2020 New Years Resolutions

Wow 2020 feels weird to write! Let's get this decade off to a good start. Last year I didn't make any resolutions because I knew I was going to have a baby halfway through the year and I figured trying to reach new goals while spending half the year feeling gross (in December/January I was battling crazy morning sickness which went away but I didn't know that at the time) and the other half the year taking care of a small human, wasn't a good idea. While both those things went a lot better than I'd imagined, I'm still happy I wasn't balancing it with striving to knock out a list of goals or feeling disappointed in myself for abandoning resolutions even though I had something bigger going on.

I'm actually a very goal oriented person so that's an important point to touch on when before we get going. It's why making a resolution list has been a big thing for me every year and why I like sharing it here. Even though I didn't set out the year with a set of goals, I ended up making some along the way because I knew it would help motivate me in a way that other things just don't.

Here are some of the things I accomplished in 2019:

• Signing up for a 10k shortly after giving birth and set (and completed!) a lot of goals around the training and completing of that race.
• Breastfeeding. Once we realized I was capable of it, holding onto that goal got me through the challenges of making it work well for us (now it's the easiest thing!).
• Planning out what meals I was going to make for the week. This helped me plan out what to grab from the freezer (since most of our protein comes frozen from Buthcerbox, it requires some planning ahead), as well as planning more complicated dishes when Dan was home to help with baby and having leftovers when he wasn't).
• Multitasking! This was HUGE after baby was born. I've always been good at multitasking but getting things done with a small baby was another level. Eventually we figured out how to get things done while watching Brooke. Somethings are easy to do when she can play on her mat and some things I can do while she's napping and some things just need to wait until she goes to bed or Dan is home. Figuring that out helped so much with getting things done. 

Some people hate New Years Resolutions but I love them. I love the chance to look back on my year (or life!) and think, "what do I want to do better?" I'm in such a great place for that. With an almost 6 month old, I have a better idea of what motherhood is about and what are realistic goals for how much time I have in a day. I've spent the last month or so thinking about good goals that fit into my life and the life I'd like to have and I'm really excited about this list.

One last thing - this list revolves a lot around goal setting and what works for me. I've been doing this serious resolution list for like 12 years and I've learned a lot about what motivates me. Those things are: achieving a goal, rewarding myself, and competition. The best competition I've found has been against past Nikki. I'll crush her any chance I get. If you find yourself hating resolutions, maybe turn it around and figure out what motivates you. Everyone is different but we can all do great things.

Exercise More!

If you read this blog, it's no surprise that fitness is a big part of my life. Not being able to exercise to the same extent is one thing I really disliked about being pregnant and the postpartum journey. Once I got cleared to workout, I did a great job. I eased into exercise and then ramped it up in preparation for my race.

..and then life happened! It got dark early so I couldn't run after work. The holidays came and balancing that preparation with a baby and work was a lot. I stopped dead in my tracks and honestly, that feels way worse than not being able to workout because I had a baby.

So I need a plan to get back into a fitness routine... and I have one! First, no wine unless I've worked out that day. It can literally be anything - a walk, a 15 min yoga video, ANYTHING. The point is just to get moving and to reward myself for getting back on that.

Second, train with a purpose! I am way more likely to take my fitness seriously if I have something to train for and I do. I signed up for a short Spartan race in the early spring and a half marathon at the end of May. I'm excited to train for these and get back into racing.

Third, get on a schedule. I've found the hardest part of having a baby isn't changing a diaper or any of the daily tasks, it's that I don't have the freedom to just do things at my convenience. I either need Dan to be home to watch her or I need to take her with me (which doesn't really work with a daycare-less gym). I'd like to work on a combo of things: going to the gym in the morning more when Dan is around to watch Brooke, working out with my videos and equipment at home while she's playing, and trying out the daycare at the YMCA (a membership I've been paying for months and haven't gone since 9 months pregnant). Brooke will also be big enough to ride in the running stroller which is a big part of my half marathon training plan. If I can take her running along a bike path during the day when it's safe, that will be huge in getting my fitness back on track and I'm sure she'll like the view.

As tempting as it is, this goal isn't about weight loss. I do have a goal of remaining baby weight I'd like to lose but if the year ends and I've worked out most days and weigh the same, I'll feel pretty good. It's also not about dieting. I threw around the idea of doing a January Whole30 because I know it works I'd probably easily knock out ten pounds if I did. However, I ultimately decided not to for two reasons. 1) As a breastfeeding Mom, my proiority is feeding my baby. Right now what I'm eating has helped me have a great milk supply so why mess with that? 2) Being a mom can be really hard and full of sacrifices. I don't want to add food as another thing I can't have right now. I also don't think we necessarily eat bad but I also don't deny myself some chocolate snacks or rich cheeses. I love food and I'd like to keep that simple pleasure right now.

Grow My Etsy Shop

A couple of years ago, I had a goal of making some passive income. I made an Etsy shop full of cross stitch downloads and it's done alright. I've basically stopped adding patterns to it since mid-2018 but the ones that are in there sell pretty well. It's not a large amount of money coming in or anything, but maybe it could be? I'd like to get patterns up on the site more regularly. I'm not going to set a strict goal because it's easier to do a bunch of patterns at once, but if I could keep my shop current with new pop culture trends (I'm looking at you Baby Yoda!), it will keep doing business in the background.

Upgrade

This one makes me feel a little greedy but, Dan and I are looking into getting a bigger house. We're so lucky to already own a home, but we always knew when we bought it that it wasn't our forever home. Having a baby has definitely made a big impact on the amount of space we have, but so has the loss of my mom. The latter has meant that holidays are spent at our home which just isn't really big enough to host a large dinner party next to the Christmas tree that takes up half our living room. As someone who love to cook, I feel limited by the amount of counter space I have to work with and usually I'm overflowing onto the dining and coffee tables to have enough prep space. It's definitely a little bit of a selfish problem to have but when we realized that we might be ready for a new house, why stay in a space we're not totally happy with?

We'd like our next home to be our basically forever home. By that, I mean someplace we'd like to stay unless outstanding circumstances changed things aka we win the lottery and can buy our absolute dream home. We've started looking and thought a lot about what we really want out of our next house which means we're not in any rush but getting something new in the next year would be ideal.

It's also really scary thinking about buying a new house though. Buying AND selling at the same time means timing needs to be perfect which can be tough in a competitive San Diego market. I'm also wary of the economy right now. I'm hoping that things work out well for us, but I always like to be cautious about making big moves.

De-Clutter

The older I get, the less interested I am in stuff. I have a lot of knick knacks that just take up space and are a pain in the butt to move. I think I'm pretty attached to what I have already and I've worked on not accumulating more stuff in the past year....

...but if we're going to move, it's definitely important to thin out what we have. While the idea of getting a bigger house is to have more space, I don't want us to be hermit crabs instantly filling that space with a ton of stuff. I'd love for more space to mean more open space. One thing I dislike about this house is how small the rooms are. This was made really evident when we brought the baby home and having her bassinet in our room meant we couldn't open our closet. It made me realize how nice it is just to have some open space in your house and I'd rather have that than lots of objects lying around.

 I know I can clear out a ton of clothes. Becoming a mom means a big lifestyle change and also just some things I've had forever and will likely not wear anymore. I also need to take a serious think about the things I hold onto. I have  a lot of things from my mom that hold a lot of sentimental value but are not useful (like shoes that don't fit me). Is the sentiment worth keeping things I can't use? Can I thin it to some pairs I saw her wear instead of keeping every pair I thought looked nice? On a similar vein, I have a TON of craft stuff from well meaning projects I never finished and sometimes never even started. Will I realistically do any of these? What would I need to be able to do these projects? A different space? (potentially solvable) More time? (a little trickier) A different life? (unlikely to work)

In the next couple of months, I want to do a huge clear out and really think what definitely needs to go and what we might want in our new home. I don't want to bring things just because we'll have more space but because I think we would use the things if the layout of our house gave us easier access to it (e.g. being able to have a dedicated gym space so it's easy to workout instead of having to set up a bunch of equipment each time, a good place to work on crafts projects).

Excited to use these trackers from Elise Joy to stay motivated.
Yes, filling in a bubble is motivating to me.

 Complete a Big Craft Project

Speaking of those crafts... one thing that would help me justify keeping all those supplies would be a finishing a big craft project. Ideally it would be something I already have the supplies for. It's probably not going to be my big Batman Cross Stitch but maybe a smaller one for Brooke? Or a Halloween costume for her? I have so many supplies and I'm trying to balance baby with things I like to do so this will be a good test of that.

Probably not this
(and yes it looks finished but this is like 1/10th of the final image)

Be Reliable

Having a kid this past year has taught me a lot about reliability. Like I said above, the hardest thing about having a child is that you lose the freedom to just go where you want, when you want. You need to have a plan for everything - a plan for someone to watch the baby or a plan for bringing the baby that revolves around their diaper changes, feedings, and naps. It's tricky.

but they missed out on visiting this 

I also felt extremely isolated after giving birth. I had so many people saying they wanted to visit before the baby was born but very few actually did. It hurt my feelings so much that people couldn't take 15-30 minutes to come by, give me a little company, and hold the baby for a few minutes so I could eat something. It was seriously the only thing I wanted from anyone then. (and important to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who did visit, invite us out with the baby, or show up to something you knew we'd be at. It meant so much to me.)

Those two things combined, made me realize that I don't want to be that person to someone else. I know I've told friends with babies that I would go visit and didn't. I've made plans and then changed my mind because it was inconvenient. I see now how crappy that is for the other person and I want to be better. It's something I've been working on for the last few months, but I want to keep the notion in my head when I decide to commit to something.

I do want to add the exception of the baby though. I definitely understand that I'm not always going to be on time for things because that's not how babies work. I also know that I might have all of the best intentions of doing something and she might get sick. Those are reasonable exceptions though and the spirit of the resolution is still good.

And Life...

I always have a few things up my sleeve that I don't put here either because it's just for me or because it doesn't make sense as a goal. In the past, I've had resolutions like "be nicer" but when you can't quantify something, it's hard to know if you did it well. Yes, there are things I'd like to do like "be more present" or "have more patience" but  I can work on that constantly without making it into a list item to check off. Plus, I think accomplishing the 6 goals above will be a big improvement on our daily lives.

Detox December - Update #12

Better late than never!!! I wanted to send this a couple of weeks ago but flu and life happened and I lost track of it! I actually have a lot of posts I wanted to write - I wanted to do a whole year look back on each of goals so hopefully I can get to it while it's still relevant.

Designated Date Time/ Family Time

December was SO FULL of family time. We had Dan's sister and mom visit us for about about 9 days. Closer to Christmas my Dad came down for 4 as well so we each had a sibling and a parent in San Diego.

That means so many family things!!! My favorite was the boating trip that my brother organized. He rented a speed boat and took all of us around San Diego Bay with a stop in Coronado for lunch. 

Family includes just Dan, the pets, and I as well. We started one of my 2018 resolutions and took Harley for her first weekly run or hike. She loved it and so did we. We're so excited to have that piece of time to spend together and be healthy each week. That still leaves out Callie but our horribly insulated house meant lots of couch cuddles with all four us curled up under blankets. I love our little human animal family and I'm happy for all the sweet memories we have.

Stick to a Regular Fitness Schedule

First day back after the holidays!

So many wins and losses with this. The truth is, I started both December and January with the flu/cold beast that going around. I don't mess around when I'm sick so that meant a lot of time in bed and out of the gym. Family in town didn't help things either.

I know what this sounds like - excuses, excuses, excuses. And they are. They're ones out of my control but trust me, I was frustrated too.

The last week of December, post guests and pre sickness part 2, I had the workout schedule of my dreams (well goals.... who dreams of work outs? I mean, I did have a dream that Dan and I were doing an obstacle race last night BUT I DIGRESS) - two a day workouts either in the gym or at home. Yea, it's a rough goal but it's what I need to knock out that Spartan resolution and I've found enough workouts that I really enjoy to make it a fun process.

I've started taking more vitamins and drinking a little less in order to help this goal out more starting in January and... so far I feel amazing! It seems like getting sick so much was a side effect of not getting enough vitamins either because I'm too active or my gut health was messed up and I wasn't absorbing it. I'm like a vitamin preacher now because my mood, energy, and health hasn't felt this good in ages and I'm so ready to conquer my goals.

A new fun way to work out at home too! (thanks Dan)

Meal Planning

Chili secret - double meat, double spices,
ton of hidden veggies!

Without even noticing, I got into such a good rhythym with this. I'd get some ideas for food I felt like, make a shopping list for a few dinners and general things I like to keep in stock and then knock them out through out the week. I went from not feeling like I was doing this goal well to doing it without thinking which is perfect!

Good timing too - Having so many visitors and holidays meant really having to be organized. I try to think of things to make that are delicious, healthy, and might even be enjoyable for the pickiest of eaters. I know the parents really enjoyed a lot of the dishes I made and it makes me happy to share my cooking.

I also got to plan out Christmas Eve dinner! We had so much meat which also meant lots of leftovers and less cooking in the wake of our busy Ides of December. Sometimes my favorite way to plan meals... is just to make so much food that I have leftovers for days and don't have to worry about it. 

Take an Annual Trip with My Husband

I'm still keeping my eyes peeled for next year's big trip! We want to get a deal and a lot of it will depend on our tax return so we'll have to wait and see....

But I'm really excited for our little trips. We don't have anything set right now but with only a few weddings in 2018, all within driving distance - we have some room in our time and money budgets to go on some more weekend trips. We definitely want to visit the Bay Area a couple of times this year. We've also been promising my brother in Seattle that we'll make it up there some time. Lastly, I think I'm finally recovered from my trip to Vegas 5 years ago and would love to go again some time this year. So many little trips to look forward to even if we're still figuring out the big one.

Read a Book a Week

If you remember from November, I'd already hit my goal of 52 books for the year so I could have sat back in December, not read anything, and called it a day.

Well, that's not my style.

I kept up my reading and was able to finish another 5 books in December. Honestly though.. I had thought it was more like 7. Some of these novels like Turtles All the Way Down and Warcross were such quick reads for me that I know I finished in a couple of days. I guess they were balanced out by Lincoln in the Bardo and Eleanor Oliphant which were very different books that were harder to just knock out. Plus, being sick always makes it hard for me to do anything, even read. I try to do that instead of watching TV but I usually go for the more mindless option. 

Me Time

I guess here's the problem with writing this over two weeks after the fact... it's harder to remember the month. I've looked through the pictures, I've thought back on the month, and I can't remember if I had any me time. I'm going to go with... probably not. December is crazy busy for everyone. I was sick, we had our workouts, we had 2-3 people staying with us at one point, there was Christmas, I hosted Christmas Eve.

It was a lot. Maybe that's why I thought I'd read more books that I had? All my free time probably was reading... I just didn't have that much of it. 

Detox December

This goal very quickly went by the wayside. I got sick a couple of days into the month and getting sick for me means ordering a bunch of take out and laying in my bed cave. It's definitely not 80/20 paleo! To be fair though, I at least wasn't drinking that week... but I came back from it with a vengeance - having several drinks every day and pushing my limits on the weekends. 

Coming out of the holidays, I leveled out a bit. I wanted to make our post-Christmas week the December that I'd intended. I did my two a day workouts, I didn't drink during the week, and I made us healthier dinners... and I was back in bed with the flu and Indian food the next week.

It's funny how that's happened.. the week after Thanksgiving and Christmas were the only ones I met my goals on and they were followed by getting sick. The timing is so odd being that little bit healthier didn't really help much. It showed me that maybe my lifestyle isn't really the issue and there's something else going on. As I mentioned earlier, I started taking a lot of vitamins and probiotics in order to get my immune system under control so I can focus on my goals better.

And I think it's working! Aside from that first sick week in January, things are looking good. I've been better about working out 1-2 times a day and trying to go on walks or do something easy the other days. I've been great about sticking to 1 glass of wine a day and frankly - I usually don't feel like more. January is going really well so far.

And that's a wrap for December 2017! I definitely want to do a look back on all the individual goals but until then, you can see what I have in store for 2018.

2018 New Year Resolutions

Last year's habits went so well. I finished the year feeling really good about where things were. I had built up a lot of the habits that I'd wanted to work on. Instead of making a resolution, which feels like a one time change, I wanted to strengthen every day occurrences to make my life better and fuller. Even the one off monthly goals went great and added extra things to think about and work on over the year.

It worked out so well, that at this time, I don't feel like there are many habits to add to my life at this time. I know as my life and responsibilities grow and change, I can find room for new habits, but right now things look really good.

On the flip side though, there are more one off things I'd like to work on.... so it's back to resolutions!!!

Spartan Trifecta

This is my BIG goal for the year. I think it actually showed up on an older resolution list but it ended up not working out. This year, Dan and I are already signed up. We have all the resources to train - we just have to do it! The first two races are at the end of this month and the last (and longest) is in May. That means this will be done mid-way through the year if all goes well! That's why I had to line up some other goals...


But first... what are my fears or concerns? First, it's going to be hard. I know I can do a Sprint but those were always a challenge as it was. The first two races are back to back - the Super on Saturday (8-10 miles) with the Sprint (3-5 miles) on Sunday. I'm not worried about the Sprint but the Super scares me. I don't like running long distances and that has obstacles on top. I'm actually less worried about the Beast (12-14 miles) in May because I have so much time to train.

My second feel is my immune system. I'm on my second cold/flu in a month as I write this. That's 2 weeks I've taken out of my training which makes the January dates even scarier. It also means getting sick isn't a preventative for another cold. I'd be so bummed if I got sick right before a race and had to postpone. I started stocking up on essential oils and probiotics. I need to change my routine and stay healthy so I can do this.

One New Etsy Item a Week

My Etsy shop thrived last year. I did a job of adding a bunch of listings, including some hot trends (THANK YOU PORGS). I made 60% of my all time income in the last year. I doubled what I made in 2016. These aren't huge numbers or anything but it's still a growing business.

Obviously, the key to growing the business is keep adding products! Since it's all downloads, having a lot of stock doesn't add too much work for me. I just have to do it. Extra items also drives a lot of traffic to my shop because people find it through search terms and buy something else.

Grow My Etsy Business to Amazon

I found out a few weeks ago that Amazon has an Etsy-like off-shoot for homemade and artisan products. I wasn't sure my patterns would fit but... they had some! I'd love to list my items there as well but it will take some set up. I'll need an actual business name and maybe some other set up. I definitely want to look into it.

Change My Name

I still haven't changed my name legally since getting married. It's just seemed like a lot of work and there was no need yet. I just need to start filling out the paperwork and get it done though.

Waste Less

I feel like I always have one vague, untrackable goal. This one is just to waste less. It's definitely a follow up from the meal planning goal from last time. I think if I'm smart about grocery shopping and thinking about what we need and will actually eat, we'll waste less food. We'll also spend less money.

This applies to more than food too! In general, I've been trying to buy fewer non-consumable goods. We don't have room in our house for more junk so only buying things we really want or need has saved money and space. I rent my clothes, I borrow books, I stream movies - I don't need to buy these things as much.

Re-Coop Real Estate Expenses

Real Estate didn't really go the way I expected. I'm toning down my involvement this year because there are just too many expenses just to exist as an agent. I'm not totally out of the game though. I still have my license and a relationship with my broker. I can still be involved indirectly and help out friends looking for a place. I'd love to still get a deal under my belt which would help me at least break even with everything I spent getting my license.

Do One Chore a Day

This is a big change for me! Aside from cooking, I hate doing chores. I'm not a neat person and I'm allergic to doing dishes. The only thing that I can tolerate is laundry (warm clothes and my favorite tops clean!) and vacuuming (we have like 40 sq ft of carpet).

However... I found that when guests visit, I was much more successful if I started cleaning a week out and did a little bit each day. I noticed chores didn't really take that long if you did a little at a time instead of one big day of cleaning that can be overwhelming.

Chores are the best when you don't let them get out of hand in the first place! The goal is to do some little thing every day to keep up with chores. Whether it's laundry (yay!) or cleaning the bathroom (ick!), chipping away at it here and there will keep our house looking nice all the time, instead of just rushing to clean before we have people visit.

(so obviously cooking isn't counted as a chore for this)

Weekly Doggy Walk/Hike/Run

Straight forward - a hike or run with doggy and Dan! We've already started this by doing laps around Fiesta Island. Doggy gets to play and we get to train for our races. The plan is to start with Fiesta Island and once we've mastered that, maybe we can move onto some of the tougher San Diego hikes. We all get our exercise and everyone is happy.

Weekly Date

And also something for just us... Dan and I are great about spending time together, but I think a weekly date is a great idea too. A lot of our gifts lately have been Groupons so it would be good to make sure we use them! I also got us Movie Passes so in a pinch, spending the evening at a movie is good. I just think it's important to do things together outside of the house.

Secret Goal

Every year I have one goal that I'm not quite ready to share. Some things are better as surprises until they're ready.




Whew, so that feels like a lot! A lot of the goals fit together though. Taking the dog for a weekly run will help me train for my races. Doing one chore a day will help minimize stress so I can work on the other goals. They all fit into my secret goal. I'm not resting on my laurels in 2018 but I'm also not reaching for anything crazy. All these are really reasonable goals that have either been bucket list items or things I've already found some success in. I'm excited to push them to the next level.

I'll be back soon with my December 2017 post as well as some follow ups on my goals!

Just Do It June - 2017 Update #6

Another month has come and gone! June was a huge month for me. I "just did" so many new things or tackled pesky chores that had been lingering on my to-do list for months. I'm really loving the one-off resolutions and I think I'd also like to do some posts that circle back on some of the past ones. Some are building on each other nicely but even ones like Fabulous February have been in the back on my mind on a day to day basis.

Let's focus on June though! I finally started working part time as a Real Estate Agent in addition to my full time job and 7,562 hobbies. It was a really busy month but I didn't let that stop me from also holding that Housewarming party and taking care of some much needed chores. Both of those things had been lingering on my to-do list for almost 9 months. That's insane. This month was all about just tackling those to-dos and it really took a big weight off my shoulders.

Designated Date Time

We really haven't been as good about this as we were earlier in the year. We've basically ditched our weekly hikes and most "us" time has just been doing chores side by side or watching TV together. However - we have been better at sporadic evening walks. There's something so pleasant about summer nights and Harley loves when we go for a family stroll through the neighborhood. Whenever I'm not feeling too busy, I'll suggest it. Dan and doggy never say no.

Dan also realized that maybe we need some more fun activity time together and booked a surprise date for the end of the month. He had bought us tickets for opening night of a video game exhibit at the local science museum. We got to play Dance Central in front of a room full of people and Mario Kart on the wall of the planetarium. We also just played a bunch of retro and obscure games. It was really fun and I was so happy he wanted to get us tickets for something cool to do on our own.

We spent a lot of June hanging out with a lot of our friends. I'd been feeling really detached after being out of town for basically a month and really needed to socialize more. While it was fun spending time with people, that date night was a good reminder that we need to make time for each other too.

 Here are some shots of Mario Kart in the Planetarium. It's hard to see the game with the lights on but you can't tell the size with the lights off so I present both to you.

Stick to a Regular Fitness Schedule

This is the first time since before my mom passed away, that I really feel like I've gotten back on my exercise schedule. When your life gets derailed, it takes a long time to get things back on track. This has been about 3 months of trying to get one of my biggest priorities back to where it was and I feel like I only just got there near the end of the month.

But it feels so good to have some aspect of "normal" back. Last week, Dan and I finally made it back to an exercise class that we attend religiously every Thursday (it's even in a church!) for the first time in about 11 weeks. It felt right and like an important piece of me was back in place.

When you exercise, you get to be Katniss

We also had our races this month! I really wanted to feel like I was giving it my all but after 2-3 months of much less working out than is usual for me, that was hard. The night before the first race, we subbed into a kickball game as well. In an effort to show off, I definitely over-exerted a little and hurt my Achilles. I definitely don't feel like I was able to give the race my all, but somehow I still managed to come in the top 10 of non-competitive women. I'm excited for what that will mean for me when I am able to give it my best effort. Maybe it means I'll need to graduate to the competitive level!

This habit was a great example of Just Doing It. I went from working out two days a week to four days a week and that's more normal for me. I feel better, have more energy, and my muscle tone is coming back. I love seeing and feeling the little changes that remind me why I like fitness so much.

Meal Planning

I did the thing I didn't want to do. I turned some of my meal planning into meal prepping and it happened for the most natural reason - time management. I have a secret. I'm really bad at lunch. People assume that because I work from home, I have a lot of lunch freedom. Generally, I'm pretty busy until around 1-2 and then I'm picky about what I want to eat. By the time I get around to eating most days it's usually pretty late for lunch or I run out to buy something or throw together some snacks so I don't waste my appetite for dinner. While we usually have some leftovers, I don't really like eating the same thing several meals in a row. It's a super first world problem but with adding the real estate job, I really needed to fix this issue because I now had even less time in my day.

I still don't like the general idea of meal prepping - make a bunch of food on Sunday and eat the same meals all week. It continues the problem of being picky about eating the same thing for each meal.... and then it hit me. Why don't I take my leftovers and freeze them? Then I don't have to have the same thing every day. If I'm feeling picky, it's ok because I'll have built up a variety of lunches in the freezer so I'll have a choice.

This all came to me near the end of the month. I will still have the problem of limited freezer space BUT I've been wanting to pull the trigger on an extra storage freezer and this could be it. It will also give me a chance to make things like curries and spicy foods that Dan doesn't like - and keep them as freezer lunches for myself. I already bought containers and labels and I'm excited to start cooking and freezing big batches of lunches for myself.

Take an Annual Trip with My Husband

Doing the math, it seems unlikely we'll be able to take another big trip this year which stinks because the travel bug is biting really hard. Dan and I didn't take a lot of trips early in our relationship. They were mostly short, domestic trips. Since getting married, we've had two fun international trips and it reminded me how much I want to do and see. Unfortunately, we're both going to be grinding down to our last few hours of PTO after taking the rest of our time for weddings and Comicon. I'm glad this is a new habit/priority though and I can't wait until whatever we come up with for next year.

In the meantime, here's another picture from our trip to Europe!

Read a Book a Week

I only finished three books this month. It happens. This is why I had such a buffer built up - because I can't do everything. Starting in real estate is like starting your own business. I was also trying to get back on a solid fitness schedule and knock out a lot of things I'd been putting off. It didn't help that one of the books was a longer, slower read.

I have another super long book to read next month, but I also have some ideas. I'm on the road a lot more with this real estate gig so it's time to start listening to audio books again! I think that will really help me stay on schedule and get to my reading goal this year.

Me Time

This month was obviously busy for me. I was balancing so much more in terms of juggling two jobs, but there's something about stress that lights me up. I somehow managed all of that and tackled some big projects around the house. While that meant less me time, it was time better used. I was taking my time and putting it toward something bigger.

I read an article this month that felt really relative. It was 4 people under thirty and what they did to become millionaires before 40. The last was a young woman who said to invest in yourself. Use your time thoughtfully, invest in your ideas, and start your own businesses. It felt really in line with what I've been trying to do. So while "me time" is on the back burner for a little while, it's being invested and I hope it reaps some serious rewards down the line.

But that's not to say it was a total shut out. I mentioned doing a few races, and afterwards, I needed to recover. Sometimes that's taking a night off from the gym and taking it easy for a day. I made time for friends. I got back on my workout schedule. This is definitely a piece of the puzzle that needs to fit a little better going forward but this month was full of transitions for me so I'm confident I can carve out more me time when everything is all set. 

Just Do It June

The first day of June started the way many of my days do. I stayed in bed a little longer than I should have, asked Dan to make me coffee, and then opened my computer and started working - not really getting out of bed until I needed breakfast. It's a nice perk of working from home but it's also an easy way to get stuck in a rut and this month was about moving out of ruts, doing more. So - I decided to fix that. I spent my lunch break starting to organize my office. I spent my afternoon getting ahead on work projects and actually sitting at my desk. Whenever I had to wait for something to load, I used that time to multitask and get a little more organized. I'm a big believer that you need to set precedents for yourself and I wanted to have this first day of June set the example of how this month was going to go.

Always have a book handy

It's crazy how much we can do when we set our minds to it. I decided to keep my goals reasonable - I didn't want to stress myself out or create unreasonable deadlines. For example, I had been putting off hemming some curtains since we moved into our house 9 months ago. Finally, I got so annoyed with them dragging on the floor and not closing that I added it to my immediate to do list. I had four to do but I decided to just try to do the first two over the course of two days when I was less busy. I ended up doing all four within a couple of hours. I'd put off this task for so long but once I started going, I realized it wasn't that hard and it made more sense just to knock it all out while I had all the tools set up. It was a good lesson that sometimes things that we put off for a long time blow up in our minds as really difficult projects, but they actually end up being pretty manageable when we just sit down and do it. I'm also happy that I didn't tell myself it would take an hour and then stress out when it took a little longer. It's nice to give yourself more than enough time to do something and be pleasantly surprised when you can do it faster and have extra time for other things. On the flip side, the days where I made huge lists of things to do, I ended up feeling overwhelmed and struggling to cross anything off my list - I didn't even know where to start. Even re-reading this section is a good reminder that I need to pace myself and give myself reasonable goals, especially when I have so much I'd like to do.

I also have truly just jumped into this real estate career. It's unbelievable to me how quickly this ball has been rolling, but I love it. I signed my papers on a Saturday, had my orientation that Monday, and by Sunday was sitting at my first Open House. Real Estate is all about finding opportunities and jumping on them which fits really well with my personality. Even though it's only been a few weeks, I feel like I'm moving right along and creating good habits that will help me build this business. I'm excited about what my future holds.

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Jigsaw July

At this point, you're probably wondering where I'm even coming up with these names. I'm not going to lie, it was really hard to think of another J word that fit what I wanted to do so bear with me. 

After June, I know that anything is possible. I started a second career. I finally had that housewarming party. I took on several projects that I'd been meaning to get to. I even finally went to the dentist. I just did it. I can just do anything... but that's the tip of the iceberg. Always "just doing" projects isn't sustainable. You need balance. June was about starting. It was about knowing things were possible. July is about fitting it all together, like a jigsaw puzzle (there it is!!!).

These monthly challenges are separate but cumulative so I really like that July builds off of June, which built off of May. I put my best effort forward, just went after my goals, and now I want to find the best way to balance my full time job, my entry into real estate, my fitness, my hobbies, my friends, and me time. It's a lot. There's a reason these are challenges, but the idea of these habits and check ins is to be constantly moving towards being my best self. 

April 2017 - Check in #4

After the last one, I can't even imagine writing a post about something as silly as habits. My original plan was break up this post between the time before our trip to Europe and after it - figuring that obviously we wouldn't be following our habits while in Europe. Little did I know, a much bigger event would occur - the death of my mom would change the flow of all of my day to day habits. So, I guess this will really be broken into life before everything happening (my mom passing, the time spent with family, and of course, our trip to Europe) and after everything. Since I'd already written many of the "before" parts as I was going through them, it feels really accurate to keep the feelings I had then versus how I am now.

Family Time

Before Everything

I already knew April was going to be a bust for this one. We had our trip coming up and busy weekends up until then. The first weekend in May, we traded our family hike for a bike ride with friends. Dan had to work part of the weekend so I took Harley to the beach the other day. While we all got out of the house in some way or another, it wasn't quite the same and sometimes that's ok. If you're pushing a goal so much that you're missing out on other things, then that's not great either.

The following week we had a friend in town and had a race and brunch that took place of the hike. My friend and I ran the race while Dan and Harley cheered us on. While it wasn't the same as a family hike, we did what we could while balancing our other plans.

After Everything

The idea of family time just including Dan and Harley seems so faulty in perspective of losing my mom so I think it's good to remember what I meant by this. Obviously, all family is important and I really feel that I made an effort to see my mom quite a bit in the past year (and of course, I could have gone more too). In the time after her death, I spent about two weeks in LA with the rest of my family - my brothers and my dad and that was very important time too.

So it feels wrong to call this goal family time anymore. I'll have to think about what the right word is so for now, I'll describe what I meant.

In the time just after our wedding, I felt disconnected from a lot of my friends. The ones who were visiting went home and the ones who lived here were busy with their own lives. I had someone tell me this feeling is normal - everything is about you for so long that after the wedding you feel this missing and it's somewhat true - people want to focus on themselves and their other friends for a while. As someone who is really social, this made me feel really sad and lonely, but I was a newlywed and there was no reason to feel this way. Instead of trying to fill all my free time with my friends, why not fill it with my husband? So I decided it was important to carve out some time each week for him and to do something together to build that habit and remember that our marriage and our relationship is so important and needs to last even when friendships are faulty or kids are annoying or any of life's obstacles happen.

The real reason for this goal then, was to strengthen our foundation becuase the time after you get married, things are good, but so much can happen in life. When my mom passed away, I really needed Dan to be there. We had this huge hurdle so early in our marriage and it's effect on me causes strains on a day to day basis. That's why it's important to be strong together when things are good - you need that base to help you when you lose a loved one, when you have kids, or when any other thing that could go wrong, does.

Stick to a Regular Fitness Schedule

Before Everything

weight on, stress off

Despite being crazy busy, I still tried to stick to my workout schedule. If I had a free day or my workout partners couldn't make it, I would take a break as well and study. However, I tried to not miss if I didn't have to and believe me, I wanted to some days.

When you are stressed and tired - it's easy to want to drop your routine and just get your shit done but man, did I feel better after working out. One day, I was so close to just not going but I decided to make it a game time decision. I had a shot of coffee and made a smoothie and dressed to go to the gym... and that was enough to get me into it. I went and I had a great workout and it was just the stress relief I needed. Afterwards, I was able to go home and get back to studying with a clearer head.

It may seem counter-intuitive to do more when the thought of how much you have to do in so little time makes your head explode, but taking a break helps your brain reset and having my breaks be something good for me made it feel like it wasn't a waste.

After Everything

The news of my mom passing away was obviously a little shattering. While some people might throw their emotions into working out at a time like this, my muscles all felt like jello. I didn't want to be completely inactive though and went for a walk most days so I was doing some sort of exercise. Can I just say how much I love walking? Even thought my legs were shaky the first few days, it was such a good release. When I walk or run, it's really thinking time for me. I wanted to be sad those first few days and I would walk and I would tear up and it was really therapuedic for me.

By the next week, I was feeling better but we were now days away from our trip and I just couldn't find the time. However, while it Europe, Dan and I walked SO much. According to my watch, we walked about 100 miles in those 2 weeks. Honestly, even though we're in really good shape, my legs hurt by the end of it. If you ever need an excuse to workout - travel. I feel like traveling was so much easier since we were in shape. All the walking, all the stairs, all the hills, all the suitcase lugging - it was so much easier than it could have been. Walking instead of cabbing also saved us money AND helped us justify those extra courses during our cruise ship dinners.  I also hit the gym a couple of times during our "at sea" days but it definitely wasn't up to my usual standards and I know I'll have a lot of work to do now that we're back.

Here are the first of many steps we took to get up to the Campinile in Florence so yea, we weren't really slacking despite being on vacation!

Meal Planning

Before Everything

Meat and veggies!!!

Since Dan and I have crazy fitness goals AND we were going on a vacation that might have some swimsuit time, April felt like a good time to clean up our act. We usually eat pretty healthy but we'd also been stocking up on more ice cream and treats. We decided this would be a good time to rein it in a little and go back to cleaner, meat and vegetable focused meals.

I also saw new clean eating challenge that is being put on by the makers of my favorite fitness class. It started a few days before our trip which felt like not the right time to go on a diet but I think we might try it next month. It also provided me with some new recipes and meal ideas. While we aren't doing it quite yet, I've been trying to steer our meals in that direction and just going crazy with the amount of veggies I'm buying and cooking.

After Everything

Eating is weird when you lose someone. I didn't have an appetite most of the time so I just wouldn't eat and then eventually I would get SUPER hungry and have to eat immediately (while still not having much of an appetite) which led to lots of eating out and fast food. Obviously, if you read this, that's not normal for me. After a few days, this evened out thanks a lot to my brothers. They took charge on the meals and I would pop in to help when they gave me something to do since I wasn't feeling my usual cooking passion.

Not really a meal plan but we ate WELL

I decided to just completely let go of any restrictions while we were in Europe. We were on a cruise and walking so much and the previous weeks had been so hard - I just wanted to enjoy our trip. And I did! We ate so much and so well. We basically had a 4 course meal every night for dinner and amazing lunches while we were in the ports as well. I don't think I've had dessert so many consecutive days before ever.

In the days that we've been back we've been trying to re-adjust to our normal eating. Obviously, it's much lower calorie than we had been eating so I feel like I'm getting hungry all the time. I'm trying to balance between giving in and eating regular meals but I know easing off the sugar and richness from the cruise meals will be an adjustment.

Take an Annual Trip with My Husband

Before Everything

I have a really bad personality trait - I don't usually trust people to do something for me that I know I can do really well myself. Planning trips is one of those things. There's really only one person I've let take the lead on planning my vacations and she wasn't coming with us on this one (although I did copy her itinerary for a city on our trip that she'd recently been to) so it was up to either me or Dan.... and I had a test to study for. I realized I was going to need Dan's help a lot.

And he did an AMAZING job. His schedule isn't as flexible as mine so he broke up the planning and decided to do a city at a time whenever he had the free time. He did a ton of research and mixed in with some recommendations I got, we went into the last leg of our planning together and made some great lists and maps for our trip.

After Everything

Obviously we took the trip! It's really the biggest trip we've taken as a couple in terms of time gone and distance traveled and stress encountered. I'm happy to report that it did not drive us to an early divorce (although there may have been some jetlag induced squabbling). Really though - it made us think about other trips we want to take and how we want to take them. I'll address this more in another post but we had some thoughts about the best ways to travel that we realized while we were traveling.

Anyways, we both started making lists of trips we want to take and what makes sense to trip to do in the immediate future, what we think we could do with little kids, and what might have to be shelved for a while. I like the idea of having a list of several things we really want to do and here's why: travel costs are so finnicky. One day there might be a deal to India and the next to South America. I think being flexibile and locations and timing could help us go some cool places on a discount. We had a really cool trip to Europe but we wanted to go specific places in a specific timeframe and we paid for it. Our next priority is more "see as much as you can" and we can be more flexible which will allow us to do more.

Read a Book a Week

This one doesn't really make sense to break into before and after... The good news is that this was a mission accomplished. Technically, I only read 4 books but I finished the 5th just after the beginning of May and on vacation, time doesn't really count.

Honestly though, I thought I'd do better here. I had a lot of trouble concentrating on reading just after my mom passed away but the library helped out there. I had a couple of books that had to go back by a certain time and since I was in San Diego so little of the month, I really had to get it done. While on vacation, I didn't finish as many books as I felt like I was reading. I finished two books and am partly through three others (two for one, and one study guide that I abandoned through everything) so maybe that's it also. I'm definitely going to finish my fun books before I dive back into studying though so hopefully I'll have at least 3 books to add for May but really I better do more than that.

And I bet you're wondering why I'm still studying. Wasn't my test planned for last month? Well, yea, it was. It was scheduled for the day after we ended up having my mom's service. That's just about the worst time to take a test. The good news is that it wasn't a firm "once a year" type of exam and I was easily able to push it back a month. I haven't picked up that study guide in the last month since my mom passed away but now that I'm easing off of the jet lag, it's definitely time. It basically gives me a week to get back in the study mind set and then the same week of crunch time that I would have had. I'm definitely having trouble getting back into it and part of me feels like I should push it back some more. Luckily, I always have that option but I really feel like I need to just do this thing.

Me Time

Before Everything

Studying for an exam and planning a huge vacation meant zero me time. It actually meant negative me time. What does that mean? It means I realized there weren't enough hours in the day and decided to make more... by sleeping less. I started setting my alarm an hour earlier, staying up later, and drinking more coffee. I liked to pride myself on getting a full night's sleep, but something has to give when you're trying to do it all.

Actual Picture of me in April

After Everything

I think a cruise is entirely composed of me time. In hindsight, I kind of wish I brought my study guide or some video games or something. There is so much downtime on a cruise, especially without a beverage package. It felt really weird to just relax, but I think I really needed it. I was definitely burning the candle at every end in early April and then that just exploded when my mom died. The little focus I had after that went to planning her service and the rest of my time I just wanted to sleep. The vacation really came at the perfect time to just not have anything I needed to do.

Being back at work and just out of the jetlag, I'm noticing the benefits of taking some time off. In the weeks before I left, issues at work were feeling hazy and I was having trouble wrapping my head around things. Now that I'm back, I'm feeling more creative and ambitious in the way I tackle issues at work. It feels like some time off was exactly what my brain needed.

Unplugged April

Before Everything

I feel like I had been working on a good compromise here. All the time I spent studying really took me away from social media as much as I'd been checking it before. I probably could have separated more though but early in the month was supposed to just be gradually working up to not having cell service on my trip.

After Everything

If I was addicted to my phone before, it really got worse after my mom passed. I did receive a lot of phone calls, texts, and messages which definitely was part of it, but really I just hid in internet world for a while. I found it hard to concentrate on anything serious like reading or studying so the fluffy distracting world of the internet was perfect. I was extra glued to my phone and I needed that escape.

So the trip really was needed even more. I definitely wasn't going to spend the small fortune it would cost to stay connected full time but we did have to ease into it. Almost every cafe in most of Europe has free wifi so our first stop would usually be an espresso and some internet time. It was nice to have to limit our internet to short bursts throughout the day. It also meant I was really just reading texts, messages, and quickly going through emails. Dan and I also found that Facebook and Instagram would download a little bit of the feeds so we could check them when we were bored later on the boat and our likes would send back when we were connected again. It would only do like the top 10 posts but it was nice to kind of save a little bit of it for later.

I don't really feel like I learned anything here though. Once we got internet again, I was as connected as ever. I still feel like I need a lot of distractions and it's still my safe escape. I definitely need to build better habits to disconnect more.

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My Best Me May

This goal had been my plan from the beginning but I think it's more fitting than ever. I think that when you experience a loss, once place to go is to get angry or let yourself fall into bad habits. Luckily, I've never dealt with loss that way. I don't know what happens after we die, and I've always felt the possibility of our loved ones "watching over us." Maybe they are, maybe they aren't, but, just in case, I'd like them to look down and be proud.

This goal was originally meant as more of a way to get back on track after the vacation but it also is fitting that I don't want to lose sight of my goals and the things my mom encouraged me to do. She lived her life SO HARD and I want to keep doing the same. So this goal is really a lot of little goals - passing my test and working on my next projects, training for my races, keeping up with all of my habits, and of course, making my bed each morning (in case Mom is watching).

It might feel that with all my other goals, this one is hard to wrap my head around and I feel that too. Sometimes I feel like it made more sense when my other goals were still on track, but maybe when we get a little off course, we need to remember the goal more than ever. It almost has a "Happiness Project" feel to it - remembering all your past goals as you keep making new ones.

May is also the month I turned 31. Last year, I wrote the post about the 30 things I learned before turning 30 and after this year, I feel like I could write another 30 things I learned in the past year. This is about remembering those lessons and continuing to grow and that's really the goal for May.

February 2017 - Habit Check In #2

I'm really loving how this structure for my goals has given me more to write about! I've been trying to throw out some other posts in between as well but obviously that has to work around time and well, having something to write about. I have a few adventures next month that should give some more blog fodder and I also want to review more of the kitchen and wine gadgets that I use every day.

Anyways, here's how February went!

Family Time

This has easily become the highlight of my week. We've started really planning our weekends around when we can get our family walk in and this month, it wasn't easy. Each of the weeks, we had some big conflict trying to keep us from our walk but we made it anyways.

Week 1, we were out of town for my work. I have to work Superbowl every year and we usually make it into a little weekend getaway to LA. We usually walk on Saturdays but had gone to Universal Studios instead. While the quantity of walking would probably count it, the spirit wasn't there. Instead, we planned to go Sunday morning before work. It ended up being really hectic between eat breakfast, packing, and making sure I got to work on time - but we did it. It was a short mile-ish loop around the parcourse near my parent's house but it was something.

Weeks 2-3 we were dealing with busy weekends and bad weather. We had a hardcore workout one week and race the next and both weekends it was supposed to be rainy on the day we could do our hike. Hiking isn't quite as fun if it's super muddy, especially with a dog, so we timed our walks to breaks in the weather and just found paved trails - usually waterfront. While not a true hike, it gave us some awesome views and helped us find some new paths.

Week 4 should have just been a disaster. We went back and forth on where to go - the weather was finally nice enough for a real hike, but we had plans that we'd be late for if we did something too intensive. We'd been loving the water so we decided to do Torrey Pines - but when we parked we saw lots of "no dogs" signs. I didn't want to drive around looking for something else since we'd already lost so much time so we decided just to take the dog to a nearby dog beach. We had so much fun playing and splashing around and got the bonus of finding a new fun beach. We'll have to circle back to Torrey Pines another day but it always sucks to leave the dog at home when we go on an adventure.

Stick to a Regular Fitness Schedule

I don't really have much to say on this one. I've definitely been working out a lot and mostly sticking to the schedule I set myself but I'm not perfect and I missed a lot of days as well. For some reason, every Monday this month, something came up to keep my climbing partners and myself out of the gym. I also missed a lot of Body Pump classes either because I had another workout or just something fun came up... like free beer tasting. All these things totally happen but for March I'd like to pull it in and try to really hit my weekly schedule.

On the plus side - while I've missed a bunch of gym time, I've been walking a whole lot more with the dog. Usually, they're just little short walks around the block but they've been a nice way for both of us to get a little sunshine and exercise. We've also tried to do work around the garden whenever it's been sunny out and it's nice putting those muscles to some functional use.

The 2017 kilometer challenge is going well too! Extra walks mean extra chipping away at it, even if they're on the short side. At the end of last month, I had 64km and this month I had 119. That means I'm being consistent (giving myself a break on the 3 shorter days this month) which is great for me and great for the dog. Also, last year, I had 244 km for the whole year. That means that in 2 months, I've gone half as far as I did.. IN A YEAR. It's crazy and I'm so proud at how we've made something as simple as going on more walks, runs, and hikes into such a regular habit.

Meal Planning

This one continues to challenge me. I did add a section for planning out dinners in my daily planner but I'm still not being consistent. To help get on track though, I did a few stocking up dinners. What are those? That's when I cook something really big that I know will last a few nights and then we just have to find sides to go with them (usually making tacos). Examples are pulled pork, brisket, and chili. The added benefit is that they're made in the slow cooker or pressure cooker so I can prep them and let them cook while doing other things!

Brisket!!!!!

Slow cooked pork!!!!

Take an Annual Trip with my Husband

Not much progress here which is bad because our trip is coming up really fast. What I really need to do is get our taxes together so we can see if we have a bigger budget for excursions and things.... Obviously next month there needs to be a lot of work here, but I did try to get an idea of the budget and things.

Read a Book a Week

In January, I read way over the book/week goal which was awesome. For February, I was right on track, and that was ok too. I knew that some months would be harder to meet the goal and February was one of those - but I met it anyways! Just barely!

In addition to being pressed for time, I also read a couple of longer books - like over 500 pages. All four of my books this month were really fast reads that I hated putting down and that was probably the real driver behind finishing this month.

All in all, I read 4 books in 4 weeks coming in exactly at my goal.

Edit: these screenshots come from Goodreads. A book social media site I use to track my reading. I also usually write reviews of all the books I read in case you're interesting in the reasons behind my scores.

Me Time

This month I learned that me time can come in a lot of shapes and sizes. Sometimes it's just listening to my body or my needs. Earlier in the month, Dan and I went to a free bootcamp workout and it kicked our butts. The next day, I was so sore and instead of pushing myself, I just took a day off. I cancelled my gym plans, I made a really simple dinner, and then I just soaked in the tub for an hour. It felt so good, and the next day I felt better... but the next day was Valentine's Day and I had another dilemma. I could go to the gym, but then I'd be home late and be rushing to make dinner and get things done and wouldn't be able to just enjoy the night and spend time with Dan so I decided to take another day off from the gym. I love working out and I'm so happy with what's happening with my fitness but I think finding the balance and knowing when to take some time off so that I don't overdo it or stress myself out is important too.

I'm also learning that I don't want me time to be lazy time. I could totally veg out in front of the TV all day but I'm trying to make my free time work for me. Lately I've been doing a lot of gardening when I have down time or making more time to make sure I eat solid meals while I work from home. While I'm still moving - I feel a lot better in general when I'm being productive.

Fabulous February

but hey - this outfit was pretty cute
so not a total fail?

This was basically a fail. I mean, it's not like I dress terrible or anything. The few times I did go out, I styled my hair and picked a cute outfit. I just think that, in general, my style is fitness chic and I'm totally ok with that. I like dressing up when I get the chance but I'm still going to be rocking yoga pants and tank tops most of the time. I don't need to force cuteness or dress up to run errands - that's just not my thing.

This probably ended up being more of a "Feel Good February." I think I've come a long way from some of the things that caused me to be more self-conscious. All of the habits above are leading me to feel great, have more energy, and most importantly, have a sound mind. I've tried to treat myself better day to day including little things like eating a good breakfast each morning and trying to get some sunshine each day. Working out more has also coincided with drinking a lot less and getting better sleep. All of the habits together are having the effect of making me feel really good and that's awesome.

My monthly goal for next month was going to be Mo' Money March - in attempt to save more money. However, we're going to need to do a lot of spending in related to the last bit of planning for our trip so I think I might take this the other direction and work on ways to make mo' money. I still have an Etsy shop and despite awesome sales in January, February was really slow. I want to find ways to connect with potential buyers more and try to naturally grow interest in my shop.

I also will be wrapping up my class which means I have some open time to study for a certification that will open up some moonlighting possibilities for me. I should also try spending less money but I like the idea of focusing on ways I can make more money as well... it seems more sustainable long term.