January 2017 - New Goals!

Every year I set a handful or two of goals for myself. A list of things I want to have accomplished in a calendar year. Last year, some of them were easy and fun (traveling!) and some of them were a little challenging (eating something from my garden - I have a heck of a black thumb) and some of them were left unaccomplished by the end of the year (save more money...)

For 2017, I am making my goals more specific. For 2017, I am holding myself accountable!

Pay off credit cards.
Got to the gym.
Look into more schooling.
Eat less meat.
Do little things around the house.
Read 20 books.
1. Pay off credit cards. Yea, that's right. Plural. I became a sucker for getting credit cards that offer points or cash back or "get approved now and automatically get a $___ credit"). I very much enjoy having a credit card for emergency purposes (we'll talk about this in a second) and I very much like having a credit card for some automatic payments (cell phone, gym membership) - I have been victim to the decimal being put in the wrong place by a computer glitch and 10x the amount due is removed from my account. Call me crazy, I'm sure there are much smarter people than me out there who think credit cards for any reason are a horrible, horrible idea. I just need to pay them off immediately or only use them to buy gas for my car. I had some shit happen in 2016 (some necessary, some unfortunate, and some irresponsible) and now I am paying for it. Literally. (Having a "convenient" way to pay for things when you don't quite have the money is nice. But now I am inconveniently working my butt off to pay them off. Lesson learned the hard way.)

2. Go to the gym. I know. I can hear it, "but Rachel, you had a gym membership for all of 2016 and look what happened!" That's why it is a new goal for 2017! I want to go to the gym (or do some sort of physical activity - walking the dogs on the trail, riding my bike, etc) twice a week. I know that isn't super lofty of a goal. But maybe if I dig it and I'm having a great time and loving physical activity, I can update my goal and increase my days. All I know is I don't like buying new pants. So if it means sweating it out and eating less potatoes, I guess that's what I'll have to do. (I'm going to go ahead and say that stuffing my body into a pair of pants that are *a little* too small is definitely learning it the hard way.)

3. Realistically research a Masters Program or a Graduate Certificate. The thing about school is - I really don't hate it. I currently work in a hospital that provides me with a tuition discount. Even if I look into these programs and decide I don't have time or don't have the money or whatever, I need to actually look into programs and admission requirements and make a decision rather than just hide from it. When I first started college in 2003, my parents went on and on about how if you didn't have a Bachelors Degree, you were pretty much fucked in getting a decent job. Then I graduated and had the letters behind my name and it still didn't matter because I didn't have the *right* degree in the *right* subject. So I had to get a degree in something that I could use to find a job. My Associates in Nursing found me a job paying twice as much way quicker than my BA ever did. (Another lesson learned the hard way.) To move up in the nursing world, I have been wrapping up my Bachelors in Nursing (Graduation Date: May 14, 2017). And now that I am almost done with that pesky thing, my colleagues tell me how I should really get a Masters. And since some of my colleagues are really smart and have lived full careers in nursing, I should probably STFU and listen to them. Before I have to learn yet another lesson the hard way.

4. Eat a pescetarian diet. ..once a week. Whoa whoa whoa. Slow down. I'm not going all veg. I could do it again, so I can't say that I *can't*, but I don't *want* to stop eating meat. BUT I think it would be good to challenge myself one day a week to not eat meat (but I can still eat fish. What can I say, I'm a bit of a cheater.) It will be good for things like my health and cholesterol levels and stuff that I have to think about now that I am in my 30s. The absolute last thing I want to learn the hard way is getting an avoidable health problem because I love cheeseburgers and steak too much.

5. Do the little things around my house. I have a list of things I need to do around my house that I just never fucking do. I will sit on my phone looking at the same 5 apps over and over and roll around the couch thinking about how bored I am. But I sure as hell won't make a new kennel cover for the dog kennel. Or order pictures for the empty frames in my "office" (heeeeey, maybe if I start doing a Masters or whatever I can ditch the quotation marks around "office"). Or replace the burnt out light bulb in the oven. Or clean all of the air vent registers or replace the boards on the deck or repaint the front door or or or. I just need to shut up and do it.

6. Read 20 books! in 2016, I initially set a goal of 13 books (I think) and revised it to be 16 because I was chugging along so well. I am going to read 20 this year. Logan got me a couple books for Christmas and I have quite a few book lists I have pinned to give some suggestions. I really like reading. I like lounging around on the couch or outside when it's nice outside and getting lost in a good book. I need to make more of going to the library again and less of buying books. My little bookshelves are bursting at the seams - maybe one of my "little things around the house" will be cleaning out the bookshelves. Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

So those are the six goals of 2017! I may add some as I think about them more, but I am looking forward to what I've jotted down so far!

2016 overall

Well. 2016 is in the books! I personally had an okay year.

I accomplished most of the things I wanted to accomplish. However, I didn't accomplish the really big things, like saving more money, losing some weight, etc.

I am going to hammer into those a little bit more (and STICK WITH THEM) for 2017.

I'm not completely sure on my goals for next year though. I'll be starting the year off with travels (yessssss) to someplace I've never been before (YESSSSSS). I will (hopefully) be getting a second job to melt away some of my tuition/home repair bills. I was grandfathered in to a really good Black Friday deal at my gym from 2015, so I need to make the most out of it and go more often. I have quite a few Book Lists pinned to my Pinterest boards, so I hope to expand my horizons a bit.

I grew up a lot and had a lot of fun in 2016. Now to set some goals for 2017!

December 2016

Lose weight.
Save more money.
Read 16 books.
Lose weight - I have a bad, bad habit of letting one slip up turn into a day full of slip ups. Rather than recognizing that I ate an unhealthy, cheesy, nacho-y lunch and then move on, I just decide that the whole day is trashed and I should just keep slipping rather than pick myself up, dust myself off and move on. Not a good habit. I don't think I am going to keep "Lose weight" as a goal for 2017. I definitely want to have some sort of physical health goal. I'm just not sure what it will be yet.

Save more money - The thing about being a nurse is that there are a lot of opportunities to make extra money. Making extra money gives an opportunity to save more money. I would like to pay off some bills (windows, tuition, credit card) completely in 2017. No more monthly payments!

Read 16 books - I did it! The last book I read You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero and as goofy as I think Self Help books can be, I do think this one has given me the chance to change my perspective for 2017 a bit. Yahoo! Going to head into 2017 with guns a'blazing!

November 2016

Lose weight.
Save more money.
Read 16 books.
Lose weight - Not even a little bit. If anything, I got way worse in October. I was promoted to a new position, which caused quite a bit of excitement, but then quite a bit of nervousness and stress. So I did not treat my body well in October.

Save more money - Also did not treat my bank account well in October.

Read 16 books - I also did not finish American Gods because I just having been as into it as everyone else. I think it's a good story, but then there are some strange applicable tangents that are distracting. Not to mention this new job I started and school this semester has really wiped me out this month. Pretty sure all I have done the last two weeks is wake up and go to work, eat something unhealthy for dinner, and sleep only to wake up and do it all over again.

I plan on November being a better month. I'm getting into the swing of my new position (which came with a pay increase, so hopefully "save more money" will be a feasible goal for 2017), I'm working on getting ahead of school this week to get a bit ahead of the game instead a little behind the game. I'm hoping to finish this book this weekend and move onto something I like a bit more. Harumphf.

It's October!

Lose weight.
Save more money.
Travel a little bit.
Read 16 books.
Lose weight - Sort of back on track. Went to 9Round a couple times before vacation, rode bikes on the trail with Logan a couple times (PS, who remembers bike seats being so ungodly uncomfortable when they were kids? Holy hell. It's awful.), we walked almost 40 miles in the four days we were on vacation (and that includes the day we drove/flew until 1 p.m.) I didn't have any soda while on vacation. Or any fancy coffee drinks. I DID have a frozen butterbeer at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which is probably what the clouds of heaven are made of and did not help my plan of losing weight.

Save more money - Well. Shoot.

Travel a little bit - YES! YES! WE DID IT. Logan and I went to Orlando in September. We went to Universal Studios for 1-1/2 days and to Disney's Magic Kingdom for one. We had so much fun! We rode on roller coasters and 3-D rides. We met Beetlejuice, Tinkerbell, Woody & Jessie from Toy Story, and a Velociraptor from Jurassic Park. We drank Butterbeer in the Hogsmeade portion of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal. We rode the Hogwarts Express to and from both sides of the park. We shot laser guns at aliens on the Men In Black ride. We shopped at the Kwik E Mart. We helped the Transformers find the All Spark and then did something with Spiderman (I don't remember what the goal of that ride was.) We conquered both Space Mountain and Splash Mountain (Big Thunder Mountain was closed). We were creeped out in It's A Small World and didn't get to ride Peter Pan's Flying Adventure or the Seven Dwarves Mine Train (the waits on these rides was INSANE). After we watched the fantastic fireworks at Magic Kingdom, we went to Disney Springs and ate a delicious dinner at The Boathouse. (Lots of alliteration in this monthly update). I'll be able to cross this goal off my list.

Read 16 books - Well. Turns out I'm not as into this Neil Gaiman book as everyone else I know was. Probably because I started reading it, took a two week break, and just haven't picked it back up again. I'm still on track with reading 16 books though!

September

Lose weight.
Save more money.
Travel a little bit.
Read 15 16 books.
Lose weight - I was lazy this summer. Between clinicals and picking up hours at the Sim Center and traveling, I really didn't spend the time I should have at the gym. BUT, I have stepped it up in the last couple of weeks. I bought a bike (!!), which I have been intending to do for a couple years now. I will need to get a new seat for it because YIKES that seat hurts my butt! And I started going to the gym again. I'm setting a goal for twice/week for September (except for the week I am on vacation!) and then will step it up to 2-3 times in October. Logan and i plan on riding bikes on the trail, so I think that will make for a good "off day" balance.

Save more money - I absolutely hate that once I get back into the swing of saving money and paying off debt, I get some big ole necessary purchase thrown in the mix. In August it was getting a new windshield ($330) and this month I have to get my outlying pipes cleared out by the plumber because of the big ole maple tree roots. It's either that or deal with it when the whole thing backs up and floods. I'd rather deal with paying a plumber for maintenance.

Travel a little bit - I was all "heading to Chicago in September" - NOPE. WE ARE GOING TO ORLANDO, BABY! So this year I did Mexico, Nashville, Alabama, and Orlando! Not too shabby. I think I can cross off "Travel a little bit" as complete in October!

Read 15 16 books - I finished Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the end of August and am NOW starting American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Including HP, I've read 12 books this year, which is awesome. I originally planned to do 15 books. But I guess I put into my goodreads.com challenge that I would do 16. So I reset my goal on here too. I found a "challenge" on pinterest for next year - I will still plan on reading between 15-20 books (maybe set my goal for 18?), but this challenge focuses on expanding genres more than quantity of books. I think I'll give it a whirl.

I'm actually quite proud of most of these accomplished goals this year! Every year I wish I weighed a little bit less and I wish I had a little bit more money. I am pretty stoked that I have been able to travel as much as I have (probably why the "Save More Money" goal is what it is...) and happy I've read more this year than in previous years. And happy that I actually grew some stuff this year!

Here I come, August!

Lose weight.
Save more money.
Travel a little bit.
Grow something edible.
Read 15 books.
Lose weight - I was lazy in July.

Save more money - Man. July kind of sucked. I spent more money than I should have. I'm back on a spending freeze (I think I said that at the end of June...), but I really need to stick with it. I have a bigger balance on my credit card than I should have. I'm trying to pay off the ole hospital bills and tuition fees. Ooof. Bills bills bills.

Travel a little bit - Heading to Alabama next week! And maybe Chicago in September!

Grow something edible - SUCCESS! I was able to eat some strawberries and basil before it all went to shit because of the weather. I'm taking care of the plants this month - one-way tickets to the woods for those dead little guys. I'm calling this "resolution" a success and striking it off the list.

Read 15 books - I am right on track! I plan on finishing the Stephen King book today (school really took over my lounge-y reading time) and then starting up a Neil Gaiman book for the beach! Hooray!

July was really eaten up by finishing my class and squeezing in a bunch of clinical hours during my free time. I also started picking up a bunch of hours in the Sim Center (hopefully curing some of my "save more money" woes this month). I still kind of think I will have some OT hours in my future at the hospital. I want money in my savings account, my two credit cards paid off, no outstanding tuition fees, and no more hospital bills by the end of 2016!