Back On The Exercise Bandwagon

I've been getting back in shape, y'all. Cue pleasantly surprised applause. Crickets? Darn.

Well, I haven't been doing it for very long, so there's a chance I'll fall right back off again, but I have hope. The other bride bloggers on weddingbee.com have inspired me to not neglect my fitness just because I've got more demands on my time right now. Here's what I've been up to:

Diet

I haven't been eating the best diet, but I haven't been eating too badly and I certainly haven't gained any weight. I do have the lucky (I think?) benefit of the opposite of stress eating. When I'm stressed, like I've been with planning this wedding, I don't eat. I will go all day and night and then it occurs to me to eat. It's not that I even get hungry, it's that it crosses my mind that it's been 15+ hours since I've eaten.

I've also been staying away from junk food and fast food for the most part. It's just that pesky home-made baked goods that get to me. I can't help it, I like baking for my man. Easy appreciates it, so I'll keep doing it, just maybe a little less.

Exercise @ Home
My Wii Fit Plus is my best friend. I want to keep it up, but it's hard to find the time when there's so many other things I could be doing at home. But I took some time out of my day yesterday to exercise, and I hope to keep it up the on my next day off. Wish me luck!

Exercise on a Date
Easy and I took a long walk after dinner the other night. It was romantic and sweet. And it was a good exercise. I felt great after that walk. I wasn't tired like I usually am after a big dinner. I'd love to make that a routine to get in some exercise on date nights. At least while it's still warm. I'm not going for a one hour walk in Chicago past October. Maybe by then we'll go jogging instead.

Exercise Away From Home
Starting today, I'm going back to yoga classes. I figure if I go right when I get off work to the early morning class, I should be able to work it into my schedule without losing sleep or anything else. I'm going to try it out this weekend since I work three days and see how it goes. If it goes well, it will be my new plan. Toned thighs, I will welcome you back to my world shortly.

Future Hobby/Plans
I miss rock climbing and ballroom dancing. They were great ways to exercise and have fun. I'll work them into my schedule at some point. Sooner rather than later, I hope.

Weekly Goals Accomplished? Part Eight

There are fourteen goals in total This covers the week 1/2-1/8 (Sun-Sat).

Family Member Goal: I'm supposed to reach out to a family member I haven't talked to or spent time with in the last month.
Accomplished?: Yup. Nothing too huge, just saying a quick hello on the phone.

Career Goal: Fill out at least 50 job applications.
Accomplished?: Yes, I think I made this, although I didn't keep count. It's just the hours I spent online, it had to add up to at least 50.

Career Goal: Do research on grad schools, and on how to acquire a clinic/scholarship program/homeless shelter.
Accomplished?: I did some follow up on the clinic. By-passing the info about filing forms with the IRS etc. to start planning the logistics of the clinic is a huge step for me.

Career Goal: Have an updated resume by the 10th of this month.
Accomplished?: Yes, this got done, but it doesn't count for this week since I didn't finish it til after the 8th.

Hobbies (Piano Playing) Goal: Spend at least one hour practicing the piano and/or studying music theory.
Accomplished?: Nope. I haven't been anywhere near my keyboard this past week.

Hobbies (Reading) Goal: Read at least one book in the last week.
Accomplished?: Nope. Those Charles Dickens books are slow reading... And I spend a lot of time on my Kindle playing games. I blame my hairdresser for letting me know they have games on the Kindle.

Hobbies (Writing) Goal: Work on novel at least once in the last two weeks.
Accomplished?: Technically yes, since I did it the week before last.

Hobbies (Gardening) Goal: Work on indoor garden plan at least once in the last week.
Accomplished?: Nope, but I'm certainly feeling the urge to get to work on this goal. I would've loved to have some fresh herbs to put into the turkey burgers I made today.

Hobbies (Yoga) Goal: Go to three yoga classes.
Accomplished?: Nope. I really should do better; it's just so cold outside.

Hobbies (Cooking) Goal: Make one new and one old recipe.
Accomplished?: Yes, I accomplished this one.

Hobbies (Cooking) Goal: Write down the recipe for everything I've made in the last week.
Accomplished?: I haven't done this. But I will do it next week.

Hobbies (Travelling) Goal: Leave Chicago once a week, leave Illinois once a month, leave the Midwest once a season, and leave USA once a year.
Accomplished?: Bowling on Friday and shopping during the week got me out of Chicago. Hadn't left Illinois yet, but I will this week. I've got til March to get out of the Midwest, and I've got til October to get out of the country.

Hobbies (Bowling) Goal: Improve league bowling average and lower handicap.
Accomplished?: Well, my average went up to 100, but my handicap didn't lower. I'll take that as a goal accomplished because that extra pin of handicap was useful to help my team win all three games of league bowling on Friday.

Hobbies (New Things) Goal: Try something brand new.
Accomplished?: All those crafts I've been making are certainly brand new. I'm feeling quite creative this past week.

I got 9 of my goals completed this week. That is pretty good, more than half. Still a work in progress. If I ever get all fourteen, I may just have a small heart attack.

Creating Things Day Six - A Yoga Mat Carrier

Every time my mother and I go to yoga class, she struggles with her mat.

Seriously, it seems as if it's some extra burden on her life to roll up the mat and carry it both into and out of the yoga classroom.

They have mat carriers available for purchase. But most of them are super expensive.

Well, not super expensive, but more than I want to pay for something made out of cloth that will get dirty and need to be replaced in a few months.

But I didn't really know what I would use to make it. My first stop was to my closet.

The back of this closet is filled with remnants from my youth and things my mother put up with no real intention to ever use again.

I came across this.

I've always hated this for-use-on-Easter-only bag, so I didn't mind dismembering it.

The next thing to do was to find fabric to actually make the holder of the yoga mat.

I had to find something that was durable. I didn't just want to use regular fabric because it would still need to be replaced in a few months.

Then I saw this bag that got sent to our house from Nielsen Media Research people. It was the perfect durable material.

I had to cut the bag in half so it wasn't so much material.

Then I headed to my ancient sewing machine to stitch down the cut side.

Once it was stitched, I used a kabob skewer to string through the black twine. I needed it on both sides to make the drawstring useful on both ends.

I cleaned up the cut edge.

Then I had to attach the handles. That was a fun adventure to figure out which way to pin them down.

I finally figured out the best way to make that happen.

Then I decided it would be better to hand-stitch them. The needle on my sewing machine is a tiny little thing and I don't have a replacement needle.

It took forever to hand-stitch them (I admit I was multi-tasking), but I finally finished.

I retrieved the yoga mat to see if my imagination could produce real workable results.

I put the rolled up mat into the holder, pulled the drawstrings, and tied them underneath the mat to hold them closed.

It worked perfectly! It was just wide enough to keep the mat balanced, but small enough to not add any more weight to the mat for my poor encumbered mother.

I can't wait to show her when she gets home from work.

And in case she hates it, I'll be more than happy to use it for my own mat.

What? I don't have another weaved purse lying around that I hate, so it'd be pretty hard to just make another holder.

Back To Life's Activities

Ever since I got sick after Christmas, I've been kind of MIA at church.

I just really didn't feel well and didn't feel like doing much of anything.

The only thing I got accomplished besides actually going out for New Year's Eve is still applying for jobs.

That doesn't take any energy and I can do that just lying in bed.

But now I finally feel like doing stuff again.

So today I took my car to the Honda dealership so it could get it's 100,000+ miles fix-up.

Yes, you read that right. My car has over one hundred thousand miles on it.

And then I headed over to my church because our church organization that several churches belong to was having it's quarterly business meeting.

My church hosted the meeting, so they needed members on hand to help out.

Even though I originally had no intention of helping, I felt like I should.

I've missed the last couple of Sundays, and there haven't been many meetings because of the holiday season.

I'll start back with yoga tomorrow. Even though I won't be going again anytime after that (I'll be in St. Louis), at least I will have kept myself from falling completely off the wagon.

I'm just glad I didn't gain any weight this holiday season. I did a pretty good job of not over-eating.

And tomorrow, the bowling league break will be done. I hope I haven't completely fallen apart in my bowling skills.

I've only been out practice bowling with my dad once. That was when I ran into an old flame.

It'll be nice to actually do stuff again. I just hope it doesn't interfere with my ability to take time to make something everyday.

Speaking of that, I guess I should get to it for today.

Weekly Goals Accomplished? Part Six

I know this week is almost done, but I'm just now getting around to putting this up for last week. There are fourteen goals in total This covers the week 12/12-12/18 (Sun-Sat).

Family Member Goal: I'm supposed to reach out to a family member I haven't talked to or spent time with in the last month.
Accomplished?: No. And I really should get on this one. It is the holiday season after all. Even more so because I didn't do it last week.

Career Goal: Fill out at least 50 job applications.
Accomplished?: This goal I have accomplished two weeks in a row. I guess it makes a difference to have internet access. Although, the access wasn't compromised because I spent half of last week in St. Louis.

Career Goal: Do research on grad schools, and on how to acquire a clinic/scholarship program/homeless shelter.
Accomplished?: I didn't actually do anything for this goal last week. I just wasn't in the mood. But next week, I'll be looking up GRE information. Michelle and were just discussing it yesterday.

Career Goal: Have an updated resume by the 10th of this month.
Accomplished?: I completed this goal for the month.

Hobbies (Piano Playing) Goal: Spend at least one hour practicing the piano and/or studying music theory.
Accomplished?: I accomplished this goal. I wasn't really playing holiday music though, I was playing musical music. I'm trying to memorize this one song.

Hobbies (Reading) Goal: Read at least one book in the last week.
Accomplished?: I finally finished Great Expectations! And I started reading another Dickens classic, "The Old Curiosity Shop." I doubt I'll get through it in just a week.

Hobbies (Writing) Goal: Work on novel at least once in the last two weeks.
Accomplished?: I scrapped the one I was working on before because I just wasn't feeling the storyline anymore. So I started working out all new characters. I've got a compelling protagonist, friends becoming enemies, enemies becoming friends. Did anyone catch the Family Guy reference? Anyone at all?

Hobbies (Gardening) Goal: Work on indoor garden plan at least once in the last week.
Accomplished?: Nope. I know, why have a goal on the list if I'm never going to accomplish it?

Hobbies (Yoga) Goal: Go to three yoga classes.
Accomplished?: I didn't make this one, I was in St. Louis for half the week. I only went to one class.

Hobbies (Cooking) Goal: Make one new and one old recipe.
Accomplished?: I made the roasted asparagus that everyone loves for Easy while I was in St. Louis. He has the weirdest taste in fruits and veggies, so I couldn't make my usual spaghetti sauce for the linguine. I ended up coming up with a great recipe for marinara consequently.

Hobbies (Cooking) Goal: Write down the recipe for everything I've made in the last week.
Accomplished?: I didn't exactly get it done during the week, but I did get all the recipes down that I made in the week.

Hobbies (Travelling) Goal: Leave Chicago once a week, leave Illinois once a month, leave the Midwest once a season, and leave USA once a year.
Accomplished?: I left Chicago for bowling, I left Illinois to go down to St. Louis. I didn't leave the Midwest last week (but I did this week!). Still working on getting out of the country by next October.

Hobbies (Bowling) Goal: Improve league bowling average and lower handicap.
Accomplished?: This wasn't accomplished this past week. My average and handicap stayed the same. But I think I will have improved after my scores from last week's league are calculated in.

Hobbies (New Things) Goal: Try something brand new.
Accomplished?: That marinara sauce was brand new for me. I cannot remember ever having tomato sauce before that only had tomatoes in it. It messed with my head for a while, but I worked it out! I'm just glad I'm able to make food that both Easy and I love since we have such different textural preferences.

I got 9 of my goals completed this week. That isn't as good as my record, but it is better than my average!

Missing Yoga, But Missing It For A Good Cause

I've posted a number of times about yoga on this blog.

It's one of my favorite activities/exercise options. It has done wonders for my body and overall holistic health.

But I haven't been in what feels like forever. Sure, I just went last Friday, but that's too long.

After a week of completing my goal and going three times, it's a bit frustrating to not be able to go at all.

Even though my yoga studio is part of a national chain, they do not have studios in St. Louis.

When I'm there, I try to go through my poses a bit on my own, but it's not the same.

It isn't nearly as relaxing. At that point, it's just exercise.

I was supposed to go to yoga today. But my mom changed my plans because of our shopping trip that is planned for today.

Sure I could have gone to the earlier yoga class, but that would require waking up super early in the morning. After being up late last night at a bowling alley.

When my dad and I go practice, we are out til 1 in the morning sometimes.

And then I started thinking about how I'm supposed to be heading to the church to wrap the presents for tomorrow's Winter Wonderland.

And how after that I'm supposed to be bowling with my league tonight.

And how sleepy I'd be because we have to wake up super early Saturday morning to get ready for the Winter Wonderland in the morning.

And how Saturday afternoon, I'm supposed to be heading to my grandmother's house with my mom to spend some time.

Spending time with my grandmother is a very stressful thing. I'm mostly convinced she means well, but the woman is an emotional wrecking crew.

We never leave there anything but drained and dreading the next visit. It's hard to explain, bu that's the long and short of it.

And then I started thinking about how much I miss Easy. Since I dropped him at the airport, I've actually spoken to him a couple of times.

He called me while he was at the Newark airport and we chatted a bit. But since then, nothing.

I figure he needs time to settle in. It's seven hours ahead there, so I shouldn't have been surprised to wake up this morning with no e-mail from him.

He was going through his first day there, probably trying to avoid jet lag since it was 8 am (time to go to work) by their clock and 1 am (time to go to bed) by his usual clock.

But missing him and wanting an e-mail from him saying he made it safely and everything is going well so far would be nice.

And it would give me the boost I need to make it through was promises to be a very long couple of days.

After time with my grandmother, my mother and I will probably head home to pack. Packing with my mother is always a production.

It will be interesting to see if it stays that way even though we'll only be in DC for one night.

And then I have to find some time to get the stuff I need for the church's Christmas party, get that stuff to Camille, and brief her on what needs to be done.

And to focus on the positive, I will just say how happy I am to be so busy. I like having responsibility and all these things to get done before I leave town.

Weekly Goals Accomplished? Part Five

I skipped two weeks because I just wasn't spending a lot of time blogging. There are fourteen goals in total. This covers the week 12/05-12/11 (Sun-Sat).

Family Member Goal: I'm supposed to reach out to a family member I haven't talked to or spent time with in the last month.
Accomplished?: No. And I really should get on this one. It is the holiday season after all.

Career Goal: Fill out at least 50 job applications.
Accomplished?: This goal I have finally accomplished! I switched my schedule around to avoid my internet-killing brother. So I should do a better job of reaching this goal from here on out.

Career Goal: Do research on grad schools, and on how to acquire a clinic/scholarship program/homeless shelter.
Accomplished?: I have done research on the clinic. There are a lot of extra steps that need to be taken, but having a solid checklist to go by is helpful. I have also come up with a solid list of grad school programs that I may potentially want to apply to.

Career Goal: Have an updated resume by the 10th of this month.
Accomplished?: I have updated my resume by adding in my forgotten certification in CPR. Also, I"m finalizing my references list.

Hobbies (Piano Playing) Goal: Spend at least one hour practicing the piano and/or studying music theory.
Accomplished?: I finally accomplished this goal. I do love playing holiday music.

Hobbies (Reading) Goal: Read at least one book in the last week.
Accomplished?: I've finally been reading again on my Kindle instead of just playing Every Word or Mine Sweeper. But I'm re-reading Great Expectations and that is going to take awhile. I'm about 1/3 of the way through it.

Hobbies (Writing) Goal: Work on novel at least once in the last two weeks.
Accomplished?: Nah. I just don't know what to do with the characters I've created. I may have to start from scratch.

Hobbies (Gardening) Goal: Work on indoor garden plan at least once in the last week.
Accomplished?: Not really. I'll get a half for this one because I've at least decided to start with an herb garden.

Hobbies (Yoga) Goal: Go to three yoga classes.
Accomplished?: I was able to accomplish the goal. It was really hard to go to five classes a week. I tried, but it was a toll on my body. I think it will take more time to work up to the great goal. For now I'll stick with three times a week.

Hobbies (Cooking) Goal: Make one new and one old recipe.
Accomplished?: I stumbled upon a great new recipe for home fries. It's just a spin on something I've tried before that didn't work out. I made them as a healthy alternative to french fries to go with turkey burgers. I normally hate turkey burgers, but have found a way to make them and enjoy them. Score one for healthy eating.

Hobbies (Cooking) Goal: Write down the recipe for everything I've made in the last week.
Accomplished?: I haven't cooked too much this week, but I did manage to write down all the recipes.

Hobbies (Travelling) Goal: Leave Chicago once a week, leave Illinois once a month, leave the Midwest once a season, and leave USA once a year.
Accomplished?: Chicago was left a couple of times this week, but only to head to the south suburbs. Still counts though! I left Illinois in November, and I'm set to do it again next week. It's almost officially winter, and I don't see me leaving the Midwest, but I'm gonna see. And I still have until next October to leave the country.

Hobbies (Bowling) Goal: Improve league bowling average and lower handicap.
Accomplished?: This was accomplished. My new average is 99, and my handicap has lowered to 90.

Hobbies (New Things) Goal: Try something brand new.
Accomplished?: Technically, I accomplished this because I have developed a brand new way to bowl. It's a stretch I know, but considering how different it was from what I was doing before and the vast improvement in my score, it should count.


I got 10 1/2 of my goals completed this week. That is a new record. Maybe in a few weeks I'll get all of them!

Of course now I need to edit a few of them, particularly the ones about grad school and my future career plans. I need a more detailed goals list.

But I'll worry about that next week.

Weekly Goals Accomplished? Part Four

I had from Sunday to Saturday so hopefully I got everything done! There are fourteen goals in total. This covers 11-14 to 11-20


Family Member Goal: I'm supposed to reach out to a family member I haven't talked to or spent time with in the last month.
Accomplished?: No. I intended to, but never got around to it.

Career Goal: Fill out at least 50 job applications.
Accomplished?: Close, but no cigar.

Career Goal: Do research on grad schools, and on how to acquire a clinic/scholarship program/homeless shelter.
Accomplished?: Um... No.

Career Goal: Have an updated resume by the 10th of this month.
Accomplished?: This was finished by the 11th of this month.

Hobbies (Piano Playing) Goal: Spend at least one hour practicing the piano and/or studying music theory.
Accomplished?: Not a whole hour, but some time was spent.

Hobbies (Reading) Goal: Read at least one book in the last week.
Accomplished?: No, I swear I used to read a lot, I don't know what happened.

Hobbies (Writing) Goal: Work on novel at least once in the last two weeks.
Accomplished?: Haven't done this either.

Hobbies (Gardening) Goal: Work on indoor garden plan at least once in the last week.
Accomplished?: Nope

Hobbies (Yoga) Goal: Go to five yoga classes.
Accomplished?: I didn't make it to any yoga classes this week. I didn't get back til Wednesday night. Honestly I just didn't feel like it Thurs, Fri, or Saturday.

Hobbies (Cooking) Goal: Make one new and one old recipe.
Accomplished?: I did do this. I made a great dinner for Easy and I while I was in St. Louis on Tuesday. The cheesy shells I'd already made. But the chicken with a Chardonnay cream gravy was new.

Hobbies (Cooking) Goal: Write down the recipe for everything I've made in the last week.
Accomplished?: I did do this, just not on time, but it's done now, so that sort of counts.

Hobbies (Travelling) Goal: Leave Chicago once a week, leave Illinois once a month, leave the Midwest once
a season, and leave USA once a year.
Accomplished?: I was outside Chicago and Illinois by being in St. Louis from Sunday to Wednesday. I also left Chicago on Friday to go bowling in Dolton, IL. Still working on leaving the Midwest and the USA.

Hobbies (Bowling) Goal: Improve league bowling average and lower handicap.
Accomplished?: I have improved. After tonight, my team has moved into second place in our league! And my average is up to 95 while my handicap is down to 94.

Hobbies (New Things) Goal: Try something brand new.
Accomplished?: I was very upset about something, and I was able, for the first time ever, to fully speak my mind while not saying anything I would end up regretting. I was a fantastic feeling because I expressed my anger and disappointment without saying anything horrible. There was no mean streak to apologize for later.

6 out of 14 isn't bad. It's an improvement on last week. I am getting progressively better.

Weekly Goals Accomplished? Part Three

Last week, I only gave myself three days to get everything done. But this past week I had from Sunday to Saturday so hopefully I got everything done! There are fourteen goals in total. This goes from 11-07 to 11-13.

Let me just first say that I really didn't get much done at all. I was a bit busy in St. Louis. It was like emotional rehab. Sort of a one track mind last week.


Family Member Goal: I'm supposed to reach out to a family member I haven't talked to or spent time with in the last month.
Accomplished?: Not really...

Career Goal: Fill out at least 50 job applications.
Accomplished?: Um.. no.

Career Goal: Do research on grad schools, and on how to acquire a clinic/scholarship program/homeless shelter.
Accomplished?: This I actually did do! There are apparently some great grad programs in St. Louis...

Career Goal: Have an updated resume by the 10th of this month.
Accomplished?: I did accomplish this, although not until the 11th. But it's done and I have a fully updated resume!

Hobbies (Piano Playing) Goal: Spend at least one hour practicing the piano and/or studying music theory.
Accomplished?: I surprised myself by accomplishing this goal. But Easy has  keyboard, so I got in some practice. While I'm on the subject, he's actually pretty upset with me that I haven't played for him yet. I'll discuss that in my next blog post about Easy.

Hobbies (Reading) Goal: Read at least one book in the last week.
Accomplished?: Didn't read a book...

Hobbies (Writing) Goal: Work on novel at least once in the last two weeks.
Accomplished?: Um, didn't do this either.

Hobbies (Gardening) Goal: Work on indoor garden plan at least once in the last week.
Accomplished?: Nope.

Hobbies (Yoga) Goal: Go to five yoga classes.
Accomplished?: I went to one yoga class in Chicago. But while in St. Louis I went through my yoga routine twice.

Hobbies (Cooking) Goal: Make one new and one old recipe.
Accomplished?: I didn't do much cooking. But I can say for a fact that I accomplished this goal in the next week

Hobbies (Cooking) Goal: Write down the recipe for everything I've made in the last week.
Accomplished?: I finally finished my recipe template.

Hobbies (Travelling) Goal: Leave Chicago once a week, leave Illinois once a month, leave the Midwest once a season, and leave USA once a year.
Accomplished?: I've left Chicago and Illinois by heading to St. Louis. Still have until next month to leave the Midwest and I have until next October to leave the country.

Hobbies (Bowling) Goal: Improve league bowling average and lower handicap.
Accomplished?: I didn't do any bowling this week, so no improvement to speak of. But my team did beat my Dad's team in league bowling, two games out of three.

Hobbies (New Things) Goal: Try something brand new.
Accomplished?: I did this. I went to this great reggae spot in St. Louis I'd never been to on Wednesday night with Easy and Lion.

Weekly Goals Accomplished? Part Two

A couple days ago, I wrote about setting these weekly goals for myself to take a more proactive stance on building the life I want for myself. But since I started this late in the week, this first week only goes from Thursday to Saturday. There are fourteen goals in total. Let's see how I did!

Family Member Goal: I'm supposed to reach out to a family member I haven't talked to or spent time with in the last month.
Accomplished?: I texted my younger cousin who is a freshman in college. She's super busy all the time, but I reached out to her. She responded, but it was the most delayed text ever, so I was glad to even hear from her.

Career Goal: Fill out at least 50 job applications
Accomplished?: I didn't fill out anywhere close to 50, but hopefully I will do better next week.

Career Goal: Do research on grad schools, and on how to acquire a clinic/scholarship program/homeless shelter
Accomplished?: I did some research on how to acquire a clinic. Very little. I need to do better.

Career Goal: Have an updated resume by the 10th of this month.
Accomplished?: I didn't finish it by Saturday, But I will get it done next week.

Hobbies (Piano Playing) Goal: Spend at least one hour practicing the piano and/or studying music theory.
Accomplished?: I didn't touch the keyboard, but I had a very busy couple of days.

Hobbies (Reading) Goal: Read at least one book in the last week.
Accomplished?: I didn't read a book, but I read some more of Great Expectations on my Kindle.

Hobbies (Writing) Goal: Work on novel at least once in the last two weeks.
Accomplished?: I didn't work on the novel, but I have another week before I officially didn't reach this goal.

Hobbies (Gardening) Goal: Work on indoor garden plan at least once in the last week.
Accomplished?: Nope, sorry.

Hobbies (Yoga) Goal: Go to five yoga classes.
Accomplished?: Not accomplished. That would've been crazy to do in only three days. I only went to 2 classes.

Hobbies (Cooking) Goal: Make one new and one old recipe.
Accomplished?: I didn't cook anything between Thursday and Saturday.

Hobbies (Cooking) Goal: Write down the recipe for everything I've made in the last week.
Accomplished?: I still haven't made my recipe template.

Hobbies (Travelling) Goal: Leave Chicago once a week, leave Illinois once a month, leave the Midwest once a season, and leave USA once a year.
Accomplished?: I did leave Chicago. We went to Crestwood, IL to see the movie. The rest I'm still working on.

Hobbies (Bowling) Goal: Improve league bowling average and lower handicap.
Accomplished?: My average really did improve and my handicap went down. And what's more, my team won all three of our league games. We kicked their asses!

Hobbies (New Things) Goal: Try something brand new.
Accomplished?: I accomplished this one! When we went to Grand Lux, my appetizer and meal were brand new to me. I'd never tried Philly cheesesteak spring rolls and they were delicious! And whatever salad that was I ordered was good too!

Okay, 5 out of 14. I will do better. And next week, I'll actually have 7 days so hopefully I will improve!

Weekly Goals Accomplished? Part One

If you read all those pages I recently added to my blog, you'll see that I've typed out concrete ideas I have for building the life I want. There are things I've decided I want to proactively seek out. I think it will be fun to make that extra step. And there's always that warm fuzzy feeling I get when I'm making real strides towards accomplishing a goal.

I'm thinking if I post this every Sunday or so, I'll be able to look back on the last week to see if I did what I was supposed to do. For the first post, I'll be looking at only Thursday to Saturday. But before I get into that, I'll just lay out the goals.

For my family, I'm setting a goal to reach out to a family member I haven't talked to or spent time with in a month. I can't make them have time for me, but I can do my part at least and reach out.

For my career, I'm setting a goal to fill out at least 50 job applications a week. That number may change over time. Also, I'd like to have spent part of one day doing research on my ultimate career goals and on my grad school search.

For my hobbies, I've got quite a number of goals, and I'm going to write them all out here. Bear with me.

For piano playing, I'd like to spend at least one hour each week practicing the piano and studying music theory.

For reading, I'd like to read at least one new book in a week. I've read waaaay more books than that in one week, but I sometimes go weeks without finishing a book, so that's now the goal.

For writing, I'd like to work on my novel at least once every two weeks. I want to do some character development, plot planning, or maybe even writing. With constant progress, maybe I'll stay in touch with the characters and really get some stuff done.

For gardening, I'm going to put together a plan to start a indoor garden. I think spending time doing that research or acquiring the tools I need to make it happen once a week will be a good start.

For yoga, the goal will be to get my butt to that yoga studio five times a week. That will mean making extra efforts to change my schedule and motivate myself.

For cooking, I'd like to make one dish I've made before, make one new dish, and write down the recipes for everything I make, with the exception of bowls of cold cereal.

For travelling, I want to leave the city once a week, the state once a month, the Midwest once a season, and the country once a year.

For bowling, I'd like to improve my average and lower my handicap every week.

And as far as trying new things, I have to do at least one brand new thing a week. It doesn't have to be huge, but it has to be new.

I know I've made a tall order for myself. I've made fourteen goals That's a lot to do every single week. Maybe I'll give up in two weeks. But for now, I'm excited to try!

Hobbies, Healthy Eating, And Helping Out

I like days like today because I get a variety of things accomplished.

There is the usual job applications that I try not to feel too pessimistic about before they're even submitted.

But I also took the time to take a relaxing bath. My parents' house could really use those Bath Crashers guys from DIY Network, but they do have a jacuzzi tub, so the bath was still very relaxing.

I also finished this pamphlet/handout thingee I was asked to make for my church's Halloween Autumn party tomorrow. And if I do say so myself, it looks fantastic. I'm just really glad to have been of use. All the work we've been doing to get all this information compiled ended up being needed sooner than expected. I'm so proud to be the person they sought to get this done. Every bit of usefulness I can feel I grab out for like it's keeping my head floating above water.

My parents and I are having a healthy-ish dinner tonight. We are getting carry-out from one of our favorite Italian restaurants in the city. I think they can manage to enjoy a great salad, pasta, and sides for less than a third of their Weight Watchers points. That's always good news because it means I'm eating really healthy food too. Keeping track of the changes I've made in my diet will on ensure that my yoga-toned body will stay intact.

And tonight we have league bowling. I think I've mentioned that my parents and I are in our church's bowling league. Well, I'm not naturally athletic, not even a little bit. I work my way up to being good at any sport I take on, but I never walk in the door doing well. Last week is the first week I did well. Like really well. And it wasn't luck, I was making an effort and yielding results. So I'm really excited for tonight to see if I continue to improve or at least stay as good as I was last week. Cross your fingers for me!

I'm Climbing Off The Ledge and Out Onto A Limb

I re-read my post from earlier and to say I was frustrated is a huge understatement.I was frustrated because I finally felt like my head had stopped spinning. Since Easy has popped back up, it's been a whole lot of him talking and saying lovely things and me not having much of a response besides a skeptical look.

I was ready to have an actual conversation. I needed him to explain some things and make sure I wasn't misinterpreting anything he was saying. I needed to let him know that I was still highly skeptical and I wanted to explain the root of that. Not being able to get all that out right when I wanted to was driving me crazy.

Thank God I've been working to have hobbies in place. Today was a day I was super excited to practice yoga. Like always, it was very relaxing. I was able to focus on something else besides my frustration. And when class was over, I had two missed phone calls and two texts from Easy. I'm telling you people, yoga makes life way better.

So, I climbed down off my crazy ledge and Easy and I picked up our conversation. We talked on and off tonight for about six hours. We re-hashed everything. I mean everything. We discussed everything from the time we met up until this evening. It was kind of intense. There was a whole lot of honesty. I said things he'd rather not hear. He said things I'd rather not hear. But I believe everything is out in the open. I know the whole story of what went down with the chick he picked over me in August. He knows the whole story about Leo.

I expressed to Easy how apprehensive I was to trust that he wasn't going to pull the rug out from under me again. And I told him how I was hesitant to even see him. He wants me to come down to St. Louis the weekend of Nov. 12th. But I'm not sure I want to go. At least today I'm not sure. Right now, I feel like waiting until he comes back for Thanksgiving. Or maybe when he gets back in January.

But we agreed to take things slow and see where they head. We really enjoy each other's company and we just vibe. So I'm going out on a limb to vibe with Easy. He told me he will give me time and try to help me along towards getting rid of that apprehension. I told him we'll see.

I don't know if I'm any closer to that healthy happy relationship I want as part of the life I'd like to build for myself. But at least I'm reassured that one of my hobbies is a keeper. Yoga is helping provide me with the flexibility and strength to go out on that limb. That and my endless optimism.