Update: How are my resolutions doing?

I decided it would be a good idea to check in on how progress is going with my 2011 New Year’s Resolutions. I thought a point by point break down would help put me on the right track if I’ve strayed (since according to statistics I guess most people give up on resolutions three weeks into January!)

  • Take More Professional Photos

So I said that I wanted to take more professional photography this year, bring my DSLR camera with me out more and just generally take more photos not just with my small point and shoot. How is that going?

I haven’t touched my DSLR once yet this year. But hopefully that will change now. I realize that it’s collecting dust so I intend on making a conscious effort to take it out this coming week! Then at least there will be some progress :)

  • Make Exercise Part of My Monthly Routine

I was smart with the wording of this resolution because I said I would make it a monthly routine instead of a weekly routine so that if I failed one week it wouldn’t mean I’ve failed the entire resolution! Thus this resolution is having…

I went strong for about two weeks incorporating some jogging and ab exercises into my routine at least five days a week. That quickly began falling apart however as days got busier and I got lazier. I was able to do a Zumba class to try and pick up the fitness again and I also bought this fitness Groupon that has since enabled me to book four fitness bootcamp sessions! Two of those are coming up this week so I feel that will help keep the momentum of this “exercise” thing going. Mike’s parents are also giving us their exercise bike so that should also help! As a sidenote: the other day I was able to get a dress zipped up without breathing in like I normally had to do before! Progress!!

  • Eat Healthier

I wanted to try and eat healthier in 2011 and January was… okay for that. I mean I didn’t eat a single chip and I don’t really eat candy or chocolate to begin with so that was all good. I also made sure veggies were part of my daily snack at work so that was good! But dinner-time meals definitely weren’t super healthy or anything. I think I only had one salad the entire month and I packed it for lunch and it didn’t have any meat in it plus something weird happened that made the lettuce all damp and weird when I opened the tupperware container to eat it so…

I would say it’s going okay!

  • Go to more Tweetups

I only went to one tweetup in 2010 and one in 2009 so this year I wanted to go to a lot more and I think so far it’s looking promising! I already went to one twitter this year and that was “Twitter Talks” (which I will have a recap blog post about so read that too!) That was a pretty big one and involved a formal presentation tweetup setting as well as a more informal pub hang out setting. I think that went very well and I met a bunch of tweeple I hadn’t met before, gained a bunch of new followers and also had a splendid time because Mike was there too! Next week we are set to go to the next big #yeg tweetup and that will be the “Meet the Media” tweetup that also involves free food! ;) After that we may consider going to Twestival and in coming months I want to attend at least one “yeggirlgeek” tweetup dinners too! So basically this resolution =

  • Volunteer/Help out in the Community More

I want to volunteer and help out in my community more this year and so far there’s been…

Unfortunately since most of the hours of my day are devoted to my working for free as an intern and then my time off I find myself catching up on sleeping, blogs and television, I haven’t even looked into any volunteer opportunities that I could take part in. I will make an effort to look into that this month. LOOK INTO IT, that’s all I’m promising for February. (There’s still plenty of time to do this before 2011 wraps up don’t worry I’ll get to it!)

  • Spend More Time With Family

As per what the above mentioned, most of my 2011 so far has been spent working or sleeping and as such I haven’t exactly upped the anty on spending time with my family. My brother had had plans to go snowboarding which would have allowed me to use the “okay progress” image to this resolution but unfortunately that day ended up being one of the ridiculously stupid cold days in January that Edmonton was hit with so snowboarding was crossed out of the equation and we haven’t rescheduled since. Whoops.

  • Get a Good Job

Obviously as I am still doing my practicum this resolution can’t be completed yet but I think it’s fair to say progress is being made and we will see!

  • Save Money for a Cool Vacation

I don’t think I’ve managed to save any money for a vacation so far this year but I did snag an awesome Good News Coupon for a weekend getaway to Banff! Haven’t decided when that will be used yet but it will be a nice short vacation for sure. So I guess looking at it optimistically since I’ve already technically got a vacation in the works, albiet not the coolest (sorry Banff but you could never trump like… Hawaii), that would count as progress! Plus it’s hard to save money when what income I am making (two days a week) goes straight to paying for basic necessities. lol.

  • Stop Texting and Tweeting While Driving

Ummmm. Sadly I have not made any progress in this. And it’s probably the one that I absolutely need to start making progress in fast unless I’d like to die. :\ I just can’t resist checking my phone while driving and it’s bad, I know it’s bad! Sigh.

Well the bylaw is coming in soon and I intend on buying a bluetooth headset thingymabobber in the very near future so hopefully this bad habit gets cut fast. Sorry self for putting you (and others on the road) in danger, still.

  • Cook and Clean More

And the last resolution on my 2011 list I would say is going okay as well. Cooking really depends on how my mood (and how the fridge) is the night that I get home. I should be planning meals more I know that equals more success but I haven’t been doing that as well as I’d like. I’ve been planning my lunches a bit better than I normally would but still that’s not great because I’m rarely making anything for Mike too. LOL he gets cut out in the lunch equation (but that’s because his parents said they’d help him pay for his meals and that include lunch!) Mike probably did more dinner cooking in January than I did to be honest. On the other half of that resolution, I’ve had a few cleaning sessions since the year started which has felt good! Probably the clean up sessions are still too far apart from each other to really be cleanly but I think our place is in good order. Our room is certainly a lot cleaner than it was in December!

So in conclusion, after a month of 2011 it looks like resolutions-wise I’ve got:

  • NO PROGRESS on three resolutions
  • OKAY PROGRESS on five resolutions
  • GREAT PROGRESS on one resolution and
  • FAIL FAIL FAIL on one resolution.

I would say that for only a month and a couple days, that’s not bad. I am optimistic that the progress will only continue to climb! :) And now that I’ve gotten my thoughts sorted out and progress marked in this blog post I will know which resolutions I need to tackle a bit harder.

How are your resolutions going?

Linda

1 Comment

  • lisa says:

    Phones are evil while driving. The only time I pull out mine is at a red light and only if I get a notice alert. Shame my friend. Break the habit before the cops start gleefully passing out those tickets.

    You are making progress with your resolutios so kudos. I like meal planning I find it cuts down on food cost and then looking at you schedule you can see what you all have time for. Same thing with cleaning. I try to make it a day and leave it on that day always. Then you are not trying to squish it in.

    Thanks for the update friend. xoxo

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