Yesterday, I shared my yearly goal setting template. For me, setting yearly goals is slightly similar to the dreaded New Year’s resolutions, in that they’re things I plan to do in the coming year, but way different in that my expectations are different. It’s not about guilt or “omg, I didn’t finish this” at the end of the year. Unlike resolution type goals like “lose weight” or “stop drinking”, these goals are more about specific accomplishments and at the end of the year, even if you only finish 70% (or 30%!) of your items, reviewing them is fun and yeah there might be a couple in there that make you think “well, I could have tried harder for that one”,  it’s generally a time to sip a latte or a glass of wine and clap your hands about all the cool stuff you did this year.

So as a follow-up to that, here are a few things I’m proud of starting and/or finishing in 2011!

2011 Goals Completed:

1. Reviewed my car vs no-car plan to see if it makes more sense to purchase an old car or continue my Zipcar/public transit/biking in summer plan. Decided to buy a new bike!
2. A new job title: Product Manager
3. Started a tumblr, and then abandoned it for Pinterest
4. Added $X to my savings (no big international trips this year, but hey, look, I saved money!)
5. Successfully listed/rented my condo on Airbnb
6. Tried Crossfit
7. Donated $572 with my Forkover Friday project
8. Traveled to Maui, New Orleans, and Florida for play and Vancouver, BC twice for work.
9. Northwest trips to Oregon wine country, biking the San Juans, camping at the coast, Seattle for Bumbershoot
10. Took a cooking class at Sur La Table
11. Hosted a dinner party (2 actually!)
12. Made an effort to go dancing with boyfriend
13. Went to about 250 new restaurants, coffee shops, bars. (maybe a 2012 goal should be to eat at home 250 days/year)
14. Did 12 new Oregon or Portland things: McMenamins Grand Lodge, OMSI After Dark, Willamette Valley wine visit, tubing on the Clackamas River, joined a Pedalpalooza group ride, musical at Keller Auditorium, Backfence PDX, 80s dancing at Crystal Ballroom, box seats at a Blazers game, rollerskating at Oak’s Park (Thermals show), Waterfront Park on July 4, Movies in the Park, soap box derby on Mt Tabor.

And a few things I didn’t accomplish….

2011 goals that kicked my arse:

1. Running a half marathon
2. Getting paid more moolah
3. Volunteering
4. Traveling to South America
5. Finding a mentor
6. Starting a book club

Next up, setting 2012 goals!

Part 1 – Yearly Goal Setting Template
Part 2 – 2011 Year-End-Review: So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu…
Part 3 – My 2012 Goals

What are you proud of this year?

Since I’ve been asked for a bit of the process behind my personal planning, I decided to share an example of my Yearly Planning spreadsheet this year. (After downloading this Excel file, you can import into Google Docs or just use Excel or OpenOffice to use the template for your own goals).

Download the Goal Setting Template:

Tips for doing an Annual Personal Review:

Accountability
I like the idea of posting all of my goals for the world to see for accountability, but some are also personal, so while I’ll mention a few here on my blog, I keep a Google Doc with all my goals. Whatever your system is, share it with someone (start with your BFF!)

The Grand Picture
Some of my yearly goals tie into my 30 Before 30 list (which is now a 31 Before 31 list), some were new goals, bigger goals, smaller goals, BHAGs, etc.

Pick a theme
I’ve seen some people have a theme for their year or a one word description, which I’ve done in the past but I decided to do a quote this last year. 2011 was “Let the beauty of what you love be what you do” — Rumi. This quote really covered the different areas of my life from work to personal to fitness, and I added it to my chalkboard inspiration stripe in my bathroom to remind myself all year.

Categorize!
I like to break out my goals into broad categories. In previous years, I’ve done really specific categories (eg. job, fitness, learning, money, family, blog etc), but this last year I decided to go a little wider with the general themes of: Health, Wealth, Happiness. They all go together, yes, but then I could stick the usual sub-categories under each, like “Health” has Fitness & Learning, and Service & Spiritual etc.

What by when?
Just like typical goals, I try to follow the GTD method to my year-end personal planning. I will… {do what?} {by when} and the {next action step} is. With a  {quarterly review area} and {final review}.

Example: I will put $5,000 in my IRA for 2011 contribution by April 15 (tax time). Next step: Transfer money from my savings account to my IRA account.

A more fun example: I will list my condo on HomeAway or AirBnB by June 1. Next step: Look at current studio listings in Portland for ideas.

An even more fun example: I will take a cooking class in 2011. Next step: Look at class options and schedule at Sur la Table.

Part 1 – Yearly Goal Setting Template
Part 2 – 2011 Year-End-Review: So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu…
Part 3 – My 2012 Goals

Do you do an “annual review” of your personal life?

I started this proper list of things that I love about fall, last year, just to remind myself… So here’s the 2011 updated, with 77 things this year. Epic!

1. leather boots
2. crunchy leaves
3. scarves (a serious weakness)
4. cozy striped socks (and argyle! Of which, Target has $5 argyle over-the-knee socks right now. Amazing)
5. English tea w/milk
6. apple orchards
7. Hulu
8. rain boots (looking forward to wearing my Converse-style rainboots! & bees!)
9. coffee
10. Powell’s bookstore
11. reading
12. cooking over-elaborate meals (this 3 hour soup comes to mind)
13. snuggling (kittehs or boys)
14. hikes
15. tights & skirts (cable knit!)
16. live music/Doug Fir
17. soup
18. fall-ish tunes
19. change/fresh starts
20. duvets
21. yellow
22. baking
23. chai lattes
24. plaid
25. wine
26. shooting guns (Don’t judge. I’m from the country.)
27. movies/beer/pizza/Cajun tots at McMenamins (tasty!)
28. home goods stores
29. pretending to love shopping
30. argyle (see #4)
31. learning
32. pumpkin everything, (including pumpkin spice lattes)
33. apple sauce (planning a canning party. I’m so almost 30)
34. hoodies (cozy)
35. Thai food
36. cities
37. cinnamon
38. whiskey
39. planning winter trips (last year Iceland. This year??)
40. planning 1 winter escape (somewhere warm & cheap! February? March?)
41. skinny jeans tucked into boots
42. pretty maps (yet another serious weakness)
43. layering
44. dreaming of Barcelona
45. popcorn
46. the air
47. food carts with heated seating areas
48. baths
49. colors
50. crying to Sigur Ros or Beck’s Sea Change (no explanation. It’s not 2 hrs and 14 min/week worth though, clearly I need to listen to more Sigur Ros)
51. corduroy
52. massive breakfasts
53. geocaching
54. making out in the cold
55. trains
56. watching people be excited about college football
57. spin class
58. yurt camping
59. finding new music
60. yoga pants
61. long dinners
62. storms
63. writing
64. flannel sheets
65. indoor workouts (Bar Method!)
66. even more indoor time: a new cooking class
67. board games
68. mashed potatoes
69. lazy weekend mornings catching up on my Google Reader in bed
70. carbs
71. rocking sudoku
72. sucking at crosswords
73. seasonal ales
74. dark nail polish (OPI Over the Taupe)
75. museums
76. the words ‘crisp’ & ‘cozy’
77. sweaters…

photo set on flickr

What do you love about fall? Share in the comments!

New Restaurants Visited September – November:

1. Pok Pok – possibly over-hyped — awesome regardless
2. Olympic Provisions
3. Dragonfish Asian Cafe
4. Kennedy School (Counts! I had never eaten there!)
5. Ugarit (foodcart)
6. North 45 – awesome patio
7. Pyro Pizza (foodcart) – tasty, tasty pizza
8. Whiffies Fried Pies – I could maybe [not] eat 11 pies?
9. Madison’s Bar & Grill
10. Red Flag
11. Tabla Mediterranean Bistro – 3-course meal: delicious
12. Afrique
13. Muu Muu’s
14. Gold Dust Meridian
15. Chopsticks Hawthorne
16. Bridgeport Ale House
17. Pizzicato
18. Night Light Lounge – Dr Spaceman!
19. Cabezon – finally used my Groupon for this one. Tasty pescado!
20. Broder – squares = good.
21. Pix Patisserie (other location) – desert & wine
22. Pad Thai Kitchen
23. Pambiche – cafe con leche = bueno
24. Clarklewis – Gorgonzola pear sandwich = bliss
25. ?Por Que No? – horchata. indeed.
26. Habibi – good Lebanese, another Groupon, still like Ya Hala better. :)
27. Stumptown (diff location! Ace Hotel)
28. Clementine Bistro – No. Just NOOO.
29. The Standard
30. Holman’s
31. Bertie Lou’s
32. Public Domain Coffee – I need to use my Groupon to here.
33. Sweet Basil Thai – Really tasty.
34. Spints Alehouse – Exceeded my expectations.
35. City State Diner
36. Cafe Babalu – Reykjavik, Iceland – fun cafe
37. Icelandic Fish & Chips – Reykjavik, Iceland – good sauces!
38. Grai Kotturinn – Reykjavik, Iceland – loved their lattes. Tucked into an adorable little corner.
39. Eldsmidjan – Reykjavik, Iceland
40. Tapas Barrin – Reykjavik, Iceland – Tapas with an Icelandic spin. Fun.
41. The English Pub – Reykjavik, Iceland
42. Cafe Paris – Reykjavik, Iceland
43. Kaffitar – Reykjavik, Iceland – Iceland’s Starbucks!
44. Svarta Kaffio – Reykjavik, Iceland
45. Baejarins Beztu Pylsur – Reykjavik, Iceland (hotdog stand) – yep, I ate a hotdog. And it was tasty.
46. Fish Market [Fiskmarkadurinn] – Reykjavik, Iceland – Best. Meal. Ever. Also, most expensive meal, ever.
47. Cafe Oliver – Reykjavik, Iceland
48. Greasy greasy spoon brekkie – Reykjavik, Iceland
49. Tiga
50. Candy Ultra Lounge
51. Screen Door – fiiinally
52. Cacao Chocolate – you can get “shots” of drinking chocolate here. $2 = win!

Perhaps #9 should have been visit 200 new restaurants?

I love trying new places, so this was a really fun project to cross off my list. I might just keep adding to the list for the rest of the year. I also love taking pictures of my food, so a recent obsession has been the Foodspotting iPhone app.

New restaurants & coffee shops (May-September, mainly Portland):

1. Pix Patisserie
2. Pizza Oasis
3. Whole Foods (for lunch, this so counts!)
4. Elephant’s Deli
5. Lapellah (Vancouver, Washington)
6. Chow (Bend, Oregon)
7. Bambuza Vietnam Bistro
8. Rilassi Coffee House & Tea
9. Acadia
10. Donuts Coffee Shop (Manzanita, Oregon)
11. The Daily Cafe OHSU
12. Laughing Planet – Belmont
13. Chez Machin
14. Le Hana
15. Ringside
16. Bean & Tree Cafe
17. Flying Elephants Delicatessen
18. Bar Avignon
19. Thirst Wine Bar
20. Deschutes Brewery
21. Cafe Yumm (does a new location count?)
22. Hot Lips Pizza – Hawthorne (does a new location count?)
23. Banh Mi food cart
24. Waffle Window (attached to Bread & Ink cafe)
25. Mio Gelato
26. Samurai Japanese food cart
27. Tugboat Brewing Co
28. Poompui food cart
29. Pacific House restaurant (Tillamook, Oregon)
30. Prasad Cuisine
31. Dove Vivi
32. Staccato Gelato
33. Left Coast Siesta (Manzanita, Oregon)
34. Pudding on the Rice
35. Kiko’s Taqueria Uruapan food cart
36. Oregon Ice Works food cart
37. The Whole Bowl food cart
38. Ping
39. Voodoo Doughnut
40. Potato Champion (Cartopia)
41. Perierra Crêperie
42. Cafe Velo (PSU Farmers market location)
43. Pine State Biscuits
44. Widmer Brothers Gasthaus Pub
45. Equinox
46. Cafe Mundo (Newport, Oregon)
47. 21st Avenue Bar & Grill
48. Savor Soup House (cart)
49. Pearl Bakery
50. Kiku Sushi (Seattle, Washington)
51. Seattle Grind (Seattle, Washington)
52. Barista
53. Cupcake Jones

Tasty.

1. Liberty of London – Remember when I went overboard on buying Liberty of London stuff? Yep, still like it.
2. World Cup 2010 – Was I stoked for World Cup 2006? No, I was on the “meh” level, but being in Marseilles and going to local pubs to watch games and then watching the French go ballistic after the Brazil/France (quarterfinal?) was awesome. So this time around, I have the infectious enthusiasm of my coworkers and a few work projects that are related, so yeah, excited for World Cup 2010? Definitely! Come on, it’s stuff white people like.
3. Häagen-Dazs Five Ice Cream – Ginger – “It tastes like ginger” Yum.
4. window gardening – I got a late start at my community garden spot, because of my move, so I started 2 small planters on my balcony that I moved to my windows after the move (arugula, basil, mint, and 1 strawberry plant). The basil died, and my kitteh is making great time on eating the arugula. Which inspired the Arugula Pecorino Pizza before it’s all gone.
5. She & Him – I won tickets to the She & Him show in Bend on Memorial Day. le sigh! Volume I & II. So good.
6. iPhone4 - I can haz? birthday coming up, yes.
7. Mumford & Sons – Rather obsessed with these fellows of late. Also, you can listen to the entire album for free on [gasp] MySpace. And if you weren’t already in love with them…
8. Gap linen shorts – You know how some people say you shouldn’t buy a ton of the same thing in different colors? Dude. Those people obviously don’t have issues finding shorts that a. fit in the waist b. fit in the butt c. are tight enough around the leg. So, I bought green, blue, and white. I did put the yellow and pink ones back… for another time?
9. Pink Gin Fizz – not a big fan of sweet drinks, but I can get behind sweet/sour. Shortcut: Grapefruit Izze + oj + gin= tasty.
10. Oregon coast – I spent some time napping in the sand dunes and sunshine last weekend. <3

What’s on your list?

As mentioned, I decided to take a break from the 101 things in 1,001 days list. My clone started a 30 before thirty list, so like a good clone I’m copying her — let the listomania begin…

30 Before Thirty List

1. Buy a house – this was on my list before I bought a house!
2. Visit Iceland
3. Run a half-marathon (ie. start running again)
4. Attend a cooking class (@Sur La Table perhaps)
5. Carve out a stellar mini-office for work [at home]
6. Go raw for 1 week or do a cleanse ( hi mom, I know you’re going to leave me an inspirational comment)
7. Start strength training
8. Learn to ride my bike outside with my cycling shoes [without falling over]
9. Go to 1 new restaurant (or coffee shop) per week 52 in total
10. Do yoga six days a week for one month
11. Learn the Tittibhasana (Firefly) Pincha Mayurasana (Forearm stand) pose – (hijacked this one, sorry pal)
12. Get an iPhone (did Steve tell you that perchance?)
13. Go actual backpacking (as-in: carrying a backpack in the forest, not schlepping around the globe)
14. Take a silver jewelry class – crafter-alert!
15. Road trip Hwy 101 south & stay in that lighthouse hostel near SF
16. Try a new class that isn’t ‘my style’: belly dancing or zumba (cringe)
17. Ask 20 12 people their favorite book and read it
18. Try kiteboarding
19. Volunteer again
20. Get a car, scooter or new bicycle
21. Visit a spa for a whole day or do a yoga/spa vacay with H
22. Eat [hyper] local for one week
23. Cook a 5-course meal, have a dinner party
24. Buy awesome matching lingerie
25. Start a grown-up alcohol collection and declare a signature drink (mojitos…)
26. Buy a little black dress (note: not navy, grey, or a sundress… this one is going to be a challenge)
27. Visit all 30 breweries in Portland
28. Ask a guy out (I seriously have never done this, what is my problem!)
29. — (I’ll add this before my 29th birthday)
30. — (I’ll add this before my 29th birthday)

Well, well?

photo by 96dpi

So instead of doing another 101 Things list, I’ve decided to try out a 30 Before I’m 30 list. Aaaaaah! :) So dear Internet, what should I add to my 30 Things Before 30 list? Ideas so far include: buy a house (update: done! I kind of sandbagged this one, but I’m totally going to keep it on the list), visit Iceland, try kiteboarding, start strength training, learn a really hard yoga pose (which one?), run a half marathon or try an easy triathalon (I suck at swimming though), visit all 30 microbreweries in Portland…

What else should be on my ’30 Before I’m 30′ list?

1. vitamin d -  how amazing is our early spring in Portland? Pretty frickin’ amazing. This 60 degree (sorry non-Americans) weather in February is stellar — skirt and flip flop weather — inconceivable! free the sun photo by notsogoodphotography

2. opi over the taupe nail polish – I prefer to call this color Kalamata Olive, as taupe is such a boring color. I’m not a big nail polish fan, as documented by #84: take care of my nails, but I really like the mix of purple/dark. And who knew painting your nails was so easy? For some reason I remember it being extremely difficult to stay in the lines… I may have missed my calling. ;) $7 opi

3. blue birdie lariat necklace – I finally spent my Groupon coupon for Relish — well most of it anyway (I’m waiting for all the new spring items to finish my shopping). Anyway, Relish is such a lovely shop and they stock Marimekko fabric, that was begging me to start a sewing project, but I really don’t need anything at the moment. Regardless… <3  $52 relish

4. my kitteh – My cat is taking over my blog! She should have her own category, yes? So 2 weeks in, I’m well on my way to becoming one of those cat ladies. I’ve also been cleaning my apartment like a hypochondriac because the thought of having a “cat smell” apartment scares me. Thankfully, Mr Essa Selleck is quite the tidy cat. $85 oregon humane society

5. ristretto roasters – I’ve started a bad habit of going here for an afternoon or lunchtime wander. Superb coffee (ok, ok and an occasional ridiculously cheap donut) $1 ristretto roasters

6. tulips – my favorite flower of all time. I bought a tulip plant at the grocery store for $3, (cheaper than flowers!) and then it promptly died a week later, but it was still worth it. $3 safeway photo by smpte101

7. chalkdots – these are so cool! I got a set of three chalkboard paint wall stickers last month. Apparently they’re for children or some such nonsense. I’m using one as a menu board in my kitchen… now what to do with the other two… $15 gilt groupe (invitation)

8. mini flat iron – whoa, nail polish and a flat iron all in the same list? I’m on the road to high-maintenance… but my excuse for the straightener was that it was on sale at Rue La La & it wouldn’t hurt to add it to my travel packing list… and I do what I want. $25 linea pro

9. the guinea pig diaries: my life as an experiment – AJ Jacobs’ third book did not disappoint. And I apologize for being that person giggling on the bus all week. $10.20 amazon

10. zipcar – I still kind of want a car again, but Zipcar is pretty cool… except for when I misplaced it the other night at the gym… that never happened when I had my own car. :P $6.30+ zipcar

What’s on your list?

I’m starting with 2 for 10 this year, but seriously why are there ten Best Picture nominations? Usually there are only five. I need more time! At least the plan is logistically possible this year, but there are two movies on the list that I don’t think I can bring myself to watch (how are Sandra Bullock and Mariah Carey in Oscar nominated movies anyway?).

2010 Best Picture Nominations:

1. Avatar (James Cameron and Jon Landau) – in theaters
2. The Blind Side – in theaters
3. District 9 (Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham – DVD
4. An Education (Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey) – in theaters (DVD in March)
5. The Hurt Locker – DVD
6. Inglourious Basterds (Lawrence Bender) – DVD
7. Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire (Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness) – in theaters (DVD in March)
8. A Serious Man (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen) DVD on February 9
9. Up (Jonas Rivera) – DVD
10. Up in the Air (Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman) – in theaters

What movie gets your vote?