This Life, Redefined...: The Months That Were: April through June

Thursday, July 5, 2012

The Months That Were: April through June

Hey! Look! We're halfway through the year!!!

I...well, I don't approve of this at all. Time is moving entirely too fast for my choosing these days. Who do I talk to about slowing things the eff down?

Anyway, let's see where I stand on my 2012 goals at the halfway mark, shall we?

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1) Clean/reorganize my closet. - I bought an over-the-door shoe storage contraption that allowed me to get rid of a ton of shoe boxes that were cluttering things up. Plus I bagged up some donation stuff. And I threw out almost all of my old make-up. And no, I don't keep my make-up in my closet, so it probably doesn't really count as part of my closet cleaning initiative, but I'm going to take a victory where I can right now.

2) Institute a monthly date night with Steve. - Yeah, after a stellar first quarter, this has kind of gone by the wayside these last few months. I blame my pregnancy and the inability to stay awake past 8:30PM. But we do eat lunch together twice a week, alone, if that counts for anything. (No? It doesn't? Fine...I'll work on this.)

3) Make sure one of those monthly dates is a really, really nice dinner somewhere. - I'm still waiting.

4) Put together a Christmas/Advent activity calendar for Brigid. - Like I would ever actually take the time to plan this far ahead...

5) Do one Pinterest-found craft or implement one Pinterest-inspired design idea each month. - I made my sister a fun little money book as a graduation present, I made two batches of watermelon strawberry lemonade (of which I drank all but maybe one glass of, because IT IS TOO GOOD TO SHARE!!), and...uh...I have big plans for Halloween. That's about it.

6) Call my college friends at least once a month. - I am still very, very bad at this.

7) Facetime with my sister(s) once a week. - I am, however, still all over this one. And it is still one of my favorites.

8) Make a meal entirely on my own (I don't cook, so this might be the biggest one of the year!) - We bought a slow cooker recipe book. A slow cooker meal counts as a meal, I think.

I mean, I still haven't made anything yet, but I will. At some point.

9) Create an art wall in my staircase. - No.

10) Organize a playroom for Brigid. - No.

11) Organize a workspace for me. - No.

12) Give up meat for a month. - No.

Well, this was a rough stretch of the list, wasn't it?

13) Take Brigid on a picnic in the park, just the two of us. - We've still only done this once, but I have taken her on two separate picnics at the pool this summer, just the two of us, and I think that is much more appropriate for the hell-ish Atlanta summer we're currently enjoying.

14) Read at least one book a month. - Read this year: Three Hunger Games books, three Dragon Tattoo books, Bossypants (Tina Fey), Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (Mindy Kaling), three Fifty Shades of Grey books, and both Divergent and Insurgent (Veronica Roth). I think there were a few more, non-Kindle books in there, but for the life of me, I can't remember what they were. Maybe it's just dream reading on my part?

Next up on my list: Good in Bed (Jennifer Weiner) and The Great Gatsby (because the movie is coming out, and I've never read it, which is probably something I should remedy at some point in my life.)

15) Take Brigid to South Bend for a weekend. - This definitely will not happen, as I will be into my third trimester (AKA: the no fly zone) by the time football season starts, which is the only reason we want to take her up there, anyway.

16) Get a mirror or painting for the dining room wall. - YES!!! WE DID IT!!! IKEA TO THE RESCUE!!! I should probably take a picture or something, to prove that I'm not making these things up...

17) Do the 30 Day Shred for the full 30 days. - Oh, I did it, all right. But I do NOT look like Jillian Michaels, and I would like my 30 days back now, please.

18) Research/practice meditation. - A little bit. I found an excellent app for the iPad that leads you through a nice, short session, but I don't use it nearly as often as I should.

19) Find a 'mommy and me' class of some sort for Brigid and I to attend. - No.

20) Write something, anything, not blog related. - No.

21) Take a bubble bath once a month, just because. - I've kind of gotten away from this the last month or two. See: falling asleep at 8:30PM, above.

22) Take one lunch break a week, even if it's only 15 minutes, to sit somewhere quiet and recalibrate/reflect/replan the next few days. - No. In fact, I am (still) failing miserable at this one.

23) LAPS everyday. - Ditto (still).

24) Implement a $50/month budget (for all gratuitous expenses: make-up, lunches, coffee, clothing, accessories), and stick to it. - I honestly have completely lost track of this, but it's safe to say I am not within my guidelines right now (An extra 25% off of the Kate Spade sale, anyone?). Time to readjust.

25) Give up carbs for January and February. Except maybe birthday cake, because I am not a machine. - Pregnant. I'm pregnant until December. This is sooooooo not happening this year.

Maybe I meant next January and February? Because that makes much more sense right now...

4 comments:

rlutzJuly 5, 2012 at 5:54 PM
You are trying and that is really all that matters. Hope your power is back.. Being preggo in the heat is horrible...a/c is your friend.
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ViktoriaJuly 5, 2012 at 8:16 PM
Two comments:

1) How in the world did you make it out of high school without reading The Great Gatsby? I've read it countless times thanks to teaching, but I have to say it's one of my favorites. The kids likes it. My favorite lesson (not that you care) is that I make them research songs that would make great theme songs for the book. I open the assignment by playing "Every Breath You Take" by the Police because Gatsby is a serious creeper. The kids get a kick out of it.

2) A crock pot is the BEST way to make meals. I can give you a yummy recipe for chicken and dumplings. Mine is in use all fall and winter making soup!!
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HeatherJuly 9, 2012 at 10:15 AM
A crock pot meal counts.

I need to throw out my old makeup...I have makeup from my early 20s in my bathroom...uh, hello. If I haven't used it in the last 10 years, I'm probably not going to. This goes for nail polishes, too.

I have it on my list to MAKE A LIST. Maybe next year.
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kimmieJuly 9, 2012 at 8:50 PM
You're pregnant which means you should be able to eat all the carbs you want! I totally did because it helped with the morning/all day sickness and heartburn :)

And watermelon strawberry lemonade!?! Mmmm please share the recipe!

I gave up resolutions this year because I never end up fulfilling them. Big surprise, right? Haha :)
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Leave a comment, if you'd like...I'd love to hear from you!

2014 List

1) Send more mail...thank you notes, birthday cards, and 'just because' messages.

2) Be nicer, in general, to my husband and family. They deserve a much less crabby me than the one they were stuck with for most of 2013.

3) Make more of an effort to communicate with the long-distance people in my life. I got away from facetiming with my sister on a regular basis, and I miss it. Plus, now that she's making me an aunt, I think it's even more important that we get back into the habit of seeing each other every week. I do not need her new baby asking 'are you SURE you have more than one sister?', just because Aunt Mary lives in Indiana and Aunt Tara lives all of the way in Georgia.

4) Call or email or even text my friends from college more than I do now, which is hardly at all. Just because we can pick up after not talking to each other for months like no time has passed at all does not mean I should keep letting all of those months pass without the talking. I'm afraid the picking back up can't keep happening in a friendship like that.

5) Do one fitness/health related challenge each month. - You know all of those '0 to 1,000 sit-ups in just 30 days!!' kind of schedules that pop up on Pinterest all of the time? I'm going to start doing those. One each month. Fifteen minute plank? I'M COMING FOR YOU. I'm also throwing my meat-free/sugar-free/alcohol-free months in this category, as well.

6) Run another organized 5K. - It was so much more fun than I expected. Minus the running up a hill part, anyway.

7) Renew my vows with Steve, in Vegas, by Elvis, for our 10th anniversary in October.

8) Create an art wall somewhere in my house.

9) Organize a workspace for me

10) Attend The Blathering in Seattle. - Charleston was such a great time, I'd love to make it back for the Seattle trip.

11) Read at least two books a month.

12) Take Brigid camping.

13) Find a yoga studio and start taking classes regularly.

14) Write something, anything, not blog related.

15) No spending money on new clothes this year. Using gift cards and rewards points are fine, but I need to get out of the habit of spending money on new stuff, just to make myself feel better. I swear, shopping is my addiction, but the high I get from buying a new sweater probably isn't enough to justify the amount of money I spend on clothes I don't need.

16) No buying anything at all unless I absolutely need it. I have a bad habit of stocking up on things at sales (candles, lotions, make-up, beauty products), even if I have a cabinet full of the same stuff already at home. I will use the cabinet full of crap before I add more crap.

17) Be more consistent in updating my family blog, because my parents give me a hard time when I let it lag, and my personal blog, because I'm not as happy with myself when I let it lag.

18) Find a general practitioner and get a physical.

19) Post at least one picture a day on Instagram, to get myself into the habit of taking more pictures of my sweet girls, since I find entire events have passed where I've forgotten to photograph said events. Like Christmas. Sadly.

20) Get a haircut. - You can laugh at this one, if you must, but I did not get one single haircut in 2013. In fact, I haven't had a haircut since before Caitlin was born in November of 2012. I do not even know how this happens, but I know it must end. Soon. I think a Locks of Love kind of donation might be in order. My hair, it is long.

21) Make an effort to get to know the neighbors. - I tend to not get dressed/leave the house on the weekends, and this extends to not fraternizing with anyone who lives near me, because I'm afraid people will judge me for my make-up free, sweatpants clad weekend laze. I should probably get over that.

22) Write more thank you notes. - I am terrible at writing thank you notes. I should not be so terrible.

23) Buy new rugs for my new house. - The sunroom and foyer, in particular, need something fun.

24) Be more fearless in forming and maintaining relationships. - There are many times where I think of something I want to send to someone, whether it's an email, text, card, or what have you, and I don't, because I'm afraid I've maybe overestimated whether we have the type of friendship where I can do something like that. I don't want to worry about stuff like that anymore.

25) Put together an Advent/Christmas activity calendar for Brigid and Caitlin. - I did that for Brigid when I was home on maternity leave after Caitlin's birth, and it was so much fun. I didn't get the chance to do it this year, and I feel like I missed out on some part of the excitement of the season. I'm bringing it back.

26) Institute a once-a-month date night with Steve. Or date lunch, I guess, if necessary.

27) Institute a once-a-month girls' night, whether it be with my old college roommate, my SiLs, or the neighbors. I should get out of the house at least once a month with people who do not live in my house.