Designated Date Time/ Family Time
Thanksgiving is obviously family time. With the passing of my mom, my family wanted to make sure we spent it together. We hosted a small dinner at my dad's house and made sure we all came into town to spend it together. It was definitely odd without her there. My mom was so opinionated, I kept wondering what she would say about the table cloth I picked out and wondered if I was doing it all the way she would have wanted. We had a little remembrance for her before dinner as well which definitely was emotional. 
The day after, my whole family went to the Cal vs. UCLA game. While I wish the football went better, it was fun to do something with all of us. I also got to catch up with some friends at a tailgate beforehand. I think one of the best things about being an adult is enjoying things like this with your family more than you did when you were a kid. Also, teaching your dad how to take selfies. Dan and I also started picking up family hikes again! Since we don't have a gym in LA, a pre-turkey hike seemed like a great workout. Too bad it was 90 degrees out.
Stick to a Regular Fitness Schedule
Man, I tried so hard with this one, but it's been hard to get back in that rhythm. As part of No Excuses November, I tried to be really picky about what kept me out of the gym. Was I not going because I was lazy or did I have a good reason? Usually it was because I was sore or work ran away from me which felt fair. I also got the flu the last week and I feel safe saying NO ONE wants a sick contagious person at the gym with them.There were still a couple of times where I probably could have gone but didn't so those times I made sure I was still being very productive by cleaning the whole house or tackling some other project I'd put off.
Dan and I did start bringing back the weekly hikes though. I also have been trying to do more runs. I got a PR in a 10k this month and it made me really want to get my time under an hour. I definitely have a lot of drive to keep this goal going so let's hope December is when I really nail it.
Meal Planning
At the end of the month, I started to try to clean up our eating. I was feeling super bloated after several big eating events around Thanksgiving. It's been fun to look through the Whole30 recipes and try to think of some new, fun, healthy dishes. We'll get to it later but except more of this next month!Take an Annual Trip with My Husband
I was hoping we'd find some awesome Black Friday deal to kick off planning for next year but no luck yet. I think we'll just have to wait until our tax returns come and hope we find some awesome last minute deal. We're signed up for a lot of races next year and I'm hoping we can go on our trip after our last one as a reward for our hard work.Read a Book a Week
I destroyed this goal. With EIGHT books in November, it was more like 2 a week. I've also surpassed my 52 books for the year and now everything is surplus (yes, I don't stop just because I hit my number - right now I'm at 54 books). P.S. Part of my secret is audio books. I listened to two of the eight this month which definitely helped.It also set me up to be able to vote better for the Goodreads awards. I still got annoyed that many of the books that won were voted on because of the author or hype and not because people liked it. Example? Artemis won for sci-fi... it came out in the middle of the voting. Andy Weir is a great author but you know 52,000 people didn't read that book in the two weeks they had to vote after it came out. I'd love if they re-vamped it so voting was in early January for the year before. There were also some winners of books that weren't good... because again, the author has other good books. I wish people would just refrain from voting if they haven't read the book. Lower voter turnout might encourage Goodreads to fix the voting.
My favorites for the year so far are Little Fires Everywhere, Turtles All the Way Down, and All Our Wrong Todays.
Me Time
I don't even know if I had free time last month. I feel like all of my free time was spent reading. I want to say I'm a little over books but so far I'm on my second book in December and both have been ones I don't want to put down.
While I like to argue that reading time and "me" time are separate, they definitely haven't been. I think that's the difference of reading before bed or while I'm waiting and reading because I'm really into a book. So anyways - I obviously carved out a lot of time for reading last month and that felt like my time when I liked the books.
While I like to argue that reading time and "me" time are separate, they definitely haven't been. I think that's the difference of reading before bed or while I'm waiting and reading because I'm really into a book. So anyways - I obviously carved out a lot of time for reading last month and that felt like my time when I liked the books.
No Excuses November
So how about that month goal? For me, the hardest part was defining it. Obviously, I can't do EVERYTHING and excuses come into play when you're choosing between things to do. I decided that instead of the goal being "never make an excuse" it was to think about what I was choosing between. Was I not something because I didn't want to or was being lazy? Or was I doing something more important instead? It really made me focus more on the trade offs and what's possible with the limited amount of time we have.
I joked earlier that November was 5 minutes long. I really feel like 95% of the time, I made the most of my time this month and I still fell really short of being able to do everything I wanted to. It really helped me clear up some issues I've had with trying to do more than I possibly could and feeling deflated over it. Figuring that out and prioritizing the other things I'm more invested in, lifted a lot of burdens for me.
- Fitness! I still would like to put more time here. Dan and I are signed up for some really hard races next year and that's going to mean carving out more and more time to train. I definitely didn't put as much work here as I wanted to but I understand that it's a place I want and need to focus on so I can find success.
- Chores! This one went from zero attention to a lot. It was a good place for me to put my time when I was procrastinating. Didn't make the gym? Well, you better clean the house then! It helped me stayed ahead of chores, organize the house more, and tackle a lot of projects I've put off like cleaning my office or the garage. I saw that doing a little bit each day was way better than letting it pile up into a huge mess that was harder to do all at once.
- Real Estate and Etsy! These areas took a big hit. Even when I tried to carve out time, there was always something else coming up. Thinking about what my goals are for next year, I see these continuing to take a back seat.
- Friends! I don't feel like this month was particularly outgoing in terms of seeing friends like last month but I did host a party and saw people a lot. I think in the midst of November going by so fast, nothing really feels like I gave it enough time.
So that's how November went. It definitely sped by and I feel like I didn't accomplish nearly as much as I wanted to.
This goal was so glaringly obvious to me coming out of November. The third week of this month is a big eating week for most people. As always, I took it a step too far. We had 5 days in a week period that revolved around excessive eating and by the end of it, it just felt really ridiculous. After the last day, I went to Costco and bought like 6 kinds of lettuce with the plan to go Whole30 4-5 days a week. I'd still be eating clean the other days but I'd allow myself a little more flexibility and some wine.
And then I got the flu. I just wanted easy food because getting out of bed to cook felt impossible. It through this whole plan in the trash a few days after started. By the time I felt better, I had a fridge full of rotten lettuce.
It made me realize that not only is eating tons of salad a little hard - it's really not what you feel like when it's colder outside and you're busy or not feeling well. So the new plan is a little different. I still want to try to eat mostly clean and fit in a lot of salads. There's just no structure or goal around it. It's still December after all and I think just going for a general 80/20 healthy eating plan is a good goal to end the year.
Obviously, the holidays are tough on healthy eating. There are too many goodies and parties. I'm a strong believer that turning down too many fun treats ends up being worse for your overall happiness and fitness goals. It's better to learn how to moderate, and this goal encompasses that.
It also sets me up for future goals. I'm definitely thinking about my plans for next year and I've realized that a lot of these monthly goals fit into my big one for next year. This just further puts in those building blocks to get ready for 2018.
I joked earlier that November was 5 minutes long. I really feel like 95% of the time, I made the most of my time this month and I still fell really short of being able to do everything I wanted to. It really helped me clear up some issues I've had with trying to do more than I possibly could and feeling deflated over it. Figuring that out and prioritizing the other things I'm more invested in, lifted a lot of burdens for me.
- Fitness! I still would like to put more time here. Dan and I are signed up for some really hard races next year and that's going to mean carving out more and more time to train. I definitely didn't put as much work here as I wanted to but I understand that it's a place I want and need to focus on so I can find success.
- Chores! This one went from zero attention to a lot. It was a good place for me to put my time when I was procrastinating. Didn't make the gym? Well, you better clean the house then! It helped me stayed ahead of chores, organize the house more, and tackle a lot of projects I've put off like cleaning my office or the garage. I saw that doing a little bit each day was way better than letting it pile up into a huge mess that was harder to do all at once.
- Real Estate and Etsy! These areas took a big hit. Even when I tried to carve out time, there was always something else coming up. Thinking about what my goals are for next year, I see these continuing to take a back seat.
- Friends! I don't feel like this month was particularly outgoing in terms of seeing friends like last month but I did host a party and saw people a lot. I think in the midst of November going by so fast, nothing really feels like I gave it enough time.
So that's how November went. It definitely sped by and I feel like I didn't accomplish nearly as much as I wanted to.
Detox December
This goal was so glaringly obvious to me coming out of November. The third week of this month is a big eating week for most people. As always, I took it a step too far. We had 5 days in a week period that revolved around excessive eating and by the end of it, it just felt really ridiculous. After the last day, I went to Costco and bought like 6 kinds of lettuce with the plan to go Whole30 4-5 days a week. I'd still be eating clean the other days but I'd allow myself a little more flexibility and some wine.
And then I got the flu. I just wanted easy food because getting out of bed to cook felt impossible. It through this whole plan in the trash a few days after started. By the time I felt better, I had a fridge full of rotten lettuce.
It made me realize that not only is eating tons of salad a little hard - it's really not what you feel like when it's colder outside and you're busy or not feeling well. So the new plan is a little different. I still want to try to eat mostly clean and fit in a lot of salads. There's just no structure or goal around it. It's still December after all and I think just going for a general 80/20 healthy eating plan is a good goal to end the year.
Obviously, the holidays are tough on healthy eating. There are too many goodies and parties. I'm a strong believer that turning down too many fun treats ends up being worse for your overall happiness and fitness goals. It's better to learn how to moderate, and this goal encompasses that.
It also sets me up for future goals. I'm definitely thinking about my plans for next year and I've realized that a lot of these monthly goals fit into my big one for next year. This just further puts in those building blocks to get ready for 2018.
