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.

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.

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. 

May 2017 - Check In #5

This was a shorter month for me. You're probably thinking "Nikki, May has 31 days. That is literally the longest a month can be." True - but since we came back from Europe on the 6th and needed some days to adjust, I really feel like getting back to our habits didn't start until about the 10th. That's also when I published the April post so if it helps, April had an extra 9 days and May was short those. That puts it under February so definitely a short month with lots to do!

It's funny though, even though it was a "short month," this has been the only post I haven't been writing as things were happening. I was so busy trying to do it all, I just crashed when it was done. Low and behold, I finally looked at the date, realized it was the end of the month, and figured I should write my update.

Designated Date Time

I'm still trying to figure out a better name for this section. Williams Adventures? Marriage Work? I don't know. I just know that really it's about the two of us (and Harley!) having a good time exploring San Diego and spending time together and having a certain time each week dedicated to that.

We really didn't do this one too well, and that's going to be a running theme of this month. While I definitely still think this is an important goal, we needed a month off. So much of May was spent doing everything - being there for family, getting back to normal life after the funeral and our trip, studying for my test, and finally catching up with friends we hadn't seen in two months. That's definitely a lot to balance along with a relationship and it was stressful at times but I honestly got home the night of my test and was a whole different person with that big burden gone.

It really made me think about the whole point of this goal - to build up quality time so that it was stored away for when we needed it. These past months have been full of stressful, difficult things that are trying on any relationship. However, I felt like we had this little piggy bank of quality time stored up and even though we couldn't make as much time for hikes and things while juggling everything else, it was ok because we knew how to get that back when we had time again.

At the end of the month, we did have the time for a hike but I was so sore from trying to get back to my gym schedule (more on that later) that I just didn't want to. We did other things instead though - went to an open house, ran errands together, and worked on the house. We also spent the whole weekend together and with friends. The whole thing is just a lesson on the different shapes quality time can take. It can be making your home nicer or going with the other person to do something they love or being together but with others.

Stick to a Regular Fitness Schedule

This was the toughest one of my goals. As I've said before, going to the gym is way easier when you are doing it with a friend. I climb twice a week with a friend and that was the easiest thing to add back to the schedule. I had been taking another class with Dan and some friends but none of them were able to make it this month and I decided to study instead of pushing myself. That basically was the trend - I skipped on my walks and other fitness just to buckle down and prepare for this test.

It felt good climbing for the few weeks of this month, but once my test was over, I was excited to get back to Body Pump. I knew that after two months off, I'd need to take it easy so I greatly decreased my weight. That wasn't enough though - I was so sore for days. My body taught me a lesson about taking too much time off from my fitness and I'll have to make sure to not make that mistake again.

Meal Planning

pictures of avocado toast without any avocado

I'm still not great about planning out our meals for the week and keeping my shopping list strictly there but I wasn't before so there wasn't much of a loss here. It did feel SO GREAT to be cooking in my kitchen again. After all the amazing eating in Europe, I was worried that I wouldn't want to cook again, but that was so wrong. Getting back into the kitchen really felt like coming home.

Ironically, the thing I missed the most was breakfast. While our lunches and dinners varied a lot on and off the cruise ship, breakfast was the same every day and very little of it felt like what I would eat at home (I don't really like pastries or cereal). I decided to really be better about making myself breakfasts when I got home. Really this meant a lot of avocado toast. On one of my shopping trips, I picked up a little sampler of brie and started making brie toast as well. It's probably my new favorite food.

We've also been back on our healthy eating kick. I go shopping and just try to get mostly vegetables. We've been grilling them and eating so many varieties and colors of produce. We started juicing a little bit because we heard ginger juice is really good for you. I'm still thinking about doing another eating cleanse like Whole30 again but for right now I'm enjoying just trying to eat really healthy each day.

Take an Annual Trip with My Husband

I don't think we'll be planing another big adventure for a little while. There's way too much to do in the meantime. I think the next big step will just be planning weekend trips to see friends and family and for weddings. Once those are all taken care of, we can re-organize and see where the money and vacation days stand and then see if we can go on another vacation before the end of the year. In the meantime though, we can look through all of our photos and remember what a great trip we had!

Also I have souvenir from our trip for you - blog posts! I took notes during most of our trip and I'm planning to convert those into posts in the near future. If you look back through the history of this blog, a lot of it was about my traveling adventures. I think it will be really fun to write about them again.

Read a Book a Week

I actually crushed this one. It was a good reminder that there are a lot of ways to read a book. I had my study guides that I finished. I listened to an audio book while on a drive to/from LA. I had kindle books and I got back into the library. I got 6 books down this month and that doesn't include the book I counted toward April. I'm halfway to my goal for the year and we're not halfway through the year. Yes, I'm a month ahead and it feels great.

As you'll read later on, May really was a great time for me to prepare and organize a lot of projects and dreams I have. Sometimes, you just read the perfect book for where you are in life. The last book I read in May, was that book for me. I read The Magnolia Story - the autobiography by the couple on Fixer Upper. I thought it would just be a cute little history of their lives but it was so much more. Obviously they are adorable and successful but they started so modestly, just tackling little projects and flips and opening side businesses with whatever they had. Sometimes I think everything I want to do is impossible but seeing someone else do it is so motivating. It came at the perfect time. Here's a link to my more official review on Goodreads if you want to hear more about it. 

Me Time

Almost done with another page!

Obviously studying doesn't allow for a lot of me time. It was great to finish my test and get back to that though. I grabbed a beer on my own at a brewery. I read some extra books. I've caught up on so much Netflix. I did more cross stitching. It felt so nice to take a week to catch up on myself in the aftermath of my test. Now that I've had a good week of relaxation, I'm excited to get to next steps of my master plan... and maybe make sure I still carve out some nice pockets of time for myself.

My Best Me May

This was purposely a really vague goal. I knew some things I wanted to check off, but mostly I just wanted to open the door to be a better version of myself. Maybe we all need to do that sometimes. I took my test last week and I passed! Being my best me also meant not just stopping with passing a test. Even though I needed a little time off, and took it, I also made sure I was taking the next steps. I'm hoping that by the next update, I'll be able to share big plans. If you've been paying attention, you probably have a good idea what I've been working on.

The rest of it was just about being a better person. To be clear, I don't think I'm a bad person, but sometimes we're all a little selfish or have some room for self improvement. So this was about doing the nice things you don't always want to do. It was about listening when you want to talk. It was about being polite instead of frustrated. It was about trying to do all of that and knowing you could still do better and giving yourself something to keep working on. I was still bad about making my bed though. 

my biggest cheerleader

On another note, I spent a good chunk of this year so far feeling really self conscious. This month was the first time I felt better about all of that. I'm realizing that doubting myself makes me into a person that doesn't feel like me. I also realized that all the stress I've been putting myself under has compounded and made the insecurities feel worse. It's been nice to let a lot of that go. This past weekend - with the test done, and my head in a better place, I felt the most like me that I have in months. I spent time with friends and didn't question everything I was doing and saying. I talked with strangers and didn't think about how to sell myself to them. I realized that maybe I've come through some difficult times and I'm in a better place. 

A lot of this had a lot to do with my mom. She was always so confident and made friends wherever she went. A lot of our "family" in LA are actually various friends she's made over the years. If there was something I admired most about her, it would have to be that. It was a trait I felt that I had as well until lately. I wanted that feeling back and I decided to just take it. I also realized that being a friendly or welcoming person doesn't mean being perfect or being walked all over. I've learned that some people don't appreciate that kind a friend and that was contributing too much to my self confidence. I know that if my mom were here, she wouldn't want me to be a doormat and that's really helped me come back into my own - that thought that there are always going to be people that make you feel terrible and that shouldn't for a second stop you from being who you are for everyone else.

Just Do It June

My planner is also a reminder of all the work to do.
Luckily, it helps me organize my crazy brain and keep on track!

When I think of "Just Do It" I obviously think of Nike and fitness and that was originally the idea here. I have two races in June - one more serious and one more fun - and I wanted to really push myself. Even though I've done a ton of races, I always feel like I could have pushed a little harder. While I'd still like to do that, that's not the main goal here anymore. For starters, I've had a whole lot of trouble getting back on my fitness routine after the time off. I also just have so many more goals that I want to make sure I just do.

As I'd said before, May was really a short month for me but I feel like I did so much. I'm at a place where it feels like so many things are beginning and have a lot of potential. May got me at that place and June is where we tackle it.

It's weird to be here at this time in my life and it goes back to a point I made last month about dealing with loss-it can break you or it can make you stronger. My mom always expected the best from me because she knew I could do it. She knew about all these plans that I have now and she always said "why are you wasting time, just do it." Maybe not in those exact words - but that idea. A lot of what I'm working on now has been in progress for over a year and it kept getting delayed because of life and stress and maybe a little laziness. She always pushed me to keep on track and not get distracted, to follow through. I think I'm doing my best me by channeling all of my energy or grief into my projects. Some are fun things too like getting a Housewarming party on the calendar - another great way to honor my mom is by following her example as the best hostess ever. All of this, everything I'm doing, is for her.