2014 Monthly Goal Check-In for March

Where did March go?  I’m not sure if it is just me but this month just disappeared on me.  I was kept busy throughout the whole month but I still feel like I have made some good strides again on my goals – well at least some of them.

If you want to read a bit more about my resolutions feel free to check out my previous posts:

New Year’s Resolutions Past and Present
2014 Monthly Goal Check-In for January/February

1) Move More/Lose More
My hope of hitting an average of 11000 steps each day this month was not to be.  My schedule kept me on my toes but sadly not walking very much.  If I take an average of the steps for the month I was only hitting about 8500 steps this month which was down from last month.  I did end up hitting a new all-time daily high though this month with a total of 16101, which is totally worth celebrating.  This was a huge day for me because it showed that my goal of hitting 15000 a day is not out of reach.

With my daily average of steps being down it doesn’t surprise me to say that my weight also didn’t change this past month.  I’m actually up .6 of a pound with my total lost for 2014 so far being 11 pounds.  In April I am expecting to hit a big milestone for me though.  I am expecting to finally get back to the weight I was before my life derailed a little when I lost a very dear friend.  It has taken me almost two years to lose the weight I put on the year after he passed away but it is very liberating to know that I’m very nearly back where I need was.  It is like I am finally moving past his loss.  I still miss him like crazy but I know that Will is looking down and cheering me on as I get close to this milestone and will celebrate with me as I pass it.

2) One Day a Week Vegetarian
I can claim success on this goal this month.  It does help that I remembered I had made the goal this month.  I found a few new yummy recipes and had a few of my old favourites.  All of which helped me find at least one day a week to devote to being meat free.  I have to admit that I really do enjoy the challenge this goal brings into my meal planning.  It has forced me to be creative and experiment a little bit more with my food choices.  It has me cracking my recipe books once a week so I can pick new dishes, which has also meant I have been picking new meat based recipes as well. 

3) Regular Blog Posts
I have to admit I thought I had done better with this goal in March until I actually looked at my blog.  I discovered that although I had written almost a blog a month I never posted them.  This month my goal will be to actually post the entries I’m writing.  It’s pretty silly to write them up in draft and not do the work to publish them. 

4) 365 Photo-a-Day Project
It was bound to happen but after 445 days I missed my first photo.  :-(  I was a little disappointed when I realized it but when you consider I have done 445 other days perfectly I can’t really get too down on myself.  I’m really excited about the month of April for photos though.  I have a mini vacation coming up to a retreat area I have never been but looks beautiful online and of course the end of the month will bring Calgary Expo.  Both of these things plus a few other events all should help make April a bit easier to keep the photography going and find some cool things to take pictures of. 

5) Read 50 Books
I’m not as far ahead of myself as I was last month on this goal but I am still more or less on track to hit my 50 books read this year.  My total is now up to 11 books done so far.  I was slowed down a little because of picking up Life of Pi.  I completely enjoyed the book but was reading it as much for the story as I was for a way of possibly setting up my historical fiction novel.  This meant I took a little more time and care in reading it.

6) Nanowrimo challenge Complete a Draft of Conor’s Story
This goal may have turned into a little of both the original goal and the revised goal.  I found out the Camp Nanowrimo is going on during April so I signed up originally thinking I would work on Conor’s story.  Last night though I had this incredibly vivid dream and part of me is thinking about giving it a shot for the month of April.  I don’t know if it is a story that has already been done but the dream was quite intriguing.  The timing of the dream also feels a little like fate considering today is the start of Camp Nanowrimo.  This means that this goal may actually become two goals.  I guess we will see how this month progresses.

In terms of Conor’s story it is also moving along quite nicely.  I think I have figured out a few things that were getting in the way.  Of course at the same time I also created a few more things to work out.  I am a planner and am trying to plan this story so that when it comes to write I can just let it flow.  This is a little different than other stories I have done but at the same time I feel like this is the journey I need to take to complete this story.

As crazy as March was I feel like it was a good month.  I made some big life decisions this past month including signing up for a gym again which has me over the moon excited.  I have plans to add a trainer as well before April is done.  It has been a long time since I felt this excited about the way my life was going.  It is a pretty amazing feeling.