2012 Recap and 2013 Plan

Musings on last year and where I hope to go from here..
2012 was my year to become an adult. This isn’t wholly fair to younger Holly--in my first couple years post-college, I wasn’t not an adult. I paid my bills on time, lived away from home, and had a steady job. But I went out too much, I lived with roommates and then in a way-too-expensive studio, and I didn’t take good care of my body or mind. I didn’t look like an “adult” in the way I had envisioned it for myself--which was fine, because I was young and having fun! Real adulthood could come later.

Except I got tired of it. And I met Dan. And life started to change a bit. Slowly but surely, a shorter commute, bed at a reasonable hour, and way more cooking all started to sound more appealing than hour+ metro rides, constant late nights, and eating out all the time a “fast casual” places. I started to plan for my future (oh hey grad school apps!). I realized just how draining my long commute was (and just how fun living with Dan could be!). I figured out just how amazing consistent running is for my body, mind, and sleep habits. And things started to come together.

A lot of these changes started to take hold in 2011, but 2012 was my year for real action on the whole Becoming An Adult front. Let’s see:

• I studied for and took (and did well on!) the GRE.
• I moved in with Dan - to a location I originally resisted (due to its suburban nature) but now truly love (+ love my commute!).
• I actually found living with someone else (Dan!) to be enjoyable and worth it (a huge step for me the frequent loner!).
• I ran consistently and finally started to enjoy running outside.
• I ran my first race - a 10k - and beat my goal time.
• I started to floss and actually stuck with it for the whole year!*
• I bought a new car using money I had saved up (though I’ll be paying the loan off for a while)
• I put up some holiday decorations for the fall and for Christmas.
• I did well at my job (and got a great interim review...final 2012 review still pending!) while still maintaining the all-important work-life balance.
• I started going to yoga weekly.
• I applied to graduate school! (DONE with apps, finally)

[*Dan and I were talking a while ago about our biggest yearly accomplishments. I said mine for 2012 was definitely developing a flossing habit. He was like really? Not your first race, not your GRE? And I maintained flossing as my biggest. I’ve stuck to fitness routines before, and I’ve studied (and aced) tests. But I have ALWAYS had terrible oral hygiene (gross, I know) and never have consistently flossed. So go me!]

I feel really good about my progress this year--I made serious strides in planning for my future and developing daily healthy habits that will hopefully stick with me. Life looks a lot like how I wanted my "adult" life to look. And I'm happy!

But of course there is still work to do! I started to list out things I wish I had done more of in 2012 and/or want to do to continue my progression toward “adulthood”, however I’m defining it. The items honestly were fairly simple (e.g., read more, talk to my friends more, do something about my aging skin) and tended to fall into one of four categories, which are:

• Take better care of my home
• Take better care of my body
• Take better care of my mind
• Take better care of my relationships

So the theme of 2013 is to take better care of things. I’m getting old...but I'm happy with where I am. I just want to take care of all the good stuff I have and get the most out of the life I've established for myself. I want to continue to try to make the best use of my time and stop wasting life away on my computer.

Continued Happiness Project, kind of
So I suppose this means I'm back to that Happiness Project I started a while ago and kind of flaked on. But I'm going to approach it a little differently this time. The original HP focused on one topic area at a time per month. I only have a few (broad) areas that I want to focus on, and I don't want to wait until I reach the associated month to start addressing them.

I'm going to do a slight spin on the Happiness Project, and I guess I'll call it "Take Better Care of Things 2013." Or maybe something catchier if I think of it, though I bet TBCT13 will stick.

I'm going to address one item from each sector a month--so in January, I'll focus on four small tasks, one for each the home, body, mind, and relationships. I've brainstormed a bunch of items I want to tackle through the year, but I'm not going to plan them all out now. I want to give myself some flexibility, depending on how the year is going and what progress I'm making. I'm going to challenge myself to be specific in my monthly goals and not too overwhelming. 

I'll be back soon with my goals for January!

Running lately + big news
Yesterday I ran 5.5 miles in snow/sleet/rain! Not my best run--I just wanted it to be OVER. I ran inconsistently over the last three weeks, 4-5 miles per run but only twice a week. Oh well, at least I was out there. I even ran in the snow while I was home for the holidays--two factors that previously would have been significant deterrents!

This was NOT the snow I ran in. But this is what my
house looked like when I left for the airport!

Almost forgot to mention some BIG NEWS I received before the holiday. I got selected from the Cherry Blossom 10 miler lottery! I was not expecting at all to get in to the race on the first year, and I honestly am a little terrified at the prospect of running 10 miles in April. But I'll give it my best shot and hopefully will finish! Details to come on my planned training.

Today's workout
I hit the apartment complex gym for a quick cross-training session today--25 minutes on the elliptical + weights. Felt nice to be back to lifting!

Today's eats
Trying but failing to get off the sugar cycle I've been on since the holidays. I've been hungry all day today, and I'm guessing my sugar-heavy holiday diet is to blame. Oh well. No "cleanses" or "detoxes" here--I think I'll return to normal patterns once I'm back to my usual schedule after Tuesday. Today's lunch:

Leftover diner-style potatoes (boiled for a bit then cooked on the stovetop in some butter/oil) + sauteed kale + cheese + an over easy egg. I could eat this meal every day. So tasty!

November goals

So about that HP

My Happiness Project goal for November had been to "live like an adult", which included resolutions such as wearing a small amount of makeup to work so as to look not like a hobo, get a better/consistent skin care routine down, deal with my mail when I walk in the house (as opposed to letting it pile for days)...etc. But if there is anything that my first month's experience taught me, it was that introducing many resolutions in a month was a little overwhelming. That, coupled with the fact that November is crunch time for my grad school apps (and I am not in as good of shape for them as I had planned!), I've decided to just focus on two, non-themed items for the month:

1. Get my mother effin' grad school apps in at all costs.
2. Use a weekly cleaning schedule to tackle one task a day.

One of my original resolutions for the "live like an adult" month was related to cleaning--I wanted to stop waiting until right before we had company over to go on a cleaning rampage and instead do it consistently. I feel SO much better about the apartment when it is decluttered and neat, and I always end up stressing myself out pre-company to get everything done. Plus, it is gross that I was only doing our bathrooms once a month. Yes, please, publicly shame me. I am narsty. 

Dan usually helps with some of the cleaning tasks--wiping down counters, vacuuming, changing the sheets, etc. But given his current status with a broken arm and the fact that I am doing this chore challenge for my peace of mind, I'm not expecting him to help with this. I really think that if I can stick to a schedule, it is feasible to clean our medium sized apartment (1 bedroom + office) in approximately 20 minutes a day. If I can demonstrate to myself that it is, then I probably have a better shot of sticking with it!

So! There are a gazillion of these online, but here's the one I came up with for our place:

[Click to enlarge. There are minor errors on there that are driving me batty, but you get the idea. Let me know if I missed something!]

I think this pretty much encompasses the basics of any smallish apartment. I included tasks that are easy to do daily and make a big impact (seriously, do you have a Swiffer vacuum? It is a cordless vac that works fantastically to get crumbs and stuff up. So easy to use and keeps the kitchen floors spotless). I tried to group like tasks so that I would use the same set of cleaning supplies each day (which is why it makes more sense to de-hair the bathroom floors/baseboards on dusting day, not bathroom day). It doesn't include all of those Martha Stewart-type tasks like cleaning your fridge shelves, cleaning windows, cleaning out vents, etc. That's just not happening on any sort of regular basis for me. Also, I like doing laundry on Friday nights if my schedule allows for it (something so nice about getting it out of the way for the weekend, and it can easily be done while relaxing!). That can easily be moved to Saturday or Sunday if I have something to do on Fridays since it is a relatively low maintenance activity. 

I'll tape the schedule to the fridge, to be started next Monday. The blank cells next to the items are intended to be checked off as I go. Again, I require public shaming to get this done. I hate having to clean the apartment, but I also hate feeling like a slob and feeling like I'm not following through with something. So I'll take a picture at the end of each week and post it for you all as incentive to stick with it. 

Action plan for the grad school apps is just basically Get Shit Done ASAP. One of my favorite mottos in stressed out times (almost always self-induced due to procrastination) is: "it will all get done because it has to get done." I have my master list of pretty much everything I need to do for them, and every time I look at it I feel all stressball-avoidant and panicky. But I need to really use my weekends to push through to get them done!

Workouts

My nose/tissue box is getting a serious workout with this cold. Other than that, nothing. Potentially will do some push ups/core work before I shower. Really hoping for the cold to dissipate by Saturday so I can run!

Eats

I feel gross right now..Dan and I ordered pizza for dinner. Mistake! And we used a deal so we each got our own pizza--a lot of leftovers. Not really a mistake, but a decision made out of laziness/sickness/not having frozen pizza on hand for pinch. Ah, well.

Healthy lunch at least:

Mixed greens with goat cheese, reheated kabocha squash, and edamame.
Piece of toast with hummus.

And now for more OJ!

About that Happiness Project

Happiness Project
The Happiness Project  month on finding focus at work is going...okay. Just okay. Definitely not stellar--the end of last week was a disaster. But when it works, it works! I am focused at work, am finding my flow, etc.  But I haven't gotten it to work consistently yet.

I had additional goals this week--use the Pomodoro method to take breaks and go outside for a walk or do push ups for a break. The original idea was the have prescheduled breaks to look forward to, as opposed to just taking them when I want--which is good in theory. I'm realizing though that I probably tried to take on too many mini-goals for the month and still need to work on mastering the goals I started with. And honestly, the break thing is not really what I need--I'm still struggling with finding my focus to begin with--planned interruption doesn't seem like a good fit right now.

So with that in mind, and as I'm finding that certain things becoming more important than others, I'm going to focus on these goals for the rest of the month:

• Planning my next day the night before. Before I leave work, I take stock of the day and what I have coming up tomorrow. This is definitely helpful for getting focused immediately at work the next day, and generally helps me clear my mind of anxiety before leaving the office.
• Getting something done by 10 am. This is absolutely key. If I get something done before then I feel accomplished and set a focused tone for the day. If I let myself get distracted after breakfast it is hard for me to refocus until after lunch. 
• Setting an intention for the day. This was one I didn't even include originally in my list of goals for the HP, but I'm realizing just how important it is. I literally create a post-it note every morning and set out my reason for working hard that day (...because apparently just doing my job is not sufficient incentive for me. I suck). But really, I find this so helpful--when I get distracted, I can look at my post-it and remind myself why I'm working. For the most part they tend to be related to things I want to do after work, and that's okay. Whatever gets me through the day at this point--we can work on super lofty career ambitions later.

I took pictures of several different examples of these and tried embarrassingly hard to
make a collage on one of those photo collage sites. I failed. So you get only one. 

So I'm going to track those habits for the remainder of the month, with an added one:

• Get something done by 2 pm (after lunch). I tend to eat lunch around 12:30, done by 1 pm, and I have a hard time refocusing again after that. I'm going to try to use the morning strategy again in the afternoon. 

I will also continue to use the internet blocking program. I haven't found that to be particularly motivating, but it does serve as a reminder (and makes me feel sufficiently guilty about getting off track). 

Workout
Meh. It was raining when I got home from work today and I wimped out on running outside. Coupled with the fact my apartment gym (which is my only gym currently) has a whopping total of 3 treadmills, one of which is broke right now...and yeah. The run didn't happen. I ended up doing about 40 minutes of various workout videos--a couple of pilates ones, a dumbbell one for arms, and then topped it off with some exercises of my own. So let's call it a cross-training/strength day.

I'm determined to still get in 3 runs this week though--and luckily tomorrow's 0% chance of rain is cooperating.

Eats
Two meals to share today! Lunch was pretty simple, but I remembered to take a picture:

Except it was sideways.

Mixed greens with avocado and edamame--I always try to get the toppings chunks to show up on top of the salad for photos but when I adjust one piece the other one falls through the lettuce. Oh well. With a side of leftover pizza, which was the actually filling part of the meal.

But dinner was the real star of the show today. I followed this recipe from Real Simple, though halving it, because that is a lot of food. I had made it once before and knew it was tasty. I probably could have cooked my kale a little longer to give my jaw a break, but it was really good and garnered lots of leftovers. I also roasted up some butternut squash because I needed to use it up so I threw some in there too.

Topped with pesto and toasted walnuts!

Some kind of progress

Progress, somewhat
I've had three work days since my post about trying to start a Happiness Project, with the first month's focus being improving work focus/productivity. For the first week, the theme was "set myself up to succeed", with the specific goals being:

• Use an internet blocker
• Plan the next day's tasks

So far my progress has been...inconsistent. Tuesday was middle of the road, Wednesday was great, and today was terrible. The internet blocker somewhat helps (I'm using the StayFocused extension for Chrome), if only to serve as a reminder that I'm not focusing on work (and instead checking email or whatever). The planning out the next day's tasks is a good start, but not the whole picture. I think the thing I'm having the most trouble with is just getting started each day. If I get something done before 11 am, then I feel productive and ready to take on the rest of the day (like Wednesday!). If I haven't finished anything by lunch, I just feel like the day is a wash and spend the rest of the day dragging my feet and not finding flow.

I've been aware of this all or nothing tendency in myself or a while now, and have mostly had luck in quelling in as it relates to diet and exercise (one cookie doesn't mean I throw the rest of the day away to crap eating anymore!). It is odd to see it emerge in my work life now. I had originally made the theme of week three "get it started now," with the specific goals relating to getting myself going early in the day. Well, clearly I need to bump that up to week two, so hopefully this is something I can take on next week!

I also need to just keep in mind each day WHY I am doing this--because at the end of the day this all comes down to discipline, and if I can remember why, then I can focus on the waiting incentive. Tomorrow, at the very least, I have a clear goal--I'll be working so that I don't have to stress over the weekend!

Workouts
Yesterday I ran, and tonight was yoga! I recently bought a Groupon to a local yoga studio and I am loving it. After last week's beginner vinyasa class (my second at this studio, though I've done some yoga before), the teacher invited me to attend her regular vinyasa class instead of the beginner class. I went to it tonight, and it was great! Definitely a lot harder, but it felt like more of a workout. For the most part I felt like I could keep up, or I would just do the modification she offered. I loved the music she played and am enjoying this instructor. I wish the class had a little bit more energy to it, but I think that's just me wishing I could use it to make friends!

I'm excited because I found out this yoga studio is hosting a free "yoga in the park" series at a new shopping area going up between my apartment and work. It starts next Sunday and sounds like a lot of fun (though I do question the notion of starting an outdoor yoga series in mid-October). Mostly I'm just excited because it means I'll get to do a second yoga class a week at no additional cost. More to come once I try out that first outdoor class!

Eats
Tonight was a quick Wegmans frozen pizza (with some steamed broccoli on the side) shared with Dan since I got home later from yoga. For the last two nights (and still tomorrow--woo leftovers), I've had something I whipped up on Tuesday to use up stuff in the fridge. It looks completely unappetizing, but it was delicious! I included: half an onion, garlic, zucchini, black beans, kale, and potatoes (pre-cooked a bit) in the sauteed mixture. Then I fried up an egg to put on top of it and put on some cheddar cheese crumbles for good measure. Delicious!! And made a few servings of leftovers too (for those I'm just reheating the veggie mix in the same pan as the egg). I forgot to take a picture before I sliced the egg all up, but oh well.

 Wow I take terrible photographs. Oh well. Not sure what I have in store for the weekend yet--lots of potential!

Starting a new project

A Happiness Project, of sorts:

In addition to better tracking and discussing my running, one of my reasons for starting this blog was to better...take control of my life, for lack of better words. Which is not to say that life isn't awesome! I really truly look around and realize how lucky and amazing things are right now. And for once in my life, I'm really feeling like I have enough free time to do all the things I want to do, but I don't feel like I'm using my time well. I end up watching mindless TV or, more frequently, surfing blogs and not realizing that a good 90 minutes has passed me by and it is time for bed. Frustrating! So, I want to take control of my leisure time.

...By first taking control of my work life! Totally logical, right? For me, it is though. I know that currently I am not giving 100% at work by a longshot. I get my work done, and people seem reasonably pleased enough. But I never feel like I really hit a project out of the park, and more often than not, I'm scrambling to do things at the last minute. I'm never finding that oh-so-desirable flow in my work and often just feel like I'm waiting for the clock to tick to a reasonable leave time.

[For what it's worth, I know some of this is a symptom of just not totally loving the work/tasks I have to do. But a) that's life, and sometimes that happens, and I need to deal with it better, and b) I'm hoping to go back to school next year in order to become better equipped to do more interesting work! Also, I really do enjoy where I'm working and want to stay there/grow there for a long time--I just need to get that advanced degree + promotion to get to some of the more interesting work that we have!]

Lacking focus at work and constantly procrastinating the big things I have to do is ultimately causing me major amounts of stress/anxiety, which creeps into my non-work time and psyche as well. I leave work feeling like I should keep working at home, or at the very least check my email a couple of times at night so that I can appear "engaged" (because if you know you aren't acting engaged, then maintaining the appearance of being engaged seems super important). I feel embarrassed when I think about the fact that I'm  not working to my full potential, and that sinks into my self-esteem, which seems to affect EVERYTHING. Soooo. I need to get refocused at work!

And that's where Gretchen Rubin's inimitable Happiness Project comes in. I'm going to start doing a theme per month, much like she did in her first book. More on other themes and ultimate goals for the project in another post, but for now, here's my "resolution chart" for this month:

I'll be using this to track my progress daily on the theme for the week. If you are unfamiliar with the Happiness Project (if so, read the book!!), the idea is that you introduce one goal related to an overall theme per week. Each week you track yourself on the new goal, and any of the previous goals. Hopefully by the end of the month you've made them habits! I've included two sub-goals for each overarching weekly goal since they seemed to match together nicely. More on the goals for this week and progress later this week!

Workout
Ran 4 miles after work. It was another new route near my office, and it had the same issues as the one last week--too many turns, too hard to find my groove. There wasn't a clear way to get to the planned 4 miles I had, so I had to keep doubling back or looping up to try to add mileage, which is the WORST. I feel like a hamster. I just prefer having long stretches on my routes to really get my legs moving!

Add to that the fact that the satellites were possibly wonking out due to the turns, rain, or the fact that a lot of the route wasn't on real roads/was in a wooded area. Either that or I was running slower than I ever have. Considering the fact that my level of effort felt like my regular pace, if not a little faster, then I have to believe something was getting screwed up with the distance measurement, not that I was running 13+ min/miles. But I'll just call it 4 miles, I suppose.

Food
We went out to lunch today for a project celebration to an Indian buffet, which was DELICIOUS. No pictures though. Tonight was a standard post-run meal. Some combination of leftovers + a veggie side.

Here we have leftover pizza from last night (which I accidentally microwaved for too long) plus a salad on the side. The salad was delicious, featuring leftover items from the family event--blue cheese, figs, and blackberries. Tasty! Although this wasn't super filling, so I just had a slice of leftover peanut butter pie. Way more tasty.