Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Life Lately and Goal Progress

A random photo montage of life as of late:

Some baby-wranglin':



...Some family (and friend!) time:

(that's me and my Uncle)

...Some (kind of) DIY projects:



...Some watching the Ravens dominate the AFC!!!


...Some being spoiled by my boyfriend:

(Came home to chicken with onions, peppers, and peanut sauce one random evening...smelled ((and tasted)) like heaven! )

...And some new socks, just for kicks:


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As for my Goal Progress, I've made a few small improvements:

1. Add more fresh fruits & veggies into my diet -- I have managed to squeeze in some more fresh produce throughout the day!

2. Work out more regularly -- If walking 2 miles uphill while pushing a chunky 9-month-old in a stroller counts, then YES!

3. Spend more quality time with Sean -- Still many Scrabble nights, and the other night we stayed up in bed talking for hours and it was incredible.

4. Spend more time with my friends -- Just this past weekend, we went to a friend's birthday party, and this coming Saturday we are going bowling with some more friends :-)

5. Go out to eat less often so that we have more money to save or spend on other things -- Doing very well with this one, and meals like the stellar one above make me (almost) not even miss going out so much!

6. Have enough money to take a small trip -- Sean's aunt and uncle live on a lake in Wisconsin, so we are 95% sure our "vacation" this year will include a road trip to visit them, with stops in Pittsburgh (I have family there) and Chicago (just because!). I am super pumped.

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How is your 2013 going so far?



Thursday, January 3, 2013

2013 Goals

So, when I first sat down to write this post, it was going to be similar to last year's post on my 2011 goals and 2012 changes, where I vowed to "give up" goals in 2012. But then, I thought about my life, and realized that I have a lot of things I'd like to accomplish, especially because halfway through 2013 I will celebrate my 25th birthday, something that always used to feel so far off. I looked back on my 2010 goals for fun, and then came up with a list for this year.

Without further ado:


2013 Goals

Health & Fitness:

Schedule yearly check-ups for Dentist, Primary Doctor, & Gynecologist (I have been putting this off, and it is not good!)
Add more fresh fruits & veggies into my diet (I tend to go for frozen/canned because they are easier and often cheaper, but there are so many fruits & veggies I enjoy, and so many new ones I’d like to try!)
Sign up for (and run!) a 5k (I have been wanting to do some sort of race for years, and my 25th birthday this June is the perfect motivation to just DO IT)
Work out more regularly, incorporating yoga, strength training, & cardio (I do some yoga & strength training, but I have fallen off the cardio bandwagon big time…and it shows in how my clothes are getting wayyy tighter)
Get more sleep! (I struggle with this one. I tend to stay up too late, and I need to remedy this stat!)
Drink less alcohol and more water (This has been particularly hard because of all of the holiday shenanigans. Between Thanksgiving, birthdays, Christmas, and New Year’s, my liver is NOT happy with me. It is sooo easy to have a glass of wine—or three—after a long day. But it is a habit that I need to break, at least during the work week.)

Educational & Professional:

Make it through my first year of Grad School alive! (That’s about it…not that I want to set the bar low, but I truly just want to give myself a chance to re-acclimate to the whole “school” thing again after 2+ years off.)
Start looking into Human Resources internships while maintaining my full-time nanny position
Set more solid goals about what specific aspect of Human Resources I am interested in (which will likely become easier once I start exploring courses in the program)

Personal:

Spend more quality time with Sean and be the best partner I can be (A lot of times we’ll be on our various electronic devices, and we need more face time. The Scrabble board game he got me for Christmas has helped some, as we have been playing several times a week and just chatting. We also tend to eat dinner on the couch, usually at different times. I’d love to do at least 2 sit-down meals together per week.)
Be more patient, kind, and understanding of others (I tend to get frustrated with little things like getting cut off on the highway, or someone taking too long in line at the grocery store…I need to slooow down a bit.)
Spend more time with my friends (Life tends to get in the way, and I want to make it more of a regular thing than once every couple months like it has been lately.)

Financial:

Pay for school without taking out a loan (I already paid for the first semester out of pocket—go me!)
Manage to save at least $100 each month (This seems feasible to me, though it may be more or less depending on what’s going on each month.)
Go out to eat less often so that we have more money to save or spend on other things (We get lazy and eat out or order carry-out, so even substituting one meal out with a meal in will remedy this one.)
Have enough money to take a small trip (we are thinking a 4-day weekend somewhere fairly close, unlike the week and $1000+ we spent last summer at Cape Charles, even though it was awesome) this summer 


So, there you have it, We'll see how these all go. If I can improve in half of these areas, I'll be happy!


How do you feel about "New Year's Resolutions?" Do you set goals each year? If so, what are some of your goals for 2013?



Wednesday, January 2, 2013

The New Year's Eve That Almost Wasn't

Did everyone have a nice New Year's celebration? I am welcoming 2013 with open arms and positive thoughts!

Sean and I had been planning a New Year's Eve double-date with my best friend and her husband...until I got this text from her at 9:30 am on New Year's Eve:


D'oh. Of course, I felt SO bad that she and her husband were BOTH sick, I couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. We were going to go out in their town and crash in their guest bedroom. I had already bought sangria. I was going to bring Apples to Apples (wiki is the best). What were we going to do now?!

Well, I should preface this all by saying that luckily, Sean and I agree that New Year's Eve is often overly hyped up. I mean, sure, it's fun to ring in a new year, but it is also just another night and I hate that people try wayyy too hard to have the GREATEST NIGHT EVER and inevitably are let down.

However, I still wanted to have the GREATEST NIGHT EVER. Ahem.

So, after texting around a bit, Sean and I made loose plans with another couple to come over to our place for some drinks, and we would decide what to do from there. We ended up having a great time chatting, then hit the bars a bit before midnight to ring in 2013 with free champagne. 


I didn't stay up tooo late...we were in bed by 2am, which is considerably earlier than some of my wilder past New Year's Eves...I guess I am getting older. 

Chill nights with friends are where it's at, these days :-)

And of course, any night with this guy is sure to be incredible. 


Happy 2013, friends. 

I'll be back a bit later with a post about goals (or my lack thereof).



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