Goals lately

So I had March goals at some point, right? And it's almost April. Whoops. Really let April get away from me!

How’d I do on my March goals? Well, the fact that I’ve failed to revisit them until now should probably be an indication. Let’s see.

Relationships: this one was actually pretty good! Dan and I had a few really nice date nights and lots of quality time, in addition to fun time spent with both of our families!

Mental: I didn’t do that great on updating the blog more frequently in March, but I’ve been trying to pick it up in April. I really enjoy posting--just hard sometimes to take the time to put words to the page.

Body: Sunscreen. Man, I am so bad at this. I did not do well on this at all in March. In April, it has been a bit better. But the time I always forget to do it is before my weekend runs! They are outside during the day, so it is really the main time I need to actually remember to do it. I think I need to start putting the bottle out and visible the night before.

Home: Work on cleaning out. Well Dan and I did make some progress here. We collected a couple of bags of stuff...except they are still sitting in the trunk of my car, whoops. I need to take those over. But I still need to do another purge of my summer stuff as I rotate out my winter wear and to get my act together with selling some of my nicer stuff.

April Goals?
Well, oops. My main (mental, not actually stated anywhere) goals for this month were to: actually start the sunscreen habit and just generally be more social. As discussed above, the sunscreen habit is still a work in progress. The being more social goal is going okay! I went to an event with my coworkers, went to a few different yoga events and met people, and am exploring running group options in the area to meet runner friends too. And I’ve made upcoming plans with current friends too.

I’m hoping to get back on the goal tracking train for May--to come this week!

Oh Hey March

Life Check-In
So I’m done, for real, with all this grad school stuff. I had finished up my applications at the end of 2012, but I finally just finished my financial stuff and fellowship applications, etc. It feels SO GOOD to be done. And even better that: I’ve already been accepted to four schools! I’m waiting for a few more decisions to come in mid-March (and then [hopefully] the $$ offers by early April) before I decide where to go.

It feels SO GOOD not to have any major non-work deadlines or obligations weighing on me. I seriously don’t think I’ve been free from obligations like this since before I started my current job! [job search (because I disliked my old one, not unemployed)-->moving/apartment hunting-->GRE studying-->another move-->school research-->application process-->financial grad school apps]. Life wasn’t particularly bad during those times--I did things mostly slow and steady, so nothing was ever too intense and there were lots of breaks. But I just felt like I constantly had something I should be working on. So it is nice to be free from any major non-work responsibilities for the next few months (and then...GRAD SCHOOL LIFE CHANGES AH). 

So anyway. My main goal for spring is to enjoy myself! Work is getting fairly crazy, so I just want to make it a priority when I’m not at work to relax, have fun, and enjoy time with Dan and my friends. 

That all being said...of course I have some mini-goals for the month. :) I think having a few small things to work on just makes life better! Dorky but true.

Revisiting February Goals
Not too much else to add after my mid-month check-in. I ended up reconnecting (email → video chat) with at least one friend (for the relationships portion), which was fun and not nearly as stressful as I was building it to be in my mind. And hopefully that will stay frequent moving forward. 

Working out in the morning is still hard. I do, at least, feel like I’ve proved to myself that it is possible and not completely painful to do. I can get it done if I need to. But I still definitely prefer to work out at night. I’ll probably keep trying to integrate 1-2 AM workouts into my weekly schedule to accommodate later work hours! 

Reading and 20/10s still going well. So much so that I added the little check boxes (like I had for each task everyday in my planner in February) for March. Checking things off is pleasing, and it is a good daily reminder to do them!

March Goals
Home: Spring cleanout, two-pronged: old magazines and clothes. I always save my old magazines, planning to cut out recipes I like, etc. In February, I got bored one weekend (/procrastinating fellowship acts) and started to make progress on my magazines. I've got a good system set up using Evernote that is allowing me to keep things digitally that I care about and recycle all of the hard copies. Phew! So I want to finish that project up in March, and tackle my clothes. Game plan for that to come.

Body: Use sunscreen daily. Pretty simple. It is such an important task for skin health that I rarely do. I just need to commit! I have a SPF 15 face lotion that I can use for most days, but I need to get something higher for days when I’m running/out a lot. 

Mind: Post twice a week on this blog. I enjoy doing it, and it generally helps keep me accountable to both my life goals and running goals. Plus, with the 10-miler coming up in early April, it will be a big month for running. I want to make sure to document it all!

Relationships: Focus on Dan! Work is getting busy for both of us, and our March weekends are rapidly filling up too. So we are going to try to do 2 date nights during the month (date night = going out for enjoyment, not just sustenance!) and one night of quality time a week at home. We already did a date night this weekend, which was lovely!

Today’s Eats
I made a sweet potato, kale, and goat cheese frittata (recipe from Vegetarian Times Nov. 2012) for dinner tonight. Dan made fun of the fact that pretty much all my dinners are the same, noting that I frequently do some combination of potato/cheese/kale/egg. I suppose this is a fair assessment--but a frittata feels so different than normal! Hah.

The bigger section, since the piece I cut out turned into more of a scramble than frittata.

Also today Dan surprised me with a shamrock shake (McDonald’s annual March thing; they are crack) this afternoon, which deserves public accolades, because shamrock shakes are pretty much the easiest way to this girl’s heart.

February Goals Check-In

Already half way through the month
Time for a check-in on this month's goals. [I wrote this last week but failed to post!]. 

Home - One 20/10 a day: I’m doing pretty well with this! To be perfectly honest, some days my “20” isn’t even cleaning--it is just 20 minutes of doing stuff I don’t want to do that are vaguely home-related. Think taxes, paperwork, etc. But doing a daily pick up + wipe down of surfaces is really helpful. I still have a tendency to save the big stuff for the weekends--typically a deep clean on the bathroom, kitchen, and floors every other week. But I have been trying to incorporate more frequent cleaning, or at least cleaning touch ups, which makes actually doing the “real” cleaning way more manageable. 

Body - incorporating morning workouts: I feel...mehhh on these. On the one hand, I truly LOVE getting them done. It makes the rest of the day and evening so much better. On the other...I kind of feel like death when I do them. I’ve only tried running outside once in the morning so far, and I felt like I was just completely slogging through and low energy. And I just refuse to wake up early enough to eat a real breakfast (I just have half a banana or nothing) and coffee before running. The treadmill days haven’t been as bad--the TV is entertaining enough and I only do 3 miles on it. But it still doesn’t feel as easy as post-work running does.

I think going forward I’m going to try to incorporate two morning runs a week (at least until mid-March...when that elusive big work thing is supposed to hit. We’ll see; it keeps getting delayed). My two shorter weekday runs--a 4 miler and a 3 miler. This will give me the opportunity to stay at work later without stress a couple nights a week and also give my body a break by sleeping in the other days. 

Mind - 10 minutes of reading a day: I’m doing pretty well on this goal! I’ve completely missed only one day so far this month, and on many days, I end up reading for more than just the 10 minutes. I wasn't loving the book I was reading, but I finished it on Friday, fortunately! One of those where you want to know what happens but don’t really want to go through the process of reading it...anyway. In the sake of full disclosure, I've read magazines only since finishing the book Friday (my original intent for the goal was books)--my brain wasn't quite ready to move onto the next book! But I'm starting a new book tonight, so hopefully I'll get back at it. I’m glad I’m keeping this up and definitely enjoying the non-computer/TV-downtime it is providing. 

Relationships - contact one person a week: Honestly, I've failed at this so far. I just am not quite sure what to say to some people because I've let it go too long...need to buck up and do it! I know I'll enjoy reconnecting, but I just feel ashamed of what a bad friend I've been.

Will keep plugging away at these and update once the month is over.

Weekly Workout Summary - February 11 - February 16, 2013
Monday: 5.5 miles @ 11:23. Experienced some...gastrointestinal distress on this run. Nothing too serious, just enough to make running a bit uncomfortable. But I'm glad I got it done!

Tuesday: 75 minute power vinyasa flow. Soo good to be back to the studio after a lot of at-home practice. My studio ran a Groupon recently (and maybe this new instructor is just gaining popularity?), which I'm guessing contributed to how FULL the class was. Which, meh. Of course I'm happy that the studio is growing/thriving, but smaller classes are so nice for adjustments and space purposes.

Wednesday: 4 mi @ 10:58. Did this in the morning outside--not so bad, but not nearly as relaxing as night running!

Thursday: 3 mi on the treadmill in the morning, with 4x400 at 6.0-6.1. I should be pushing myself more on these runs.

Friday: REST. Did it on a Friday this week so Dan and I could enjoy Valentine's wine without me needing to get up early to workout!

Saturday: 9 miles @ 11:36. Ahhh my long run. Not going to lie, it wasn't pretty. I tried out a new route that just involved too many stop lights/stop and start. But then I got really discouraged when I saw my pace. I use the RunKeeper app for Android, which has an auto-pause feature where it takes out the time where you are stopped to account for appropriate pacing. [Maybe that isn't the real way I should be counting, but whatever, it is what I'm used to!]. So anyway, I thought this was my pace without the stops and was so frustrated that even with all those stoplight breathers I was still slower than I have been recently. I got home, was all upset to Dan, and then was looking at my splits and realizing that they went up a lot when I was in the busy area. Hmmm. Turns out, I had downloaded the new RunKeeper version (which is great, btw), but it hadn't carried my preference for auto-pause over to the new version. Sooo long story long, the pace was included my stoplight time, which is why it was so slow. That being said, that route was terrible and I will not be doing it again!

Sunday: 45 minutes yoga at home, cobbled together from YogaDownload podcasts. I should start going to studio yoga on Sundays; I have passes to use. Just hard to get myself out of the house!

Total mileage: 21.5 Bam.

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!