Every Friday I’ll indulge my order-crazed brain in a list of randomness. Welcome to my Friday Fives.

We’ve reached the half-way marker on our 2014 resolutions journey. This is where we grab a Dixie Cup and gear up for the final push of the race. Except instead of icy water, I want my Dixie Cup to be full of a mojito or some kind of summer sangria. That would help, don’t you agree?

Since we are standing at this critical juncture, I thought I should revisit those resolutions I put into print in January to see where things stand and where I could do better.

5. Momentum

I feel like my momentum is still plugging along. Here are the sub-category breakdowns:

Writing/Blogging: I’m holding myself to my two-post a week rule (if not more) and have been doing more contract writing, so this continues to be a huge piece of the pie that is my life.

Books: I have loved keeping track of books as I finish them. It’s nice to reference them all in one place and know when I read them. Things start to all meld together after a while.

Cooking: We continue to try new recipes all the time. I would like to do better about using my cookbooks. I find a lot of recipes online, but I need to find time to A) go through my collection and mark recipes I want to try and B) organize the stack of magazine clippings I’ve pulled over the last year. And…maybe…C) throw out old clippings and donate unused cookbooks. Maybe.

Photography: My photography interests have shifted slightly toward food photography lately, but I did take all of the staff head-shots for my office’s new website, which was fun. But food doesn’t move. Food doesn’t get impatient while you mess with your camera. Plus, you get to eat it after you capture your perfect shot. Sorry, but food wins every single time.

4. Good Better Housekeeping

Hmmmm. Do you hear that? It’s either radio static or crickets. Either way, there’s not much to report. This is a struggle for me and I usually end up deep-cleaning our house when I know someone’s coming over. #cleaningconfessional I did manage to clean our master bathroom last week on my own, without a nudge from the calendar. Just a nudge from the grime. #ew Why is this so hard for me?

3. Be More Girly

I have managed to curl my hair and style it more, but after I cut it short I’ve been a bit limited in options. I do like it shorter, though, and will do a better job at keeping appointment lapses to a minimum. As a curly-haired person, I can’t stand the fact that I have to first straighten it and then re-curl it again to “style” it, even if it looks better that way.

2. Give Back

I haven’t been volunteering yet, but I do have a job! We continue to meet fun, new people and are way more social here than we ever were in Virginia. I’m tempted to head out to the humane society to help, but that also means I’ll be tempted to empty the cages into our guest room. What’s the definition of a pet hoarder?? Exactly how much is too much?

1. Dream Big

My Etsy shop opened in February and has been so. much. fun. I don’t know why it took me so long to jump in the water, but I’m practically part fish now. I’ve also been able to do good with it by donating one of my custom alphabet prints to an auction my friend is holding to raise money for her family’s adoption of a domestic baby. (I’ll let you know when the auction is, if you’re interested in bidding.) I didn’t exactly dream I’d be designing prints and selling them on Etsy, but I’m glad I kept my mind open to the possibilites. Who knows what might be next.

So, three out of five isn’t so bad, right? The morale of the story is more dusting, less (hair) scrunching. I’ve got six more months to work on it. Until then…