February Goals

Happy February! 

Normally, I'm pretty down this time of year, my happiness beaten into submission from too many hours of shoveling, perpetually wet socks, and a salt-stained car. But this year, winter has been incredibly mild. February seems almost like a gateway to spring. And I'm flying high at the thought.

Of course, this is New England, and this will very likely come crashing down on my head with a big ol' blizzard. But now, I'm happy.

Even more happy because its the first day of the month and that means:

FEBRUARY GOALS:

1) MEDITATE DAILY: One of my more zen-like friends came up with this little challenge and I'm jumping on the bandwagon with a bunch of other mutual friends. Meditation, to me, is one of those things I know I SHOULD do, but never quite get around to. So we'll see. One day down, already, though, so there's that.

2) READ 4 MORE BOOKS: Still plugging away with the one book a week thing. It's kind of mixed in with my decluttering goals, since my biggest weakness is books. And I got too many of them. I toyed with the idea of doing specific subjects: each month doing a fiction book, a career-minded book, a self-help book, and a wild card. And then I just grabbed whatever struck my fancy.

3) EMAIL PURGE: Go through all the folders in my email account to purge, streamline, and otherwise organize it all.

4) ONE ROAD RACE: Over the past couple years, because of a number of things in life, I fell out of the habit of running and racing. It shows! Not only did I put on a bunch of weight, but I feel very disjointed and unmotivated. I started the year off by doing a daily outdoor run of 1 mile or more (and the weather was very cooperative). It's a good start, but I'm still hauling myself out to do it as if it were a giant chore, instead of the joy that running can be! Time to put some fun races back in the mix. I'm starting with a 5k. *sigh* Gotta start somewhere

5) MEAL PLANNING: Along with the no running fiasco of the past couple years, came the stress eating and grab-and-go mentality diet. I've been - well- a bit better in the new year, but not great. That's the thing! I need to write it down and make a goal and just do it! So I'm gonna be one of those annoying co-workers with her special divided containers this month. I can't wait!

6) REALLY LEARN ROSIE'S CAPACITIES: My still new-enough-to-call-new computer has been treating me well for the mundane tasks that we all need computers for: email, social media, online applications and the such, back to blogging. Yet at the same time, I've been in a fight with the cloud for the past two weeks, and I can't really figure out if my computer ringing when I get a phone call is just to annoy me or can I actually answer from the keyboard? Time to take that apple class and so Rosie and I can become BFFs.

7) GET TOGETHER WITH SOME OLD FRIENDS: again. Some different ones. We live close enough, we just don't make the time

8) EXPLORE SOME LOCAL PARKS:  So now, I'm living right on Cape Cod, and its not summer, which means I can get from point A to point B without sitting in traffic! And though its not summer weather, there's still plenty of outdoorsy type pursuits I can take on in a small way. I drive by too many cool places on my way to and from work each day to not actually do some exploring.

and speaking of outdoor exploring:

9) HIKE ON THE BAY CIRCUIT TRAIL: Thru hiking has really become my sole purpose in life, but sometimes responsibilities  limited the off from work make an epic long hike and impossibility. Enter section hikes! The next on my list is the Bay Circuit Trail, which has the added plus of no big travel. I'm hoping to complete it in 2 years with weekend hikes.

10) CLEAN AND DETAIL THE CAR; I essentially drive a mobile trash heap. Its disgusting and needs to stop

February, let's dance!

January Goals

Ok, so I failed miserably in the month of January. 
I had this great idea that I was gonna blog every day in January.
That did not happen.

But it's not my fault.

It's a little my fault.

But not totally.

It all started on New Years Day. (when I actually got up early and went for a run) Back home, there was no power. Later, after my freezing cold shower, I found out the reason... some partiers had collided with a telephone pole on New Years Eve and knocked out all the power. For 3 days. WTF? And why do we still have telephone poles? Aren't the cables all supposed to be underground now?

Anyway, we did get power back but then my computer crapped the bed.  I had to go get a new one. I had been planning on it for a while, since my old computer was really starting to go slow and the battery pretty much was non existent. (It had to be plugged in all the time).  So I had a few days with electricity but no computer until the weekend when I went and got myself a bright, shiny, new Mac. It's pretty and pink! (They call it Rose-Gold, but whatever. It's pink)

And when I was all settled with my new computer (I call her Rosie) and a power source...my mom got a UTI and then my Dad went in the hospital for 3 days and then went back to the ER a week later and then I was....tired.  And playing catch up for the rest of January. (They are both fine, by the way)

So now, here it is. January 31. I have electricity. And a computer named Rosie. And my parents are doing well. And I have a bit more energy.  Well, at least a ready supply of caffeine and sugar.

But most importantly, it's time for my favorite type of ALL blog posts:  GOALS!!!

1) WINTER WARRIOR CHALLENGE: A local running store had the challenge to run outside every day in the month of January. Success!  (to be fair, there were a few days where I didn't RUN, but WALKED- but those were all 6-10 walks so its all good)

2) READ 1 BOOK A WEEK:  DONE!   

3) HANG OUT WITH A FRIEND I HAVEN'T SEEN IN A WHILE: YEP! One of those epic long walks was with my ol' buddy Wheelie and his cool motorized beach chair. On a 50 degree day in January. Good day

4) DECLUTTERING! PURGE ONE THING A DAY FOR 31 DAYS:  SUCCESS! Incidentally, I don't have a lot of stuff. So why do I have so much stuff?  And do I have a weird obsession with getting rid of stuff?

5) GO TO VERIZON AND GET MY DAMN CELL PHONE BILL LOWERED: FINALLY!  I really can use that extra $20 a month

6) GET TWO PROTOCOLS COMPLETED AT WORK FOR PATIENT CARE: Done.  I know...ZZZZZZZZZ. But needed.

7) COMPLETE ONLINE APPLICATIONS FOR SUMMER PLANS: Finished. All I have to do is wait for the response. Fingers crossed!

8) BLOG DAILY IN JANUARY.  Wellll.........



Overall, a pretty damn good month. Especially since I had a quite a few obstacles thrown in my path.
And tomorrow, I will be up early, posting goals for February! 

Or hitting the snooze alarm 10 times. Whichever.