February Report on New Year's Resolutions 2017

Marriage:
1. Monthly date night! Check!
2. I'm going to try to make sure that Kevin spends some time alone doing something he enjoys at least once a month (hiking, reading at coffee shop) Not really.
3. Make sure Kevin is able to spend time with his friends at least once a month. Check! He got to see Casey again. Technically March 1, but we'll count it as February.

Family:
1. Kids- Monthly "family day" where we take the kids to do something fun. It's been cold but they got time with Grandma.
2. Going to try again to teach James Spanish. NOPE- TRY AGAIN
3. Grandma/Nana: Keep seeing them about once a month. Saw Grandma but not Nana. Nana is coming soon.

Me:
1. Meditate daily - 59 days in row now since the beginning of the year! Though some days are a more focused attempt than others
2. Walk 10,000 steps, 5 days a week. 2 out of 4 weeks?
3. Read 200 books/ listen to audiobooks this year (about 17 a month)- Read 28 books in February. (Plus 31 books in January)
4. Try to see a close friend at least once a month. Spent time with Janice, Ash, and Ellie!
5. Get comfortable driving to the grocery store. NOPE, TRY AGAIN

January Report on New Year's Resolutions 2017

Marriage:
1. Monthly date night! Check!
2. I'm going to try to make sure that Kevin spends some time alone doing something he enjoys at least once a month (hiking, reading at coffee shop) Check!
3. Make sure Kevin is able to spend time with his friends at least once a month Check!

Family:
1. Kids- Monthly "family day" where we take the kids to do something fun. Check!
2. Going to try again to teach James Spanish. NOPE- TRY AGAIN (Need a plan to get this done!)
3. Grandma/Nana: Keep seeing them about once a month. January was an off month but Grandma is coming in February.

Me:
1. Meditate daily - 31 days in row!
2. Walk 10,000 steps, 5 days a week. 2 out of 4 weeks.
3. Read 200 books/ listen to audiobooks this year (about 17 a month)- Read and listened to a total of 31 books in January
4. Try to see a close friend at least once a month. NOPE, TRY AGAIN
5. Get comfortable driving to the grocery store.  NOPE, TRY AGAIN

Miranda's final grade on my January attempts:

Mmm, not great... try harder.

New Years Resolutions 2017

My 2016 resolutions were like a lot of other things in 2016--> TOTAL FAIL. I'm not even sure I looked at them until today. So! To fulfill my 2017 resolutions, I'm going to check in every month.

Marriage:
1. Monthly date night! Have one on the calendar for January.
2. I'm going to try to make sure that Kevin spends some time alone doing something he enjoys at least once a month (hiking, reading at coffee shop) and
3. Make sure Kevin is able to spend time with his friends at least once a month

Family:
1. Kids- Monthly "family day" where we take the kids to do something fun. We've actually done a lot of this over the last year or so this one should be easy.
2. Going to try again to teach James Spanish. (Need a plan to get this done!)
3. Grandma/Nana: Keep seeing them about once a month

Me:
1. Meditate daily (This could also have gone under "family" since my bigger goal is to be more positive at home.)
2. Walk 10,000 steps, 5 days a week. Got a Fitbit!
3. Read 200 books/ listen to audiobooks this year (about 17 a month)
4. Try to see a close friend at least once a month.
5. Get comfortable driving to grocery store. (Maybe by doing it once a week?)

 

Random recent picture I like

New Years Resolutions 2016

I've really been avoiding this. I don't want to make resolutions this year. I did so much last year!

1) Have James be conversational in Spanish! (Get Miranda started.)
2) Become personally involved in an organization that does good.
3) Complete our powers of attorney & healthcare powers of attorney (was also on my 2014 and 2015 resolutions)
4) Read 12 books from my reading resolutions list

James & Miranda's resolution: Brush teeth twice a day. (Yes, we picked it for them.)

James and Miranda brushing before bed in October

How About Those 2015 Resolutions?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 2016 here we come!! Please be kind!

On the one hand, some things on my resolutions list from last year remain undone. On the other hand, I've had a banner year in terms of getting things done! So let's start with all the positive (non-resolution) change.* This post is long, so I highlighted key stuff for you. Haha.

In March, Kevin got me this book for birthday because he knows I'm interested in organization books. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing* by Marie Kondo (Konmari) is no joke. I don't just have a more organized home, but it was LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC! It's real. Let me explain.

After I had started successfully decluttering my home so that I could bask in the things I love most, it occurred to me that this problem I had been unable to solve with willpower or other books-- I was able to solve with a better system. Maybe I just needed a better system for... everything!

So I asked for recommendations, specifically seeking something that was similar in style to Konmari: a book with a system to fix my problem, with some instant wins, that would keep me motivated, and was free to implement. I think that the "free" part is kind of key because it somehow prevents shysters from profiting (and therefore recidivism on your part).

So for finances I did The Total Money Makeover: Classic Edition: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness by Dave Ramsey. I'm not going to get into my financial details online, but huge improvement! If you want to ask me in person, I'll tell.

At this point it occurred to me that what I really wanted was to lose weight. This one was tough. I was asking around everywhere. I tried reading a few bad diet books. Meanwhile articles were coming out that diets don't work. Ugh.

Finally I found this BBC documentary from 2012 about accidental diet research on mice and its effects on humans... as far as we know now. Basically the documentary talked about the scientific method of eating 500 calories every other day, and your regular current diet in between. There are a few different names for this method of eating: alternate day fasting, every other day diet, or 5:2 fast diet (if you only do it 2 days a week).

I read the three best books on the topic (Mosley, Varady, Johnson). The thing is, you don't need to read the books at all because I just explained the whole diet to you, but if you want to be convinced that it's healthy and scientific then read one of the books. I still think the best one is The FastDiet - Revised & Updated: Lose Weight, Stay Healthy, and Live Longer with the Simple Secret of Intermittent Fasting by Michael Mosley. I also like the Facebook group Alternate Day Fasting. (I would recommend actually reading and following KonMari or Dave Ramsey if you have problems in those areas, but the diet is really straightforward.)

I've done the 5:2 diet for 5 months, and lost 15 pounds so far. I lost the weight I gained when I was pregnant plus another 7 pounds. I'm the weight I was when I got married in 2009, and there's no signs that I'm stuck or that I've plateaued yet. So I'll report back when I do.

Lost the Miranda weight plus more, except 

that Miranda makes me carry her all the time.

I asked around again for life-changing systems, and this time I found bullet journal which is a very easy, simple, and fun way to make your own planner and keep track of your short-term and long term goals. No book this time, just this website: http://bulletjournal.com/. I also like the Facebook group Bullet Journal Junkies. You don't have to buy, borrow, or read anything.

I'm in the process of finding information on meditation and mindfulness. I'll report back this too. 

Also, we bought a house this year! So that was an awesome bucket list item for me. I'm super happy about our little house near the beach and near Kevin's job.

As for my actual 2015 Resolutions, below I highlighted which of my 2015 resolutions I actually accomplished. I'm doing a separate post on my 2016 resolutions but hopefully I can keep that list SHORT and manageable.

2015 Resolution "Musts":

• Spanish: Started to get serious about teaching the kids Spanish! 
• Complete our powers of attorney (was also on my 2014 resolutions)
• Living wills (was also on my 2014 resolutions)
• Healthcare powers of attorney (was also on my 2014 resolutions)
• What would I do for our kids? Letters?

My reading list:

• Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
• Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates 
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon 
• Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munroe 
• Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler 
• The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky 
• (I also read 21 other books that weren't on this list including: Nobody is Ever Missing by Catherine Lacey)

Also fun reads (bonus):

• the third Magicians
• the rest of Game of Thrones 4-6 (read 4 and 5, stuck on the boringness of 6)
• Enders Game 

Charity: One donation a month. I might also encourage you to donate to the one I pick. (I gave this year but not to 12 places, or each month.)

Things I still needed to do from my 2014 Resolutions:

• Back-up my entire computer.
• Learn to bake!
• Lost the baby weight I gained with Miranda! And not a resolution - but also James weight! (Thanks 5:2!)
• Culled my dad's books (thanks Konmari!)
• Finish James's baby book
• Baptize the kids.
• Learn Italian this year.

* I used three associate links above, because why the heck not, but these are all books I used to great effect. All of you who know me in real life know that I won't shut up about these books. My "cults." Also, you don't need to buy any of these books because they're probably in your local library.

New Years Resolutions 2015

 I made a lot of resolutions last year! I only have a few this year though.

I want to address the question: What if I only had a year to live? If I really only had a year to live I wouldn't want to waste it doing all the things I should do, so I'm going to try do them now. This might not be possible, but I'm going to try. Besides, we don't always get a heads up.

In part, I will use this website to help me:

• Complete our powers of attorney
• Living wills
• Healthcare powers of attorney 
• Related details
• What would I do for our kids?

Spanish:

• Time to get serious about teaching the kids Spanish!

My reading list :

• Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (started)
• Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
• Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munroe 
• Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler
• The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
• The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
• Also fun reads (bonus): the rest of Game of Thrones 4-6, the third Magicians, and Enders Game 

Charity:

• One donation a month. I might also encourage you to donate to the one I pick.

Okay, so maybe that's still too many? But I feel really good about them!

How About Those 2014 Resolutions?

The blog has a lot of nice perks. I'm not sure if New Year's resolutions accountability is one of these perks or not. I made a lot of resolutions last year! This is the result.

On  my "Must" list:

• We did complete our wills and check on the amount of life insurance, but we didn't complete our powers of attorney, living wills, and healthcare powers of attorney. I think this is because even though I understand the necessity of a will the other things seem so much more theoretical. 
• I finished all my dental work, and now I have healthy teeth and gums!
• I didn't back-up my entire computer.
• I didn't finish James's baby book
• I didn't a picture of Miranda every day (though I have taken pictures of her most days, and some days way too many). 
• My walking pretty much followed my resolution. It dropped off significantly after it got cold, though I specifically said I would not do it in the cold. I do really want to go for walks. 

On my "Would like to" list :

• Read more (quality) books! I read some books this year, but not the ones I intended to read and not as many as I intended. I will need to rethink this goal for this year. 
• I did cook more quality dinners.... but this dropped off after Miranda was born mostly because she naps right when I'd like to be cooking. But I definitely cooked a lot more this year than last year. And I tried lots of new recipes.
• I did not learn to bake.
• I did not baptize the kids. That's been a fail. 
• I did not learn Italian this year. That was a little crazy since anyway since I had a baby this year. 

Here's two that weren't originally on my list:

• We donated more to charity. I think we gave ten times this year! 
• I lost the baby weight I gained with Miranda!
• I actually started culling my dad's books. I am 3/26ths done. We're going to call this one started, not completed.

Okay, so did I have too many resolutions? I think no. I accomplished 6 pretty big things! I think I did more than if I had just made one or two resolutions. Any suggestions for my 2015 resolutions?

A couple more 2014 accomplishments.

New Years Resolutions 2014

Well, we're half-way through January already, so maybe it's time I got my resolutions in order. This is a lot of stuff but I'm hoping I'll be aided by the insanity of pregnancy "nesting."

Must: 

• Complete our wills, powers of attorney,  living wills, and healthcare powers of attorney.
• Double check our Life Insurance now that we will have 2 kids.
• Back up entire computer (and try to get Kevin to do the same).
• Finish James's baby book
• Take a picture every day of Itty Bitty's first year (because I did it for James)
• Go for a walk 5-6 times a week after I'm recovered from Itty Bitty's birth until it gets too cold in Fall/Winter 
• Finish dental work (ugh)

Would like to:

• Read more (quality) books! My full reading to-do list for 2014 is on my books blog.
• Cook more quality dinners. I actually started working on this in December, I'll write more about it soon.
• Baptism- for both kids?
• Learn Italian! Well, learn a little conversational stuff.

Bonus goals:

• Learn to bake? Ah, scared of this one. 

 

Crazy picture of me from New Years Day- Cheers!