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!

Outgoing Octopus October - 2017 Update #10

This month was about getting back on track. The migraines and neck pain I experienced in September really threw me off my goals and all the progress I'd made in August. Luckily, I was able to get those under control by improving my posture while working and recognizing my migraine triggers. Good thing too - October had A LOT going on... so let's get to it.

Designated Date Time/ Family Time

So much of this month was spent with family. Traveling home for a wedding for each of our families meant a lot of time spent with those we love. There's also just something about weddings that brings out so much magic and joy.

I had such a great time getting to know Dan's family better as well. It's the first time we've seen them since our own wedding and now, a year later, it's really sunk in that this is my family too. It was also really great to meet a lot of the extended family that had liked our big life event Facebook posts. 

Lastly, it was our one year wedding anniversary! I can and can't believe it's been a year. It's somehow managed to be long and fast at the same time. I've had some big life hurdles this year and I'm so lucky to have someone like Dan by my side to get through them. It definitely would have been a much harder year than it was. On a lighter note... obviously that was a date night for us! Otherwise, we have been so busy it's been hard to have time for just the two of us. It's definitely something to work on as we close out the year. 

It's also cool enough now to bring back the family walks! There are so many hikes we didn't do before it got too hot. I'm hoping to knock some of those out before we end this year. 

Stick to a Regular Fitness Schedule

my outdoor gym!

This one really peaked in August and hasn't gotten back to that level. I was averaging 7-10 workouts a week that month. Now it's like 3. I really hit a wall after my migraine in September. It took me two weeks to really bounce back from the after effects. I felt a couple of other migraines coming on in October but now that I could read the symptoms I was able to take some medicine and hide in darkness which stopped them from getting really bad. The break from my fitness schedule did it's damage though and it was hard to get into the same rhythm (the cold Dan brought home didn't help either)...

But no excuses! November is all about fixing that (we'll get there later). I always have an idea of my next goal at the end of the month before and knowing that I wanted to tackle this again in November helped me end October strong. Even though we were on the other side of the country the last week of the month, we managed to get into the gym one day and go on a long hike another. We probably could have done more but it was already more of an effort that we usually make on trips.

Meal Planning

Crock pot Gourmet

It's funny how this has actually started to feel more natural as I've made myself busier. Part of the month goal involved me inviting friends over a little more. Generally it was an extension of meeting them at the gym or something. I didn't want to get home from a workout and then have to worry about cooking and not getting to socialize so I planned out slow cooker meals that I could set up ahead of time. It meant food was ready after our workout AND I got to talk to my friends instead of hiding in the kitchen. It's definitely made me want to use that strategy more. It will also be nice now that it's getting cooler and a lot of soups can be made easily in the slow cooker.

Take an Annual Trip with My Husband

This month actually had us going on two mini trips - one to each of our families for weddings. While driving to LA is no big feat, going out to Ohio is something we really haven't done enough of. We've had a crazy couple of years since our last trip but part of the reason was also that the first trip wasn't great for me. I had been sick the whole week and paired with the 20 degree weather, I just always felt freezing and cooped up inside.

This past trip was much better. It was twice as warm and 40-50 degrees was something I could deal with a little better. We went on a long hike through some of the most gorgeous nature I'd ever seen. We were also there for his sister's wedding so I was able to meet a lot of the family members that weren't able to make the trip for our wedding. Lastly, it was just nice to spend more time with his family. With the loss of my mom, I ache for those connections more and getting to bond with them was something that felt really nice. I'm excited to have them come out to California again soon and it won't be another 3 years until we go out to Ohio again.

Read a Book a Week

I crushed it this month! While I did read 2 books just on the Ohio trip alone (so much airplane time!), I was already ahead for the month before that. It feels awesome to get a lead again. Focusing on fun, quick reads like I wanted to helped a lot. I also chipped away at an audiobook during my driving and I plan on continuing that habit. I was going to use this lead on my goal as an opportunity to start reading books that I've been interested in but were worried would take longer... and then I remembered it's my favorite book time of the year!

I use Goodreads to track all of my reading, make challenges, and create those cool little lists that I post here each month. One of my favorite things about the site though are their annual Goodreads awards. I always try to read as many of the books as possible which is pretty tough in the 4 weeks of voting. This year I tried keeping track of 2017 books as they were coming out. It means I've already read 5 of the books... which unfortunately is about how many I get anyways without trying.

Oh well! I've already made my library lists so now it's all about getting as many more read as possible so I can vote accurately! If I can hit 7 books again this month, I'll definitely feel good about my votes. 

Nominees!!!!! 

Me Time

Me time has always been an odd goal for me. I love being around people and working from home gets a little lonely sometimes but despite that I still feel like sometimes I just need me space. Even though I work from home, I'm still working so it's not it's time to just unwind from everything else I have going on.

This month was a lot about knowing when to push for the "Outgoing" goal and when to just say no because I need that break from everything. I think it went really well. I tried really hard to find a balance. I fit more friend time into week days so that I could save some weekend time for me. I tried to not book things on back to back days so that I could have a break if I needed.

I also used that free time a little more productively. Obviously I read a lot. I also worked on my Etsy shop so there are more listings. Lastly, I made some big strides on my cross stitch. I'd love to give it to Dan for our 2nd Anniversary (cotton) but it's FAR from done.

Outgoing Octopus October

My original plan was to make a list of 8 things I did to be more outgoing this month. I quickly realized that would be weird. I don't want people to think I'm doing things for a list or a little goal. The point was more about building habits that strengthen friendships and help me make new ones.

So instead, I'm going to generally talk about the types of things I did.

For starters, I made an effort to be there more. I think we've all been in situations where we're casually invited to things. Little things like "Who wants to grab a drink tonight?" I said yes more to those... and it made me realize how many times I don't show up. It feels little but it adds up to missing out on a lot. While it was only a couple more instances of saying yes... they were really fun times that I would have missed out on because it was too far of a drive or I wanted to stay in.

I also tried to make more of my communities. I'm in some group chats. I went to a big college and small high school that have a lot of alumni in San Diego. I'm a member of 3 gyms. I have a whole additional family in law that I acquired a year ago. I used these connections more to socialize whether it was going to alumni events, gym events, or just being friendlier and joking around more with all of the above.

Lastly, it was a lot about just deepening relationships I already have. Sometimes when I'm feeling sad or left out I think "maybe I just need to make new friends." That's a horrible attitude. Friendships go both ways and while I hate feeling like I'm always the one to instigate plans, I know I need to sometimes. I invited friends out and over more than I had been. It reminded me that this is something I used to do ALL THE TIME. And then I stopped. I forgot how much I liked doing it. It reminded me that it's important for me to make the effort to maintain my friendships as well.

This was all exactly what I needed this month. I think it was the perfect timing too. I had a lot of hurt and heartbreak in the past year and it really affected me. In hindsight, I was probably a little depressed about all of it. Because I'm generally really positive, it was hard to see that I wasn't being as friendly or making the same kind of effort to show up and make plans because I was hurt. I was afraid of rejection. I had all these walls up that are so unlike me. If I had tried this  6 months ago, it would have been hard to overcome all of that doubt. This timing was better though because I'd built up my confidence more through my exercise, my goals, my amazingly supportive husband, and those great friends that always reached out to me even if I wasn't making the effort.

It feels good to feel like I'm more myself and I'm happy I was in a place to even start this month's goal. The fact that it went so well puts me in a good spot to keep it up and stay in a great place.

No Excuses November

Part of the delay in posting this, was figuring out the best way to wrap my head around this goal. It's a combination of things and it's not entirely clear to me either.

So... I think the best way to sum it up is that this month is about doing things when you're able to instead of putting them off. It's kind of a combination of several of the past months goals. There's a few specific areas I want to focus on:

- Fitness! Of course. It's not a total coincidence that our new gym is called No Excuses PT. The last two months have been very excuse filled for me. I had migraines, a cold, and traveling. While I take my health seriously, I definitley milked those excuses for what they were worth. Not ok. Even if I'm not feeling great I still should do something small like take the dog for a walk or doing a home workout.

- Chores! I'm the worst at chores that aren't cooking. I want to get better at just doing them before they get worse and take longer.

- Real Estate and Etsy! Making more of an effort to do outreach and build my businesses.

- Friends! Keeping up with last month, I don't want to just make excuses for not doing things. I know I can't do everything but I want to try to be there when I can.

The point is... I can always find a reason to not do something so maybe it's time to find reasons TO do them instead. This week, for example, I've been feeling sluggish. While I still made time for climbing and walking the dog, I thought about not going to the bootcamp gym. My excuse was resting for a 10k I'm doing this weekend.... but that's not a great reason. It's not like I've been training for this race anyways and today's workout had very little leg in it. I decided to just go and in the end, it gave me that energy boost I'd been missing most of the week.

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That's it for this month! November is looking to be as busy as October was but I'm not going to let that distract me from goals and getting things done. One week in, I've already managed to knock out a lot in terms of my fitness, cooking experiments, and making time for friends. Now if I can round out the business side of things, this will be an awesome month.

Athletic August 2017 - Monthly Update #8

Hmm.. this feels confusing. I probably should have had a better title for my weekly updates so that the monthly one stood out.. Oh well!

Designated Date Time/ Family Time

Oh look I changed the name again! Actually, this month, I spent more time with the rest of my family as well. Dan and I had a race in LA. I invited my dad to come watch and afterwards we all got dinner. We all had breakfast together as well. That may not seem like much but we spent hours talking. My dad has been in real estate forever so it was great to bounce some questions and frustrations off of him. He's also been talking more about his life experience and it's been really interesting. I know how important this time together is and I feel like we've connected more on these visits since my mom passed away.

I also have a brother who lives in San Diego and we've made some more time for each other this month. Despite my races and his travel, we managed to have a day we were both in San Diego and he invited me boating with him. It's nice spending more time with him and I like that we can get along as friends as well as siblings.


Lastly, of course, I still needed time with Dan. We're still trying to do nighttime family walks with the dog whenever we can and that time is always nice just to chat about our days. I felt like the race weekend was the most connected though. The day after the race, we stopped on the way home for a nice lunch date and some shopping around Downtown Disney. We were still sore and tired so to have just a nice, lazy Sunday together was so nice. Since the dog was at home with the dog sitter, it kind of felt like we didn't have "the kids" for the weekend and it was really pleasant.

Stick to a Regular Fitness Schedule

This was totally THE goal for the month. Of all my monthly habits, this is the one that I always felt like I was failing at. I had my climbing schedule and semi-regular body pump but that was only 3 things a week. My goal was way more than that. I feel like I finally hit it and have set up some ways to make sure I continue to keep it up in the future... but you'll read more on that later.

Meal Planning

This goal has been a slow improvement month over month. Since I spent so much of August running to and from gyms, I really needed to set up dinners that would be easy for me to make and would last a few days.


Luckily, I had just received a new cookbook that focused on this kind of meal planning. One of the first recipes I made from it, was called Sunday Gravy. It's a tomato sauce full of vegetables and different meats. I made a ton of it and we were able to make a lot of meals out of it and freeze some too. I also did this with soups and pulled pork and other things that can be made in large quantities. Our dinners were a little less exciting this past month but it happens.

I've also gotten so much better at doggy dinners. I had started making 2-3 dinners for Harley at a time so she wouldn't need cooking every night. If I had more than 2 made, I would freeze the extras. That way, when we went out of town, I could just pull her meals out of the freezer for the sitter. 

Take an Annual Trip with My Husband

Not even on our radar but we finally finalized all the travel for the 3 weddings in 2 months that we have coming up! It's going to be a busy Fall, but it's nice to have a good reason to use our Southwest points and see friends and family.

Read a Book a Week

This went so much better this month. I still felt like I was reading a lot of heavier, slower books, but I finished Alexander Hamilton which was a huge win.

Near the end of the month, I also had a huge realization. I let my books be governed heavily by what I get from the library. I was getting really burnt out on non-fiction and heavy, dense books. I really wanted to read something light or suspenseful - quick reads. However, I got another historical fiction from the library. It's been renowned as one of the best books of the year and I'd been waiting for it for a while. I really wanted to read it... just not now. I needed a break from this type of book. I didn't want to get back in the hold line, but then I thought "...why not?" It's got a little bit of a wait but it's not crazy. The book is being made into a movie next year anyways so reading it closer to that makes more sense for me. Lastly, why keep pushing myself to read books that I'm not feeling at that moment. I would enjoy the book so much more if I could read it in a couple of months when I've taken some distance from this genre so that's what I decided to do! Such a relief.

After coming to that conclusion, I stuck to reading what I wanted: quick reads! Whether they are suspense or chick lit, I'm heading into October with a pile of fun reads.

Me Time

There's something really interesting about adding more to your schedule. I knew focusing so much more time on exercise had the potential to overwhelm my schedule. It actually had the opposite effect. 

I found myself choosing quiet, me time over going out a lot. The first weekend of the year, Dan was out of town for a bachelor party. I was worried about being really lonely and had thought about making a lot of plans with girlfriends. That Saturday, my friend group had made plans to go to a cheap concert. I wanted to spend time with them but I wasn't excited about the concert itself or driving a long distance at night, in a situation where there was drinking. I was torn over my options and in the end, decided to just stay home. I caught up on work, made an amazing dinner, read, drank a bottle of champagne, and played video games. It felt amazing and it made me realize I don't do it enough. It set a standard for the month of doing less sometimes and really helped me remember why this goal was so important. 

Athletic August 

This is going to be more of an overall summary of how this month went. The picture above are my pre and post fitness test results and it makes me so happy to see so much improvement. The rest of this post is going to get into some more of the summary and how the month went for me overall. If you want more of a day to day feeling for what I did and how it felt as I was going through it, I also have weekly posts:

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

• 30 burpees a day - I definitely skimped on this after my race. I think doing a little bit of an exercise doesn't make as much of an impact as doing a whole lot all at once. While my burpees got better, it feels like a side effect more of the boot camp gym. With that said, this might be a good goal to continue in a different vein. Maybe doing 100 burpees every Sunday so it's one big focused push.
• Pull-ups - .You know, I never really attempted an unassisted pull up. I'm sure I could do one now though. With all of the rock climbing, and rope climbing, and assisted pull ups, that area is so much stronger. I did see my assisted pull-up number go up a lot so this is on the right track.
• No days off - I skipped maybe 3 days total and had another 3 where I did something really light that's hardly a work out. I think that's awesome. It's not perfect and I would have preferred 6 light days instead of doing nothing but it's still a solid effort. 
• Level up - This one makes me so happy. I definitely was doing harder climbs by the end of the month and I had several AHA moments of using a technique that I'd seen but didn't know how to implement. If you look at the chart above, my fitness test results totally improved across the board too. Except running. I still hate running. 
• Kick it! I've been really loving kickball. I've felt my athleticism improve because of my other fitness pushes. I'm still not amazing. I started kicking fly balls instead of foul balls though. I learned that I can catch the ball. I'm really fast the rare times I get on base. It's cool to feel ok at sports. 
• 31 days of fitness - We totally loved going to the boot camp gym (Which is called NXPT btw). I'm not going to lie, I could have done a trial there 100 other times, but I was afraid. I've seen their team at races and I was intimidated that I would be the worst in the class. 1) I wasn't. 2) It wouldn't have mattered if I was. The gym isn't about competing with your class. It's about competing with yourself. I think the trainers do a good job of knowing when you can push harder and when you're trying your best and motivate you appropriately. I'm excited that we have another 6 months there and ever since we extended our membership I've been trying to make it more of a community. 

I also feel like I learned a lot about myself through this goal. Prioritizing fitness and exercise rippled through so many other areas of my life:

• Drinking Less - I love a good of wine. A lot. Sometimes this has been a reward for getting through a tough day of work or another challenging situation. Through this goal, I was going to the gym after work. Even after a workout or my race, I felt so tired and dehydrated that I just wanted a lot of water before anything. After other races, I'd go get bottomless mimosas. This time I had one light beer and then just wanted all the water. I definitely still had a few fun weekend days but I can see my focus changing and that's big.
• Less Stress - The first two weeks of the month, my boss was in Europe so I had many more responsibilities in his absence. I was still juggling this with my exercise, real estate job, and all of the above goals. Things that would have normally stressed me out, just really disapated. Even when I dealt with some drama, it just didn't bother me as much as it would have. I think when you're physically tired, you don't really have enough energy to be emotionally tired as well. The only thing I'd have capacity for were mental challenges which is way better.
• Weight - I ended up gaining about 6-8 pounds this month. It's definitely due to muscle tone. I'm pretty much the same size but you can see my ab and arm muscles much more clearly. It's definitely conflicting seeing a higher number but I know that it's a good change. Do I still have areas that I'm sensitive about and would like to tone up? Totally. However, you can't target specific areas of your body to shrink through fitness. You need to do that through diet. I eat super clean already and there's not a lot left to cut out. The changes I would need to make in my lifestyle aren't really worth the tiny change in my thighs so I think weight gain is going to continue as long as I keep building muscle. 
• Laundry - omg, when you work out like this, you are changing clothes and showering several times a day. We had to do laundry so much more often. It wasn't even about going through the clothes - Dan was just worried about the smell building up in our laundry basket. Definitely an unexpected side effect. 
• Sleep & Time Management - I'm not a great sleeper. Now that it's been a month, I'm noticing that I'm so tired by the end of the day, that I fall asleep quickly and sleep through the night. That also means that I'm naturally waking up earlier and with more energy. What that also means is that the time I'm getting in the morning from sleeping better makes up for the gym time. I also just feel more focused through out the day and I'm going into September with a better mindset. 

All in all, this whole month felt like such a win for me. Of all the goals I've had, this was the most quantifiable. You can't look at me or the numbers and not know that it went really really well. I feel great and I have so much enthusiasm to keep this up. I love it.

This month also really felt like my Whole30 month. It was a similar idea - 30ish days of a personal challenge that required hard work and sacrifices everyday. Some days were hard. Even though it was a win at the end of the month, many times along the way I felt like giving up or that I just didn't want to do it. I think that's a very normal part of any long term, consistent goal. It takes time for you to mentally and physically adjust to a change, even if it's positive. A lot of the beneficial feelings I had, didn't really start to come about until the very end of the month. The point is - be patient and believe in yourself whenever you're trying to build a new habit. Push through the hard days to get to the good ones.

Steady September

Now that I finally feel like I've had a month where I nailed the monthly habits, I don't really feel the need to build on it. Athletic August went so great. I did well in my other goals, but really nailing the workout habit took from other areas. Now that regular gym time is a solid part of my life, I want to make sure everything else with work and family and life is fitting in together well. It's not about adding any new goals, it's just about making things work.

The beginning of the month has already been filled with some wins and losses. We started September off with a weekend out of town for a friend's wedding. We got to see a lot of people and do a lot of fun things. We then came home to an extremely full schedule where we had plans just about every waking hour. We had to take a step back and realize that's not manageable. I remember how much I liked having that day off to myself in August and I'd like to make sure I have some of those this month as well.

So yea, September is all about finding balance. It's about making real estate and exercise and time off all work together. It's about doing it all and then taking some time to breathe.

Athletic August - Week #5

It's the end!!! We managed to get 5 full weeks out of this somehow. Oh August, you're so full of tricks.

Sunday

I took another day off. I don't even have a reason. I just didn't do anything. It's definitely not how I wanted to start my last week of Athletic August. All I can do is accept it and try to do better.

Monday

Well, definitely no excuses now - it's time to finish strong! It was time to go back to the boot camp gym because this week, we are back to the fitness testing we did at the beginning of the month! For me, this month was all about a big push to increase my stats and build better habits. Joining a gym with a fitness test this month was an amazing way to track actual results.

Today, we were testing squats, deadlifts, and the half mile run. I improved all across the board but for specific numbers you'll have to wait until the month end post.

I ended my circuit on the rope climb. It was the last thing I did and after the deadlifts, my hands were torn up. I made an attempt to climb but I decided that I wasn't going to push it and not be able to go to the climbing gym.

While I felt like my grip was a little beat up from the bootcamp and I was kind of tired. You know what though? I still showed up to the climbing gym and I didn't take it easy. I still pushed myself to try the harder climbs. My partner and I tried an 11a (which is just about the level we still have a lot of trouble and don't always finish). We definitely struggled on one part but we tried and tried until we got it. Later in the climb, I tried a move that I'm familiar with but never know when to use. I had a total "AHA" moment when the way I used it made the move so much easier. It was so cool to feel like I made a breakthrough. And for those that climb, it was a heel hook.

Tuesday

The second day of testing involved the mile run. At the beginning of the month, I did it in the noon class. I remember it being hot and terrible and making it hard to do the thrusters after. It was supposed to be even hotter this time around so I decided to help myself... by waking up early and doing the test at 7am when it was cooler out. Waking up early to exercise is not my thing. But... all of my running races are early so obviously I can do it. This seemed like a good time to play that card. Also, it meant Dan and I could attend together since he usually can only go in the morning.

Thruster!!!

The first time around, we started with the run. While this makes the run way easier, it definitely affected my thrusters (this is basically a squat that thrusts you into a push press. The first time around, my legs were jellos from the previous days' squats and the run. Starting with them, didn't seem like a terrible idea. And that's what I did - we could pick where we started our testing and I went to the station that gave me the most trouble first. I went from 2 thrusters to 14. I truly felt like I couldn't do another one after too. No really, I had Dan take a picture of me doing one after the class and it was a struggle.

I also went from 20 pull-ups to 27 (with the resistance band). My mile increased 7 seconds though. While that probably counts as breaking even, getting even 1 second faster would have felt like an improvement.

Working out in the morning also felt like victory. This was the second time I made it to the 7am class and... it wasn't that bad. It definitely gives me a burst of energy to make it through the day.

Wednesday

Push ups, burpees, and sit-ups oh my! If you've read my other posts, you know I hate push ups and burpees. I didn't even do the initial testing day because 1) I hate them and 2) I was so sore and wiped out from the other two days of testing. While I had some soreness, it wasn't enough to stop me from seeing what I could do. It's crazy how I went from avoiding these exercises to really embracing them and trying to improve. Big steps!

What about the sit ups? So these were smack and taps - meaning you fully extend your arms over head and fully sit up and slap the ground in front of you. I'm not sure that description makes a difference to most of you - they're sit ups! I actually love sit ups. I know a strong core is important to all of fitness and... I can do a bunch without feeling tired! But I got there by making myself do a whole lot all of the time. I used to hate sit ups the most. Maybe push ups and burpees will get there too. Who knows.

Anyways, I had to wear my T-Rex Hates Push Ups shirt and it was a huge hit in the class. I also was really happy that I fit in 30 burpees in the 3 minutes. I didn't test it but I was trying to do 30 burpees a day and I had to break them into little groups to do this. This was definitely an improvement. I had just read about how burpees are a great way to improve overall athleticism and it made it even more poignant that they were a big piece of Athletic August.

Thursday

I finished of the month with one last climb! My original plan was to try to work out later too but I have a lot of chores to take care of so it was nice to just end on this.

My partner and I did a variety of levels and frankly, we struggled on some of them. It stinks when you're trying to get better and you get stuck on some really hard climbs. We had to just give up on those this time but luckily, we were able to power through some other hard ones and finish on a good note.

It was really a good metaphor for this month. I had my struggles and days where I didn't meet my goals but I finished strong. Monday-Thursday of this week have been shining examples of what you can do when you work hard. I've gotten so much better in different areas of fitness and even my climbing is looking stronger.

This may be the end of Athletic August but I'm excited to keep these habits going!

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So no end of the week summary since it ended on Thursday and I have the free version of the app so I can't customize things. Oh well! The good news is, it's the end of the month! There are a whole lot of thoughts and summaries and stats.... that will be in my monthly report. Yup! You have to read another whole blog post! Or just scroll to the bottom for pictures! I'll never know!