Goals for January

Between all the social media accounts I follow and my private Whole30 support group, the internet is buzzing and I'm having a major case of FOMO.  I really wish I was doing the Whole30 with everyone... but then I eat a handful of cookies and I quickly forget about it.

Humor and gluttony aside, I figured going back to work and getting used to pumping was enough to deal with in January.  Adding the planning, cooking, and willpower demands of a Whole30 would have been too much to expect from myself.  I'm thinking maybe March.

But in the meantime, I need to start somewhere!  I do love using the new year as a fresh start so I'm making some small attainable goals for myself to get the ball rolling.

January Goals:

• Do yoga every day (five minutes minimum)
• Go to CrossFit six times
• Break up with flavored creamer and go back to black coffee
• Do not purchase any sweets/treats, soda, bread products
• No shopping (aside from groceries/necessities)

Another goal is to jump on here and share more often by keeping the posts quick and snappy!  And to share more baby pics.  Obviously.

Hello 2016!

Well January is here!  I can't believe it's 2016 and that it was 12 degrees, real feel -6 this morning.  We rang in the new year at the most gorgeous wedding, followed by an outrageous day at the Mummers parade!  It was the best New Year's celebration ever.

 

Apparently I made a few NY's resolutions for 2015, which I pretty much completely forgot about until now.  Let's see how I did:

• Commit to clean eating and don't let indulgences here and there take me completely off track!
• This was my number one goal of 2015 and I'm not sure how to evaluate myself.  I would say overall, I ate well throughout the year but there was definitely still other times when I just let myself eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted *cough* the past 2 weeks *cough*.  This is an ongoing goal that will really never be finished... let's call it a B-.
  
• CrossFit 3 times per week, push towards 4
• A-, overall I was pretty consistent with this goal +/- how my back was feeling.
• Add some running back into my routine, some slow jogging or sprints, whatever moves me, with no pressure on adding distance
• D, there was nothing routine about my running in 2015, but I did do a little bit.  I ran a 5K in March and another in November.  I also like to add small chunks of running into my dog walks.  I would still like to do more sprinting.
• Commit to yoga, additional stretching and mobility work, and foam rolling to prevent injury and speed up recovery
• C+, I could've done better, but I think finally taking the step to go see a physical therapist was one of the best things I did for myself in 2015.
• Keep up with my visits to the chiropractor and go before I am in pain
• B-, this goal is sort of tied to the last one.  I went to the chiropractor a lot throughout the year, but I sort of stopped going once I attended physical therapy.
• Read one book per month
• D-, I read a few books throughout the year, but no where near 12.  I knew this was a lofty goal when I made it.
• Pay off at least half of my remaining school loans
• C-, I did not put nearly as much money to my loans as I wanted to.  I did pay off a few of my loans, but this is definitely something I need to get more serious about in the new year.
• Give the blog a make over!
• F, whoops!
• Post more frequently
• B-, this evaluation definitely depends on what month you look at, but I posted 18 more times in 2015 than I did in 2014.

And now we're on to 2016... my goals are pretty much the same as last year to be honest.  I guess I do have a few new things in mind:

• Keep my back pain-free by doing lots of push aways, strengthening my hips, and being smart at the gym
• String together 5-10 pull ups
• Organize and clean my basement and sell/donate/trash as much stuff as possible
• Floss every day (ok realistically, how about 3x per week)
• Create a budget and actually follow it
• Finish my Italy recaps on the blog before our next big trip ;) 

Some other 2016 happenings:

100 miles in 100 days - I'm participating in a challenge my friend is hosting on FB.  The goal is to hit 100 miles within 100 days by walking, running, biking, rowing, or swimming.  You're required to workout at least 3 days per week and you can never miss a Monday.  I thought this was a great idea to keep me motivated to get out and do my mile with the dogs even when it's freezing out.  So far I'm at 12 miles in 5 days.

Another Whole30 - A bunch of my friends are all doing a January Whole30 and I'm have a serious case of fear of missing out.  I'm sad that I'm not riding the wave of motivation with them but I just couldn't commit to one right now.  I'm planning on starting my own either at the end of this month or in the beginning of February.  If you've ever considered doing one, start mentally preparing now...

How are you kicking off the new year?  Did you make any resolutions for 2016?

2012 Resolutions–How did I do?

Almost a year ago, I did what a lot of people do… I vowed to make 2012 a good one and made some New Years Resolutions!  I looked at these a few times throughout the year to stay on track.  Overall, I did pretty well, there were some I could’ve definitely done better at (cough.breaking up with the snooze button.cough), but there’s always next year!

Fitness

• Run 6 races throughout the year
• A+ success!  I ran the Shock Run 5K in March, the Broad Street Run and the ODDyssey Half Marathon in May, the Moyer 5K in July, the Burn off the Bird 5K in November, and the Victory for Voices 10K in December!
• Run a half marathon!
  • This one is a A+ too, I still can’t believe I did it and I learned so much!
• Workout at least three times a week
  • I’ve been pretty consistent between running, my yoga Groupon, and random living room workouts, but I’m not really sure I hit three times a week every week.  We’ll give this one a B.

Eating

• Eat less meat
  • At the time my goal was to learn to make more vegetarian entrees and change up some meaty meals using some portabellos or homemade veggie patties.  My views on meat have sort of changed since I made this goal.  I am now eating plenty of meat without regret, but I buy organic, local, and grass-fed when I can.  I need to make this more of a priority in the new year.  Let’s call this one N/A.
• Eat more whole foods, less processed junk
  • B+, I have definitely been working on this over the whole year, but for the past few months I’ve really noticed the difference from cutting down on bread, pasta, bagels, etc.
• Eat more veggies and fruit
• A-, I think I’ve been pretty successful in keeping our fridge stocked and trying out new varieties like spaghetti squash and recently arugula!
• Eat less cheese
• Ummmm, still working on this one – C.

Life

• Stop snoozing my alarm, get up the first time it goes off
• D, I can’t say this has been a success.  I’ve done better at getting up sooner, but I’m still a fan of the snooze button.
• Be more productive at work
  • B-, this could still use more work but I’ve definitely been pushing myself.
• Take another grad class
  • F, I failed at this one!  Between running, cheerleading, and all those weddings, I didn’t really have the urge to squeeze in a class.  I did apply to sit for my professional engineering exam in the spring, so that was a positive.
• Create a budget and save money
  • B-, I didn’t create a budget, but I did set up an automatic transfer to move some money to my savings.  I’ve also been saving some money in an additional account and I’ve been paying extra to my school loans.  I feel like I could still use more structure, but overall not too shabby!
• Give the blog a more permanent makeover
  • A, I did this a while ago, but now I’m thinking I want to do another blog makeover in the new year!

Did you make any resolutions in 2012?  How did you do?

2012, oh my goodness!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you had a good time ringing in 2012. I started off NYE making brunch for myself, Heather, Ben, and Dave. I knew the rest of the day wasn't going to include many healthy eats, so I wanted to get some fruit and veggies in early. We had onion, pepper, and mushroom omlets and some green monsters with spinach, frozen pineapple and strawberries, and some OJ. It was Ben's first green monster and he was pleasantly surprised. Yay for open minded eaters!

After we dropped Ben and Dave off at the train station for their man date, the Flyers alumni game, Heather and I spent the day exploring Phoenixville.  Our first stop was Petal's Consignment Boutique where I found an awesome purple tweed blazer and a long sleeve sweat wicking Mizuno t-shirt with the tags still on it, which apparently retails for $40 and I got it for 8 bucks!

Next we headed downtown!  We stopped in a few shops but we were really excited when we found the Black Walnut Winery storefront.  We stopped in and found out that they were doing free wine tasting!  The tasting included 7 wines and our host recommended sharing each taste so we got to try 14 different wines!  We had a blast trying all the delicious wines they had to offer and neither of us left empty handed, we couldn't help picking up a few bottles.

The rest of our afternoon included some trashy tv, getting gussied up for our New Years celebrations, and chowing down on some Five Guys burgers.  After we picked up the boys, Heather and Ben went home and Dave and I headed out to a party.  We celebrated with funfetti cupcakes, champagne, a cotton candy maker, singing, a bunch of friends, an epic spread of cheeses, some wild puppies, and games.  We had an awesome time!

I'm currently working on my New Years Resolutions, there will be a whole post about them later!

How did you ring in the new year?