Double Threes
So I believe I must have scared away anyone that was reading my blog with my last couple of posts... Am I being too honest? Uncomfortably honest?
Today I turn 33. I've never had a problem with getting older or having birthdays. Today, though, it struck me that 33 sounds so much older than 32. Not sure why that is... maybe because today I crossed the threshold into the beginning of my mid-thirties rather than being in the early-thirties. Well, whatever. Doesn't matter - 33 feels exactly the same as 32.
In the last few years my birthday has caused me to pause and take inventory of life. Basically, I want to work toward becoming the person I want to be and my birthday seems to be a good opportunity to take the time to evaluate. I've set goals and have achieved some and have not achieved many more. The point is to work toward... make progress... be intentional about the direction I am going in. One goal I want to set this year is to revisit my goals every month - that will perhaps be a big catalyst in moving forward in each one.
So here are 13 goals for year #33:
1. Run 15 miles in one running session at least once. At 33 I am officially in the best shape of my life. I run 20 miles each week - 4 or 5 miles on M/W/Th and 6 - 8 miles on Saturday. I'll work myself up to 10 miles on Saturdays, but I get kind of bored with 6 or 7... A marathon is not in my future as I simply cannot imagine running for over 4 hours. But then again, a year ago no one would have convinced me that I'd be running for over 1 hour so who knows where I'll be by 34? One thing I know about this running - it is a blessing and a curse. I can pretty much eat what I want and maintain my weight, but then again I can also get pretty overconfident about that and cross the line into eating too much. I basically cut sugar out of my diet (a few exceptions here and there), so that makes it easier, but there are days that I hop on the scale and curse my tapeworm.
2. Write one handwritten note each month. I still think that with the amount of communication that occurs over various forms of technology, an actual handwritten note in the mailbox would be a welcome surprise. Maybe not for everyone. For me it would be...
3. Spend the afternoon school time reading a non-fiction book. I have gotten out of this habit and into the habit of playing Mexican Train Dominoes on the computer. UGH!!!! Thats a long fricken game, too (luckily this has only been going on for a week, but after today it is done). I have a list of non-fiction books to read and I need to work through them. I am more intentional in life when I am reading non-fiction in addition to my fiction books.
4. Start the whole flylady thing. I'm going to sign up for her email stuff and follow her 31 babysteps to beginning her program (or whatever). I actually do a good job of keeping the house picked up and the laundry caught up, but I will admit that actual cleaning - much less deep cleaning - occurs pretty infrequently. Mostly because when I get into it I get into it and it ends up taking a long time and I find it overwhelming to even begin.
5. Repaint the foyer, front room/dining room, kitchen and family room. I'm done with the bold colors and ready to move to a more neutral and warm home. One of Dave's clients is an interior decorator and helped him with his office and has begun to help me. I'm hoping that by this time next year we can start on the upstairs.
6. Go on at least three city adventures with the girls over the summer. I want to take them on the train and explore the city together. They are all finally at an age where this is doable, so I'm hoping to catch the train and take them to the Lincoln Park Zoo, a couple of museums and possibly the beach - or something. We'll figure it out. I want to ride a bus, ride in a cab, ride the el, etc.
7. Take a yoga class. I need to find one. And I need to find some money;) I soooo badly want to try yoga because I think it will help with my back and will help my running.
8. Write in each of the girls' journals at least once a month. I think these journals have the potential to be something great for each of them. I just need to make work of doing it. My hand hurts when I actually write so I need to be okay with keeping the entries short.
9. Do a personal Bible study in the morning before all the morning routines begin. I need to be reading the Bible more and I need to do a study to help me KNOW the Bible better. I know the basic stories because I grew up learning them, but I want to know the obscure books - the prophets: Amos, Obadiah, Ezekiel, Malachi... Never read them and I need to. This will begin after Easter when I'm finished with The Love Dare.
10. Do not add any new television shows to my regular watch list (as in I try to catch them online if I miss them). As of now I watch: LOST, ER, The Office, Friday Night Lights, Grey's Anatomy and Brothers and Sisters. ER is done after this week. LOST might be done before my birthday next year. FNL just got renewed for 2 more seasons (yea!), but I'm not sure about the rest of them. Once a show is done I do not need to fill that timeslot with something new - it is done.
11. Be consistent with not getting on the computer until my stuff is done. If that is what I expect of the girls, then I need to model that for them. I don't need to check my email a million times a day. I don't need to check facebook a million times a day. I need to curb that situation.
12. Drink 100 ounces of water on the weekends (total of Saturday and Sunday). I do really well with drinking 80+ ounces of water each weekday, but I'm not sure even a sip passes my lips on the weekends. That needs to change. Not only do I feel crummy because of it, but I crave more sugar and I retain water.
13. Memorize Bible verses. I haven't thought this one out enough to have a goal as to how many and in what time fram - like 1 per week or 1 per month?
Fricken dog just ran away again. Good thing I'm finished with this:) Jerk.
6 comments:
1) I miss those long runs! Keep it up. Do you run your long runs on a treadmill or on the bike paths? Before I got pregnant I did a few on the treadmill. I liked being able to pace myself, but I did get bored with it.
6) I would love to take my kids on Chicago excursions. Sometimes I think I miss Chicago more than Michigan and I never lived in Chicago. We're slowly starting to explore more of Portland, but right now it is more fun to take the kiddos to the coast.
7) Yoga is awesome. It is such a refuel and energy boost for me...and has helped with morning sickness. My class is mostly yoga with a little bit of pilates. It moves faster than a regular yoga class. Can't say enough good about it. Sometime the Y offers classes and you don't need to be a member. Some city's park and rec. departments or local community college's offer adult yoga classes. I see it our newspaper every now and then. Our local PBS station airs a half hour of yoga every weekday morning. It's not the same as the group exericse effort. I like working out with others.
11. I stink at this. This needs to be one my goals too.
13. Rob and I started memorizing the Sermon on the Mount the summer I was pregnant with Hailey. It was an amazing experience and I hope we can do it again.
We might be in the Midwest this August so maybe we can get together again if it works out.
Amy,
1 - I run on the treadmill right now. I am a big wimp when it comes to running outside in the cold. AND I don't have the proper cold weather running clothes and no money to buy some... not exactly sure what I would need, either. I don't mind the treadmill and have gotten back to the point of being a little frightened of going outside:) But I'll start outside maybe before the end of the month. I run my first race in April - the Calvin Spring Classic.
6 - exploring is difficult - in my opinion - with little, little ones. Diaper bags to pack, so much to anticipate on what "could" happen while you're away. Strollers, etc. With Georgia being 3 1/2, we'll probably need an umbrella stroller and a backpack and that is it. The coast sounds so nice:)
7 - We don't have a Y around here so that is not an option for me. I haven't explored yoga enough to know what is available around here. I would think about pilates, too, but I have a pilonidal cyst on my tailbone that gets aggravated when I do things on my tailbone (like bent knee situps or a lot of pilates poses). I assume I would agree about group classes vs. tv - I've had a couple of yoga and pilates dvd's and it just doesn't work for me.
11. I think I check all the time because I'm kind of bored.
13 - sermon on the mount. Hmmm - I'm going to think about that. We saw a really funny video in church that was a satirical version of the sermon on the mount... I can send you a link if you don't think you'd be offended.
2. I love this one. I like getting correspondence of all kinds, but getting a nice handwritten note is special.
4. I hope you decide to blog some about your experience with the Flylady. Like I said, don't let the emails overwhelm you. Because they easily can. I like that one of her steps is to delete all her emails. They're not essential, but they are nice to take a gander at once in awhile. And like I said, if you can do it, filter em into their own folder. Especially if you're vowing not to check email a bazillion times a day to keep up with them!
5. I would definitely like to see some before/afters when you get done with these projects. :)
6. This sounds like so much fun! I bet the girls will have a great time together. Have they been into the city much?
7. I know you're not in GR, but I did this for fairly cheap through Parks and Rec. Wonder if you could find something like that around you?
8. Do the girls keep their own journals on their own? Or is this just something you keep on their behalf?
10. Umm . . . are you excited about the end of ER? Or sad? I'm really starting to enjoy Lost getting somewhere with the plot again where they're tying up more loose ends than they're creating. I almost stopped watching it a while back because every week I just felt like WHERE ARE THEY EVEN GOING WITH THIS?? Anyway, kudos for not adding in new shows. I am a sucker for some of these previews (like Parks and Recreation looks really funny to me.) Oh, the TV. How I love and hate it.
12. I should do this too. Especially because I'm pregnant. This is a big deal with the Flylady too. She takes little breaks on her radio show for drinking water.
13. I had some friends in college that put a few on a little stand on their kitchen table and read those every morning instead of reading the back of the cereal box, paper, whatever. As I recall, it worked pretty well for them. No idea what they're goal was specifically, but the method seemed keen.
P.S. I spelled "their" wrong in my last comment. I hate when I do that.
I will say this every time...you can't be too honest! I love, love,love it! I also treasure that you THINK! I spend little time giving actual serious thought to the things that are really important. I am terrible, but your serious thoughts have helped me be more intentional with my own.
I had always wondered how everyone can be so different. Now I have sooooo learned that we are not all created equal...while I care much about what you do, I don't have it in me to even be able to communicate it. I will use this example, yesterday Clarisse asked me what the word inference meant. While I know in my head what it means...I have NO CLUE how to put it into words that she can understand. I turn to my husband who perfectly describes it in a way that Clarisse can understand and she goes on her merry way. I feel that way about you, I treasure that you are able to put into words the things that are inside me. Thank you for that!!!!
Different personalities, mixed with intro and extroverdedness creates individualness that is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!!!
I agree with your thoughts on why to do the Flylady thing. I have never been happier in my home than when I am doing her program from top to bottom. ON top of that, I had never had more freetime than when I was doing her program. Her simple tricks gave me so much more time to do the things I wanted. It was amazing! I better go shine my sink! Love you Jana!!!!!
you haven't scared me off..and I don't think you ever can,haha!
I agree with the 33 yrs old thing. Mines next week and it definately SOUNDS older..closer to mid 30's instead of just into the 30's.
I love your list :) :)
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