Progress Report on New Years Resolutions

I know you've just been hanging on the edge of your seat wanting to know how I am doing with my New Year's Resolutions - so, here's the update!  Yes, I am still plugging away on them...

1.  Get real estate license:  I have decided to get it through Realty South - but am putting off starting the course for two more months, because of working on a free lance voice project...more on that below.

2.  Clean out every closet/attic in the house:  I have cleaned out all of our linen closets (and as luck would have it, we had a neighbor that had a house burn down and needed linens the day after I did it!), and I have cleared out all of the maternity clothes from my closet.  I have also given all of the clothes that Diana has outgrown to other mommies that might be able to use them.  The bathroom and kitchen are next!!

3.  Run 3 different 5 k's:  I was GOING to run one last Saturday, but had to work...so, that didn't happen.  I've been training, and think I might try to run in one called the Rumpshaker at the end of the month.

4.  Raise $5000 for Komen:  We are in FULL swing in trying to get sponsors and donations for this year's Chefs for the Cure (June 20th at The Club!).  So far, I have secured donations of auction items that should get Komen about $500...10% of the way there.  More to come!

5.  Rework my blog to make it profitable:  Haven't done this at all.  I need to get more consistent about posting before I try to do this.  This will be my second post this week, so that's progress....

6.  Create new profile for Voice 123/ACX and pursue voicework:  Done and done!  I won an audition to do an audiobook - and have started recording it!  I am really excited, and can't wait to share the finished project with you!!!!  It's very time consuming - which is why the real estate license/blogging has taken kind of a backseat. 

7.    Get back down to my wedding weight by my anniversary:  I am officially down 10 pounds since the beginning of the year!  I'll keep chipping away - and it will happen!!

8.  Beef up our savings account/emergency fund and save up for a down payment on a new house:  Emergency fund is FULLY funded and we are 10% of the way on our way to getting the amount we want for our down payment.  My wonderful husband is working a part time job to make more progress possible - and I am doing all the freelance/endorsement work I can find to make it happen sooner than later!

9.  Drink 64 ox. of water a day:  Most days, I hit this or get close, but I am glad that I am checking in on this because I need to be more diligent about it.  I can totally tell a difference when I do - and it's so simple to do!


So, there you have it!  Progress in most areas - and a recommitment to making progress in the other areas, too!  

Progress report on New Years' Resolutions

It's January 10th - and I know it's become kind of a punch line for some people to joke about already "falling off the wagon" on resolutions they made for 2013, but I am trying to stick with all NINE that I made!

So, here goes:

1. Get real estate license - I have an appointment next week to talk to someone about how to pursue this! 

2. Clean out every closet in whole house and attic - and donate/sell everything we don't need!  One box down!  I cleared our DVD drawer - and started in on the bookshelf.  We also put the Christmas stuff up in the attic - and I threw out an entire box of stuff we will never use again! 

3. Run 3 different 5k's - I am in week 2 of Run University - and so far, so good!  Signed up for Dirty Girl Run in March - Race for the Cure in October - need to find one to do mid-year to stay motivated.  Even while being sick this week, I ran - I figured I would STILL be sick whether I ran or not, so I forced myself to get on the treadmill.  Here's to Week Three!

4. Raise $5000 for Komen - Arranged for some publicity for our Chefs for the Cure event, which will hopefully bring in some big bucks this year. 

5. Rework my blog to make it profitable - I wrote more often this week, which is a step in the right direction, and remembered to promote it by posting links on social media.  I have some reading I am going to do this week about what to do next. 

6. Create new profile for ACX and Voice 123 and pursue voice work - I sent an email to find out more about premium membership for Voice 123, but other than that, I couldn't do much because of being sick.  No one wants my voice when I sound like this.

7. Get back down to my wedding weight by my anniversary - I lost 2.8 pounds this week!  37.2 to go!  We had one night where we went a little crazy, fueled by exhaustion and a steroid shot that the doctor gave me to try to beat my cold, it seemed like a great idea to eat our way through the chocolate from S's stocking and the kettle corn that my brother and his wife sent us as part of our Christmas present.  Other than that, I've been pretty good - my friend Alison and I are reporting to each other about our tracking progress, and that helps keep me accountable too. 

8. Beef up our savings account and fully fund our "down payment" fund - We started Diana's college fund this week, and readjusted our retirement contributions.  Now that we have those both in place and our automatic contributions are set to go, we can focus on socking away any extra in savings.  (I also spent some time this week looking online at dream houses, which kept me motivated!)  We went to Costco to do a lot of grocery shopping - hubby's idea! - to start getting our food budget a little more under control.  

9. Drink 64 oz of water a day - done!  This one isn't as hard as I thought it was going to be - I just need to carry a water bottle with me most of the day. 

So far, so good...

I read a study this morning saying that 75% of people have already "fallen off the wagon" - which made me feel pretty good about myself, since I am still going strong! (That's the award I am giving myself for staying strong 10 days into the year above...)

Here's my progress report:

- Sleep more. I have been trying to go to bed earlier, and to take a nap each day - and so far, so good. I am pretty proud of this one...and reaping the benefits of feeling less cranky already.
- Use my new treadmill. I am rocking on this one. On Saturday AND Sunday, I cranked out over 4 miles each day and spent over an hour total each day on the treadmill, including warming up and cooling down. Yesterday, I "only" did 3.5 miles for 50 minutes, but that's still way over my goal!
- Show more gratitude. Hmmm...I need to remember to do this one. So far, I haven't sent any actual thank you notes. I have made an effort to say "thank you" out loud more often, but no actual notes.
- Boycott all things Kardashian, whenever possible. Totally accomplished! Moving on...
- Travel to someplace I have never been. The plans are in place! As soon as we hear, for sure, about S's new job this week, we are booking the tickets to go to Vegas!
- Eat more real food. We cooked a LOT this weekend - most of it was homemade! I even made French toast from homemade bread.
- Focus on the positive, forget about the negative. Last Friday, I was pretty cranky about a situation at work, but I remembered to focus on the positive and write a gratitude list - and it helped to turn things around!
- Blog 225 times. This is #6 for the year - so, I am chipping away at this particular goal.
- Play. This weekend, we had a blast playing with our new XBox Kinect that S's mom gave us for Christmas. We played darts, golf, and tennis. We skied. We danced. All in our PJ's! Super fun!
- Be gentle with myself. As I learned last year, some times, it's even better to NOT stick to the plan than to force my way through on resolutions or plans. So far, this year, I feel like I picked pretty reasonable resolutions, so I am sticking to them. (Which is a way of being more gentle with myself, too!)

How are you doing with YOUR resolutions? Are you in the 75%? Do you want to get back on track?