A little less than one year ago I set forth my #2018NatureGoals right here on this very blog. As 2018 comes to a close, it’s time for me to check-in on my progress and see how I did.
Goal #1: Improve my houseplant game.
Grade: A. See this Instagram post for proof. Moving to a new home in the Spring served as an excellent impetus for significantly increasing my cred as a plant parent. In addition to the many plants I received as housewarming gifts, I also adopted many new supposedly “unkillable” plants, such as this snake plant pictured here. Unfortunately, I also did manage to kill a couple plants, but nobody’s perfect, right?
Goal #2: On weeks when I don’t get to visit the forest with my students, I will make a point of taking a short walk or hike in nature either after work one day or on the weekend. 
Grade: B+. I was not nearly as intentional about this one as I had hoped to be, but the good news is that I think I ended up doing this by default most weeks. There has been a significant uptick in my nature walking since the arrival of our furbaby, Bernie, in July. If you’re wanting to do more walking, I definitely recommend getting a dog. Just make sure you’re also wanting to do more vacuuming.
Goal #3: Take at least one longer hike or outdoor adventure each month (bonus points if I can convince my husband or friends to join me).
Grade: B. I can’t say for certain that I achieved this every month, but definitely most months! Some notable adventures included visiting the Hoover Dam, having a beach picnic in Carmel, hiking at Mt. Diablo, visiting the Norwegian fjords, and walking around the cliffs of Mendocino. Now that our puppy is a little older and has more stamina, I am declaring 2019 the year of the weekend hike.
Goal #4: Go on a backpacking trip (for the first time since high school!).
Grade: A. In April my husband and I went on a 1-night backpacking trip to Henry Coe State Park with
another couple friend of ours. It was a very short trip, but we all survived (for the most part– one of my friend’stoenails sadly did not come out so well), and we had a lot of fun! We learned quite a bit about what kind of gear we need, so I am (somewhat hesitantly) ready to commit to a multi-day backpacking trip in 2019.
Overall Grade: A-. As an upholder, it definitely helped me to lay out these goals for myself and to share them with you all as an accountability measure. Will I do it again? Probably. Do I think you should try it? Definitely.