New Year, New Goals

Oh my gosh! January is almost over and still no resolutions. This is so unlike me. I'm usually the type of person who has goals picked out well before Christmas, but I'm struggling this year. It's not for lack of things I want to see happen. I just seem to be having difficulty laying out my goals in a way that is simple but also "trackable." I seem to do better with goals that involve tracking and accountability, like my reading and mileage goals last year. But I also feel like I need to tweak the motivation behind them, or my way of thinking about things, or something. I don't want to be reading a bunch of books just to meet my quota. And mileage is great, but feels too narrow. I still want to lose weight, but I want it to be more about my health than a number. So some of what I've come up with is frustratingly vague (to my way of thinking, at least), but I will share what I have anyway because putting it off isn't helping either.

My fitness goal is to consistently work out at least four days per week, including at least two days with weight lifting. So far I have been doing well with this. Of course part of this is to lose weight, but it's also about reinforcing healthy habits so I don't end up in a vicious cycle of falling off the wagon and beating myself up about it, then restarting only to fall off again. Unfortunately, I have difficulty sticking to a weight lifting routine because in my brain it's not a good workout unless sweat is dripping off me. I know that weight lifting is beneficial and produces results, but ultimately I am a cardio queen. But that's kind of the point: I want to change how I think about things. I don't want to measure the quality of my workouts by how many miles I go, or something like that. I want to base it on how I feel after: Did I push myself? Am I doing my best? Am I consistently fitting this into my life? And so on. So I don't want to set up goals for mileage or a certain amount of weight loss. I want my clothes to fit better again, and more importantly, I want to feel good because I'm taking care of myself. I will try to share here frequently what kind of workouts I'm doing and if I'm meeting my goal, to help me stay accountable. 

My health goal is to climb back on the gluten-free wagon and stay there. It's funny to me how difficult this can be, considering I've been gluten free most of my life. But it is so easy to fall into a pattern of cheating because it's less work, it's less expensive and it's yummy. But, and this is a huge issue: it makes me feel terrible! Physically, because my body can't handle it. I end up sick and bloated most of the time, and the headaches become even more constant and intense than is normal for me (which if you know me, is really saying something). Plus, it's not just gluten-y food, most of it is just not very healthy for anyone. And it's taken a huge toll mentally and emotionally. I feel awful for doing that to myself. Whether it's laziness, self-destructive tendencies, a desire not to be different, whatever. It had to stop and I've been sticking to it since December. So far so good, with a couple little accidental slips. I struggled a lot last year with my lack of motivation to take care of myself. Ultimately it's a circular argument I was having with myself, and I decided to just suck it up and do the things I know I need to do, even when my motivation disappears. Because continuing to do those things, and enjoying the good results they bring, is the only thing that can bring back my motivation. Otherwise I just end up in a downward spiral, and I'm sick of that. 

My spiritual goal is to make my daily bible reading and prayer time a priority, which means doing it every day even if I'm not really in the mood. I've been sticking to this so far as well. I have a One Year Bible devotional that's helping me stay on track. I'm also trying not to be such a stickler about every single detail, so some days I don't do all the reading recommended. Maybe I'll just read the Psalms and Proverbs. Maybe I'll read everything. Whatever I feel I need so that it's meaningful and not just me checking another thing off my to do list.

My financial goal is to pay off my debt and live within my means. Granted, I just have the one credit card with a balance, and my debt is significantly lower than a lot of peoples', but it causes me so much stress. I HATE having debt. And I know that it's kind of a necessary evil, because there are expenses and emergencies and whatnot, but I want my debt to be as minimal as possible. This is completely manageable, I just need to keep myself in check and not spend my money frivolously every month. A little frivolity is fine, but I need to keep my budget under better control than I did last year. It would be fantastic if I could lower my monthly expenses more, but we'll see how that works out. I want more money to go into my savings once the card is paid down, and I would really love to open an IRA.

So that's what I have for this year. You'll notice there is neither a mileage goal nor a reading goal. I'm still logging miles, and I'll probably share that here. And of course I'm still going to read and share what I read as I have been. But I have too much stress in my life to put more pressure on myself. I've also added a feature on the left to show what I am currently reading. I change that as my reading material changes, and I will be including the magazines I read because I enjoy them just as much as books and they teach me and inspire me.


If you've made resolutions/goals, I would love to hear about them and your progress!

Video

I know this has been out for a little while already, but whatever. I just heard this song and found it very powerful, so I found a YouTube video of it and here you go. You're welcome. xoxo

There's another video of this song with lyrics that I like better and it has a quote from Matthew West at the end about the song, but it won't let me put it on here for some reason. So here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X6h6QiFqi4&context=C315598aADOEgsToPDskIR7X-eaHlEM7_vqDpmkV0r

December Update and Year Totals

Hi all,

First up is my walk/run goal. In December I did 38 miles, so my grand total for the year is... 353.5 miles! 53.5 miles over my goal. The crowd goes wild!!! I feel pretty good about myself for accomplishing that goal.

Next is my reading goal. I read three books in December. I cut myself a little slack because I was tired and had some magazines to catch up on. Plus, I had already passed my goal, so no pressure. That makes my total for the year 52 books! I'm proud of that accomplishment too, especially considering how insanely busy I feel sometimes. It's important that I make the time to slow down, relax and do the things I enjoy (like reading).

Here's what I read:

The Eyre Affair

I can't even begin to describe these books in any way that makes sense to myself. Read the descriptions on Amazon. Better yet, read the books. I love these and decided to reread them again for fun.You read that right - I reread them again. I can't remember how many times I've read them and I always enjoy them. This is the first book.

Lost in a Good Book

This is the second book. I plan to read the next ones this month, and hopefully get the most recent one soon so I can read that too.

A Woman of Valor: Clara Barton and the Civil War

I actually started reading this way back in August but I had a lot of trouble focusing. Once I decided to focus on it, I quite enjoyed it. Good history, told in a very smooth narrative style that kept things going. And I enjoyed learning more about Clara Barton. I never knew much about her other than the superficial things one gets when learning history. I liked the insight this provided into who she was. And it shows that even the history makers are still human. Very interesting. I would recommend it.

I had a lovely week off in which I didn't have to think too much, and I'm proud to announce that I managed to watch all 105 episodes of Wizards of Waverly Place during that time, plus the movie. There is only one episode of the show left to air. I'm pretty proud of that accomplishment too. I often have trouble sitting still and doing nothing and letting myself (and my brain rest), but I managed it. Mostly. I did squeeze about 3.5-4 days of work in there (putting things away, running errands, cooking, cleaning, working out, etc.). It was a good week. :D

I don't know yet if I'm going to set a mileage goal for this year or focus on something else. I think I do want to set another reading goal, but I don't know how many I want to aim for, if I want to increase the number or maybe try for more of a certain type of reading. We'll see where I land on that. I haven't settled on my goal(s) yet, so that will have to wait. I hope to be back soon with more on that once I get my brain to focus again. Happy New Year!! xoxo

2011-2012 analysis, thus far

I didn't get around to a discussion of new shows this year, but I thought I would share my schedule again, since we're in hiatus mode (for the most part). You may remember my previous posts on this topic (you can look at them here, here, and here if you want a refresher). This year's schedule looks like this right now:

There are some significant changes from the last time I shared it. Some of these changes were not much of a surprise and I talked about them in the post from March, when I cut Supernatural. Since then I've removed the shows I mentioned might be on the way out (Chuck, Glee). There were other shows in there that I tried watching and just didn't work for one reason or another, including 2 Broke Girls, Grimm, Pan Am, Hart of Dixie, and possibly a few others I've already forgotten.

Interestingly enough, Glee, which I thought would be one of the last things to go, was the first one I stopped watching.  I just could not take it anymore. I don't know what happened over there, but the plot (when it had one) was horrible and they managed to make pretty much every character beyond annoying. Words are deserting me, but I could not stand the characters anymore so I stopped watching it. Except Britney - she remained as awesome as ever.

Then Chuck, in all it's adorkable charm. It's the same show it always has been. I thought I would watch this season, since it's the last one. But I was SO BORED. I couldn't take it anymore and I wasn't looking forward to watching it at all. So it went on the Netflix list for someday when I find it appealing again.

I'm still watching The Office, but it really isn't what is used to be. I find myself missing Michael Scott in pretty much every episode. That's just sad. I'll keep watching for now, but it's a low priority. Especially up against Vampire Diaries, Community (sadly benched for now) and Parks and Recreation. How I Met Your Mother remains, as does Bones. That makes 5 definites on my schedule, lower than it used to be. And outnumbered by new shows that so far have held my interest, at least somewhat.

So on to those new shows.
~Once Upon A Time I find intriguing in its premise and execution. So far I'm enjoying it, though I can't say I rush to watch it. It builds up on the DVR and then I get around to watching several in a chunk. I am interested to know what happens next.
~I can't decide if I like New Girl. I like Zooey Deschanel but I do find her character pretty annoying and often unnecessarily "quirky." Sometimes I find it cute and funny; a lot of the time I find it awkward and slightly off-putting. But I'm hanging in there for now.
~I'm kind of on the fence about Suburgatory as well. Some of it I don't like. But there are a lot of little things that make it good so I keep watching hoping it will work out the kinks. And I think Jane Levy, who plays Tess, is quite good. I think this is one of her first roles - I'm impressed. Plus she's adorable. I also think Cheryl Hines is fabulous and always entertaining.
~I Hate My Teenage Daughter just started. At this point it's very run of the mill sitcomy, but I'm sticking with it because of Katie Finneran. She is so funny and she makes this show enjoyable for me. I've loved her since Wonderfalls and I'm so glad she has another show. I hope it lasts longer and becomes as good as she is.
~I thoroughly enjoy Up All Night, but it isn't really must-see for me. Will Arnett, Christina Applegate and Maya Rudolph are all fantastic. I wish it were staying on Wednesdays and that NBC were cancelling stupid Whitney so Community didn't have to be benched. But NBC has a history of doing things like this because they wouldn't know good television if it smacked them across the face. That's all I really have to say about that. Nothing to see here. Moving on.
~That brings us to Secret Circle. Another one about which I can't make up my mind. It's no Vampire Diaries - I'll start with that. Both series come from L.J. Smith books, but thus far Secret Circle has not pulled me in like Vampire Diaries. I can't put my finger on why, but I'm trying to hold on through the season to see if I like it more. I seem to remember not being in love with Vampire Diaries initially either, so maybe things will change. Unfortunately, I think there is a vast difference between the casts and I just don't find the actors in the Secret Circle all that interesting, except perhaps Phoebe Tonkin. Plus, I am interested in where they're going with the story; just like Vampire Diaries, they veered almost completely off book pretty fast, which makes things interesting. We'll see.

I will have to come back when the midseason shows have started and give my opinions on those as well. I just never know how something will turn out, even from creators/producers I love. The mix has to be just right and there's no way to know if everything will combine into something good. I have found that having a DVR makes the process different than it used to be. I think it helps me give shows more of a chance to catch my interest, but also helps me decide quickly if I like something or not by how many of them are piled up to watch. It's interesting. I do find that I watch a lot less TV overall than I used to, and almost none during the week. So the DVR has really opened up my time to do the things that are important to me. I like that.

So I meant for this to be slightly deeper and more reflective than that, but my brain isn't cooperating. Maybe I'll be functioning better next week (which I have off! yay) and be able to post something of slightly more substance, that perhaps isn't quite so long. I probably won't post anything else before Sunday, so Merry Christmas!! xoxo

Tree! (and a few other pictures too)

I don't want to forget to put up a picture of our tree (Penelope), since I finally got a picture of it. Though since this was taken, more ornaments were added, and we're adding the strands of popcorn and cranberries tonight. Oh well. I'll try to get another picture when it's done. We have a red and white theme this year. My first couple are super fuzzy because there was not enough light, but I like them anyway. They look cool.

Here is one with some light:

And because I was so excited to see blooms in December, I took a few pictures of those too.

Gorgeous!

Merry Christmas everyone!! xoxo

November Miles

Now for my mileage. I find it much easier to update these separately. I am pleased to announce that I met and exceeded this goal in November. Woo! I walked (and ran a tiny, tiny bit. Not too much because of my knee (and my treadmill belt that won't stay put!)) 27.5 miles in November. That's more than twice the amount I needed to meet my goal. Which means my current total is 315.5 miles!! And there is still December. I'm feeling quite happy and proud of my accomplishment. Until next time. Love to all and welcome to another wonderful Christmas season! xoxo

November Books

I know my goal has already been completed, but that doesn't mean I've stopped reading. You may have noticed that I've added a currently reading section to the left, so you can always see what I'm reading at any given time. Here is what I read in November.

Shadowland (The Immortals #3)

This is another book in a series that I started a long time ago and I've decided I no longer want. I started reading this I don't know how long ago, and just wanted to finish it and then get rid of the three books I have. Another young adult book in a supernatural series. It's OK and I do tend to get hooked again when I read them. However, I find most of the characters irritating (which may be the writing or just a sign that I'm maturing - it's a toss up). I understand the popularity of the books, but I also don't really care if I ever read the next book(s).

Jane Bites Back

My mom gave me this book either for Christmas or my birthday or something because I love Jane Austen and I love vampire stories. So she thought I would get a kick out of this. It is a fun premise. The book itself wasn't bad, actually. I found it to be an easy read and enjoyable. Several things were just plain silly; it's clearly not meant to be a serious, dramatic vampire novel. That's obvious from the cover. Do I feel the need to keep it a read it again sometime? Nope. I have other such things for that (like all of Austen's books). But I did enjoy reading it and I can sell it to the bookstore so someone else can also enjoy it.

Certain Girls

OK, this is another one that I listened to instead of actually reading the book. I'm getting more and more into this whole audiobook thing. I never used to like them, but I started listening to certain things, like Sarah Vowell (who I find extremely enjoyable as audio) and The Daily Show (also a lot of fun). I stuck to the nonfiction for a long time because I didn't want to interfere with the voice I have in my head when I read novels. Usually the audiobook voices didn't match my inner voice so I didn't enjoy them. This was my first try with fiction; why not when it only cost $3? I actually really got into this. There were two different narrators: the mother and the daughter, read by two different actresses. I thought it really worked. And I enjoyed the story. It's difficult to talk about writing style and whatnot after listening to a book, because I feel like I noticed the "acting" much more than the writing. However, this had Jennifer Weiner's usual humor that I enjoy so much. And it made me cry because of something that happens that I won't spoil. Anyway, I liked it, but I've liked all of her books, so that's not much of a surprise.

The Stolen Child

I am really thrown off by this cover because it is quite different from the one my book has. But whatever. I was surprised by how I was sucked into this. I found the premise intriguing. It is about changelings and is told from two different perspectives: the changeling that takes over the life of a young boy, and the young boy who then becomes a changeling. I really liked the style and the switching narratives. I can't really explain it but I was thoroughly engrossed. I read a lot of this book on my way to and from my car before and after work and I would look up and find myself at my destination without really remembering the walk. That doesn't happen very often because obviously you need to look up to avoid running into things. How I managed not to run into anything (or anyone, for that matter) is beyond me. I would read other books by this author in a heartbeat. Excuse me a second while I go look him up on Amazon... OK I'm back. On to the last one.

Missing Mom

This one took me a while to read. I started it but then had to put it down and read something lighter (that's where Jane Bites Back came in). Then I picked it back up last weekend and couldn't put it down. I finished it in two days, which is quite the accomplishment for a Joyce Carol Oates book. I love her writing, but it is dense and heavy and extremely emotional. This is about dealing with the sudden death of a mother, and I found the entire thing very well done. Very true to the emotional upheaval and different ways people react to loss and deal with grief. Now that I've finished it I think I need something light again to balance it out though.

So that's it for the books. How many is that? 5 for November, which brings the total to 49! Woo!