2014 Monthly Goal Check-In for April/May

Wow is all I can say about the last two months.  I have had some amazing moments in those months and have been kept fairly busy.  I have been adapting to a fuller schedule as I continue on my journey to become healthier.  I am loving life right now though and wake up each morning with a smile on my face, even though I am waking up at the crack of stupid.

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 (the first post)

2014 Monthly Goal Check-In for March

1) Move More/Lose More
I am feeling the most proud of this goal right now.  I am consistently hitting 10,000 steps each day and on at least half of the week I am also hitting over 11,000.  The biggest change in the last two months with this goal is the fact that I joined the gym and am going most mornings to use the treadmill.  It is a bit challenging especially on weekdays because in order to get the work out in before starting my job, I’m getting up at 4:30am.  I will admit that there are days I question my sanity and my drive to do this but what has kept me going is the knowledge that the more work I do now the easier it is going to be to do my first 5K in September.  I have taken to visualizing how good it is going to feel when I cross the finish line to help keep me moving.  It makes even the hardest days on the treadmill a little bit easier.

I’m also incredibly excited with the ‘lose more’ part of this goal.  In the last two months I have done extremely well with my weight loss.  Since the middle of April, when I started regularly going to the gym, my weight has for the most part been steadily going down.  The total weight loss for 2014 now stands at 14 pounds (with 10.9 of that being lost in since the middle of April).  I also hit a huge personal milestone this month and finally lost all the weight I had gained when my friend Will passed away.  You can read about that here. 

2) One Day a Week Vegetarian
The last couple of months have been bad for this goal.  As my schedule has gotten busier and my time shorter I have to admit that my meal planning has lacked a bit.  As soon as meal planning lacks my meat free days tend to fall to the sidelines because I don’t have as many recipes yet that I can just make at the drop of hat and know that I will love.  I am trying though and have made it my mission to get back to full meal plans each week instead of the quick ones I have been doing which will also mean getting back to my meat free days.

3) Regular Blog Posts
Writing blogs much like meal planning has been a challenge.  I am learning that I have far too many hobbies and things going on in my life to keep up with it all without plans in place.  I’m working on find a new balance that will let me get the things I really want to do done.  So for the month of June my mission for this particular goal is to post a blog entry once a week which will mean 5 entries including this one – only four more to go.

4) 365 Photo-a-Day Project
I am very happy that this goal is still running along smoothly.  I have continued to take photos each day and have started the process of getting them turned into digital pages that I can print.  I really do love this project and I love looking back on my 2013 pages.  As a side I also finished the last of my 2013 pages so I just have to send them off and I can officially say last year’s project is done.

5) Read 50 Books
I am now up to 18 books read this year, which apparently puts me 2 books behind schedule for hitting my 50 by the end of the year.  This doesn’t worry me yet because I think I’m still doing better than I was last year at this time.  I have been reading quite a mix of books and have found a few new favourites in the last two months.  The two that stand out most in my brain are The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and Skinny by Donna Cooner.  Both were easy reads but both had me in tears at the end for different reasons.  I am continuing to make reading a priority and try to read at least a chapter a day.  In order to hit my goal though I really need to spend a little more time reading on my weekends so that shall be the plan for June.

6) Nanowrimo challenge Complete a Draft of Conor’s Story
Well I attempted to do the Nanowrimo challenge in April but just didn’t have enough time to get it done.  I may have done better if I had used Conor’s story rather than the story that came from my dream but oh well.  I did learn that I really am a planner.  As interesting as it was to try and write a story I hadn’t planned I struggled a great deal with it.  I like to know the story fairly well before I try to write it so that when I start writing it just flows.  This allows me to feel like I’m making progress and not just messing around.  It is not a complete loss though because at least now I know how to best channel my creativity to get results.  It is all about outlining and planning.  I’m just a geek that way I guess.  Hehe!

As for Conor’s story well sadly I haven’t had much of a chance to work on it, well at least not with pen and paper anyway.  I have discovered that the treadmill is a great place to work on the ideas in my head.  I am slowly filling my phone up with notes taken while I’m walking.  It has been pretty wonderful.  When I get the chance to sit down with Conor’s story I feel like it will flow well.

At the end of March I wrote that I was feeling excited about the way my life was going.  I was looking forward to starting at the gym and I have to say that the last couple of months have not disappointed.  I have been feeling strong, positive and driven.  I have been feeling like I can take on any task that I come up with and that I will find success.  I am amazed in a lot of ways how truly positive I feel about everything right now.  It gives me hope that this year really will be the best year of my life to date.

New Year’s Resolutions Past and Future

The end of one year and the start of a new one creates the perfect time to wipe the slate clean and start over.  Each year I am one of the many that creates resolutions to help guide me on the year to follow and also like many I think they are often quickly forgotten and pushed to the side.  This year was a little different for me, if only because I had the resolution documented so I couldn’t forget them.  I’m actually proud of my resolutions for 2013 because all of them except for one was at least attempted.  So on this last day of the year I want to quickly look back at my resolutions for 2013 and share my new resolutions for 2014 (some of which will look pretty familiar).

In 2013 I came up with four things I wanted to work towards, all of which were things that work towards my overall life goals.  They were to move more, complete a 365 day photo project, complete another Nanowrimo challenge and read fifty books.  Each of these resolutions have had their own challenges and they are also ones that I have ignored in other years so I was pretty determined to complete them.

The resolution to move more was probably the easiest of all the resolutions because it was vague enough not to give me outlandish goals but still specific enough to get me up off the couch.  This resolution took me a while to actually fulfill because it wasn’t until I got my fitbit that I actually could see that I was actively working towards moving more.  I have already written about how wonderful this change has been for me.  It has been incredibly powerful to see results that I want and at a steady pace.  I feel like this resolution is one that I can check off as being completed without any second thoughts. 

The second resolution is also one that I’m happy to say was a success.  In 2012 I started to do a picture a day with the plan of completing an album of 365 moments that would have made up my year.  I did not complete this project in 2012 – in fact I made it to October and completely gave up on it which made me even more determined to do it this year.  I mean really I was so close to be done it was silly to stop.  I’m ecstatic to say that I have completed this project (my very last photo is of the movie poster for The Book Thief which I saw this afternoon).  The difference this year is that I created and printed the pages as I went along.  As I started to see the finished pages coming to the house I realized how truly special and great this project is.  I think it is my favourite album that I have created to this point in my life as a scrapbooker.  This year was an amazing year in a lot of ways and I have it all captured to remember forever.  I highly recommend everyone doing something like this.   There were times it felt like a drag or I would wonder how much I would really like to see hundreds of pictures of my cat or my dinners but when I look at the album even those pictures are pretty special and tell a story.

My third resolution is the one disappointment of the year.  I did not do Nanowrimo this year.  I had planned on signing up to do the summer camp version again which was being held in July. I signed up with intentions of working on a novel I have been researching for a bit but after the craziness of the floods in June I just couldn’t seem to get to a spot where I could actually focus and get to work.  I had a second opportunity to try in November and I did consider it but November is a notoriously busy month for me because of the work I put into our adopted Christmas family so rather than disappoint myself with an unfinished goal I put it to the side for the year.

My last resolution to read fifty books was actually added towards the end of the first week of January.  I have always loved reading but since graduating from university I have found that I don’t do as much of it as I would like.  I’m far too easily distracted by other things and even with the resolution I still didn’t quite make it to my goal.  I read 28 books this year.  I am a little disappointed by this but at the same time I’m pretty sure it is more than I have read in any year since I left university.  What I wasn’t expecting from this resolution though is that I would fall in love with fiction again.  A lot of the reading I had been doing was more research type books.  I got lost in a world of history and forgot how much fun losing myself in fiction could be.  Of all four resolutions this one was by far the most fun to try and achieve and so I don’t consider it a failure only getting part of the way to the end – it just means I have to try again.

Now as we stand at the start of a brand new year and I have done the look back it is time to look forward.  I have once again created a list of resolutions and much like last year I’m going to document them so that they stay fresh and I actually work towards them.  I plan on looking back at the end of 2014 and having even more check marks for completed resolutions.  So here is the list for 2014:

·         Move More/Lose More

o   With my fitbit I get a weekly report of what my average steps per day is and I plan on recording that on my blog page.  My last week was not my best week but it is the starting point.  I average 6,535.  This time next year I would like to see that number doubled.  Of course with moving more I expect to see my weight continue to drop.  This will be especially important because I have big plans for 2015 and I don’t want to be slowed down by my weight.

·         At least one day a week is a vegetarian day

o   In the summer this past year I decided to try to go part time vegetarian and I loved it.  I have continued to have meat free days and want to keep this going.  I love the variety it has brought into my diet and I look forward to continuing to explore other food choices.

·         Regular blog posts

o   I try to be good about posting but having just cleared out my blog posts folder on my computer and I realized that I write a lot that I never post.  So this year I will try to not let fear/nerves get in the way from me posting.  It also encourages me to set aside time each week to do some writing which also helps me keep motivated on working on my fiction

·         365 Photos for 2014

o   I wasn’t sure I was going to put this on the list again.  I loved my 2013 project but it has felt like a burden at times but at the same time like I said above it is one of my favourite albums so how could I not do it again.  I expect 2014 to be filled with just as many memories that I want to capture.

·         Read 50 books

o   Yep this one is back again too.  What can I say but I hate to see things incomplete so it is back and this year I will do it.  I have proved to myself in the last couple months I am capable of reading a book a week so I just have to make sure I do it consistently this year.

·         Complete a Nanowrimo challenge

o   That’s right it is another of my resolutions that has come back.  I just want to prove to myself that the first year I did this and completed a novel wasn’t a fluke – besides I also figure it is a good excuse to actually get my Titanic/WWI novel written.

I have to say that as great as 2013 was for me I am more excited to see what 2014 has in store.  I feel like each year just gets better and better so how can next year not be amazing.  I think as each year goes by I get closer and closer to being the person I really want to be. 

Before I end this post I just want to take a minute and wish you all a very Happy New Year.  I hope that 2014 is a stellar year for all of us.  I hope it will be a year filled with good deeds, good friends and a whole lot of memories.

365 Photos = 365 Captured Memories for 2013

Last year on January first like a good Creative Memories Consultant I was online and checking out to see what was happening for resolutions and photographs, trying to steal ideas that I could bring to my parties or to my own photos and I came across the idea for taking a photo a day. As I looked at digital stuff that people had done for the year before I thought how cool they looked. On a whim I decided to take up the challenge. I was going to take 366 photos (2012 was a leap year) and going to create my very own photo a day book.

This was the first photo I took (and considering I have spent the last week incredibly sick it makes me laugh now that how I spent my NYE is in fact how I’m spending the end of the year) I joked that I would be happy if I made it to February but truthfully figured I would be able to keep it going until the spring. The reality was I actually made into October having only missed a handful of days when for whatever reason I gave up on the idea. Now sitting here on Dec 31 I’m kicking myself for not gutting it out for a few more weeks but that has just fired me up for this year.

It might seem like a bit of a silly challenge or resolution but I can tell you that my goals of becoming a better photographer and paying more attention to the little details that happen around me that got me started last year were more than met even though I didn’t finish the challenge in 2012. I learned a great deal as I tried to stretch my brain to find interesting and beautiful pictures to capture the moments of my day to day life. I endured a bunch of teasing from my family for taking way too many photos of the cats but when I look at the photos there were a lot of really great moments captured that I never would have paid attention to but got me really excited at the time (From the announcement Wil Wheaton was coming to Calgary Expo, to adventures in my first Union rally, to the birth of a new baby, to even something as silly as that really cold morning – and let me tell you trying to photograph a thermometer at 6:50am before going to work is more challenging than you would think).

Although I had goals that I expected what has surprised me is the unexpected benefit that I found in the last two weeks. As I have been dealing with the passing of my cat, Molly, I realized I actually caught on film a lot of the things she did that made me feel very special. They were little moments like her cuddling against my chest or Molly curled up in her favourite chair. At the time they were just a photo for the day to meet my challenge but they now mean so much more to me. In going through them I was able to sort through some of my emotions and remember the really great things about my cat. I have also changed them into a beautiful memory book that whenever I’m missing my cat I can go back and look through and smile.

So my challenge to all of you this year is pick up your camera, your cell phones or anything that you are using to capture memories at least once a day and capture a moment. I will do it with you and try to keep you motivated. This time next year you will have 365 memories captured. To make it even more special anyone that completes this challenge and is willing to give me your photos I will create a digital scrapbook to display the photos for you. (It will be up to you if you want to buy the book but I will put it together for you.)

Let me know if you are taking up the challenge. Let me help keep you motivated as I try to keep myself going. This year will the year I get it done! I wish you all a very Happy New Year. May all your resolutions be met with the same determination on Dec 31st 2013 as they were created with on January 1st. 2013 will be the best year ever!