Image Credit: pinterest.com
December was a complete blur. Happy New Year’s Eve, everyone!
Here’s the link to my December Goals post:
—
Ready?
Here we go!
- Decorate for Christmas. – Accomplished!
- Fully clean up / clean out the attached garage. – Semi-achieved.
- Enjoy several holiday parties! – Accomplished!
- Donate blood. – Accomplished!
- Create our budget for 2017. – Semi-achieved.
- Help either a child or a family have a good Christmas. – Accomplished!
- See Rogue One: A Star Wars Story! – Accomplished!
- Make peppermint bark. – Accomplished!
Here’s the breakdown:
Decorate for Christmas – Accomplished!
- We bought our first Christmas tree! We enjoyed decorating it together. It’s been such a pretty addition to our living room.
Photo Credit: Al Vardaro
Fully clean up / clean out the attached garage. – Semi-achieved.
- This is something that’s still a work in progress. We were able to clean out several boxes and find places for some more kitchen items, DVDs, etc. However, we still have a ways to go before it’s completely clean.
Enjoy several holiday parties! – Accomplished!
- We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at Amanda and Dan’s party on Saturday, December 3rd. I got so wrapped up in playing Exploding Kittens and Cards Against Humanity, that we didn’t leave until 11:45 p.m.!
- Al’s company holiday party was Friday, December 9th. It was a good time, with a Hollywood theme. Al even won a brand-new FitBit Alta!
- Later tonight, we’ll gather to celebrate New Year’s and Al’s co-worker Kathryn’s birthday! We’ve really enjoyed getting together with her, her husband Tim, and other friends to ring in the New Year! I don’t know about you, but I’m beyond ready for 2017 to begin!
The selfie we took toward the end of the night at Bauer’s Christmas Party.
Donate blood. – Accomplished!
- I crushed the hemoglobin test with a reading of 13.1 – Women need at least 12.5 to qualify to give. I was so excited! Plus, my favorite phlebotomist, Spencer, was there. He always makes my giving experience pleasant!
Create our budget for 2017. – Semi-achieved.
- We started the spreadsheet. I’ve been playing catch-up with our 2016 sheet, cataloging receipts for days.
- Note to self for 2017: Get envelopes and file receipts immediately, and then catalog at month’s end!
Help either a child or a family have a good Christmas. – Accomplished!
- Just days after making my December Goals post, a friend from college put out a call to for help. She wanted to help a former student of hers and her family have a good Christmas.
- I went shopping for the two girls, ages 12 and 15. I thoroughly enjoyed buying some horses with hair they could style and brush, along with a pair of jeans and two sweaters apiece.
- I wrapped everything up and met Amy for lunch in Hampton on Monday, December 19th. She was so appreciative! My heart was full.
- On Monday, December 26th, Amy sent a Facebook message that had a photo of the girls and their mom, all smiles. It was a fantastic Christmas for them, and they were overflowing with gratitude and appreciation. It felt awesome to contribute.
See Rogue One: A Star Wars Story! – Accomplished!
- Al and I first saw it in XD at our local Cinemark theater on Thursday, December 15th. It was very good. The theater was buzzing with excitement and the atmosphere was awesome.
- Then, our friend Drew came down to stay with us that Friday. We saw it at Paragon Theaters in Newport News on Saturday, December 17th. It was good to see it again – There were things that I had definitely missed the first time around.
- I will admit, although it was very good, The Force Awakens still has my heart.
- Cannot wait for Episode VIII!
Make peppermint bark – Accomplished!
- Here’s the recipe I used: Almost-Famous Peppermint Bark
- The hardest part was standing up for nearly an hour to melt both kinds of chocolate. However, judging by the look and smell from last night, it’s gonna be delicious.
Final Thoughts
- I was able to put Accomplished next to 6 out of 8 goals. Hooray!!
- The two goals that were Semi-Achieved: The weekends this month were exceptionally busy this month, and I wasn’t as diligent on weeknights as I would have liked to be.
Did you have any goals for December?
Come back tomorrow to see my goals for January!
Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂
Hot Shot Headlines 
Looks like you had a great month! I am starting a new job in January and I really need to get back to menu planning on paper, not just vague ideas in my head.
Thank you so much! Congratulations on your new job! How exciting! I understand – I want to do something similar in the New Year. My mom has done that for years – It saves her time, and money.
I love my FitBit! How does Al like the Alta? 🙂
Funny aside, my grandparents’ surname is “Bauer” too. Also, it’s possible I have some relations I don’t know about, so seeing your photo caption kinda startled me! :-O
Congratulations on kicking some serious hemoglobin test butt! I know you were looking forward to giving blood last month, & your levels left you disappointed.
Your goal to help a child/family have a happy holiday was laudable. The way you accomplished it is beautiful. I’m glad you got to see the girls’ reaction to your gifts. ❤
I haven't had a chance to see Rogue One yet. Without any spoilers, is it confusing? I've only heard a bit about it, mostly that it's a prequel to the previous prequels? I haven't seen the first 3 "prequels" & I haven't seen the original 3 movies in forever. Should I study up before I go see it?
Ooo. Thanks so much for the peppermint bark recipe! Did it turn out as good as it looks? I love Ghirardelli peppermint bark, but it’s a seasonal item. If it’s a good recipe, I’d be able to get my fix year round!! 😀
The 2 goals you didn’t accomplish are pretty monumental tasks. I’d like to think that even getting them partially done is a huge step, especially considering the holidays this month.
You’ve really set yourself up for accomplishing a lot of good stuff in 2017!! Happy New Year. 🙂
Thanks so much! I love mine too – Santa brought me an Alta as well! Haha. I like it a lot better than the Flex I had for two years. The main issue was the charging system. The Alta has a redesigned charger which is much more user-friendly. I went nearly six full days on the full charge, so I’m very happy.
What a small world! Al’s company was founded by the Bauer family in Germany in the 1800s. The engine blocks for the compressors are made in Munich, and then everything else is done in Norfolk. Bauer has been here in Virginia since 1976. Al works in marketing, doing 3-D animation, etc.
I was so excited! I’m hoping to give again in February.
I loved helping this family. I didn’t share any other photos because I wanted to respect their privacy, but I was thrilled that Amy shared their reactions with us. It was overwhelming, and my heart was full.
Rogue One’s story is set right before A New Hope (Episode IV). I think you can go see it without getting too confused, and without rewatching any of the others. I enjoyed it – It’s a good Star Wars movie. However, personally, The Force Awakens is still my favorite of the new ones, so far. I’m very excited for Episode VIII in December!
You’re welcome! It was a good recipe – We didn’t have any peppermint extract, but that didn’t really matter. I didn’t press the crushed candies into the melted chocolate very well, so the pieces went everywhere when we started to break it apart. However, it was delicious. Definitely Al-approved, haha!
I’m really excited for this year. We’ve done quite a bit to the house on our vacation days recently, and I’m happy that we’ve cleared quite a bit of clutter. At this moment, I feel confident and motivated. Happy New Year to you, too!!
Oo. That does sound good! I have the FitBit Charge & I love it. It does need to be charged a little more often, but it still gives me about 4 days. 🙂
Wow. That’s so interesting! I wonder how common the name “Bauer” is. I got an Ancestry DNA test for Hanukkah, so I’m hoping to find out a bit more about my heritage. I might need to go & sign up for Ancestry.com though… I really don’t know a lot about my family. I think they came from Russia/Poland in the early 1900s, but it’s possible we have some German relations.
It would be neat to find out that there’s a connection to Al’s company!! Also, 3D marketing sounds really cool. 🙂
Awww. It’s so sweet you could make those kids’ Christmas special. 🙂
Thank you for the info about Rogue One! I’m still hoping to see it soon. 😀 & thanks for the recipe. I’m glad it got Al-approval. 😉
De-cluttering is a great way to start the New Year! You’ll feel more organized, everything will be where you know it is, &, I’ve heard, your mind will be less “cluttered” as well. 🙂
Awesome! Another blogging friend mentioned Ancestry DNA last year. I want to try it at some point. I know that I’m mostly European – German, English, and a bit of Ukranian. Let me know when you see Rogue One! We saw Moana on Friday and I loved it!
Did your friend tell you how they break down their “pie chart” of results? My Dad mentioned that it said he was “mostly Eastern-European Jew,” but, since I haven’t seen how the results look, I’m not swearing by his reading. It’s possible that they don’t break it down as much as you – or I – would like.
I’ll definitely let you know when I see the movie! My friend said she wanted to take me & her parents to see Moana on Wednesday, but I didn’t feel up to it. She also thought it was really good & Disney was improving its plot lines. 🙂
I can’t remember if she did. I’ll have to go back through my emails.
The next movie I want to see is Hidden Figures.
If she didn’t mention the breakdown, maybe you could ask her? I’m curious to know if Dad was just reading it wrong. 🙂
OOOO!! “Hidden Figures” looks so good!!!!! 😀
Absolutely! I’ll go through my emails and try to find it.
The movie’s based on actual events that happened at Langley in Hampton – Just 30 minutes from where I live!
Her breakdown was like this: “The DNA test is so cool! I was worried about them having my DNA. I was thinking like, don’t clone me!! Lol! But it’s so worth it. I found I’m super European, 34% french/German, 21% Irish, and things like that. It’s so cool! “
Oh geez. I didn’t even think to be worried about them cloning me! Now I’m scared!!! LOL
Just kidding… no one wants one version of me, let alone two! XD
Hmm… I’ll let you know what my breakdown says when I get it. I know I’m Russian, Polish, Czechoslovakian (before it became the Czech Republic & Slovakia, so I’m not sure how/if they’ll define it), & Romanian. I don’t know percentages or anything, though.
Then again, this is all 2nd hand information. I don’t even know my great-grandparents’ names. That’s why I thinking of doing the whole Ancestry thingie.
I love the idea!
How pretty a tree! I love the lights reflecting off the floor! and super cute photo of you both! XO!
Thank you so much!
Sure thing sweetheart! XO!
Alway love reading about your goals. Inspiring!
Thank you!