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February 2012 Goals

Jan 31st, 2012
by gazelle.
1 comment

Can you believe that today is the last day of January? 2012 is already 1/12 over! This month was not the way I typically like to start the year, and I think you’ll see that the number of stressors in my life negatively impacted my goal achieving for the month. I am okay with that, because if I weren’t okay with that, then I would be more stressed out, and that helps no one.

So – what was I going to do this month?

January 2012 Goals

  1. Find a daycare for Alvie Bean starting in July! – FAIL! But I really do need to get on this ASAP. July is only 5 months away, and I don’t think the cats are going to be adequate caregivers. We’re on a waiting list, but the earliest that would start would be September.
  2. Purchase and install shelves/storage for Alvie Bean’s room. – FAIL! Dammit. But – we got a carseat! And baby laundry detergent. As soon as I have a place to keep the clothes, I will be washing and folding and storing.
  3. Clean out the office and make it more office-y, and less “place where junk goes to die” – FAIL! This is going to have to wait until I’m done w/ school, but since that’s nearly here…
  4. Minimize work/school stress through the gratuitous use of meditation (oops – typed medication the first time; not the same thing), yoga, and other exercise. – FAIL!

January 2012 Training Goals

  1. Fifteen hours of exercise-related activity. – FAIL! I got about 11.5 hours, which all things considered is okay, I guess. Between the pelvic pain and the additional stress in my life, I’m just pleased that I didn’t quit EVERYTHING 3 weeks ago!
  2. A minimum of five yoga classes – SUCCESS!  Finally – something I actually did! I logged 5 yoga classes & 1 home practice. Yay!
  3. Average one swim/week – FAIL! I only swam twice in January. BUT – my last swim was so awesome, and I’m swimming again tomorrow. So, yay?
  4. Average one bike/week – FAIL! I am finding it very difficult to bike at all anymore, so didn’t log any bike time this month. My knees hit my belly. I need to go back to the fitness center and use the recumbent bike again – that seems a little better.
  5. One walk with the architect every weekend – FAIL! See aforementioned pelvic injury.

 

Well – that doesn’t look good, does it?

BUT – I did have some successes that I need to mention.

  1. I got through my big, stressful work project, sanity intact
  2. I survived the month, sanity intact
  3. Ummm…my sanity is still intact?

Honestly – January was not good to me. Between the giant, enormously stressful work project, finishing up grad school, my dad’s cancer diagnosis, the tree falling on the architect’s truck, and oh, yeah – last Saturday night our furnace stopped working (so happy we don’t live in a SUPER cold place), this was a rough month. Add to that being fairly pregnant, and you have a recipe for crazy, I think.

It’s hard for me to gauge how well I handled all this, as I’m not sure how well I should be handling it all. Sometimes I think I’m okay, and sometimes I think that I could really be doing much better. I have decided that since I still feel fairly sane, that maybe I’m either (a) handling it okay, or (b) repressing and on my way to a huge breakdown at some unknown point in the future. Could go either way, I suppose.

 

ANYWAY – onward and upward…if my February goals look familiar, that’s because they are.

February 2012 Goals

  1. Finish grad school! YAY!
  2. Find a daycare for Alvie Bean starting in July!
  3. Purchase and install shelves/storage for Alvie Bean’s room.
  4. Clean out the office and make it more office-y, and less “place where junk goes to die”
  5. Finalize baby prep lists

February 2012 Training Goals

  1. Fifteen hours of exercise-related activity (total tallied below: 15.5 hours)
  2. Six yoga classes, minimum (estimated time: 7.5 hours)
  3. Five swims, minimum (estimated time: 3.75 hours)
  4. Two 15-minute upper body weights sessions/week (estimated time: 2.25 hours)
  5. Four visits to the fitness center for 30 minutes of cardio (estimated time: 2 hours)

I know that the key for me is exercise, and I don’t think this is overly ambitious. However, I do reserve the right to listen to my body and step back if necessary. It’s going to be a busy month. I am 31 weeks pregnant & will end February at 35.5 weeks pregnant. I have no idea what I’ll be able to do by then. I’m hoping that I can continue to move – at least a little – because I know that will make everything go easier.

So (don’t feel compelled to look at this; it’s my own personal crazy) my training plan for February 2012: Feb 2012 Plan

Happy end of the month!

The Twelve Days of Gazelle-mas: Day 12 (Back to reality)

Jan 3rd, 2012
by gazelle.
4 comments

Oh, people. I am at work! The 12th day of gazellemas sucks.

There were only 98 new emails, though! That was good.

I had a fantastic New Year’s weekend. I was at the coast with the architect & 8 other good friends. There was so much good food! And lots of wine & booze & beer….and San Pellegrino Aranciata, and Italian Soda (or “pregnant juice” as at least one person called it).

We had a great house right on the beach next to Haystack Rock. The weather was beautiful on New Year’s Day, and then we got a taste of the stormy weather yesterday as we were leaving.  The Cannon Beach vacation guide said that the whales would be migrating by from 12/26 – 1/1, but I didn’t see any. SAD!

I have tons of pics, but haven’t yet downloaded them from the camera, so you’re stuck with this fabulous pic from the Ambitious One on our New Year’s Day walk (it was supposed to be a run, but it turns out I can no longer do that without wanting to cry. Of course, not running also makes me want to cry, which sucks.) ANYWAYS – I walked a couple of miles (and ran for about 2 minutes) on New Year’s Day to keep up my tradition of doing a run every year on New Year’s Day (or 1/2) since 2007. Any my friends, being the awesomesauce people that they are, walked that 2 miles with me before doing a run of their own.

Good times. Good people. And a great sign for a fantastic new year. 2012 is going to be awesome, isn’t it?

 

On the the twelfth day of gazellemas, Amy gave to me:

Twelve days of blogging

Eleven hours remaining

Ten friends celebrating

Nine goals a-making

Eight hours a-sleeping

Seven miles a-cycling

Six yogis posing

FIVE PAIRS OF SHOES!

four pancakes,

three lazy cats,

two empty boxes, and

A Pooh Bear outfit, adorable and twee!

The Twelve Days of Gazelle-mas: Day 8 (2011 In review)

Dec 30th, 2011
by gazelle.
1 comment

First of all, I need to mention that I fell asleep about 11:30 pm last night and then: I slept until almost 7 AM! I woke once & briefly about 5, but did not need to get up. I’m sure those of you who aren’t/have never been pregnant (or closely associated with a pregnant person) are not sure why that’s news-worthy, so let me enlighten you.  This is probably the 3rd or 4th time since late July that I haven’t had to get up to pee at least once. I don’t know if you remember me bitching about remodeling our bathroom in August – the month of no running water in our upstairs (read: bedroom adjacent) bathroom. I know you didn’t know I was pregnant, but I was, and holy balls, that sucked the big one.

ANYWAYS – looking back! Such an interesting year. A lot of surprises – mostly  good ones.  How did I do with my 2011 goals, you (probably don’t) ask?

Well – let’s just look at that, shall we?

 

  1. Run a half marathon by the end of June. – FAIL! In fact, I didn’t run a half marathon all year. I only had one run over 13 miles, even. Boo!  However, it took a LOT longer to recover from my foot surgery, and just as I was getting into the swing of things, I got myself all knocked up.
  2. Read 52 non-paranormal romance books, including at least 12 from my Nobel Prize list. – FAIL! I only read about 50 books (not counting textbooks) total in 2011, and only 2 were from my Nobel prize list. There’s no way a majority were not brain candy.
  3. SIRASANA! With no wall support. – SUCCESS! Albeit, briefly. I did hit this pose a couple of times, for short periods of time. This is something I will never stop working on.
  4. Take fencing classes. – FAIL!  Due to school/work/pregnancy, this, too, was put off.
  5. Achieve contentment with my body (which may be a combination of weight loss and muscle gain) – EH??? I don’t know. Pregnancy has really thrown this off.
  6. Take a few risks that may lead to happiness. – SUCCESS! Job risks, Toast risks, getting knocked up risks….
  7. Secret Goal that I don’t want to talk about – FAIL! Job changes really got in the way of this (btw, it involved a career switch, and I did interview for a new job in January/February 2011, and was a finalist, but it was not to be….)
  8. Finalize my capstone paper topic and get ready to finish grad school! – SUCCESS! I have only 7 weeks left until I’m done with grad school! YAY!
  9. 5K PR – FAIL!  Again with the recovery from foot surgery + getting knocked up. 2013 is my new year of the runner!
  10. Successful cheddar cheese! – SUCCESS! I love cheese.
  11. Eliminate all non-mortgage & non-student loan debt. – EH….I am in much better shape now than at the beginning of the year. Of course, I’m sure that having a baby will make all my financial dreams come true, right?

 

Overall – even though it looks like I had an approximate 50% fail rate for goals, I am okay with the ones that are fails. I failed for good reasons (i.e. not pushing too hard during surgery recovery, getting pregnant, getting a new job that changed a few of those goals), and I am pretty happy with my 2011 overall.

I have some of the best friends a girl could ask for – both here in PDX, back in South D, and in the internets, as well as the best architect in the land. I’m having a great(ish) pregnancy, I’m almost done with school, I got a promotion at work (and no longer feel one step away from failure at work), and life is pretty damn good.  There are still changes I want to make with my life and my job and all sorts of things, but overall, I’m generally pretty content.

***First the song, and then I will reward (punish?) you with a photo recap of the year!***

On the eighth day of gazellemas, Amy gave to me:

Eight hours a-sleeping

Seven miles a-cycling

Six yogis posing

FIVE PAIRS OF SHOES!

four pancakes,

three lazy cats,

two empty boxes, and

A Pooh Bear outfit, adorable and twee!

 

January 2011:

February 2011:

March 2011:

April 2011:

 

May 2011:

 

June 2011:

 

July 2011:

 

August 2011:

September 2011:

 

October 2011:

 

November 2011:

 

December 2011:

 

 

I am pretty excited to see what 2012 will bring. It certainly won’t be boring!

 

 

Better late than never?

Nov 21st, 2011
by gazelle.
4 comments

My weekend report (I know it’s been killing you all day that I haven’t told you what I did when I wasn’t regaling you with my life stories):

Thursday night: book club! And science lesson! It was pretty awesome. Even though I hadn’t read the book (for shame!), I felt extremely well educated by the end of the evening. Thanks, Mr. Pi for the free, impromptu science lesson!

Friday: I worked in the morning, started my lefse, and watched eleventy hundred episodes of Torchwood. I feel like I must have done something else productive that day, but I couldn’t tell you what. I know that I certainly didn’t leave the house.

Saturday: I went for a run/walk, discovered that all the park bathrooms are padlocked for the season, and then spent the afternoon making lefse! YUM! I also did some cleaning & cleaned out my entire dresser! YAY!

Saturday night, even though I was exhausted, apparently I wan’t exhausted enough. I woke up about 1:30 am and was awake until about 5. Needless to say, I was a cheery, cheery beacon of fun Sunday morning.

Sunday morning was spent cleaning out the fridge (I am slowly but surely making my house clean….of course, by the time I get to the last room, I’m pretty sure that the first room will be completely filthy again; of course also by then, I can make dusting a mandatory chore for my pre-teen). Sunday afternoon, I went swimming with the Ambitious One, and then headed to my favorite theater to see Breaking Dawn.

It was just as insane as I expected. No – it was more insane than I expected. I especially enjoyed the wedding night sex bits. Valuable lessons:  sex is truly terrifying, it might kill you, and when you wake up covered in bruises the shape of your husband’s hands, you should definitely reassure him that a) it’s okay; b) he didn’t mean to; and c) you liked it, really. Great message for our teen girls! Although since pregnancy and childbirth involve a lot of broken bones, blood (both for drinking and for making messes of) and emaciation, perhaps it’s a really great way to keep the kids from getting it on. (A well-placed message about birth control wouldn’t have gone amiss, either.)

ANYWAYS – I thoroughly enjoyed the shitstorm, giggled through most of it, and had a great time with some super fun girls women.  My only real complaint (because my issues with how sex & violence were handled are not real) is that Jacob only takes his shirt off once, and that was in the opening scene. What good are sexy teen wolves if they’re always clothed? I’ve read the books, and I believe there was supposed to be lot more nudity. WHERE IS YOUR ARTISTIC INTEGRITY?

This is why I enjoyed the previous movies:

 

Gratitude Journal

November 21, 2011: I am grateful for my excellent co-workers that make my days much less crappy (and more productive).

November 20, 2011: I am grateful for my beer theater. It is close to my house, has $4 first-run movies before 6 pm, serves decent pizza, and has beer and wine. Also, it has bottle water, which is what I had today.

November 19, 2011: I am grateful for random port-o-potties on my running route.

November 18, 2011: I am grateful that I have a connection to bits of my cultural heritage; I can’t imagine a world without lefse, and am so pleased that I have learned how to do it and have a skill I can pass on to Alvie Bean.

November 17, 2011: I am grateful for coffee. I know it seems like I mentioned it yesterday, but yesterday I only said I was grateful for the coffee maker (in a list of other things). But I really wanted to draw attention to coffee as deserving of its own special day. Coffee is the best beverage ever invented. I don’t understand how I got through so many years never drinking it and thinking it really wasn’t that great. Mmmmmm……coffee.

November 16, 2011: I am grateful for all the little luxuries I have that I often take for granted…my car, my phone, the coffee maker (so very grateful for my coffee maker). It’s so easy to caught up in the things I don’t have that I occasionally forget how very lucky I am. My life is so freaking awesome.

November 15, 2011: I am grateful that I have the kind of job/life/etc. that allows me to afford pretty shoes, and the level-headedness that keeps me from buying (very many) shoes that wouldn’t be practical.

November 14, 2011: I am grateful that I work in a place with lots of little food nooks. It’s always an easy walk to grab more food. Which I do more often than ever, lately.

November 13, 2011: I am grateful for streaming Netflix (and Hulu Plus!). Also, I am grateful for John Barrowman. And my new found love of Torchwood.

November 12, 2011: I am grateful for my awesome friends! I got so much good quality friend-time this weekend! Walks & cocoa & thrifting with her! Ornament painting and dinner and movies with Alisa, Jen, Lisa & Sarah! Cocoa and a chat with her! (I should maybe also mention that I’m grateful for hot cocoa.)

November 11, 2011: I am grateful for laid back evenings at home with the architect.

November 10, 2011: I am grateful to live in Portland, Oregon. It is so beautiful here. I love that we have four seasons, and I especially love autumn.

November 9, 2011: I am grateful for modern medical conveniences that help eliminate unnecessary surprises from my life. Yay for ultrasounds!

November 8, 2011: I am grateful for my brand-new employee who started today, who I am hoping will help take some of the financial reporting burden off my plate & allow me to do a better job on the more big-picture things.

November 7, 2011: I am grateful for weekends and the opportunity to relax and recharge.

November 6, 2011: I am grateful for running – and grateful that I am still able to run. I am also grateful for my proximity to the most awesome running park in the history of the world: Forest Park.

November 5, 2011:I am grateful that I was able to discover enough courage to join Toastmasters. I know this sounds super cheesy, but it’s really made a HUGE difference in my life.

November 4, 2011: I am grateful for the internet, which gives me the ability to work from home, in my pajamas, this morning.

November 3, 2011: I am grateful that I have a good job that is challenging & interesting, if not necessarily catering to my life interests.

November 2, 2011: I am grateful for the architect, who is simply wonderful. He picks up the household slack when I’m busy with schoolwork, brings me chicken fingers on his way home from work, and is simply the most wonderful husband I could ask for…

November 1, 2011:  I am grateful for my (so far, knock on wood) easy and wonderful pregnancy.

All your foods are belong to me

Nov 14th, 2011
by gazelle.
7 comments

I had a great weekend – but it was so busy! (And also, there was lots of food. Delicious, delicious food.)

Friday, I spent the morning with my friend Emily. We were supposed to make lefse, but didn’t quite get around to it. Instead, we went on a long walk through the wilds of Vancouver and then had cocoa and scones (as well as a bit of antique storing, where I picked up a book on how to be a proper young lady – I’ll let you know how well I’m doing).

Also, in the antique store, I saw this which made me giggle:

IMAG0656I’ve always had my suspicions that architecture belonged in the science fiction section. 

After our epic walk, and the cocoa, and the chatting, I drove  home (stopping to get some chicken strips! OBSESSION ALERT!), fully intending to just hang out a bit and then leave the house again for yoga. Yeah – not so much. Instead, I passed out on the sofa until the architect got home about 6. Oops!

Saturday, I got up and got on the bike trainer for 30 minutes + did some upper body weights, and then the architect & I bottled beer – a winter brew that I’m excited to taste in 2-3 weeks. After that, I took a nap (what? bottling is hard!).

Best napping partners EVER!

That evening, the architect & I headed out for separate but equal nights of fun. I dropped him off for a poker game with the guys while I headed out with the girls to Ready, Paint, Fire to do some christmas ornament painting. After finishing our creative masterpieces, we went to dinner (my personal favorite part of the evening) and then back to the Ambitious One’s for a movie before breaking up the poker night. It was midnight before I was in bed. That is the latest I’ve been up in AGES!  CRAZY!

Sunday was a bit of a lazier day. I slept late (Like 8 AM!) and then lounged on the sofa for most of the day. I did manage to thoroughly clean the living room – I moved furniture! And washed floors! And dusted behind the TV! And then I had to lay down again….so much effort. But at least one room is clean. Next weekend – the kitchen/dining room! And there will be a great throwing away of stuff I don’t need!

Sunday evening, I headed out to Anna Bannana’s for hot cocoa with a neighbor. And lo! It was beautiful:

IMAG0660

Yum.

All in all, a great weekend! A nice balance of relaxation and accomplishment and socializing.

 

Happy Monday, y’all!

Gratitude Journal

November 14, 2011: I am grateful that I work in a place with lots of little food nooks. It’s always an easy walk to grab more food. Which I do more often than ever, lately.

November 13, 2011: I am grateful for streaming Netflix (and Hulu Plus!). Also, I am grateful for John Barrowman. And my new found love of Torchwood. I watched the entire first season this weekend. And up next? In season 2? One of my boyfriends! Yay for James Marsters!

November 12, 2011: I am grateful for my awesome friends! I got so much good quality friend-time this weekend! Walks & cocoa & thrifting with her! Ornament painting and dinner and movies with Alisa, Jen, Lisa & Sarah! Cocoa and a chat with her! (I should maybe also mention that I’m grateful for hot cocoa.)

November 11, 2011: I am grateful for laid back evenings at home with the architect.

November 10, 2011: I am grateful to live in Portland, Oregon. It is so beautiful here. I love that we have four seasons, and I especially love autumn.

November 9, 2011: I am grateful for modern medical conveniences that help eliminate unnecessary surprises from my life. Yay for ultrasounds!

November 8, 2011: I am grateful for my brand-new employee who started today, who I am hoping will help take some of the financial reporting burden off my plate & allow me to do a better job on the more big-picture things.

November 7, 2011: I am grateful for weekends and the opportunity to relax and recharge.

November 6, 2011: I am grateful for running – and grateful that I am still able to run. I am also grateful for my proximity to the most awesome running park in the history of the world: Forest Park.

November 5, 2011: I am grateful that I was able to discover enough courage to join Toastmasters. I know this sounds super cheesy, but it’s really made a HUGE difference in my life.

November 4, 2011: I am grateful for the internet, which gives me the ability to work from home, in my pajamas, this morning.

November 3, 2011: I am grateful that I have a good job that is challenging & interesting, if not necessarily catering to my life interests.

November 2, 2011: I am grateful for the architect, who is simply wonderful. He picks up the household slack when I’m busy with schoolwork, brings me chicken fingers on his way home from work, and is simply the most wonderful husband I could ask for…

November 1, 2011:  I am grateful for my (so far, knock on wood) easy and wonderful pregnancy

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