Checking In

The nice thing about publishing your goals/resolutions online is that you feel like you are held more accountable. I realize we're only 18 days into 2012 and only a couple months in since my "goals" post, but I'm excited about my progress so far and feel it's worth documenting. It may come off as bragging and that I'm giving myself a pat on the back, but that's only because I am basically bragging and literally, right now, am patting myself on the back.

1. Career-Related Goal: I started my class last week and I think I'm going to really enjoy it. The professor is able to bring in 20+ years of HR experience and seems to have a passion for the field. I love that I can relate my "real world" job experience with the topics we are talking about in class.

2. Reading/Less TV: I've already made a few trips to the library and can count on 1 hand the # of hours I've watched TV in the last few weeks.

3. Fitness: I joined back up at the Y and am so happy with my decision. I also met with a wellness coach and we are working on a great plan that I'm excited about to keep up with a well-rounded fitness routine.

4. Less Is More: I earned $42.40 by taking some clothing items to Plato's Closet and took the rest (8 bags in total) to Goodwill after cleaning out my closet and drawers. It felt great to get rid of a bunch of stuff that I haven't worn/used in several years. (Thanks Jake for the help) I also demonstrated self-restraint at Target the other day when I put an adorable mustard-colored handbag on clearance for $11 back on the shelf before checking out, reminding myself that I am not in need of another handbag.

5. Photos: I'll be honest, this is one thing I've slacked on. I'm planning on borrowing the idea of a photo project of sorts, and will start that next month.

Surprise!

After church this afternoon, Jake asked if I wanted to go grab something to eat and I happily agreed. Little did I know, when we got to Jethros, there would be 8 others joining us. My friends threw me a surprise dinner party, in honor of me going back to school. I was completely surprised - I had no idea and I think it took me the entire meal to get over the shock! It was a great evening full of laughs and I couldn't be happier to be surrounded by all the love and support these people give to me each day.

I couldn't help but think on my drive home about how blessed I am to have such thoughtful and supportive friends. A night like tonight makes you realize how lucky you are.

Thanks again everyone!!

Last Thursday of Freedom

As Jake pointed out to me today, tonight was my last Thursday night of "freedom", as my class starts a week from tonight. "What are you going to do?", he asked me. I hadn't even thought about it being my last free Thursday night for a few months.

It didn't take me long to decide. On my way home, I decided to get wild 'n crazy by ordering a *cough* large *cough* pepperoni pizza from Casey's....all for me. I came home, ordered the pizza, put on sweats, picked up my pizza, came home and ate a few slices, put the rest in the fridge that will make for some great leftovers, and went to my room to have some laptop time before I turn off the lights and call it an early night.

Phew, hope I'm not hungover from all the wildness of this "last Thursday of freedom" :)

Resolutions

I'm not huge on resolutions but there are some things I'd like to start or do more of in 2012. I posted Goals back on 11/7 and I'm happy to report that I'm doing pretty well so far with this list. In addition to continuing to work on those, here are a few more....

1. Take more photos. This is something I haven't been very good about over the past couple of years and I'd like to get better about getting my camera out to capture more of life's moments.

2. Work on living with the mindset that less is more. Cleaning out closets and drawers (both here and back home), getting rid of clutter, and buying less.

3. Keep myself occupied with things other than watching TV when I have "down" time at home. I'm thinking seriously about getting rid of cable when moving into my next place. 1. I don't watch a lot of TV now, and can watch most anything online anymore. 2. I get irritated when flipping through the guide and seeing zero quality programming airing, especially knowing what we pay every month for it. 3. It'd be a great way to save money. 4. It'll help me stay on track with some of my other goals I set for myself back in November.

Along with my other goals, I think these are very attainable and I'm excited to get to work on them.

Strawberry Shortcake Kabobs

More praise for Pinterest - perfect "go to" when you need help generating some ideas when bringing food items to a party. I got this idea for dessert kabobs and thought it'd be perfect to bring for our New Year's Eve Eve party.

I couldn't find a ready-made lemon pound cake and I didn't have enough time to make it myself, so I put a spin on it and came up with Strawberry Shortcake Kabobs. Very simple - strawberries, angel food cake, and a chocolate drizzle to top it off. I was happy with how they turned out.

Christmas 2011 Highlights

*Enjoying all the Christmas decorations at my parents house. My favorite:



*Watching Regan's face as she opened each gift.
*Christmas Eve hors d'oeuvres. We introduced three new ones this year - orange ginger chicken wings, buffalo chicken dip, and stuffed mushrooms.
*Seeing my dad peek his head in the room on Christmas morning. (He had to go work the night of the 23rd and was gone all of Christmas Eve)
*Watching the Holiday with my mom while both of us did some laptopping. (She got one for Christmas)
*Staying up with my sister watching TV after everyone else went to bed - a "sisters" tradition we've done for years.
*Visiting my grandma. She doesn't say much but she still manages to make a funny comment every now and then. One of my favorites is from Christmas time many years ago and we were talking about Christmas specials that are on TV and she said, "Yeah, but some of them aren't so special." This time, after telling my grandma her face looked better than a week ago (she had a procedure done) she said, "My beauty has returned, huh?" and my dad, still sucking up to his mother-in-law after 37 years replied with, "You've never lost your beauty, Mary." :)
*Visiting with our family friends/neighbors.
*Reading Regan's new books to her.
*Making Rachel laugh, despite her having a bad cold, with her mini lion pillow pet.

Another great Christmas for the books - I came home with wonderful gifts, delicious leftovers, and tasty goodies. And although those things are great and appreciated, it would all be meaningless without a wonderful family to share in it all with.

My First Climb

Saturday I finally used up my birthday present Jake gave me, and we headed to Climb Iowa for an afternoon of rock climbing. It was on my "firsts" list, and was thrilled to be checking it off. I got nervous as we pulled in the parking lot and saw some guys walking in with their own equipment - "woah, they are legit" was my exact thought. I got a little more nervous after getting into our harnesses and listening to the employee's explanation of instructions. Halfway through her talk, I'll admit that I was thinking such thoughts as, "why did I say I wanted to do this?! I don't want to do this anymore!" But, after seeing a 6 year old girl do it, my fears subsided some. "I mean, if she can do it, I can do it", I thought. After the explanation, we were left on our own to climb freely.

We had several "paths" to choose from, with varying levels. We mostly stuck to the easy ones, since we were both beginners. On my first try, I got about halfway up the wall. Then we moved over to a different path that was a little easier and I made it all the way to the top! I was so excited. I looked down towards the ground at Jake with what I'm sure was a goofy grin on my face and exclaimed, "I did it!" They also had a couple of boulder walls (shorter walls with no belays, just mats surrounding the wall) and we climbed around on those for a while too.

My first rock climbing experience was definitely a positive one. I did a lot better than I thought I was going to do. Having little upper body strength, I figured I wouldn't make it very far, but I made it up to the top twice on two different paths. I wasn't really scared at all, looking down from the top, nor was I nervous about allowing the auto belay to bring me back down safely. My arms were definitely feeling the workout by the end of it and I'm still sore, especially my forearms. But, it was totally worth it. And everyone was really nice. A couple different guys gave us some tips along the way.

As I've said many times, I love trying new things and this was a perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon. It was something different, active, and very fun. Sadly, no pictures were taken - we both forgot our cameras. Oh well, I can use it as an excuse to go back again sometime.