The List - May Update

Last year, I made it a point to revisit my list of goals for the year at least once every three months, so I could see what sort of progress I was making towards them. This year? Things have gotten away from me a bit.

Between the new baby, an overactive toddler, and a job that takes up more of my time (and causes more trouble) than both of my girls combined, it's all of a sudden May, and I have no idea how we got here. So...an update:

1) Lose the pregnancy weight. - I have lost about 20lbs since the start of the year, which is excellent. Less excellent is the fact that I gained more than 20lbs with Caitlin, so I still have some work ahead of me.

2) Give up meat for a month. - Not yet.

3) Complete the Couch to 5K program. - I keep trying. And I keep injuring myself, outside of the whole running thing. First, it was slipping on the stairs at my in-laws' house, and messing up my ankle. Then, it was falling in the parking garage at work, and tweaking my quad muscle. I'm sure, once my leg stops hurting every time I awkwardly squat to pick something up, I'll manage to throw my back out, or something.

4) Run an organized 5K. - Not if I can't quit falling while doing absolutely nothing athletic, I won't.

5) Clean/reorganize my closet. - I bought some skirt hangers that I love. That's about it.

6) Take a belated anniversary trip with Steve, a long weekend somewhere without the kids. - Still in the works.

7) Make a meal entirely on my own (I don't cook, so this might be the biggest one of the year!) - No.

8) Create an art wall in my staircase. - I've bought a bunch of frames. And I have them laid out on the floor of the front room. But that's as far as it goes right now.

9) Organize a workspace for me. - No.

10) Attend The Blathering in Charleston. - I REGISTERED! I'M GOING!! I'M SO EXCITED!!

11) Read at least one book a month. - I guess, since I didn't specify that the book a month didn't have to be a book I'd never read before, I'm actually ahead of the game on this one? Actually, even without that clarification, I'm still kind of on pace, but so far I've read: In the Garden of Beasts (Erik Larson), Wild (Cheryl Strayed), and Discovery of Witches/Shadow of Night (Deborah Harkness), plus I'm currently reading Wedding Night (Sophie Kinsella). So...five, right?

cough*Plus I reread all 7 Harry Potter books, just because I wanted to*cough

12) Take Brigid and Caitlin to South Bend for a weekend (preferably a football weekend). - We're currently trying to get up there for Labor Day weekend.

13) Research/practice meditation. - No.

14) Find a yoga studio and start taking classes regularly. - No.

15) Find a 'mommy and me' class of some sort for Brigid and I to attend. - Brigid is currently enrolled in a ballet class at the Atlanta Ballet Company, where I get to go sit in class with her while she 'dances'. I don't get to dance, though, and I think the ABC is really missing out on something special here by not letting me participate, but whatever. What do I know, right?

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

17) 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. (when I go back to work...) - HA! HAAAAAAAA! No.

18) Start taking outfit photos again, in an effort to wear everything already in my closet instead of shopping for new items. - Once I fit into more than three items in my closet, I will get RIGHT on this.

19) 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. - I can usually manage to get something into the family blog about three times a week, even if it's a throwaway picture post (because, let's be honest, that's all my family cares about, anyway), but this blog has been sadly neglected this year. I need to change that.

20) Start reading my favorite blogs again, since I haven't even LOOKED at my reader feed in months, and I miss keeping up with it. - I transferred everything to a new feed reader! And I added a few that looked awesome! But...to read them? I'm still trying to find a better balance for my time.

21) Find a general practitioner and get a physical. - No. Although having one might have come in handy when I thought I had pinkeye, but still...no. Not yet.

22) Throw Brigid a NYE party next year, complete with hats, noisemakers, and fun food, since she was really excited to stay up until midnight this year, but I was so tired from the baby's schedule that we faked midnight for her at 11PM. - I have a few more months on this?

23) Send more mail...thank you notes, birthday cards, and 'just because' messages. - Sort of. It comes in spurts, and I am not consistent at all. But I'm trying to be better about it.

24) Try a juice fast/cleanse. - No.

25) Decide, once and for all, what I want to be when I grow up, and formulate a plan to get myself there. - I know I want to spend more time at home with my girls. I know I don't want every waking moment to be consumed with work, to the point that I am using my personal phone as a wireless hotspot to work from the car as we're driving home from Indiana on what should be a vacation day, because there is some work emergency that needs to be addressed. I DON'T know how to get there, though. So...uh...TBD? I guess?

Fun With Make-Up

Last weekend, I spent Saturday night out with several ladies much, MUCH younger than myself, in honor of my soon to be SiL's bachelorette party. It was fun, and exhausting, and a little crazier than my 33-year old body can handle these days. And I learned that while I still like to talk to just about anybody who will have a conversation with me while I'm out, I now find myself doing things like discussing career paths with the 29-year old engaged bartender who is studying to be a chiropractor and giving parenting advice to the guy who's wife is pregnant with their first kid (a girl!) at the bachelor party drinking next to us. So, you know. I am a BLAST to have at parties, obviously.

Anyway, as I've gotten older, I've started using a lot more make-up in my everyday routine, to try to mask a few of those telltale 'yes I have a baby at home, and no I haven't had a decent night of sleep in something like 10 months' signs, and let me tell you...the rabbit hole that is internet make-up advice is just as fun/exhausting/crazy as any bachelorette party with a bunch of mid-twenties people in attendance. But! Most of the time I don't wake up with a splitting headache in the morning after looking at you tubed make-up tutorials, so I'll have to give the nod to the internet on this one.

My newest obsession? Tightlining.

It's an eyelining technique that involves lining from underneath your lashes, to accent your eyes without the heavy handed look you (or I, in any case) can get from regular eyeliner. I followed the advice I found here, and for my first attempt, I was pretty happy with the results:




Of course, the look took A LOT of Q-Tip clean-up, because I had eyeliner all over the place, but it's definitely a look I want to keep practicing, because I think I could make this an everyday thing for myself, once I get a better handle on it.

Side note: The other night, I was watching Two Weeks Notice with Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant, and all I could focus on was Sandra's eyeliner. Because in almost every movie she is in, I always love the look of her make-up, and now? I AM TOTALLY IN ON HER SECRET! Watch your back, Sandy. I'm coming for you.

(Because, the only thing separating me from Sandra's superstar life is the eye make-up techniques, right?)

Side note, the second: I used this Stila Smudge Pot and a flat eyeliner brush for my first attempt.