Currently

ENJOYING being on Mardi Gras break and getting an unexpected extra day!

WEARING grey Louisiana Love tank top, black leggings, and an old camo jacket that belonged to my husband

LISTENING to a lot of Imagine Dragons radio

CELEBRATING that the school year is nearly over with and that I finished my second pair of socks!

LOOKING forward to moving to Korea 🙂

EATING things that are bad for me for now, though to be honest after 2 weeks of clean eating, definitely has me paying for it in nausea and sluggishness

SPENDING not nearly as much as I used to.

DRINKING Diet Coke (but not nearly as many as before!)

DREAMING of not being so lonely

STRUGGLING for balance and clarity

INSPIRED to start a running and cycling regimen (especially with my new Garmin Vivoactive HR coming in the mail soon!)

WATCHING Criminal Minds

READING The Handmaid’s Tale

What are you currently up to?

April Showers…

So 50% of my goals accomplished…not that great.

sad

~~Read Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children~~
Complete 2 weeks of Couch-to-10k
Create a budget that accounts for the wedding in June, Hangout Fest in May, a “new” vehicle, and wisdom teeth removal
~~Record all meals in My Fitness Pal (friend me if you want!)~~

I accomplished 50% of my goals for April! Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children ended up being a lot better than I thought it would be – it was strangely written, but I couldn’t put it down. I’m about a third of the way through the second in the series, The Hollow City. I’ve also been really good about logging my meals on My Fitness Pal. The way it syncs up to the Jawbone really helps me stay on track. Plus I like to see how I sleep and how many steps I take. There are trends that are starting to emerge (for instance, I need to sleep more). I’ve lost about 3 pounds since using it (two cheat weekends didn’t help with that).

What didn’t I get done? I didn’t do any Couch-to-10k. I could sit here and type about a thousand excuses as to why I didn’t (tornado warnings, exhaustion, burnout, etc.), but really I forgot and also didn’t feel like it when I remembered. Horrible, right? I also need to get around to making a budget…which I’m actually working on right now.

Stay tuned to see what May has in store 😛

Currently

ENJOYING being at home for the weekend – I got to go to my very first concert – Foreigner – with my brother (pictured below) and parents!

WEARING dark grey cardigan, light grey capri leggings, and a black with blue flowers cami dress

LISTENING to Foreigner

CELEBRATING that the school year is nearly over with, and that I may be able to buy my friend’s jeep I’ve been borrowing

LOOKING forward to May 20th…and finding out where Colt will be stationed after AIT

EATING things that were terrible for me all weekend – broken diet for the weekend while I was at home…meat pies, boudin balls, Wendy’s, and a delicious brisket my parents cooked 🙂 but still logging it and tracking my steps!

SPENDING not as much as I thought, but still more than I should be

DRINKING Diet Coke

DREAMING of a clean house

STRUGGLING for balance and clarity

INSPIRED to try pushups (even though they’re girl push-ups) and to work on my goals

WATCHING Criminal Minds with my mom

READING The Hollow City

What are you currently up to?

March on Out

I’m glad it’s not 2 weeks into April or anything…

Better late than never, right?!

I didn’t end up really going to the parties and such that I mentioned, mostly because of borrowing a vehicle. I did go home for my mom’s birthday though! I cross stitched her a quote from the poem Footprints (my first completed project!). I also got to go home for part of spring break (which I talked about here).

March Goals:

Complete weeks 2-5 of Couch-to-10k
Record all meals in My Fitness Pal (friend me if you want!)
Read Bossypants and I am Malala
Practice the yoga routine posted by my local yoga studio for its March Madness at least 20x and attend one professional class
Purchase a “new” vehicle
~~Apply to three jobs (part-time or summer)~~
Enroll in classes at community college

So I did apply to some jobs, though what I’ve heard back wasn’t that great. I applied to be a summer camp director (haven’t heard anything back yet) with an art camp and a program specialist with children (the latter I was rejected from).

Good-bye March!

Currently

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ENJOYING my new Jawbone UP24

WEARING blue gingham cami-dress with blue tights (again), light brown calf-high boots, grey cardigan, and Peaches the cat (from Neko Atsume) earrings from Etsy

LISTENING to Your Hand in My Hand (Thomas Rhett)

CELEBRATING that we’re halfway through hump day

LOOKING forward to recovering from my trip to South Carolina

EATING oatmeal and trying to figure out what to cook for dinner

SPENDING not as much as I thought, but still more than I should be

DRINKING Diet Coke and water (trying to be healthier here…especially since CostCo stopped carrying the green tea I loved 😦 )

DREAMING of catching up on work

STRUGGLING for balance and clarity

INSPIRED by receiving my Jawbone UP24 and my friend Bella

WATCHING the nothing really lately. Season 5 of Bob’s Burgers I suppose

READING Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

What are you currently up to?

Currently

ENJOYING that it’s the week before spring break

WEARING blue gingham cami-dress with blue tights, blue shoes, navy cardigan, and silver jewelry (I’m feeling blue today)

LISTENING to 70’s music a la Guardians of the Galaxy

CELEBRATING that it’s nearly spring break!

LOOKING forward to going home for spring break and planting the herbs I got this past weekend!

EATING soooo much oatmeal! And bananas. Gonna do WW again.

SPENDING not as much as I thought, but still more than I should be

DRINKING Vanilla Coke Zero and also Chai Latte Coffee (because caffeine)

DREAMING of sleeping in.

STRUGGLING for direction.

INSPIRED by my kids talking about their savings accounts to work better on my own.

WATCHING the episodes of The Walking Dead I’d missed!

READING Shaping School Culture and Bossypants

What are you currently up to?

Currently

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ENJOYING that we’re on track with my lesson plans and the students seem to be kind of paying attention.

WEARING black cami-dress with little seashells and a pale teal cardigan with black ballet flats

LISTENING to Paramore (hello memory lane)

CELEBRATING that it’s a new month!

LOOKING forward to going home for my mom’s birthday and spring break.

EATING Korean BBQ Lays (they taste like meat…it’s weird, but really good)

SPENDING too much. Thinking of transferring money into my mom’s account so that I won’t be able to spend it.

DRINKING Diet Coke (CostCo was out of tea 😦 )

DREAMING of figuring things out, whatever that means.

STRUGGLING for balance in my life.

INSPIRED to actually keep an inspiration journal. I keep reading about how negativity and complaining can negatively impact one’s life.

WATCHING The Returned…though I spoiled it for myself by reading the Wiki page. I want to watch more Longmire, but Z and I had been watching it together, so it feels like a jerk move. Also Broad City, which has been amazing so far!

READING Shaping School Culture , Teach Like a Champion, and Bossypants

What are you currently up to?

Currently

ENJOYING my first foray into cross-stitching. It’s tedious, but that’s okay.

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WEARING black jeggings, blue v-neck, blue flats, and a black cardigan.

LISTENING to the movie Maze Runner play while my kids watch it. Today most of them are on a field trip for college visits, so I just have a collection of ragamuffins who didn’t go. It’s hard to progress with a lesson if only 3 people show up out of 25.

CELEBRATING that it’s a new month!

LOOKING forward to spring break and beginning to consistently practice yoga.

EATING homemade maple oat banana bread from the Thug Kitchen cookbook.

SPENDING too much, but making an effort to spend less this month so that I can purchase a new car by the end of the month (and get my wisdom teeth out by the end of April)

DRINKING diet green tea with citrus from CostCo (my new addiction)

DREAMING of being able to take courses at the community course to raise my GPA so I can apply to a master’s program.

STRUGGLING to decide if joining the Navy would be a wise or appropriate decision for myself.

INSPIRED to do yoga and be more mindful.

(re)WATCHING Maze Runner with my class of seniors. I’ve also been rewatching The Office and Criminal Minds.

READING Shaping School Culture (and taking notes), my Praxis II-Mathematics book, and Bossypants. I also want to start I am Malala.

I first saw this lovely layout over at Ginna’s site My Pretty Pennies.

Leap a Little

So today is February 29th…which we really only get to say once every four years, because today is a leap year!!! b9881074c5b557de87a0390e3242b91d

So for February, I wanted to:

Lose 5 lbs
Read I Am Malala
Make at least one bear for the Mother Bear project
Complete 3 weeks of Couch-to-10k
Create a new working budget with changed roommate situation
~~Write Colt a letter at bootcamp~~

And did I do any of them? Well, I wrote Colt two long letters at boot camp, I completed 1.5 weeks of Couch-to-10k, and I’ve evaluated my finances a bit. The week before last, I had about the worst week since 2016 began. I had to borrow my friend’s jeep (thankful for her), I got cursed out a few times at school, I had tons of meetings (resulting in my days lasting for over 12 hours), and I kept having to meet Colt’s dad at random places to do a meet-ups to get Colt’s letters for me since he forgot my address. I keep getting a bad case of the FOMO’s and get pretty regularly disobeyed and disrespected at school.

I was starting to feel really terribly about my life in general, and just all teary all the time and stuff, but then bf surprised me with a really pretty container for the tea he gave me for Valentine’s Day (all cream with gold and silver flecks) and Thin Mints (cookies!!!). We watched a movie and ate dinner and dessert and slept in Sunday and then spent the afternoon wandering around World Market and eating Backyard Burger.

I’m super stressed out, but it’ll be okay. I guess March is actually for the beginning of 2016. January and February were practice months 😉

February Updates

No witty quips to start this with! Oops. I’ve been doing well with keeping up with my notebook. I didn’t stick to WW this past weekend, but last week I did really well and this week is off to a good start. I honestly thought it might be a waste of $20, but it really is a lot easier to keep track of than calories.

I also completed week one of Couch to 10K last week for a total of 4.5 miles! I got faster on the last run/walk. I do not regret paying for the “Pro” version because it links online and tracks distance and lets you play music while you’re in the middle of a session. They’re only 30 minutes long (so far). I’ve been running in the morning, which, although it’s a pain to wake up early, has been much better than trying to do it at night. The chart below shows my weight and the days I ran. You can see pretty clearly that, although I haven’t lost anything yet, you can see from my higher weights on there’s been a decrease. I know exercise doesn’t burn a ton of calories, but it can help raise my metabolism and I hope to be able to participate in a 5K on March 19 at the Louisiana School for the Deaf. I’m really enjoying it 🙂

Below is a graphical representation of my weight progress for February. As you can see, there’s not too much of an actual difference. My highest weight was on February 10 (201.4) and my lowest weight was on February 21 (195.4). I started at 199.2 and ended at 201.2, which isn’t a statistically significant difference. I’ll do better next month!