Seven Days, Five Goals

I stumbled upon this link up this morning while reading through my Bloglovin' Feed and knew I had to participate. I used to be really good about writing monthly goals but I'm totally out of the habit. And honestly right now it's hard to make monthly goals when my work schedule is all over the place and the weather is beyond unpredictable. Plus, with weekly goals there's a lot less time to make excuses and procrastinate.

Here's what I'm going to accomplish this week:

1. Half hour of yoga 3x this week.
2. Blog 4 times this week
3. Register for Camp NaNoWriMo
4. Read for 30 minutes every day.
5. Cross off at least one item off on "Long Term To-Do List" at work

They all sound like pretty simple tasks but I know if I don't make myself accountable for getting them all done this week it won't happen. I might read a few chapters of a book and blog for the sake of participating in a link up but defining things as goals and being specific will motivate me to get things done!

What are your goals for the week? Head over to The Sticky Note Addict and link up!

Confessions

After weeks & weeks of reading Kathy's Hump Day Confessions and giggling to myself as I read everyone's posts I am finally joining in the fun!

Despite the weather (more on that tomorrow) summer is approaching. And with summer comes bathing suits. On two separate occasions this week I popped in a Yoga DVD and then sat at my desk and watched the DVD without actually getting up and moving. E for Effort?

I'm trying to grow parsley in a little flower pot that we made at Day Camp…it's been 2 weeks and there is no sign of anything growing. I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to continue to water dirt before I give up and accept it's not going to happen.

I finally watched the first two seasons of New Girl. I enjoyed the second season more than the first but honestly Jess kind of annoys me. I don't like one demential characters and Jess is pretty one demential. 

I have been on a really strict budget since the start of 2014. No unnecessary purchases. I haven't spent money on anything other than gas, groceries, student loan payments, rent and a handful of suppers out since January. This week I got tickets with friends to see the Backstreet Boys in May and almost have myself convinced to splurge on a cute camera strap before summer.

I am also itching for a new blog design. But I don't have $100 of dollars to spend and right now I'm not willing to spend the time to do it myself. If anyone has suggestions of bloggers who do design/layouts in the $30-$40 dollar range? Ideally closer to $30. Or cheaper. 

My camera is still at my parents house because I forgot to pack it when I moved. The only plus side to this is not having it has made me REALLY want to have it. So once we're reunited I will make up for lost time with lots & lots of photos.

I was crazy enough to think that I could pick up blogging right where I left it and am so disappointed to discover that is not the case. It's never been about the followers or comments but it is pretty disheartening to put time into blogging only to check stats and realize nobody read what you wrote.

I've been thinking about what to make for lunch since I finished eating breakfast at 9:30 this morning.

As soon as I decide what to make/eat for lunch I will move on to thinking about what to make for supper.

 

I am probably going to drink more than one cup of coffee today. And I'm okay with that. Snow days were made for blogging & multiple cups of coffee. 

December Goals

I'm a few days late but I wanted to make sure I linked up with Erica to blog about my November goals and make a few December goals.

November Goal Recap: 

Blog 20 Times.

Check! I published 25 posts in November!

Read 3 Books.

I didn't read a single book this month. I picked up a few and read the first couple of chapters but I never got around to finishing them!

Do Yoga 4 Times.

I did probably did a full yoga work out once or twice this month. I have been doing really good with stretching and doing a few poses either in the morning or the evening before bed. I'm going to give myself half marks for this one.

Make progress with 3 of the things on my 25x25 list.

I published one post about the 50 Questions to Free Your Mind and wrote another one that hasn't been published yet. And I got rid of one bag of clothes in preparation for the new clothes I know I'm getting for Christmas. So again, half points. 

Not as big of a success as my October goals but even if I didn't fully complete them all I did make progress on each of them so that's something. I'm going to go pretty easy on December goals, it's a busy time of year and I know I'm probably going to set some more long term goals in January. 

December Goals

Make 5 Blog Related Goals for 2014. 

I'm not sure what this will entail yet, it might be related to posts or followers or link ups or something totally different. I just want to identify a direction for the blog. I've never been good at directions though so maybe that's not the way to go.

Christmas Shop without breaking the bank. 

I don't have a whole lot of Christmas shopping to do, just immediate family and a few close friends, but I don't want to go overboard on anything. I'm a big believer that you don't have to spend piles of money to give nice/meaningful presents. I picked up a few things on sale and have some DIY projects planned so I should be able to get it all done without spending a small fortune. 

Summer is Coming

Despite having lived my whole life in Canada I have no love for winter weather. None. Unless it's a major snowstorm and everything is closed so the only thing that is expected of me is to stay at home in my bed watching TV. It's dark out at 5 p.m. and the ground is icy and wet, everything is cold the last thing I want to is exercise. That being said I know that summer is just around the corner. There will be 20 cm of snow on the ground and then the next morning the snow will be melted and spring will arrive. Of course then it will snow again and there will be 30 cm of snow down because I live in Atlantic Canada and that's just what happens. Regardless, it's only a matter of time before I wake up one morning and realize bathing suit season is upon us. 

So with that in mind I'm joining Sarah at Venus Trapped in Mars to set some 'non-scale goals' (which I love) about my body. 

1. Drink 

Via

I'm so good at drinking water during the summer. I never go anywhere without my water bottle while I'm at camp and I easily re-fill it three times a day. In the winter it's cold, I don't want to drink cold water. I want to drink hot chocolate and tea and fancy coffee with whipped cream to warm me up! I need replace those sugary, caffeinated drinks with water! 

2. Flex

Via

Back in the day I was a gymnast and could bend and twist like it was nothing. I'm ashamed to admit these days touching my toes is as good as it gets. I know that if I take 10-15 minutes every day to stretch I'd see an improvement pretty quickly, it's a matter of doing it! Starting today I'm going to incorporate 10 minutes of stretching into my bedtime routine. 

3. Tone

Via

Lifting weights is boring. There I said it. I'm not going to spend money to lift heavy things or buy heavy things to lift. What I am going to do is crunches and push ups while I watch TV. Nothing complicated but something that I will see results from if I stick to it! 

4. Eat

Via

I'm don't eat terribly, I rarely eat take out and am pretty aware of what goes in my mouth. But I don't always plan ahead and because I'm "a picky eater" I don't always like what the rest of the family is having and so I end up eating a bagel or grilled cheese or just some rice. Not a great solution. 

5. Enjoy

Via

I love the idea of using a yoga video or some other program to guide my workout, but I've never really found one I love. I've done Jillian Michael's ones before but honestly I have such a strong dislike for her because of Biggest Loser that I can't focus on the moves just my intense dislike for her. I love the simplicity and concept of a work out DVD though so I really want to find one I love as much as the idea of it! 

Check! Check! Check!

I just love the satisfaction of checking things off a to-do list and this month I got to make lots of check marks! 

Last Months Goals: 

Blog 15 times in October

I blogged a grand total of 22 times this month! I am quite pleased with myself. 

Participate in 2 new Link-Ups/Blog Hops

I actually lost count of how many new link-ups I participated in this month. It feels like a lot, and some of them I enjoyed more than others. I did find some great new blogs to follow by joining in link ups of bloggers that I don't usually follow, which is always exciting!

Try 3 new recipes

I tried exactly 3 new recipes this month. Gingerbread Syrup to use in coffee, a teryaki chicken marinade and pumpkin spice muffins!

Read 2 books

I read 3 books this month! 

November Goals

Create a Blog Binder. There are so many awesome free printables and suggestions for how to organize posts, I want to figure out which ones work best for me. 

Blog 20 Times. Self-explanatory. 

Read 3 Books.

Do Yoga 4 times.

Make progress with 3 of the things of my 25x25 list. 

I'm also participating in NaNoWriMo this month...but that's a whole other goal...and I have written a total of 8 words so far. Ideally I would like to complete a novel, but I think aiming for 50 pages of writing will be my bare minimum goal. 

I'm linking up my november goals here & here. 

Pancakes & Snow Storms

School was cancelled yesterday, which means our usual Monday night Brownie meeting was also cancelled. So instead of spending yesterday evening playing games, making adorable Valentine's Day picture frames and consuming unhealthy quantities of red food colouring I watched TV and made a feeble attempt to organize my crafting supplies.

Today is Pancake Tuesday, which means tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. Instead of the traditional 'give something up for Lent' idea the last few years I've tried to start something new and do good. This year I played around with a few different ideas; at first I was going to try and read a book of the Bible every day then I came to my senses and realized as good as it sounds in theory right now I 'm doing good if I remember to read the 'Verse of the Day' on my phone's Bible App. For about five minutes I thought it would be a great idea to do something food related, try out the vegetarian thing, really go hard core and go vegan and then I remembered how much I love pepperoni & cheese pizza. Next I debated giving up pop but that didn't seem like that much of a commitment since it's not like I drink bucket loads of it everyday.

With all that being said I finally decided I would commit to doing yoga everyday. I've gone to a few yoga classes but never really stuck with it so I've invested in a few DVDs that were on clearance after the rush of January Weight Loss resolutions and will start with them. I'm anticipating that I will have to take some days off and give my body some time to rest so for those days I'm gong to take advantage of all of those free Meditation Apps & YouTube videos.

The over-arcing theme for the next 40 days is "Body, Mind & Soul", taking up yoga is one step but I also want to be more intentional about the things I'm already trying to do like picking up a book instead of the remote and clicking the "Read Full Chapter" button as I skim the Verse of the Day.