goals

Things I want to do in 2022

January 24, 2022 filed under: goals

Another year, another opportunity for goals, aspirations, resolutions. Whatever you want to call it. I keep calling mine, the list of “things I want to do”.

Stay Healthy.

I understand that this is not entirely in my control, but what I can do to prevent illness or injury, I will try to do. I’ve been very lucky when it comes to exercise-related injuries. I haven’t had any real injuries in the 7+ years that I’ve been running regularly. I do take warm up, cool down, and stretching/recovery very seriously though. Also, some people say it’s inevitable and we’re all going to catch Omicron sooner or later, and maybe that is true, but I am not intentionally going out to catch it.

See my family.

Dare I put this on my list again? But I am determined to see my family this year. Sometime, somewhere. They’ll come here or I’ll fly there, damn it. It has to happen.

Complete (another) 365 Peloton Streak.

I’ve done this last year, why can’t I do this again this year? I’ve really gotten into the habit of using the Peloton app on a daily basis and unless I am going out of cell service for too long, I am hoping to be able to accomplish this again. You can only see what’s possible if you try, amirite?

Complete the virtual Pacific Crest Trail Challenge.

Tanja and I signed up together for this challenge and have both pledged to run, walk, or bike 2485.5 miles/4000 km along the (virtual) Pacific Crest Trail in 2022. You track your workouts through your smart watch or fitness app and keep chipping away at the distance. The miles are tracked in the Conqueror app, which shows you where you are on the map and how much distance you have accomplished at any given time (and also if you’re “ahead or behind”). I find this sort of long-term challenge super-motivating and can’t wait to see how we do!

Be more creative.

I’d like to be more creative again in 2022. I don’t know what this means right now and how I am going to even measure my success at the end of the year, but I know that I’d like to tackle a couple of hands-on projects and pick up some of the crafts that I usually enjoy again. 2021 was very disappointing in that regard, and I know that creativity is also something that you can’t necessarily force and that comes and goes, but I miss crafting and creating something with my hands.

Optimize my diet.

I’ve been dealing with some digestive issues in the last couple of years that I am trying to figure out and I feel very much left to my own devices because all the GP wants to prescribe is a PPI without even looking further into my symptoms. (I mentioned my frustration before and you’ve all been very kind and had some helpful comments. I actually have an appointment with a gastroenterologist set up next month, but in the meantime, I’ve been researching and trying a few things on my own.)

Reorganize my blogging categories.

This is a goal I stole from Stephany’s goal list, but just because it was a startling reminder that this is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while. I’ve been blogging for so many years and my blog categories have gotten a bit out of control. Mainly because I’ve never really given real thought to it and just kept adding categories when it seemed fit. Now, I find myself not being able to find old posts, so how should people who come visit here and wanna peruse the archives? (Not that I think a whole lot of people actually do that, but…). What can I say, I like things orderly. There are 2600+ blog posts, so that’s going to be fun!

Read 30 books.

Ok, let’s try this again. Last year, I made it to 21, even though I had set the same goal for 30 books. I know that my reading ‘ebbs and flows’, so I am not going to make a prediction about how successful I am going to be this year, but what do you do if you “fail”? (I use the word very loosely here, because I don’t think you can fail at reading – even if you just read one single book all year.) You get up, fix your crown, and try again.

And there you have it. This is probably not an exhaustive list, and I realize I have a few “want to do” things that are not completely in my control, but I believe in the power of positive thinking and manifesting. Let’s see how that goes.

Did you set goals for 2022? Or, what are some things that you’d like to do?

Things I wanted to do in 2021

January 7, 2022 filed under: goals, review

photo credit: @maplepharaoh via Unsplash

I guess I am doing this now, taking a look back at the things that I wanted to do in the last year, which I put on the blog for posterity. I guess it is fun to go back and revisit the things I thought about at the beginning of the year and kind of reflect how I did.

TRAVEL TO GERMANY.

Sadly, no. Doesn’t need explanation, right?

✔ STAY HEALTHY

Both Jon and I managed to not get Covid and I stayed healthy – and injury-free! – otherwise. We got vaccinated as soon as we were eligible, and then boosted as well. We’re still very cautious when it comes to getting together with people and/or travel, and we continue to wear our masks, wash our hands, and social distance as much as we possibly can for the foreseeable future.

✔ COMPLETE A 365 PELOTON STREAK.

I knew this was a bit of a lofty goal and something that wasn’t completely in my control (because as you know, life can always get in the way), but I did manage to complete my 365 Peloton streak by ‘earning a blue dot” (which marks on the calendar in the Peloton app that you’ve completed at least one, or more activities) every day in 2021.

✔ KEEP UP WITH MY PLANNER/JOURNAL.

I did really well last year with my planner (mostly because I made it a habit to record my workouts and my meal-planning in there) and I hope to continue to use my new planner in the same way. Having it on my desk where I work every day has been a great motivator to take a few minutes every day to write in it.

GET RID OF EXCESS STUFF.

I didn’t really work on this at all. I guess I am picking this up again this year?

✔ COOK MORE VEGETARIAN DISHES.

I am calling this somewhat accomplished, just for the fact that we’ve been working on our meal plan over the last year and incorporated a lot more vegetable into our dishes. I don’t know if we really cut out meat so much, as just adding a ton more vegetables to everything, but our meals have definitely become more vegetable-heavy.

✔ MAKE AN EFFORT TO SUPPORT SMALL/LOCAL BUSINESSES.

I have definitely supported more local businesses when possible (not necessarily small local businesses though). I have, however, supported more small business online by ordering gifts from sites like Etsy or directly from store websites.

I have still not quit Amazon completely. We’re not heavy Amazon users to begin with, but we’ve definitely ordered less. In 2020, we averaged 4 items/month. In 2021, we cut this in half (less than 2 items/month) and really just things I couldn’t find anywhere else. Not too bad.

BUY A BED FRAME.

Nope. We’re still living without a bed frame. Guess that didn’t make the priority list.

LIMIT MY SOCIAL MEDIA TIME.

I have thought about this a lot. Oh boy, did I. But if I am honest, I made no conscious effort to actually put some rules in place for myself to curb my social media use. I guess I wasn’t completely lying when I said at the beginning of the year that I wanted to be more mindful about it, because I definitely was more mindful, but I am not sure I changed anything intentionally. It’s hard when your phone connects you to so many people and resources in one convenient place, but can also be a source of unnecessary distraction, or worse, mental drain, if we’re not careful.

READ 30 BOOKS.

Nope. I read 21. According to Goodreads, I had more foresight and set my reading goal there at 20 books, but I think I actually meant to set it to 30. So, I didn’t quite make it and that’s okay. Reading was a bit of a rollercoaster ride in 2021 but it seemed to smooth out towards the end of it and I feel like I am on solid reading ground right now.

Well, I wasn’t all that successful at the things I wanted to do in 2021. I mean, I didn’t do terribly, 50% is alright, but I also didn’t complete all the things I wanted to do. I did, however, accomplish a few things that I didn’t put on this list, but that I am happy about. I love how Elisabeth refers to the list of these accomplishments as her “ta-da list”, because they’re definitely worth mentioning even if they didn’t make the official list.

So, here’s my 2021 TA-DA LIST:

Finished watching a complete TV series (Schitt’s Creek) with Jon (big deal, as we’re not avid TV watchers – except for news).
Went on a hike with my friend Susi.
Successfully completely a 10-Day Green Smoothie Cleanse.
Grew one serving of lettuce in my backyard container garden.
Successfully completed another year of NaBloPoMo.
Found Italian plums and made my German Plum Streusel Cake.
Became somewhat of an (indoor) plant lady.

And in regard to new goals, there is always next year, which is already here. Time to come up with a list.

Did you set goals or aspirations for this year?

Things I want to do in 2021

February 3, 2021 filed under: goals

photo credit: @maplepharaoh via Unsplash

This is my version of new year’s resolutions/goals. I feel it’s particularly hard to set any goals this year with all the unknowns going forward in this pandemic, but since I ended up doing quite well last year (despite the unexpected twist and turns we all experienced), maybe I actually can set goals that are achievable despite a (still pretty) restricted environment.

TRAVEL TO GERMANY.

I know. It’s a lofty goal to set while we’re still smack-dab in the middle of a pandemic, but this is really the one and only thing I want to do this year if I had to pick one. I am putting this on here because I have hope that by the end of 2021, we might hopefully be in a position to travel and see my family again.

STAY HEALTHY

My second biggest goal is to stay healthy. I feel like we’re much more cautious than other people when it comes to Covid-19 and the things we’re willing to do, but honestly, I just don’t want to catch it before we can get vaccinated. I will wear my mask, wash my hands, and social distance as much as we possibly can for the foreseeable future.

COMPLETE A 365 PELOTON STREAK.

Hear me out, this is not as crazy as it sounds. I have not gotten addicted to exercise (maybe just a little) and this doesn’t mean that I will be working out hard every day. The Peloton App has a lot to offer and I’ll be making use of all the different types of classes. Some days it’ll only be some yoga or even meditation, but I am committing to doing something good for my body every day in 2021. (Join me?)

KEEP UP WITH MY PLANNER/JOURNAL.

GET RID OF EXCESS STUFF.

I am not sure if I should just plan to do a couple of “purging days” this year or go about this more strategically by giving away/throwing out one item per day (which would remove 365 items from my house this year). I am already behind if that was my approach, so I probably go with a more random approach. I just know that I feel the “clutter” in our (comparatively small) apartment and I wouldn’t mind feeling a little lighter from stuff.

COOK MORE VEGETARIAN DISHES.

We’ve been cutting down on our meat consumption last year already, but I’d like to further work on cooking more vegetarian dishes (especially ones that make Jon feel full/satisfied and not miss meat). One example that has been a great “meat substitute” has been a lentil-based bolognese sauce. I am taking your tried-and-true suggestions (please and thank you).

MAKE AN EFFORT TO SUPPORT SMALL/LOCAL BUSINESSES.

I must admit that Amazon has been a lifesaver during the pandemic. I have a love-hate relationship with Amazon. I know that I shouldn’t support it but you can’t beat the convenience, and so many times when I was out of luck finding certain items locally, Amazon came to the rescue. I know, excuses, right? While I can’t see cutting myself off completely just yet, I vow to do better and try to buy locally or from companies directly more often whenever possible. At least, I am not one of those people who get a gazillion packages each week (I think we averaged 4 items/month last year).

BUY A BED FRAME.

Don’t laugh. We’ve been living without a bed frame for 2+ years. When we bought our Tempurpedic (best bed ever, btw!) many years ago, it came with one of those standard metal bed frames (on wheels) on which I repeatedly bumped my foot. Let’s just say, it was painful. When we moved from our house to our apartment over two years ago, I insisted that we get rid of that metal frame… and we have been living without a bed frame ever since. Jon doesn’t think we need one, but I definitely feel like a bed frame will tie our bedroom together. (This goal is for you, Tanja.)

LIMIT MY SOCIAL MEDIA TIME.

Oh boy, dare I say it. Last year was not good when it comes to spending time on my phone. I felt like it was worse than before with all the doom-scrolling and also trying to keep up with everyone and everything going on in the world. I really do want to try and be more intentional with the time I spend online (and on social media sites especially). I have no idea if I can manage (or what exactly my expectation is here), but I want to be more mindful and I’d think that it would be a least a little bit easier with the news not being all crazy all the freakin’ time. Wish me luck on this one.

READ 30 BOOKS.

Why 30? Why not 30! I ‘only’ managed 22 books last year, so I am just throwing out a random number to motivate me to read more this year, but also to keep the goal realistic. In the end, I only want to just accomplish one thing: enjoy the books that I do get to read this year.

Did you set goals for this year?

Things I wanted to do in 2020

January 11, 2021 filed under: goals, review

photo credit: @anniespratt via Unsplash

I usually don’t post a review of my previous year’s goals, but in light of a very unprecedented year, I was surprised to see that despite the wrench that 2020 threw into the works of everyone’s life, I checked more things off my “want-to-do”-list last year than I thought.

✔ GO SKIING (AND SNOWBOARDING).

That would most definitely not have happened if I hadn’t been able to check this one off my list in January already. So glad I got to go!

~~TRAVEL IN THE SUMMER WITH MY FAMILY~~

Well, that obviously didn’t happen and I was super-bummed about it. We had planned the visit (and subsequent road trip) for months and it’s not like my family comes to visit every year. That trip had been in the making since 2015 and was one of the hardest things to “give up” last year.

✔ IMPROVE MY FITNESS AND BREAK THE 2 HOUR-MARK IN THE HALF MARATHON.

I finally checked this goal off my list last year. Sadly, it wasn’t an “official PR”, because all in-person races were canceled and I ran this HM virtually with a friend, but at least, I could prove to myself that I’d been improving and was capable of accomplishing this. I hope to repeat it on an official course sometime.

✔ RUN AT LEAST 600 MILES THIS YEAR.

I didn’t even have this goal on my “radar” but ended 2020 with 610 running miles under my belt.

~~WORK ON MY ETSY SHOP.~~

That didn’t happen. I had high hopes at the start of last year that I would be motivated and make time for my Etsy shop, but the pandemic pretty much zapped all of my creative energy. Then, the USPS woes started and I felt even less inclined to re-start a shop that was going to rely on the postal service to deliver goods. Maybe I’ll re-open my shop in 2021.

~~READ MORE THAN 27 BOOKS.~~

I did not read 27 books last year. I read 22, which I guess is not too far off, but it feels like I could barely focus on any books in 2020. I am hoping for 2021 to be better.

✔ CONTINUE TO INVEST IN HEALTHY LIVING

I definitely kept my focus on healthy living last year. I made sure to keep up (and expand) my fitness routine, I started taking (some carefully selected) supplements, I focused on hydration, and with all the home-cooking we were doing, tried to improve our meals by adding more vegetarian dishes, swapping in lighter ingredients, and adding (even) more vegetables and fruit into our diet. I also dabbled a bit with intermittent-fasting (more out of curiosity than anything else).

✔ ONE ACT OF KINDNESS EVERY WEEK.

I don’t know for sure if I accomplished this (I did not keep a tally), but I am claiming this as complete. I try to be a nice person on any given day, and even though I have no recollection of purposefully trying at this goal, I do feel that I reached out more (I reconnected with a few people), wrote letters, and tried to be kind and smiled more at strangers. I am pretty sure that I extended more grace and kindness to people last year than not.

✔ BE INTENTIONAL WITH MY TIME.

I definitely gave myself grace and didn’t jump on all the bandwagons and allowed myself to say “no” to things that I felt I should be doing but had no interest in doing (looking at you, all-the-Netflix-series). There were many days where I felt drained and gave in to mindless doomscrolling, but also made sure that I stepped away often to get outside and clear my mind.

✔ KEEP UP WITH MY PLANNER/JOURNAL.

In a twist of irony, in the year when there was not much to do besides sitting on your couch, I used my planner more consistently than ever. I jotted down (and pre-planned) my weekly workout routines, meal-planned (on paper, not just in the Evernote-app), and wrote down FaceTime Calls with people near and far as if they were meetings on my calendar. I am hoping to keep it up :)

* * *

7 out of 10 goals met in the year of a pandemic? Not too shabby, I’d argue. Not that I had put any expectations on my goal’s list after the pandemic hit, but it’s nice to see that I still got some things accomplished.

How did you do?

Things I want to do in 2020

January 27, 2020 filed under: goals, lists!

Go skiing (and snowboarding).

Guess what, I already checked that off my list last week when I went to Tahoe with some friends. Skiing is secretly always on my goals’ list. It’s a real shame that I live two hours from the snow and go so rarely. I want to change that. It’s hard to get up to the mountains, if your husband is not much of a snow person, but I am hoping to go once or twice more this season.

Travel this summer with my family

I might have mentioned it here before, but if not: my family is coming to visit this summer; my parents, my sister and BIL and the kids, and I am beyond excited. They’ll be here for about three weeks and we’re in the midst of planning another epic road trip together. I wish they could just come and I could host them at our place, but unfortunately, we don’t have the space and of course, they want to see more than Sacramento if they come all the way over here. So we’ll be traveling together quite a bit and I am sure it will be a blast!

Improve my fitness and break the 2 hour-mark in the half marathon.

Does this goal sound familiar? Yes, because I copied it from last year. I did NOT run a sub-2 hour half marathon last year, so it’s staying on the goals’ list. I also didn’t run three half marathons (as two of the three I was planning to run fell during the time when I was traveling to Germany), which means I only got one shot at setting a new PR and since the only half marathon I ran was San Francisco ( = hills) I knew it was kind of a long shot.

Run at least 600 miles this year.

I want to up my running mileage again this year. I ran 469 miles in 2019, but I would love to hit 600 miles again this year. This amounts to 50 miles per month. That should be doable, even if I throw in cycling and more cross-training.

Work on my Etsy shop.

If you follow me on social media, you might know that I own a shop on Etsy. Once upon a time, it was a little endeavor I started with my neighbor-friend across the hall, but she moved away, had kids, and eventually decided that she didn’t have the time to invest time in our little shop anymore. For almost a year, I contemplated what to do; close shop or continue on my own. I eventually decided that I didn’t want this creative outlet go. I’ll tell you more about that decision in a separate post.

Continue to invest in healthy living

I have a lot of fitness goals on my list here and along with this goes a focus on healthy living. I’ve started tracking food and macros this month, not to lose weight, but to be more aware of how I fuel my body. I also set myself a goal of drinking at least 60 oz of water every day, because hydrating properly has been an on-and-off challenge for me over the years.

One act of kindness every week.

I always try to be a nice person, but I am hoping to purposefully make someone’s day every week. It can be through offering a helpful hand, a sympathetic ear, heartfelt advice, or a simple compliment. It’s so easy to make someone’s day better by adding some positivity and kindness. Yes, it’s awkward sometimes to offer a compliment to a stranger, but every time someone has done it for me, it buoyed me up through the day and beyond.

Be intentional with my time.

This is nothing new. I always feel pressed for time, have so many competing interests. Sometimes, I am guilty of mindless scrolling on social media and when people tell me that they’ve been watching this show or listened to that podcasts, I sometimes feel left out or like I am missing out, but I want to focus on the things that interest me this year and not feel bad to not jump on every bandwagon.

Keep up with my planner/journal.

I’ve tried my hand at bullet journaling the last two years and it was an on-again-off-again love affair. When I was bullet journaling, I was doing it 110%, until I wasn’t and didn’t touch it for a couple of months. I hated these empty pages in between. So, for 2020, I bought a new, traditional planner and I am hoping that I’ll better be able to keep up with it this year.

Did you set any goals for 2020?

Things I want to do in 2019

January 24, 2019 filed under: goals, good things

I promised you ~~last week~~ two weeks ago that I was going to share a ‘things I want to do in 2019’-list, so here I am. I am still a little wary to put a list together, but I also like the process of making a list and subsequently, checking things off that list.

Go to Germany.

After last year’s plans were thwarted, I made new plans to visit my family this year, no matter what. This is my number one priority. I haven’t seen my family for almost two years (hard to believe) and it’s time. Obviously, if I would have it my way, I would see them more often. I hope they’ll come visit us again here in California soon (and I know they’d love to!).

Get rid off stuff.

Before our move, I purged quite a bit of stuff, so we didn’t have to move it (I also wasn’t sure if we were going to have enough space for storage). I already felt a thousand pounds lighter, but still, there is more stuff that ended up in boxes in our garage and I am planning to go through this and truly get rid off everything we don’t want or use anymore.

Improve my fitness and break the 2 hour-mark in the half marathon (gasp, I said it).

Is this year going to be the year? Running a sub-2 hour half marathon has been a goal, well, I guess since I ran my first half marathon. The first race was just to prove myself that I can run the distance, then my ambition was tickled and I started trying to improve my pace. While I had two more PRs last year, I still haven’t broken the 2 hours. My current PR is 2:02:39 (so I am literally 2:40 minutes away from my goal), but you’d be amazed how freakin’ hard it actually is to improve only a couple of minutes over a long distance like that. Back to more cross-training and running more miles, it is.

Run 3 half marathons (again).

I am a much better runner, if I set goals and having a race on the calendar is definitely great motivation. I liked having three bigger races, conveniently spaced out in spring, summer, and fall, to look forward to and work towards last year. I think I want to do this again this year.

Find at least two healthy new recipes to try per month.

I’d like to think that I am already eating pretty healthy(-ish), but I am always looking to add more, new exciting recipes to the mix.
I believe that cooking at home (mostly) from scratch with fresh ingredients (and control what goes into the dish) and an attitude of “what can I ADD to my to your diet, instead of take away” is more important than restricting my diet and eliminating certain foods entirely.

Read 52+ books.

Last year, I set a goal of 60 books (which was 1 more than 2017) and didn’t quite make it. But I read 52 books (which is one book a week on average) and my goal is to just keep that up. Any extra books are going to be a bonus.

See new places.

I am rephrasing my “travel more”-goal from last year. You don’t have to travel far to visit and explore new places and there is so much in my immediate vicinity that I haven’t seen, so I’ll be making an effort to be more of a local tourist this year.

Did you set any goals for 2019?

Things I plan to do in 2018

January 11, 2018 filed under: goals, good things

I read this great blog post the other day about setting goals that are out of your control vs. implementing actionable changes you can make to your habits to move yourself in the right direction, and I could relate so much. I am not much for New Year’s resolutions, a) because I feel like you can make positive changes on any damn day of the year, and b) because resolutions always put so much pressure on a person.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I think a little bit of pressure is necessary to make some positive, but hard changes sometimes, but if the goals are too lofty or there are too many changes to implement at once, chances are you (universal you) will fall short.

Resolutions look good on paper, but they also need to be doable. It’s great if you aim to read 100 books this year, but unless you have a clear plan how to accomplish this, this is just going to be that: a lofty goal. Before you know it, you’re three months into the new year and way behind on your reading goal.

However, if you rephrase your resolutions and really think about which goals are realistic and what kind of changes are doable in order to achieve a certain goal and which small steps to take to get there, these goals become much more attainable.

Ok, maybe that got a little bit too philosophical. So, without further ado, here are the things I plan to do in 2018 (and not all of them are ‘habit changes’):

Go skiing with my family in the Alps again.

That is in the works. I’d be ecstatic if this works out the way I am hoping (currently, I am saving every vacation and comp hour for this trip.)

Run 3 half marathons.

Why three? Why not three! I ran one in 2016, two last year and I’d just love to add another one this year. (Don’t worry, this is not going to be an ongoing future trend.) I am already signed up for the San Francisco Half again, but there is room to fit in two more, I think. I am also hoping to up my mileage from last year (766 mi) just to have something to work towards (because I always do better with a bit of a challenge).

Go back to yoga, for crying out loud.

Yes, here it is again. I can’t believe I am actually putting this on this list, because this has been on my goal-list for, like, FOREVER and I haven’t made it happen. But if I don’t put it here, the chance of it ever happening gets even slimmer. Am I thinking about this right? Good. (Hold me accountable, pretty please.)

Read 60 books.

This will be an average of 5 books per month or so. I had a goal to read 25 books last year. Twice as many as in 2016. I ended up reading 59 books, so setting my goal to 60 for this year seems just the logical – and attainable – thing to do, yes?

Take more weekend trips and meet up with friends.

Whenever I get away for a weekend, I feel so refreshed when I get back home. I want to see new places and there is so much that I haven’t seen here in California (and other neighboring states). I’d also love to spend more time or go on small trips with some far away friends.

Discover more restaurants.

J and I love cooking at home, but we also love to eat out and try new restaurants. We’ve been going to the same joints a lot last year and I want to find some new-to-us restaurants in town.

Keep on top of my Feedly reader.

I know this might seem like a silly goal to add to this list, but I am subscribed to so many (too many!) blogs that I often can’t keep up with everything and I hate that (part of what often ‘stresses me out’). I hate when I have hundreds of unread posts sit in my Feed Reader (and as you might know, I am not one to “mark all read”, lest I miss something important!)

I do know though that there are blogs that I “click away” from routinely, which I should probably remove from my Reader (and I am sorry about that. I promise it is nothing personal, there is only so many blogs a person can read at any given time.) and I should probably better organize the blogs I do want to keep. In order to do better this year and be more focused, I got my Feedly reader down to “zero” last week for a fresh start and I am aiming to keep the list of unread posts below 50 at any given time.

Friday Five | Midyear goal check-in

July 21, 2017 filed under: goals

I know, I know, we’re little over the halfway mark of this year already, but it occurred to me just now that I had set some tentative ~~goals~~ guidelines for this year and that it might be a good idea to check in. Which means, I had to dig through my archives and find the post where I listed those goals (and see what they actually were, haha!) and figure out if I was brave enough to publicly share here how I have been doing (or if I should just let sleeping dogs lie and just pretend that post never happened.)

I am not really this great with new year’s resolutions and the like (which doesn’t mean I don’t have goals I am working towards), but I do like list-making and crossing off of things… so I guess, this is where these two meet.

Well, turns out, I am actually not doing all that bad either, so of course, I am going to share the status quo with you guys, because a) I don’t feel too embarrassed and b) maybe this will hold me accountable, too, going forward.

1. Fill a jar with notes of happiness. Yes. J and I have been writing down one happy thought for the week every Sunday for the last 28 weeks. I hope we can keep this up, this is really fun and I can’t wait to read through all of them at the end of the year.

2. Run 1000 miles. On track. Well, actually I am a little bit behind. My tracker stands at 460 miles, but I think that I might still be able to catch up if I set my mind to it. I was a bit derailed by my ankle pain and didn’t run as much as scheduled for a couple of weeks.

3. Cross train. Kinda. I definitely did more cross-training than before, but I could still be more diligent. Oh yeah, and have I mentioned yoga lately? I definitely should go back to yoga.

4. Read 25 books. Done. As of right now, I have read 42 books and I don’t even know myself anymore. Last year, I didn’t think it was possible to fit more reading into my week, but I am so happy that I am making more time for books again.

5. Invest some time in my Etsy shop. Nope. Big fat fail so far. I had a handful of orders in the first half of this year and designed a Thank you-card for a wedding, but that’s pretty much it. My creative juices seem to be dried up currently. Sigh. Maybe they’ll come back to me in the second half of the year? One can hope.

How are you doing with your goals so far?

I am linking up with Running on Happy and Fairytales and Fitness for the Friday Five 2.0 Linkup

Stay Healthy.

See my family.

Complete (another) 365 Peloton Streak.

Complete the virtual Pacific Crest Trail Challenge.

Be more creative.

Optimize my diet.

Reorganize my blogging categories.

Read 30 books.

TRAVEL TO GERMANY.

✔ STAY HEALTHY

✔ COMPLETE A 365 PELOTON STREAK.

✔ KEEP UP WITH MY PLANNER/JOURNAL.

GET RID OF EXCESS STUFF.

✔ COOK MORE VEGETARIAN DISHES.

✔ MAKE AN EFFORT TO SUPPORT SMALL/LOCAL BUSINESSES.

BUY A BED FRAME.

LIMIT MY SOCIAL MEDIA TIME.

READ 30 BOOKS.

TRAVEL TO GERMANY.

STAY HEALTHY

COMPLETE A 365 PELOTON STREAK.

KEEP UP WITH MY PLANNER/JOURNAL.

GET RID OF EXCESS STUFF.

COOK MORE VEGETARIAN DISHES.

MAKE AN EFFORT TO SUPPORT SMALL/LOCAL BUSINESSES.

BUY A BED FRAME.

LIMIT MY SOCIAL MEDIA TIME.

READ 30 BOOKS.

Go skiing (and snowboarding).

Travel this summer with my family

Improve my fitness and break the 2 hour-mark in the half marathon.

Run at least 600 miles this year.

Work on my Etsy shop.

Read more than 27 books.

Continue to invest in healthy living

One act of kindness every week.

Be intentional with my time.

Keep up with my planner/journal.

Go to Germany.

Get rid off stuff.

Improve my fitness and break the 2 hour-mark in the half marathon (gasp, I said it).

Run 3 half marathons (again).

Find at least two healthy new recipes to try per month.

Read 52+ books.

See new places.

Go skiing with my family in the Alps again.

Run 3 half marathons.

Go back to yoga, for crying out loud.

Read 60 books.

Take more weekend trips and meet up with friends.

Discover more restaurants.

Keep on top of my Feedly reader.