Wishes & Goals 2010 Check-Up - April

A tiny voice inside of me wants to rename this monthly "engagement" into Reflections and turn it into a vlog with a theme song and all, because maybe, just maybe, I'll go back to doing it at the beginning of the month instead of the middle.

*Ahem* Anyway...

Let's just stick with the list and the calendar for now, shall we?

It's been hard to get back on track since my vacation - particularly when it comes to getting to bed; yikes! - but looking at the calendar for March, things didn't go that badly at all and being away definitely helped with a few of the goals.

My Goals for 2010
Lights out between 10:30-10:45 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and between 11:30-11:45 on Sundays and Tuesdays for at least three of those nights per week by the end of the month.
At home, I was about on par with how I did in February (about two nights a week) but I was really good about getting lots of sleep (about 8 hours) a night when I was away in Winnipeg and in Thailand! I know I have trouble getting to bed on time at home because I want to be on my computer, whether it's checking Facebook or Twitter, reading blogs, or writing my blog(s). When I'm not on the computer, I'm chatting with B. on the phone... and it's hard to change because I don't want to give up those things. I will definitely still work on the goal as it is, but it doesn't look like I'll ever bump it up to seven hours every night (or even eight hours some nights) just because it's not realistic right now. It's nice to see that I have been making some progress, albeit slow and I do know on the days where I'm in a really bad mood, lack of sleep does play a part in it. But we'll see.

Each snack must contain a vegetable or a fruit.
At home, this is the only goal I'm consistently successful at, though it tends to lean toward fruit more than vegetables just because the former requires less prep. Recently I've found that I'm struggling a little with having the protein with it just because I'm not preparing well for it and sometimes not hungry for it. When I was in Thailand I didn't snack at all, but I'm just going to chalk that up to being on vacation ;) I'm also not snacking on weekends just because I completely throw myself off with my bad sleeping habits... Instead of working harder at it I think I'm going to just not track my weekends for now because all that red is too depressing (hehe)

Be able to do 100 full, proper pushups without stopping by December 2010.
I was pretty stoked about doing 81 pushups during my checkpoint after coming back from Winnipeg, but then I went to Thailand and slacked off because I was training for four hours a day! And doing full pushups! I was really sad to find that those full pushups did the opposite of translating into more granny pushups but I guess if you're trying to do 100 of them, it's not just about strength, it's about endurance as well. What's worse, it's been hard to get back on track since my vacation and I've missed a lot of "training sessions" (I missed a lot in March too) So to keep me going to my first checkpoint of 100 pushups from my knees (before I switch to working on full pushups) I've been thinking about how to reward myself. Initially I wanted to be creative and say that I was going to use my last vacation day and spend it either out and about or curled up with a book, but then I started ogling at the new jewellery collection by Matt and Nat. Anthropologie has some nice pieces as well (surprisingly at a similar price point), and I could also stop by Urban Outfitters when I'm in Montreal in May...

I will save at least ⅓ of my paycheque every month in hopes of buying a house/condo within walking distance from my work by 2011-2012.
I had to renew my registration with the College and with the Dietitians of Canada this month, but I did get some health insurance money back and managed to throw half my paycheque into savings (Yay!) I actually didn't spend that much while I was away because everything in Thailand was super-cheap and there wasn't much shopping where we were staying (nor do I really like shopping). This month might be bad because there were a few more registrations and I had to book my flight to Montreal, but I just filed my tax return and I'm getting quite a bit of money back (Yay not-a-full year of income and leftover education amounts!) and I have a friend who is going to show me the ropes of starting an RRSP once I find out what my [pitiful] contribution limit is. (Booo not-a-full year of income)

Drink at least 48 oz of water at least three days a week.
Success! Although some days this came with chugging a bunch of water right before bed just so I could reach my goal (Bad.) One thing I learned in Thailand was that this is something I have to work for - while it was definitely easier to meet my goal while I was there, I was still probably drinking a fraction of what everyone else was and quite dehydrated. Back home, I've been trying to drink all 48 oz at work, but sometimes I can't keep up the pace (and it's probably not very good for me). What I've found as well is that now that I'm drinking so much more, I feel thirst more often (similar to how people who start eating breakfast eventually get hungry for it, I think). Now that it's not below freezing anymore (hopefully), I should be better about keeping water in the car, in my gym bag (which sits in my car most of the day) and on my desk at home too. B. was also nice enough to buy me a water bottle with the measures on the side so I can see how much I'm drinking during the weekend (haha), but so far it's sat unused on his nightstand.

My Wishes for 2010
Do a thorough room purge
I didn't work on this this month, and going back to the idea of having too much on my plate I don't even know if I'm ever going to touch this in the near future... that's why it's a wish :P

Recipes/techniques I wanted to try this year:
I made "Lärabars"!

Blog Stuff
Continue upward trajectory of posts per year.
I posted less in March 2010 compared to March 2009, but in total I have more posts so far in 2010 than at this same time 2009. (Thanks, January!)

Include nutrition information to recipes whenever possible.
I have been including nutrition info for new recipes, but haven't spent any time going back in the archives.

Rewards
I went into March thinking that I wasn't going to achieve my goals just because I was going to be away, but I guess being away was pretty rewarding in itself. (First non-family vacation! Woot woot!) I don't think the snacking needs a reward because that's pretty integrated into my lifestyle by now, and by the way things are going it doesn't look like I'll be meeting my sleeping and water goals, so here's to hoping I can do my pushups!