Resolutions and Goals Revisited.

I think it is important to remind myself of the resolutions/goals I've set for myself. Lets see how I've done midway through this year.

#1: Give more

I think I could try A LOT harder on this one. I like to think I give to those I love, but I've really fallen behind on my volunteering.

#2: Read with meaning

Since I decided 'read with meaning' meant reading whatever I felt like whenever I felt like it, I'd say I'm succeeding with this one! It is sort of crazy to me that this time last year I was finishing up book 53 of the year. Right on schedule for the 100 book challenge. This year I'm just finishing up book 15, reading with meaning also means focusing more of my time on other adventures.

#3: Take more photos and learn more about photography

I have taken soooo many photos this year! This blog has really helped me with this resolution. I ALWAYS have a camera with me. I use the excuse that it is for the blog, but I really like to look back at photos and remember, especially with my little nephew running around. That kid will not worry about remembering each outfit he wore during his first year!

#4: Run a half-marathon

Check!!!! This makes me so happy to say. I consider this my BIG resolution of the year. Last years big resolution I didn't complete, but this year I knocked it out at the halfway mark! Heck yes! And I'm all signed up to run another one before the end of the year! I love setting goals and completing them! Training is hard (mentally and physically )and its time consuming, but crossing that finish line and knowing you gave EVERYTHING you had is an amazing experience.

#5: Eat clean

This year has been crazy food-wise. I've completely changed how I look at food. I used to be a pasta and cheese-atarian. Processed boxed food was on my shelves, diet coke was in my fridge and frozen dinners in my freezer. Not anymore! I think I will call this year 'Elisa's Food Revolution!' Although I haven't cut all processed food out, I've challenged myself to make as much food from scratch as possible. I'm eating a ton more fruits, veggies and trying out new grains. All in all I'm just soooo much more aware of what is going into my body and how important the decision is. There is a cause and effect there. So sometimes I choose poorly, but at least I know it! No one is perfect, but you can always strive to be better.

Life goals: Travel the world, drink more water, be more fearless, love the little things.

All I drink is water! Ok... and some tea... and the occasional alcoholic drink, but for a girl who used to down 5+ diet sodas a day, I think I'm doing pretty darn good. 

Travel the world.... This year I'm not sure what will be happening with this resolution. I went to Hawaii in January (awesome!) and will be camping this summer, but I'm not sure if my trip to Spain is going to go through or not. It seems that busy schedules and high ticket prices are dooming our chances. The good thing is that Spain isn't going anywhere and this resolution is for life! There is still a lot to see in my own country as well! (I'm looking at you East Coast!)

Fearless... If there is one example of this from this year, I'll refer you to resolution #4. Deciding to and training for a half marathon was very scary. There was so much doubt, but I conquered my fear and doubts!

I love the little things everyday:

Yesterday my nephew gave me a hug. He's almost one and doesn't give out that kind of affection very often, peeing on me is a more common response, so that one hug made my day/week.

My first strawberries are starting to ripen! Hard work being rewarded.

Best friends who you never get sick of hanging out with.

The way that my day is instantly better when I wake up to sunshine.

Mother/daughter days.

Those are some examples of the little things that make this life so beautiful. 


Here are some examples of what made today beautiful:

Attempting to make a small batch of granola in the toaster oven....
A beautiful failure! burned it... good thing I like the taste of burnt oats!

I should have been a 50's housewife.... maybe I was in a past life?

Peonies from the farmer's market

Reading in bed.... when all the laundry is done...

Just Another Day in Paradise.

If your paradise is chili and rainy (even a little snowy?!).... I'm a little nervous for our little seedlings! When we planted on Tuesday it really felt like Spring was springing! Today, not so much. The rain literally woke me up several times last night, and lets not even talk about the wind! I guess this is the life of a gardener? Constantly worried? I can't even imagine what it would be like to have kids!

Today started out as a pretty blah day. Work was ridiculously slow and I'm sore from all the squats and planks I did yesterday. BUT! Tonight was my first day of Spanish class! I was kinda nervous... it has been a while since I've been in a classroom setting... AND it is in my old high school.... even weirder? Yeah it was especially weird because they have completely redone my high school since I went there. It is all brand new and fresh, I have to admit I'm pretty jealous. It reminds me of a television HS, 'Saved by the Bell' perhaps? I am a little overwhelmed with the idea of learning a language. Especially because this is a conversational class, which I think means more learning through doing rather than learning from reading. I'm a reader. I like to see the words to associate meaning. We'll see how it goes. If you have ever seen the show "Community" it gives you an idea of the wide variety of people enrolled in the class. I'm excited to learn, and also that my friend Ryan decided to sign up with me. Cervezas after class anyone?!

Well learning a foreign language isn't on my life's list, but the other day I took a look at my bucket list and realized that I had better start working towards some of those goals!  Carly and I have been talking about testing out going vegan, which is one of the goals I had forgotten I wanted to do. I was thinking about going for a week but apparently I had a month in mind before. So as soon as all my eggs and milk are gone, I'm gonna start. (AFTER EASTER because I'm going to binge on my work's newest ice cream flavor: 'chocolate peanut butter!') I already don't eat red meat, chicken, and pork, I enjoy tofu and other veggie staples so I'm thinking this wont be too hard for me. I also make most of my food from scratch nowadays so that will also help out. Still a life adjustment.

Have you ever heard of an elimination diet? It is where you cut out foods that give a lot of people trouble; like meat, dairy, soy, gluten, and sugar. Then you slowly start adding them back in one at a time to see how your body reacts to them. Follow this link to see one bloggers journey: Detox.

In other updates I'd say I'm still pretty much on track with my 2011 resolutions, all but the reading one (story of my life!) I think I'm borderline failing in the reading with meaning goal. Maybe I can count recipes and blogs as meaningful reads? I think the 'eating clean' goal has been my most successful....

Yummy oats, I went with a 1/4 C instead of my usual 1/3 C.
I think it made it feel more like a snack and I was ready to eat by 7:30...
Snacked on an apple...
Then hummus and carrots....

And I was still hungry at 11:30 for lunch!
Mini repeat of last night's roasted veggies and tofu.
I found all the garlic cloves today!
Sorry customers!

It was such a rainy miserable day!
Calls for comfort food!
Essential sourdough with peanut butter,  mashed bananas, and coconut on top and broiled.
This is my new obsession.
Cooking it all in the toaster oven makes the flavors meld soooo well! yummy!
Mint tea on the side!
I failed to make any dinner tonight...
Instead I snacked and indulged in some Carly made apple spice muffins!

Focus.

I've never been able to keep a journal or a diary. I might last a week or two, stop for a year start for three days then stop, it seems to be the cycle for me. Which is really a shame because it is so much fun to look back on how you felt at a given instant. How you think/feel about something can change from day to day. The thing is, I've never had the patience to keep up with it. When I started this blog, I almost promised I would tire of it soon enough. But a funny thing happened, I really enjoy it. So I plan to keep it up, most likely after the first 365 days and 100 books.

I wanted to go back and find all of my secondary resolution to create a six month update so I skimmed through all of my past posts. It was interesting to read what has changed, what has stayed the same, what I forgot, how I've succeeded or how I've failed. So here is an update to those resolutions (to be honest, some of them I had forgotten about).

Doing something out-of-character.

This was my first weekly goal. I don't remember how this worked out. I never posted about it. So I've decided to add it to this week's resolution. Why not?! There are no rules here!

Shorter shower times.

Since I made this resolution my monthly Puget Sound Energy bill has steadily had a smaller column on the bar graph. There are of course other reasons for this including the fact that we are almost into Summer. I don't always time them, but it really helps keep me in gear during the mornings.

Be on time.

I think I've definitely improved in this section. No major late arrivals. I've also realized that when I'm on time I get even more annoyed when people are late. I'm pretty sure it is one of the rudest things you can do. Since I don't think of myself as a rude person, I'm still going to try my hardest to keep this one up.

Wake up and put a smile on my face and tell myself I'm going to have an extraordinary day. No matter what!

Ok. Harder than you would think. I don't like lying and not every day is going to be so very extraordinary. BUT! A positive attitude helps anything! So to update: this one needs work. I've woken up pretty often lately with a woe is me attitude.

Give up swearing.

Nope. Not gonna happen. Worked for about half a day. Maybe less. The truth is I like swearing. Don't give me that look! Sometimes it is sooooo very necessary. I don't use them when it is inappropriate so I'm giving this up as a resolution.

Get organized.

Also a fail. Google calendar would have saved me. If I had an iphone. But I don't. I kept forgetting to update it with appointments, so it became almost useless. I still use it for Theatre stuff, but for personal stuff I've nixed it. I need to carry a planner. I need to visualize. I need to write it down. I need to be able to flip to next week and see what is coming up wherever I am not just at home on my computer.

Start a book club.

Success! Well sort of. I did start a book club. We've had two meetings about two books. But I'm nervous for our future! Two of the girls didn't finish the second book and we've delayed book three's meeting. I guess we are more of a book every two months club. I have faith in C.A.K.E club. I think once Carly has the baby and Katy finishes her interview prep we will start to have more regular meetings. At least I hope! I've so enjoyed these meetings!

So wow! Success and failure. I have some work to do! I also need to revisit my Happiness Commandments. I need to also think about making more resolutions (weekly/monthly/yearly/life.) So here we go!

Weekly: Don't eat any chocolate/ice cream/pastries from work!

Monthly: Have a total of ten blogs completed by July 1.

Update Book 51: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia

I like getting obsessed with books. I like feeling like I can't put them down. Usually the teen-supernatural books totally get to me. I don't know why, but I eat them up! Twilight, Hunger Games, and Mortal Instruments to name a few! I liked "Beautiful Creatures." It was pretty good, but I didn't get hooked. I could take it or leave it. I'm not mad I read it, but I feel like something was missing.

Most of the time these types of novels are written from the perspective on the girl. This has sometimes frustrated me. The way the main characters end up falling for each other has never made sense. You never really understand why the guy (Edward in Twilight for instance) would fall for the girl (Bella). Well "Beautiful Creatures" puts a new spin on things. The narrator is Ethan, who is a mortal, who falls in love with Lena, a Castor (also known as a witch). The reason they come together is explained by an electric/magnetic connection between them. Which means it wasn't really explained. I thought there could have been a better story here, but if you are looking for an in-between book before all the teen-sequels come out at the end of Summer pick up "Beautiful Creatures."

Don't say I didn't warn you that this is a BOOK ONE. Which you almost have to expect when you pick up a teen book these days.