Here we are! 2012! As we close one year and begin another, it’s time to reflect on the goals I made last year at this time. I made 6 resolutions last year. I thought by posting them, it would always remind me to stay on track.

They were:

1) Count every single gelato I eat.
This was on that was really easy to do. Often times, I would forget and Carlo would have to remind me. I try to write my daily activities in my Moleskine Agenda which made it much easier to track the days that I may have had a gelato while grocery shopping. The total count for 2011 was 75. It seems quite low to me. After all, I was in the States for 5 weeks during the summer which the height of my gelato consumption.  AND….. I’ve been off gelato with this pregnancy. With Valentina, I had to have one.. or  2 a day and with this baby, I don’t have much of a desire for it at all.

2) Send out Birthday/Anniversary cards.
I was doing really good at this one until July. That’s when I went to the States to visit the family and I dropped the ball. From that point on, I kept forgetting to buy cards AND shortly after, Italy raised the price of stamps. I now costs me twice as much as before (1.60 euros- before it was .90 cents)

3) Increase my Italian to Advance level.
Yeah.. this one didn’t go over so well. I didn’t study at all but my comprehension did improve a bit. I can now listen to Carlo’s political TV shows and understand somethings but not everything. Sadly, I would not consider my lever to be Advance at all. Maybe Upper- Intermediate.

4) Get organized
This one… was not a good one for me. I am the least organized person. I have everything in a pile on my desk or in a box under my desk. The only thing that is organized is the mess.

5) Start cooking and baking AGAIN
I started off really good on this one and tried to even post what I had made. Sadly, this one fizzled out pretty quickly and by quick I mean, February.

6) Blog more
I think we all know how this one turned out. However, I am not the only one. I noticed a drop in blogging in a lot of my friends blogs so that just means 2011 was super busy and we couldn’t keep up.

Now that we’re 11 hours into 2012, I’m trying to figure out what I want to accomplish this year. Shall I retry my 2011 goals or make new ones. I think maybe to a bit of both.

So, for 2012 let’s hope I can do the following:

1) Read more:
Carlo got me into reading and I thank him for it but sadly, 2011 wasn’t a big year for reading. The last few months I started doing Sudoku puzzles again to get my brain to concentrate and thinking again. So I feel ready to enjoy reading again.

2) Get organized: for real this time!
I have to get serious on this one. We’ve got baby #2 on the way and we don’t have any room for anything. Carlo and I have decided to de-clutter and minimize the stuff we have down to essentials only. Meaning, Valentina will be doing without a lot of her toys and all of our “extra” dishes and such will be boxed up to make more room for our expanding family.  Keeping the house clean also falls into this category so, as soon as Carlo goes back to work, I’m going to have him print out the list below to try and keep this house in order. Look familiar? I got it from Pinterest. I’m going to try this for a few weeks and then make my own list since our home is only 2 bedrooms, 1 bath and a kitchen/living room/dining room all in one.

3) Get crafty with Pinterest!
I love Pinterest! It’s the best addiction since Facebook and might I say, it’s way better. There are so many cute things I’d like to make but I haven’t been too motivated. However with Elisabetta Kate coming, my creative juices have been flowing. I made a Christmas wreath for our door and a Baby wreath for when EK is born. I’ve also made some of the recipes from my food board. 2 years ago, I learned how to knit but haven’t done anything more than a scarf. So, I’d like to expand and try to knit/crochet some of the cute things I see on Pinterest as well as try more recipes. If you’re on Pinterest, check out my boards.

4) Learn more about Photography:
In other words, just take better pictures. Let’s get something straight. I have a nice camera. A Canon EOS 400D (or Rebel XTi as it’s known in the States). It is a DSLR. For Christmas, Carlo got me a 75-300mm zoom lens. I have NO INTENTIONS of calling myself “professional” and setting up shop as a photographer. I know next to nothing about taking a good quality picture. Sure, sometimes I get lucky and might get a really good one but that doesn’t mean I’m all pro. Photography is an art. It’s something you study. Just because someone said that a picture you took is good doesn’t mean you’re actually a photographer. There are things like aperture, noise, white balance, ISO speed, etc.. to consider. You just don’t go into manual and think it’s all great. There are a few blogs that I love because they take fantastic photos. If you have a moment, stop by and take a look at:

Torino Daily Photo– Photos of Torino taken by Fabrizio

Our Little Corner of the World– Personal blog and AMAZING photos taken by Shannon

Rachel Thurston Photography– Personal blog and Internationally published photos by Rachel (whose sister Anna served an LDS mission here in Torino!)

5) Blog, Blog, Blog:
Both of my blogs have been neglected. I MUST get back to business. Especially TurinLove. I have been out of energy and in a major funk. I have at least 6 posts that I’m working on yet, I can’t seem to finish them or edit the photos that go along with them. Not to mention that I’m trying to organize my older photos so I can then turn those into more posts for the blog. While this blog has been somewhat okay, I do realize that I’ve mostly written about V and not much else. Which brings me to my last resolution…

6) Make time for ME:
This blog is about my life yet, I’m only documenting things that pertain to Valentina. I really need to blog about the things I like, don’t like, pet peeves, etc… So I’m gonna be a bit selfish this year. (in a good way) I resolve to finally make time for myself. I do realize that this might be a bit difficult since EK will make her debut in February but I have to at least try. Most of my goals this year are pretty much stuff I WANT to do for myself. I want to make more time for me to enjoying reading, blogging, learning about photography, cooking and baking, etc.. I want to finally have time to sit at my organized, clean desk and work on my pictures, edit, blog and make things. I want to actually wear make up again and NOT look I just threw things on. I will spend my money on ME. I will NOT spend Christmas money given to me on groceries. I will spend it on something I WANT. Maybe a book about photography, camera bag, yarn and knitting needles.

Here’s to 2012!  If I fall off the “resolution wagon”, I will immediately get back on.