2011 Goal Wrap-Up and 2012 Goals

Friends!!!
Remember way back in January of 2011when I posted a list of Life Goals I wanted to work on? Well, even though I haven't been posting about them regularly here, I have been working on them, and I actually did really well!!! I completed 3 out of 4, Huzzah!!! The 2012 goals I am creating for myself are in a similar vein to the 2011 goals, but they are more specific, and more challenging. However, before we get to those, let's do a check-in with the 2011 Goals:

THE GOALS:

#1 Build Up My Savings: WIN. Had major repair work done on my car, put down a security deposit on our new apartment, and gave the down payment to our wedding photographer ALL OUT OF SAVINGS!!! Going back to work full-time has certainly helped me to do all of this, but so has more careful attention to spending. Am I an angel? No, by no means, but I have definitely improved this year. Continuing to pay for our portion of the wedding with savings is a big 2012 goal, but I'll get to that in a minute.

#2 Regular Blog Posting: DRAW. I seem to go in spurts with this, depending on how busy I am. I'll blog every day or at least once a week betwen my two blogs for months, and then I'll stop for weeks or months because I get too busy. Although I did not meet my once-a-week quota consistently, I am still considering this goal a success, because I blogged more regularly and with more dedication in 2011 than I did in any of the years preceding, so there was definite progress.

#3 Lose 30lbs: LOSE. Or, should I say, FAIL. Fail Fail Faily Fail FAAAAAIIIILLLL. Okay, sorry, I'm done now. Seriously, though, I did not meet my weight loss goal. I was actually doing really well the first quarter of the year. By April 2011 I had lost a little over 10 lbs, which was right where I wanted to be at that point in the year. I was on track, excited, feeling great. And then, for some reason, I plateaued in May. I didn't put any weight back on, but I stopped losing. And then, in June, for reasons that are still a complete mystery to me, I put on 5lbs in the space of a week. Seriously, I weighed myself on Monday, and by Friday my weight had gone up 5lbs, with no change to my diet or exercise routine. My body fat stayed the same, my dimensions stayed the same, but those 5lbs just appeared. I was livid, rattled and frustrated...I'm getting riled up again just typing about it. I was right in the midst of The Bodice Challenge, exercising every day, eating well, taking good care of myself, and BOOM! There they were. It has been postulated that it was because I was putting on muscle, but I find that unlikely, because if that were the case, my percent body fat would have decreased, or my measurements would have changed, but they did not. Those mystery 5lbs stuck with me like glue. I stayed at that weight for most of the summer, and eventually came to terms with it. Outside observers said I looked great and that they could see a change, even though the numbers didn't agree, so I eventually made my peace and went with it. I stayed at that weight for most of the Summer. By late Summer/Early Autumn I had gone back to work full-time at a desk job, and my daily activity level had gone down quite a bit, and that decrease in activity started to show up in my weight, I was working all day and rehearsing for several different shows, always on the run, no time to cook, and eating out a lot. Unsurprsingly, I eventually put back on everything that I had lost. When I officially weighed myself on January 3rd, 2011, I weighed 162.4lbs. Today, January 6th, 2012, I weigh 164.8lbs. So, in short, I gained back everything I lost, plus an extra 2.5 lbs. Like I said, FAIL. I am obviously not happy about this, but rather than continuing to bitch about it here, I'll turn it into a new goal for 2012, see below.

#4 Use My Time More Effectively: WIN. Again, going back to work full time has helped with this. I am always up at a decent hour, and since I'm on the computer all day day at work, I spend very little time in front of the computer during my non-work hours (unless I'm blogging:).We have recently moved into our new apartment (yay!) and, by choice, we are not getting cable. I'm sure I could always be better, but across 2011 I can see a definite pattern of using my time much more effectively,and I'm actually rather proud of myself :)

Three out of Four isn't too shabby :) Well Done, Lynniebee :)

And now, it's a New Year, with new Goals :)


2012 Goals


#1. Pay for Our Portion of Our Wedding Without Accruing Any New Debt: In other words, no loans, no new credit cards, no maxing out of credit cards. We will pay for our portion of our wedding primarily through savings, and utilizing only our existing bank accounts and credit cards (I only have one credit card, and Mikey only has one card also). Out of respect for our families' privacy, I will not enumerate who is paying for what, only that the financial responsibilities that Mikey and I have agreed on will be paid for using only our exisitng savings and assets, and that we will begin our married life together in the black, with no new debt. How are we going to accomplish this? Glad you asked! These are some of the ways I/we plan on doing this:

-NO NEW BOOKS!!! I am placing myself on a Book-Buying Fast. From now until September 22nd, 2012, I am not allowed to buy any books. I am allowed to borrow books from friends or the library, I am allowed to accept books as gifts, and I am allowed to acquire books at Stuff Swap Parties with friends (as in, no $ is changing hands). Exception: If I attend any sort of class between now and September that requires a text book, I am allowed to buy the text book if I am unable to borrow or trade someone for it.

-NO NEW CLOTHES!!! I am allowed to acquire clothes at Clothing Swaps, I am allowed to buy clothes at thrift stores, and I am allowed to accept clothes as gifts or as hand-me-downs from friends. Exception: My Wedding Dress

The next portion of how I plan to accomplish this Savings Goal actually leads me into Goal#2 *points down*

Goal#2. Eat Out a Maximum of Twice Per Week: Let's be honest. I love to go out to eat at restaurants. I also love to write reviews for restaurants. However, as you have probably gathered by reading my other blog, I also love to cook. I try to keep these two sides of culinary pleasure in balance, but lately, due to being extremely busy and extemely exhausted, I have been leaning far too heavily on the restaurant/takeout side. It will be better for both my wallet and my waistline if I cook at home more often. I am allowed to get takeout or eat a restaurant a maximum of twice per week (once a week or not at all is preferable, but I am allowed up to twice per week guilt-free :) This includes stopping at a coffee shop and lunch breaks (as in, doing these things count towards the twice a week limit). I now lives upstairs from my dayjob, so forgetting to pack/bring a lunch is not an acceptable excuse. Other than those two meals, all other meals will be created from the weekly grocery shopping. Yes, I do know that most grocery chains have ready made sandwiches, dinners, sushi, etc. That is a gray area that I haven't quite sorted out yet, Mikey and I will deal with that on a case by case basis for the moment, and I'll come back to it later. Going to friend's or family's homes for a potluck or a home cooked meal does not count towards the quota, however, pitching for pizza or other takeout does count toward the quota, as money will be expended. This is going to be hard, I fully realize this, and I am as prepared as a foodie on a budget possibly can be.....in a way, I'm also really excited. For the first time since grad school, I have my own kitchen :)  My pots and pans are calling to me, I can't wait to play with them again :)

Goal#3. Love My Body Again.  In previous years, I have called this goal *Lose Weight* or *Get Healthy* or *Daily Exercise*, or something along those lines, but I inevitably fall short of those. Those all sound like punishments and chores. This past year has shown me that I do not love myself anywhere near enough. I try to be endlessly loving and supportive to others, but I don't save enough of that love for myself. I have flashes of real self-love, but they are not constant, they come and go. Even my attempts at weight loss and better health are not motivated by self-love. They are motivated by guilt and disgust, feeling like I am broken and need to be fixed, like somehow my life would magically be better if I dropped 30lbs, and that's bullshit. Rationally, I know it is bullshit, and I would NEVER encourage this kind of thinking in anyone else. But for reasons unclear to me, I still do it, not all the time, but more than I should. This year I want to actually learn and embody real self-love that is not dependent on what size jeans I wear. Do I still want to lose weight? Yes. Do I still want to improve my eating and exercise habits? Yes. But I want to re-examine my motivations for wanting these things and approach them from a different place. I want to love myself the way I am and still strive to improve. And when I pursue these health goals, I want to support myself they way I would support a loved one, no beating myself up. This will be a huge challenge, and a hard one to measure empirically, but I'm worth it :)

I'll be updating regarding these goals as often as it is relevant, but I will try not to make them the constant topic of conversation :) Any advice/support/feedback you care to share would be most welcome :)

2012 is going to be a very excting year for me :) Can't wait for all the adventures to come!!!

Love,
Lynn

Nudges from the Universe, Addendums, and Goal #4

Happy New Year, My Darlings!!!

    I had wanted to post before this, but I was struck down with The Plague (aka, the worst sinus infection I've had in ages), which rendered me basically useless for the first part of this week. My doctor put me on antibiotics, and just now today I am starting to feel significantly better. There's been a little 2011 Goals progress,  Here's an update:

Goal #1: (Savings) The count stands at $107.04, but I get paid tomorrow, so there'll be a little more in there soon. Also, in other financial news, I have made a decision to stop carrying my Visa card in my wallet until I get it paid off. I should really be saving it for emergencies, plane tickets, big purchases, etc. So, out of the wallet it goes until further notice. Will this suck? Probably, but it's for my own good.

Goal #3: (Weight Loss) I weighed myself Monday morning. And, I don't mind telling you, it wasn't pleasant. I could piss and moan, but I'm not going to. Cards on the table, here we go. I am 5'2 (really 5'1 and 3/4, but let's not split hairs), and Monday morning I weighed 162.4lbs and according to my scale I was 36% Body Fat. By the end of this year, this will have changed. As I've said, I haven't been feeling well this week, so I haven't had much of an appetite (though I'm certainly not starving myself). I haven't really been snacking, and the holiday goodies have finally been consumed, so the sugary treats are out of my immediate path. So, yesterday, just for the heck of it, I weighed myself again, and I was down to 161.2lbs, which gave me a nice little boost of confidence. I'm going to a Zumba class tomorrow with a friend. The updates will continue :)


And here's another goal for 2011:)

2011 Goal #4: Use/Manage My Time More Effectively

This goal is pretty self-explanatory. I know there are plenty of things that I put off way too long, which just leaves me feeling rushed and stressed when it comes down to the wire. Example: If I either A) made my lunch the night before and/or B) got up a little earlier in the morning, I wouldn't be so pressed for time before I left for work. Actually, that's a good place to start, I don't want to put too fine of a point on this, because it's more of a general goal, but everything starts somewhere. I'll try to start making my lunch the night before, and going to bed/waking up earlier.

 And now, the fun stuff :)

  I am a great believer in Signs ( omens, nudges from the Universe, whatever you wish to call them) I am also a great believer in the ideal that everything happens for a reason. Two things have happened to me since Christmas that have really stuck with me, and I would like to share them here, any/all feedback would be welcome:)

 - I am great believer in all things Spiritual, Magical, Mystical and *unseen*. Such as Angels, Faeries, Elves, Sprites, Ghosts, Miracles, Visions, Fate, and on and from there. I call them *unseen*, because all of these things/ideals and a host of others are absolutely real to me, but I realize that my experiences may be wholly unlike the experiences of others. The blog of a kindred spirit who has recently started to reconnect with the *unseen* and The Faery Folk has made me lament how little room I've had for all these things in my own life of late. Not that I ever stopped believing, but the frantic pace of a busy life crowded it all out, somewhat. And then, for Christmas, out of the blue and with absolutely no hints from me, my boyfriend bought me a small porcelain Faery as a Christmas gift. She is a sweet wee thing, with brown pigtails and blue eyes, holding a baby bottle that is almost as big as she is ( he got it for me because I care for infants every day at the daycare center:). There is apparently an entire collection of these Kitchen Faeries, as they are called :) I was very struck by the timing of this gift. A reminder from the little people to let the Magic back in, and I shall :)

- I love to sing. I sing every day. All through middle school and high school I was always in Choir, Show Choir, All-County Chorus, All-State and so on. Since college, however, though absolutely not on purpose, I have been concentrating more on straight plays than musicals. My love for singing never diminished, but it just became more of something I did for fun, not necessarily a career focus. However, the last few performances I have been involved in have asked me to sing, which I did, and the amount of compliments I received was shocking, and extremely flattering. But, anyway, to the point: Monday morning I pulled a book down from a high shelf in my bedroom ( for whatever it's worth, the book I was retrieving was my Complete Collection of Grimm's Fairy Tales that I intended to bring to my Faery Tale Book Club Meeting that night,which I, sadly, became too sick to attend). As I was pulling the book down, a small metal object fell off the top of the book and down onto the shelf. I picked it up and it was a small silver pin in the shape of the Treble Clef Symbol (the one that looks like a cursive "S" with a swirl in the middle).
  
    Now, I am the one who placed those books on the shelf when I came home in 2009. The pin belongs to me, but I haven't seen it in years and certainly didn't put it there myself. My only explanation is that it was put there so I would find it to remind me to let music and singing back into my life in a bigger way, not just as a hobby. Point taken, Universe, point taken indeed :)

Watch for the Everyday Miracles, My Friends :)

Love,
Lynn

2011 Goals # 2 and #3

Hiya!

These next two goals are reasonably brief and self-explanatory, so I'll put them both in the same post:

2011 Goal #2: Write in each of my blogs at least once a week. As I've said before, I really do love blogging, and I miss it when I don't have the time to do it. What I need to do is discipline myself to MAKE time for it. My Food Blog is somewhat more labor intensive because of taking and uploading photos and suchlike, but I really will try to post in both of my blogs a minimum of once a week :)

2011 Goal #3: Lose 30lbs or two pants sizes and at least 6% body fat. This is probably the oldest goal in the history of goal-setting, but here it is. I have struggled with my weight off and on since college, gained and lost the same 20lbs for years. Stress weight, emotional eating, too busy to eat right and exercise, blah blah blah, I've said it before, you've heard it before, you've probably said it before yourself. But no more, I'm done. I don't eat all that badly, I just have a hard time sticking to an exercise routine and I have very little willpower or portion control when it comes to food. I know that if I am willing to make a real, consistent effort, I will have the body I want. Finally, at long last, I am ready to make that effort. I have the ability to achieve my goals. 30lbs in 12 months is 2.5lbs per month, which is a totally manageable amount. I mean, I'd like to move faster than that, but even if I expend just the barest consistent effort, I'm sure I can lose 2.5 lbs per month. I am going to start taking Zumba classes, and I have a free membership to the YMCA Fitness Center that I'm going to start using, and that's where I'll start. Not sure about an eating plan, I'll get to that in more detail after New Years, but for now, I think having all the holidays cookies, candy and other goodies out of the house and not tempting me will be a good place to start :)


Love to All :)
Lynn