” to many more things this year.  And I was definitely more present and in the moment than before.  I think that is why I have enjoyed myself so much more this year, including truly enjoying the holiday this week with family and friends.

 

And finally #15, my most important goal of the year, was to spend more special moments with my daughter and I am thrilled to say…I DID IT!!! We have had the best time together in 2011. 

We went on a family trip to the Sugar Bowl, a Disney Cruise, I took her to the Hamptons for my showhouse opening and to Las Vegas when I had a speaking engagement. I made a special effort to make these trips really all about her having fun. And she did!

We went on trips to my parents River house and went fishing and hiking together.

And thanks to my mom, we had a fantastic grandmother-mommy-daughter trip with my niece and sister-in-law to Chicago this holiday season for a weekend we will never forget.

So my score for the year…8 out of 15 accomplished. And I am thrilled with my 8 successes!

I said when I wrote these resolutions last year that if I even accomplished one or two of these I would feel like it was a great year. I knew many of these would be a challenge for me. But I prefer to really push myself because the more I push, the more I accomplish. 

But what’s most important to remember is that none of us are perfect. So it’s not about hitting every single goal, but about making yourself better each year than you were the year before. And at the end of the day it’s about being happy…truly happy!

So how did you do on your resolutions this year?? I’d love to hear from you.

And stay tuned for my all new 2012 Resolutions in just a few days. I can hardly wait to start accomplishing new things in the New Year!