A Year [2012] In Review

This past year I slacked a lot in the blog department. We were busy having fun, but it was mostly the same so I didn't really feel I had a lot to blog about. In no particular order we did the following:

• I started training Percy in agility and obedience. This consumed most of the first half of the year.
• We made numerous trips to Disneyland and the beach.
• I had a girls day at Glen Ivy and then another at Wrightwood.
• We traveled to Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam with Spencer's mom and brother.
• Spencer finished up his intern year and started the anesthesia part of his training. He also got his medical license.
• We took a cruise down the coast of Alaska and finished it up by visiting Canada for a little under a couple of hours.
• We visited family in Utah and Portland, OR for the holidays.
• I got a new job.
• We had numerous house guests including friends, family, and several hopeful LLU residents.

We also spent time working on our new home. We are slowly getting it organized and just starting to decorate. Maybe it will be done by 2014, but maybe not. In observing my parent's and Spencer's parents more closely, it appears that a home is never "done," but rather a continuous work in progress.

In looking back a my goals for 2012 I can say I can close to meeting most of them but fell short on a few. I tripled the number of books I read and almost doubled the number of knitting projects I completed. I keep the house reasonably clean and I tried to be a little nicer and more forgiving. I'm not sure if I actually succeeded in that, but I tried to be more cognizant of it so I'm counting it. 

 

In looking forward to 2013 I'm hoping to accomplish many of the same goals from last year and few new ones as well. They say that setting really broad goals ensures that won't reach them, so I have tried to make them as specific as possible. This year I'd like to:

• Paint my kitchen, living room, guest room, and master bedroom
• Finish the backyard (this will mostly be Spencer's project)
• Read even more books--4 per month would put me up to 48 next year
• Finish all my pending knitting projects and also make a few more--20 seems like a good goal
• Lose the weight I gained last year and then some
• Train for and run a half marathon by June or July

63 Days Unitl Christmas

Well, it's almost November which means 3 things:

1. My birthday is in about 2 weeks and I will only have 2 years left in my 20's.
2. Thanksgiving is about a month away.
3. Christmas is a mere 63 days away!

These 3 things have caused me to have the following revelations:

1. Holy crap I only have 2 years left until I turn 30!! That's old!! That's when people know what they want to DO with their lives and I still don't know what I'm doing with mine!
2. Mmmmm....turkey...stuffing...cranberry sauce...pumpkin pie...mashed potatoes...gravy...food coma...
3. I am really, really behind on my knitting goals.

And those 3 revelations have caused me to produce the following task list:

1. Figure out what I want to do with my life and find a way to do it.
2. I need to invite people over for turkey day so I can make a boat load of food and not feel bad about it.
3. Knit 4 beanies, 2 cowls, 1 pair of hand warmers, and a scarf by December 25th. Oh and wash them, block them, and wrap them.

Image taken from here.

April-May-June-July--August???

How has it been FIVE MONTHS since I last posted??

Oh wait. I know! Every time I sit down to post something something far more interesting (like a trip to the beach or a project at work with a surprise-it's-due-tomorrow deadline) comes up. So that means my posting has been few and far between. What have I been doing with my time aside from that?

Reading.
Book-clubbing.
Knitting.
Beaching.
Disneylanding.
Vacationing.
Cooking.
Video gaming.
Craft-clubbing.
Dog walking.
Running.
Dancing.
Baking.
Cleaning.
Ant-killing.

Phew. Who has time to blog when there's so many more exciting things to do?

I Work Out

I have been trying to get back into working out a little more frequently for the past few month or so. I kept putting it off and putting it off because I was too busy or we had just moved or we had a house guest that came to stay with us for 2 weeks unexpectedly. Before I knew it though, January was over and I knew my excuses were, too. I signed up for a free 5k mid March so I knew I had to do something or that race would be torture. With February looming in the not-so-far distance, I made a commitment to myself to get some form of physical activity for 30 minutes a day with ideally an hour of activity for at least 6 days a week.

With that, I started running again. I started slowly. I find that I (and most people, by the way), burn out if I try to take on too much at once. Every month our schedule changes and every month I have to adjust what I'm doing to work better around what Spencer's crazy residency is making him do. It's exhausting. I began doing the couch to 5k program again, but only intermittently. Soon, it was time for the 5k and even though I wasn't totally ready, I decided to give it a go anyway.

The 5k went pretty well for where I was in my training. Up to about a week before the race, I was only going at most 2.5 miles and that was about half walking and half running. I did a trial 5k a few days before the race and finished in about 40 minutes. On race day, I only walked at the water station and for about 1 minute going up a steep hill. I finished in about 38 minutes. My shoe chip was 37:53 and the clock showed 38:23--pretty good for where I was. I came in 650th out of 1956 finishers (there were walkers in there) and the results just made me want to try harder. A friend of mine had posted about the Disneyland 1/2 marathon and so with that as a goal, I started training yesterday for my first half marathon.

I am following Hal Higdon's novice 2 program. He has a plan for every day of the week. I started yesterday with the 3 mile run. Today, it's another 3 mile run. It is my intent to follow his plan as scheduled with a brief adjustment for a vacation at the end of April/beginning of May. Part of his plan involved signing up for a 5k at the 6 week mark which for me would be April 21st. I plan on running the 5k out in palm springs. It's my goal to get my overall time down around 30 minutes, and I think with consistent training I can do that. I don't ever stop because I'm out of breath. I usually only stop because my legs or feet or ankles are so tired and sore that they feel like lead. My muscles just aren't used to this but I guess that's the point. You have to train at whatever you are doing to get to where you feel comfortable and it becomes easy, then you push past that point and keep going. It's the only way you can ever have any growth.

Why I don't talk politics.

Politics. Ick. Where do I begin?

It seems like each year the election campaign starts earlier and earlier. I think people start campaigning for the next election the day the last election is over--perhaps even before then! The losers want to make sure that that years winners don't win again and do everything in their power to stop it from happening. It doesn't matter which side it is, I think they are all equally bad. Every time there is a news story about the Democrats this and the Republicans that I silently sing in my head, "Why can't we be friends, why can't we be friends..." Politicians are setting a bad example to us "ordinary" Americans. They don't cooperate, they don't do their job, they talk about each other behind each others' backs and drudge up dirt on their opponents just to make themselves look good. If I did any of that at my job, I'd get fired!

And don't get me started on the extreme groups! Those far left or far right groups that think they are right and everyone else is wrong--seems more like they have a screw loose to me. We talk a lot about tolerance and acceptance in this country yet it seems like the groups that get the most press really aren't all that tolerant toward others that have different opinions or ways of doing things. I sit somewhere squarely in the middle agreeing with some left points and some right points. I have yet to see a candidate for President in any of the elections that I could vote in that I A) actually liked and B) actually did what they said they were going to when they got into office. Is it too much to ask for a level headed candidate that can follow through to run?

So, if I don't want to talk politics with you it's not because I don't have opinions. It's because I just don't want to talk about the political mess that plagues this country.

Resolution!

When I typed the title of this post, I couldn't help but think of the line from "Pippin" where they say, 'Revolution,' and imagine the kid that said it from my high school. In my head, that line is extremely, extremely funny. But you aren't in my head--at least I hope not--so you get the explanation. Now, we return you to your regularly scheduled programing.

I do not make the typical New Year's Resolutions. It's just not my style. Change is a process, and I strongly believe that the more you try to force that process the less it works. People tend to choose large, lofty goals like "lose 50 pounds" or "run a marathon" in a moment where they are still stuffing their faces with Christmas cookies and lounging in their pajamas on the couch. For me, that type of thing just doesn't work. Instead, I prefer to evaluate how my life is going on a much more frequent basis. But, being that it's New Year's and everyone else is sharing their resolutions for the upcoming year, I thought I would share a few of my current projects and a little of how my last year went.

Highlights from last year included reading the Book of Mormon, reading several issues of the Ensign, and reading several books (10 total that I remember). I exercised more or less consistently with the two exceptions of when I had surgery and when I moved cross country. I worked on knitting projects and even finished a few--around 7 if memory serves. I tried to consistently read something spiritual each day and while I didn't do it perfectly, I did much better than I had in the past. I attempted to be more forgiving and give up old grudges. I think that for the most part I did. I worked hard at keeping my house in order and at doing my job well. I think I did an adequate job at both.

I did fall short on a few "resolutions" from last year. I didn't finish two knitting projects per month like I planned, but I did finish up 7 projects and have several more starting. If I just seamed a few things, felted one, and got the dang pattern figured out on another I'd have 4 more projects done just like that. I did not remember to pray morning and night for most of the year. I am just not that good at it, but I am also not that good at calling or texting other people so I'm taking that in stride. My house was never perfectly clean, but I started to learn how to take it in stride and just enjoy life instead of stressing about the mess all the time. I probably ate too much and exercised to little, but I feel like I did a good job overall so not accomplishing everything perfectly doesn't really bother me. I'm human after all, and humans aren't going to do everything perfectly the first time, the second time, or even the hundredth time. Life, like any other skill, is a learning process that we have to take one day at a time.

My projects for this upcoming year are an echo of past projects. I plan to:

1. Finish at least 14 knitting projects (doubled from last year!)
2. Read 20 books (doubled from last year)
3. Stop swearing (a nasty habit I picked up from working with surgeons, and I already failed at this one once. I believe there is some story about a prophet talking about giving up swearing and swearing in the same sentence--can't remember who and can't seem to find it on the web, but that's kind of how that slip up went. )
4. Walk the dog, play with him, or train him for at least 20 minutes a day
5. Clean up the house a little each day (once we are totally unpacked)
6. Try to be nicer to Spencer
7. Forgive old grudges
8. Only weigh myself once a month

Here's hoping we all made a few resolutions this year that we can keep and actually work on!

A Year of Firsts

The year is almost over. December snuck up on me and I'm left wondering how so much time passed without me noticing. It seems like just yesterday Spencer was starting medical school and we were hunkering down in Wisconsin for the second snowiest winter there in recorded history. Now, we've yet to see a flake (which is good) and we're living in hot and sunny California. The weather is messing with my sense of the seasons since I'm not used to it. Everything is turning green and rainy--it's the complete opposite of what I'm used to. Instead of getting blisteringly cold in the winter and hot and green in the summer, we get blisteringly hot in the summer and warm and green in the winter. Weird.

This past year has held a lot of firsts for us. First mean change and change is hard. There's a saying that goes something like "nobody like change except wet babies." I think that's pretty accurate, but it's hard to grow without change. The last year or so has resulted in a lot of growth because of all the changes we made. Though it's been hard a times, I think we are in a better place now than we ever were before.Some of the major firsts/changes we experienced over the past year are the first time neither one of us has been in school, the first time we bought a house, the first time I've been in a non-musical calling at church, and the first time Spencer will have to work on Christmas day.We adopted our first dog. It's our first time living within driving distance of the beach, the mountains, and the desert, and it's the first time I've lived in a community with a pool. The list could go on and on, but you get the point. We experienced a lot in 2011 and you probably did, too.

May we always remember the firsts brought on by 2011, and here's hoping for many more firsts in 2012!