New Goals for Oct-Dec

I can't believe September is almost over! This month has really disappeared. So, after missing the third quarter of this year, it's time to set some concrete goals for the last three months of 2012!

To recap, here were my New Year's resolutions for 2012, which I've broken up into more maneageable pieces throughout the year, and added to as I've gone along:

Concrete Goals:

1. Lose 40 pounds (complete as of today!!!)
2. Complete a half marathon (complete - 3/11)
3. "Year of the Yard" - front yard landscaping (complete), improve general upkeep (in progress...)

Habits to Build:

1. Keep the car clean - part of my 2Q goals, I am doing so-so at keeping this up
2. Floss more - also part of 2Q goals, definitely not doing good at keeping this up as of now
3. Get to work earlier - not much progress here, but not really needed in my new job, so that's okay

Basically, I have completed my goals for the year, although some of those habits need a little help to keep on track! So for 4th quarter, I can kind of start from scratch and here's what I am thinking:

1. Maintain my weight loss: I'm still determining exactly what this looks like - my current 'panic weight' is 135lbs, I might lower that a bit to make sure I can kick into action when needed. Depends on what my normal weight fluctuation looks like. But I definitely want to stay below 135, at 130 if possible. And, like I mentioned below, today's weigh-in was my first below 130!!! Finally!

Terrible quality picture - but it's official!!

2. Run a half marathon in under 2 hours: December 9th in Dallas is the plan! Just need to keep up the training and hopefully stay injury free!

3. Consider refinancing my mortgage: I don't usually blog about financial stuff, but interest rates are so low, I figure it's a least worth a look!

4. Plan the kitchen remodel: I have been talking about redoing my kitchen ever since I bought this house 3 years ago. Even though I am pretty sure what I want the end product to look like, most of the steps to getting there are up in the air, and several things I probably need to consult a professional on (relocating appliance, etc.) to even have an idea of what is feasible and how much it will cost. And speaking of cost, I need to determine how much I want to do myself vs. hiring out. Although I really enjoy home improvement projects, I've also been saving for this for awhile and I value my free time a lot! And of course it will probably be a better quality job if someone else does the work! So anyway, I just want to plan out what that process will look like so hopefully I can get it going at the beginning of next year!

Can't wait to get rid of that light, and the ugly cabinet color,
old appliances and the countertops... the list goes on!

5. Complete at least one "Dude, Get on that Already" project per month: There are SO MANY loose ends in my house. I think I'll do a whole separate post on this one because it really is hilarious how many little projects I have started but not finished.

6. Try to make those habits listed above stick (namely flossing, keeping the car clean). I think that's pretty self explanatory. Maybe I'll go back to keeping score on the bathroom mirror again :)

7. Remember birthdays. This is not my strong suit. I would love to be a person that sends thoughtful, on time cards. At least my immediate family is starting to get them before, not after, their birthdays (or maybe only one day after... haha), but I know I always love getting mail, and I'm sure my extended family and friends would appreciate it too! First I need to compile a list, and then I have a cute craft in mind to keep track of them all...

Image from Here

Okay well, more details to come. It seems like a long list, especially with the holidays just around the corner but I'm optimistic I guess! Anybody else setting goals to help motivate yourself?

2Q Goals Update - Better Late Than Never?

Okay so somehow I missed publishing goals for the third quarter... and recap-ing what happened with my goals from the second. So here's a long overdue update! For my original goal setting post and one month update, see here and here.

1) Reach Goal Weight of 130lbs by May 12 -  Got pretty close, but no cigar. I'm currently hanging out around 132, so hopefully I can cross this one off soon (if I could stop going out of town maybe?).

2) Learn to Love the Treadmill & Run 3 miles at a 9 min pace - Definite success on the second part - I finally ran 3 miles in 27 minutes on June 27th - right at the end of my three-month time period! That was so satisfying and since then I've gotten even faster!

3) Floss & Take a Vitamin Daily - I did great with this one through April/May/June. But I think I kind of missed the point because I have not done well with it in July/August! So much for building lasting habits. It takes such a short time (like a week of vacation? that was me) to break a habit and so long to build it back.

4) Keep the Car Clean -  I think I did decent with this one - I got the car washed once a month (haven't done it since though!) and overall I'm doing better with keeping it clean. So although I wouldn't say I made a complete turnaround from my car cluttering ways, the slight improvement seems like it is going to stick! I also took this one a step further and had some proactive car maintenance done before our road trip to NC, so hopefully the Civic will serve me well for many years to come!

5) Buy a Paint Sprayer & Test it Out-  Didn't do this, oh well. I think the kitchen remodel is getting pushed back until the beginning of next year - I am always so productive around the house for the first three months of the year, and without fail things get busy and the house projects start dragging in the summer and fall. I have been thinking about the kitchen remodel a lot though - hopefully will start getting quotes and figure out what I want to DIY versus have a professional do.... we shall see!

How are you guys doing on your goals? It definitely helps me to keep a list and break it down into manageable pieces. But I also try not to beat myself up too much if I don't succeed on all of them - I know I had a busy summer and I feel good about what I've accomplished. And I also feel good about all the time I've spent being lazy and relaxing rather than working on my goals. It's all about balance haha :)

Since I've already missed July/August, I think I'll just set one set of goals for the next 4 months rather than trying to make some just for September... stay tuned!

Goals Update: One Month In!

Alright, so now that April is over, I figured it is time to check in on the resolutions I set for this quarter back in this post, so here it goes:


1) Reach Goal Weight of 130lbs by May 12 -  Updated on this yesterday, but it looks like there is no way I'll meet the May 12th goal. But hopefully should be there before the cruise!

2) Learn to Love the Treadmill & Run 3 miles at a 9 min pace - Good progress so far - I've used the treadmill three times in the past week with success - even did 7 miles on Sunday! Before I really didn't enjoy running on the treadmill and I blamed it for some knee/leg pain I had been having. But after several weeks of not doing too much running, I've been feeling great on the treadmill. Hopefully it stays that way - I've been saving up TV show episodes to keep me entertained while I run, so that helps. Next step is to try to pick up the pace.... I'm still running 10 min miles at this point.

3) Floss & Take a Vitamin Daily - I did awesome with this for the first few weeks and then kind of fell of the wagon - but back on it now!! So far, I've earned $70 in my made-up rewards system, which keeps me motivated. The only flaw in the system is that since I reward myself after 5 consecutive days and then start over, there's a lot less motivation on Day 1. So if I'm feeling lazy I might skip the flossing and start the next day. Day 5 is super motivating because I don't want those other days to go to waste though, so I guess it balances out. Those of you who floss religiously probably think I'm nuts, but to each their own I guess :)

4) Keep the Car Clean -  This is the goal I was referring to yesterday that I have literally failed at so far. My car is embarrassingly messy right now, inside and out. And I even have a 50% off coupon to get it washed and vacuumed. Totally taking care of that this week/weekend (of course, that's also what I said last weekend....). But I'm optimistic that once I get it cleaned up, I'll be motivated to maintain it a bit more. I guess we'll see!

5) Buy a Paint Sprayer & Test it Out-  So I haven't started researching this one yet, but I always kind of intended it to be a June activity. So I won't kick myself to hard over not even thinking about this one yet - there's still time!

How are you guys doing on your goals? I definitely helps to put them on paper and share them with someone - I feel accountable to have some progress to share on the blog!

New Goals for April/May/June!

The first 3 months of the year have come to an end, so how did I do? Let's recap - my goals for the first quarter of 2012 were:

1) Lose 10 pounds - Clearly, complete!! When I started the year, I was hoping to lose 40 pounds, so I figured 10 pounds every 3 months was reasonable. Little did I know how focused I would get and how much progress I would make!

2) Run a half marathon - Also complete! My brother and I completed the Beaumont Gusher Half Marathon on March 10th, and it was tough!

3) Landscape front yard - Mostly complete. I've completed the major work on the project as detailed here and here, but there are still some major tweaks to come. I'm not going to post a weekend project update this week, but while my family was here we did start planting some flowers in the bed:

4) Floss more - Not so much progress on this one. Although I can legitimately say I flossed more, it's still not as frequent or consistent as I'd like. I have plans to accomplish this one in the second quarter (see below).

So all in all, I think it was a pretty productive first three months of the year! Plus I got started on the Dude, Get on That Already challenge, so a few other things are getting done too. The blogging is definitely keeping me honest!

So, what are my goals for the second quarter and how do I plan to accomplish them? Well, without further ado, here they are:

1) Reach Goal Weight of 130lbs by May 12 -  Keep doing what I'm doing!

2) Learn to Love the Treadmill & Run 3 miles at a 9 min pace - Sam & I bought a treadmill a few months ago and although I've spent some time on it, I haven't really adjusted to treadmill running. In fact, I think it tends to hurt my knees/ankles worse to run on it! But the most likely reason is because I don't feel 100% comfortable on the treadmill and I adjust my stride awkwardly to compensate. So before the hot TX summer months get here and I can't run outside anymore, I want to get better acquainted and adjusted to the treadmill. And accomplish Part 2 of this goal - to improve my speed and reach a 9:00 min mile pace for 3 miles. (I typically run 10 minute miles no matter if I'm doing 1 mile or 10 miles... doesn't make to much sense, does it?)

3) Floss & Take a Vitamin Daily - So I have an actual plan this time around.  I'm planning to use a whiteboard marker on my bathroom mirror to keep track of how I do and reward myself accordingly.  I'm thinking the system will work like this: if I floss & take my vitamin every day for 5 days in a row, I will put $25 aside for a reward, which I am thinking will be new fans for the whole house (seriously, I'll post some pictures later, but they are wayyy outdated).  If I miss a day, I have to start all over again at Day 1 until I get to Day 5. Does that make sense?  This works out great because I already have a decent amount of home improvement money saved so it won't cost me anything - it will just give me permission to use some of my savings!  I think the visual reminder plus the rewards system will help and I'm sure once it becomes a habit, I won't have to pay myself to floss haha.

4) Keep the Car Clean -  Pretty self explanatory I think. I am really not good at all about keeping my car cleaned out or cleaned up. I've done much better in the past few weeks at clearing the clutter and trash as I go, but I'd like to get into a routine of vacuuming out and washing the car at least once/month. And maybe even getting the fabrics cleaned. We'll see!

5) Buy a Paint Sprayer & Test it Out-  So this is kind of a crazy one, but it is all leading up to remodeling my kitchen this year (hopefully in the late summer/fall). I definitely need to start planning, and one part of that is to make a final decision about what to do with my cabinets (paint, stain or replace) and whether or not to do it myself or hire it out. I've found some great cabinet painting tutorials online, so I want to buy a paint sprayer and do a test run to see if I could potentially do the kitchen myself. And I've decided the testing grounds will be the cabinets over the washer/dryer (aka the least visible in case it doesn't go well, and the cheapest to replace if it REALLY doesn't go well). More to come on this for sure! 

So that's it! I think it is a pretty challenging list, but there is also all different types of goals - from daily 2 minute tasks to a major project, I think I've covered it all. I'll be working 12 hours shifts and weekends for 3 weeks in April/May and also be gone for the cruise in May, so hopefully I'll have enough time around the house to get it all done, we'll see!! 

Is anyone else with me on the goal setting? I think the 3 month timeframe is so much more motivating than a whole year! And even if you only set a small goal, I guarantee it will be so satisfying to complete it!