September Update

So... I set some lofty goals at the beginning of the year (I still don't really want to call them resolutions... resolutions too often get broken. So... I set goals. I just happened to set them on Jan. 1st)
How am I doing?
Let's take a look.


1. Be active everyday - at least do something! I'm good about being active during the week and hitting the gym - the weekends, not so much. I'd like to change that.
I was SO close!  I'm actually pretty upset with myself.  I only missed one day - ONE DAY! And it was Saturday.  I made it 28 days, and then missed a day due to driving five hours for a baby shower and going to work with Matt - I just couldn't drag myself out of bed any earlier to squeeze the workout in before the baby shower.  Take a look.  But I keep trying!  

2. Run 400 miles. I'm worried this might be too much of a stretch for me, considering I don't go much more than 3 miles ever (three times a week), but I can give it a try! I ran about 250 in 2012, so maybe I can be a little more consistent and up my mileage in 2013.
I got a new iPod since mine decided to stop working randomly over Labor Day weekend :(  It took a bit of time to get it calibrated to track my runs, but I'm up and going now.  This month I ran 30.81 Miles.  This brings my total 2013 mileage to 310.88/400 miles. 3/4 of the way through the year - 10 miles of 3/4 of my goal - excellent!

3. Run my first 5K since high school cross country.
I'm registered for a race in September!  I was registered, but then had to cancel because of a family obligation, so still no 5K.  Better find me one soon!  If you have a suggestion in the LaCrosse area, let me know!

4. Finish my prayer shawl for St. Mary's Hospital
Finished in April during my spring break - it's huge!

5. Knit 5 Chemo caps   
Total is now 3/5.
Soooo close to being done with number 4!  Just have 10 rows left!

6. Finish one of my other UFO knitting projects
Didn't happen.  Another one I need to work on, better get moving as the year is ticking away (and I'm crazy busy now that I'm back to work!) 

7. Take two masters classes - I am very unmotivated about working towards my master's but I know I should be taking advantage of the tuition reimbursement at Connections Academy
This one may not happen. I still haven't taken one class yet. I'm not motivated to take the class and worried about overbooking myself. I value the little free time that I do have!

8. Visit one new city or state
Done in Feb. during my honeymoon. I was in Ft. Lauderdale, San Juan Puerto Rico, St. Thomas USVI, and Half Moon Cay.
Also went to Thunder Bay Ontario this month!  Whoot!  Added another new country :)  But sadly no new passport stamps :(

9. Be a better wife (I know, it's vague), but somedays I don't feel like I do that well in this area. Maybe I'm still getting the hang of it since I've only been married 2 1/2 months.
Work in progress.  I'm trying to be patient and helpful while he's so busy with work right now.   

10. Be kinder to myself. M keeps telling me that I'm too hard on myself and need to relax some and be nicer to myself and everything will be ok. We both know that being kind to yourself can be tough, but I want to try to make some improvements in this area.
This one, not so much.  To many worries and too many times I stressed out over little silly things.  Still working on this one I guess. 

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August Update

So... I set some lofty goals at the beginning of the year (I still don't really want to call them resolutions... resolutions too often get broken. So... I set goals. I just happened to set them on Jan. 1st)
How am I doing?
Let's take a look.


1. Be active everyday - at least do something! I'm good about being active during the week and hitting the gym - the weekends, not so much. I'd like to change that.
As usual, I missed a few days here and there.  Take a look.  But I keep trying!  Maybe one month before the end of the year I will actually have a month where I don't miss a single day.  

2. Run 400 miles. I'm worried this might be too much of a stretch for me, considering I don't go much more than 3 miles ever (three times a week), but I can give it a try! I ran about 250 in 2012, so maybe I can be a little more consistent and up my mileage in 2013.
I had some downtime from running this month, especially since I had to travel for work, but I still did pretty good with my mileage!  This month I ran 34.05 Miles.  This brings my total 2013 mileage to 280.07/400 miles. 

3. Run my first 5K since high school cross country.
I'm registered for a race in September!

4. Finish my prayer shawl for St. Mary's Hospital
Finished in April during my spring break - it's huge!

5. Knit 5 Chemo caps   
Total is now 3/5.
Soooo close to being done with number 4!  Just have 10 rows left!

6. Finish one of my other UFO knitting projects
Didn't happen.  Another one I need to work on, better get moving as the year is ticking away (and I'm crazy busy now that I'm back to work!) 

7. Take two masters classes - I am very unmotivated about working towards my master's but I know I should be taking advantage of the tuition reimbursement at Connections Academy
This one may not happen. I still haven't taken one class yet. I'm not motivated to take the class and worried about overbooking myself. I value the little free time that I do have!

8. Visit one new city or state
Done in Feb. during my honeymoon. I was in Ft. Lauderdale, San Juan Puerto Rico, St. Thomas USVI, and Half Moon Cay.
Also went to Thunder Bay Ontario this month!  Whoot!  Added another new country :)  But sadly no new passport stamps :(

9. Be a better wife (I know, it's vague), but somedays I don't feel like I do that well in this area. Maybe I'm still getting the hang of it since I've only been married 2 1/2 months.
Work in progress.  All I can say I that I have an awesome husband, who I love, and some days don't feel like I deserve him.    

10. Be kinder to myself. M keeps telling me that I'm too hard on myself and need to relax some and be nicer to myself and everything will be ok. We both know that being kind to yourself can be tough, but I want to try to make some improvements in this area.
This month I struggled with worries and worrying - a lot.  M can usually calm me down pretty quick, so that's good, but I wish I didn't worry so much in the first place.  Still working on it.  

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June Update

So... I set some lofty goals at the beginning of the year (I still don't really want to call them resolutions... resolutions too often get broken. So... I set goals. I just happened to set them on Jan. 1st)
How am I doing?
Let's take a look.

We're halfway through the year - eeek - where has the time been going?  I'm still working hard on my goals, but June was hard with the busy end of school year time and transition into summer schedule.  I haven't been able to hit my stride and get into a good routine yet this summer, but I'm working on it!

1. Be active everyday - at least do something! I'm good about being active during the week and hitting the gym - the weekends, not so much. I'd like to change that.
Saturdays were rough as I was usually at shows with M, but other than that, I think I did alright. Take a look 

2. Run 400 miles. I'm worried this might be too much of a stretch for me, considering I don't go much more than 3 miles ever (three times a week), but I can give it a try! I ran about 250 in 2012, so maybe I can be a little more consistent and up my mileage in 2013.
School is finally over and I wanted to ramp up my running, but that hasn't happened yet.  However, I am still hanging in there an making my weekly runs a priority. I'm struggling with a blister in the arch of my foot, but hopefully it heals soon!
I would like. This month I ran 32.54 Miles.  This brings my total 2013 mileage to 210.63/400 miles.  Halfway through the year and I'm on track to meet this goal - SWEET! 

3. Run my first 5K since high school cross country.
Nope

4. Finish my prayer shawl for St. Mary's Hospital
Finished in April during my spring break - it's huge!

5. Knit 5 Chemo caps   
Total is now 3/5.

6. Finish one of my other UFO knitting projects
Didn't happen

7. Take two masters classes - I am very unmotivated about working towards my master's but I know I should be taking advantage of the tuition reimbursement at Connections Academy
This one may not happen. I didn't register for the class to start in March. I'm not motivated to take the class and worried about overbooking myself. I value the little free time that I do have!

8. Visit one new city or state
Done in Feb. during my honeymoon. I was in Ft. Lauderdale, San Juan Puerto Rico, St. Thomas USVI, and Half Moon Cay.

9. Be a better wife (I know, it's vague), but somedays I don't feel like I do that well in this area. Maybe I'm still getting the hang of it since I've only been married 2 1/2 months.
I will say that I've done OK on this one.  I worked hard to keep an eye on M while also letting him get back into his routine as he has been getting better.  I sat through some long show days and tear downs to keep an eye on him and I've been trying not to worry about him too much, but it's a challenge for sure.  As for being a good wife... I will say I did alright with that this month as M and I have gotten back into our normal routine.  
I also went camping with M, and survived bugs and rain (I really don't like bugs!) so I call that being a good wife :)  I enjoy the time with M, just not the bugs and the wet.  

10. Be kinder to myself. M keeps telling me that I'm too hard on myself and need to relax some and be nicer to myself and everything will be ok. We both know that being kind to yourself can be tough, but I want to try to make some improvements in this area.
I made it through the end of the school year with my sanity in tack.  I call that a success.  I have been making progress on my to do lists and keeping things picked up at home (although not on my crafts that I'd like to work on).  At the very least, I haven't been beating myself up about stuff to much, so we'll call it a win.  

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May Update

So... I set some lofty goals at the beginning of the year (I still don't really want to call them resolutions... resolutions too often get broken. So... I set goals. I just happened to set them on Jan. 1st)
How am I doing?
Let's take a look.

1. Be active everyday - at least do something! I'm good about being active during the week and hitting the gym - the weekends, not so much. I'd like to change that.
This month started out really rough, what with M being in the hospital and all, and then not being able to be left home alone.  I did the best I could, but wasn't as active as I would have liked. Take a look 

2. Run 400 miles. I'm worried this might be too much of a stretch for me, considering I don't go much more than 3 miles ever (three times a week), but I can give it a try! I ran about 250 in 2012, so maybe I can be a little more consistent and up my mileage in 2013.
Again, my schedule was wonky the first 2/3 of the month due to caring for M.  Also, school is insane with end of the year business.  Running was tough and my mileage was shorter than I would like. This month I ran 33.76 Miles.  This brings my total 2013 mileage to 174.29/400 miles. At least I'm making progress. .

3. Run my first 5K since high school cross country.
Nope

4. Finish my prayer shawl for St. Mary's Hospital
Finished in April during my spring break - it's huge!

5. Knit 5 Chemo caps   
Total is now 3/5.

6. Finish one of my other UFO knitting projects
Didn't happen

7. Take two masters classes - I am very unmotivated about working towards my master's but I know I should be taking advantage of the tuition reimbursement at Connections Academy
This one may not happen. I didn't register for the class to start in March. I'm not motivated to take the class and worried about overbooking myself. I value the little free time that I do have!

8. Visit one new city or state
Done in Feb. during my honeymoon. I was in Ft. Lauderdale, San Juan Puerto Rico, St. Thomas USVI, and Half Moon Cay.

9. Be a better wife (I know, it's vague), but somedays I don't feel like I do that well in this area. Maybe I'm still getting the hang of it since I've only been married 2 1/2 months.
I was a good wife and took care of M when he was released from the hospital, even though I felt like I had suddenly become the mother of a teenage son (no thanks!).  It was a rough few weeks for sure, but I tried really hard to help M get better.  

10. Be kinder to myself. M keeps telling me that I'm too hard on myself and need to relax some and be nicer to myself and everything will be ok. We both know that being kind to yourself can be tough, but I want to try to make some improvements in this area.
I made it through being with Matt in the hospital, thank goodness.  I was able to hold it together during that time.  Everyone tell me I did a really good job with this, I'm not so sure, but I'm still standing now at the end of the month, so I guess I did alright.  

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April Update

So... I set some lofty goals at the beginning of the year (I still don't really want to call them resolutions... resolutions too often get broken. So... I set goals. I just happened to set them on Jan. 1st)
How am I doing?
Let's take a look.

1. Be active everyday - at least do something! I'm good about being active during the week and hitting the gym - the weekends, not so much. I'd like to change that.
So, there was lots of traveling for work this month, which presented a challenge in finding a time and a place to work out.  Take a look although I didn't do something everyday, all things considered, I didn't do to bad.  


2. Run 400 miles. I'm worried this might be too much of a stretch for me, considering I don't go much more than 3 miles ever (three times a week), but I can give it a try! I ran about 250 in 2012, so maybe I can be a little more consistent and up my mileage in 2013.
This month I ran 36.8 Miles!  Not quite as much as last month, but still holding steady!  This brings my total 2013 mileage to 140.49/400 miles. Making slow but sure progress.  

3. Run my first 5K since high school cross country.
Nope

4. Finish my prayer shawl for St. Mary's Hospital
Whoot!  I finished this way at the beginning of the month during my spring break.  Look, it's huge! 

5. Knit 5 Chemo caps
I knit a good portion of one while sitting in a bar the weekend after Easter (you can read about that here).  But life happened and I haven't finished the decreases quite yet.  
Total is now 2/5.

6. Finish one of my other UFO knitting projects
Didn't happen

7. Take two masters classes - I am very unmotivated about working towards my master's but I know I should be taking advantage of the tuition reimbursement at Connections Academy
This one may not happen. I didn't register for the class to start in March. I'm not motivated to take the class and worried about overbooking myself. I value the little free time that I do have!

8. Visit one new city or state
Done in Feb. during my honeymoon.  I was in Ft. Lauderdale, San Juan Puerto Rico, St. Thomas USVI, and Half Moon Cay.

9. Be a better wife (I know, it's vague), but somedays I don't feel like I do that well in this area. Maybe I'm still getting the hang of it since I've only been married 2 1/2 months.
This month I say I win the good wife award.  At the end of my spring break, I spent my last weekend off traveling to a tiny town in Illinois with Matt - for his work.  The rest of the month, Matt has been CRAZY busy with events - sometimes as many as three a weekend.  I went to work with him a lot to pitch in, and sometimes stayed home by myself.  So for this month, I say I win for putting up with his crazy work schedule.  
Side note - Matt's in the hospital right now, so I will give myself a bonus for trying to hold it all together right now. 

10. Be kinder to myself. M keeps telling me that I'm too hard on myself and need to relax some and be nicer to myself and everything will be ok. We both know that being kind to yourself can be tough, but I want to try to make some improvements in this area.
Up and down as usual.  I've been so busy trying to sort through things the last few days and surviving state testing that I didn't have time to be real down on myself this month. 

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Prayer Shawl

Yippe!!!! One of my UFOs is FINALLY done!  Look at this thing - it's huge!

It's a prayer shawl that I'm donating to St. Mary's hospital.  I'm one of the handicraft volunteers that works at the hospital making things for the patients and their families.  This is the first prayer shawl I've done.  I've made a few chemo caps as well, but this was a MUCH bigger project. I've been working on it since before I even got engaged.  lol.  That tells you how long of a project it was to complete.

It's not hard to do, just was time consuming, as it used 3 skiens of yarn (Lion Brand Homespun Yarn).  Depending on how tight you knit you can use between an 11 and 17 size needle.  I used wooden size 11s (Clover Takumi Bamboo Premium 13/14 inch Single Point Knitting Needles)
The pattern is a simple basketweave combination of knits and pearls.
Cast on 63 stitches.
Then Knit 3, pearl 3.  That's it.  Knit 3, Pearl 3, repeat until you've used all three skeins.

I'm feeling pretty proud of myself for finally getting this done - and being able to check something off of my to-do list!

Linking up:
Wednesday
Create and Share, Sugar and Spice, What I Whipped Up, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Show me what ya Got, Lil Luna, Wow me Wesdnesday, {Wow Me} Wednesday, Cast Party, Your Whims Wednesday, Fluster's Creative Muster, Wednesday Whatsit, Show and Share, Dream to Reality, Wow Us Wednesday, Super Linky Party, What We Wore, Read, and Made, Whatcha Work-Up, A Little Bird Told Me, And Sew We Craft Together, We did it!, We Made that!, It's a crafty World, Two Girls and a Party
Thursday
Hooking up with HoH, Catch a Glimpse, Creative Juice, Busy Bees, Crafty Soiree, Chic and Crafty, Thursday Favorite Things, Live Laugh Linky, Creative Princess, Share your Cup, , Linky Party, Link it Up, Made you Look, Inspiration in Progress, Blog Stalking, Wildly Original, Showcase your Talent, Somewhat Simple, Keep Calm and Link Up, Commercial Break
Friday
Show and Tell Friday, Friday Favorites, Simply Create, Lovely Crafty Weekend, EBKTS, Weekend Wander, Weekend Show Off, Weekend Bloggy Reading, Flaunt it Friday, 504 Main, Friday Favs, Fancy This Friday, Flash Blog Friday, Finished Friday, Freedom Friday, Show off Friday, Happy Hour, I <3 Friday, Keep Calm and Link Up, Weekend Wonders, I'm loving it, Fiday Favs, Pity Party, Dare to Share, F Friday, Craftionary Link Party, Do Something Crafty, Get Crafty, Shine on Friday!
Weekend
Weekend Wrap Up, Say G'day, Saturday Spotlight, Strut Your Stuff, Check me Out , Show and Tell, Saturday Spotlight, Great Ideas, Show and Tell Saturday, Your Great Idea, Simply Sweet Saturday, Share it Saturday, Saturday Show and Tell,  No Rules Blog Party, Craft Create Inspire,  Sunday Scoop, Sunday Showcase, Think Pink, Nifty Thrifty Sunday, Not Baaad Sunday, That DIY Party,  Overflowing with Creativity Party, A Bouquet of Talent, Weekend Creative
Monday
A Round Tuit, Masterpiece Monday, Market Yourself Monday, Pink Hippo Party,Motivate Me Monday, Made by You Mondays, Made with Love, Craft-O-Manic Monday, Monday Funday, Sweet Sharing Monday, Marvelous Mondays,  Make it Pretty, Mop It Up Monday, Busy Monday, I gotta try that, Mad Skills
Tuesday
Anti-Procrastination Tuesday, Homemade Tuesday, Nifty Thrifty Tuesday, Take a Look Tuesday, Too Cute Tuesday, Tutorial Tuesday,  One Project at a Time, Tasteful Tuesday, Tell me Tuesday, Trick or Treat Tuesday, Whatcha Whipped Up, Tuesday Talent Show, Two Cup Tuesday, Memories by the Mile, Totally Tasteful Tuesdays, How To Tuesday, Tuesday Confessional, Time for You Tuesday, Gathering Spot, Take it On Tuesday, You're Gonna Love it Tuesday, All my Bloggy Friends, Tuesday to Do, Pin it Tuesday

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