Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Goals: May Analysis and June Planning

Happy June, and Happy National Running Day! My celebration included the first day of Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred and a 3K walk/run with the Rock Bottom Running Club this afternoon. My knee is starting to really hurt, and I am unhappy about this. Hopefully tomorrow I can still go on my run, but I'll have to play it by ear.

I'm also a woman on a mission: find vegetable-filled recipes that aren't salads! I am dying for more variety in my diet!

Now that May is over, it's time to evaluate my goals for the month: did I achieve what I set out to do, why I didn't, etc, and of course, what I plan to do for the month of June. Here I go!
1. Goal Weight: 120 lbs (or less!)
The scale this morning read back to me: 122.4 lbs. Now, I'm not too terribly upset by this for a couple of reasons: 1) I always suffer a 5 lb weight gain when my period starts and 2) I still lost weight this month! As I get nearer and nearer to my goal weight, it's going to be harder to lose the pounds. But this is why I'm starting the twice-a-day workouts!

Besides, when I went clothes shopping with my mother this weekend, I had a major victory: I went down at least two pants sizes! I'm comfortably a size 4-6 now, something I haven't been since high school. No more size 8's for me!


2. Restart weekly Italian lessons
I... kind of, sort of did this? It's in my calendar to do this every Thursday, and I've kind of started it, but it's nothing truly regimented. But I do know more Italian than I did at the beginning of May, so I'm happy with this.


3. Restart daily Hanon
This did not happen. I kept telling myself to do it, but I didn't. I blame the television. Now that all my shows are over, I have no excuse.

4. Watch 2 Academy Award movies
Done and done!  I watched The King's Speech and Schindler's List.


Mom and I are huge, huge fans of Colin Firth, and so when he won the Academy Award for Best Actor for this movie, we were thrilled. Problem was, we had not yet seen the movie. We're not big theater-goers, you see. Let me just say: he definitely deserved that award! And it was fascinating getting an insight on a monarch people (at least in America) know significantly less about. I highly recommend this movie!


This movie was hard for me to get through. Not because it's a bad movie, but because it holds little back when depicting what the Jewish people had to go through during World War II in Europe. The part that was the hardest for me to stomach was the liquidation of the Krakow ghetto. Halfway through that scene, I had to get up and take an emotional break from the movie for a good five or ten minutes.

But this movie is truly a powerful movie, and it hit me so hard that I put in my automatic feel-good My Big Fat Greek Wedding to cheer myself up immediately after. A movie hasn't done that to me since Grave of the Fireflies!

5. Read a book.
I'm halfway through reading The War of the Worlds, and by the weekend it should be done. It's great book, I'm just easily distracted.

6. Finish writing project
I just didn't have it in me to write this month. Hopefully I can get my act together in June.

 

7. Attempt 5 new recipes
Done! The recipes I tackled were mimosa cupcakes, rhubarb strawberry apple crumble, Mexican black bean spaghetti (used quinoa instead), southwestern omelet, and strawberry Nutella quinoa crepe. All of them were very, very delicious!

June 2011 Goals:
  1. Raise at least $250 for DetermiNation. I have barely made any effort to try to raise any money for this, and the clock is ticking! If I can get closet to 25% of the total goal by the end of the month, I will call it a victory. I have some basic plans in mind: instead of donating all the clothes and items I don't want anymore, I'll sell them and use 100% of the proceeds towards the American Cancer Society. I'll also readvertise on Facebook and send out some emails. I'll never get the money if I don't ask!
  2. Watch a Best Picture movie. Right now, it looks like Gone with the Wind will be my June pick since my parents own it. I've seen bits and pieces of it before, but now it's time to watch the entire thing. I will probably make the effort to watch it either Father's Day weekend or after.
  3. Read at least two books. This doesn't include finishing The War of the Worlds! To accomplish this, I will only turn on the TV to workout or to watch the movie. TV is my ultimate enemy in getting this and the below goal done.
  4. Work on writing project. This one should be simple enough to accomplish. I don't even care about the quality of it (too much); I just want to really start writing again!
  5. Attempt 3 new recipes. I love cooking and I love trying new things out. With my goal of trying to eat more vegetables without resorting to salads, this one should be fairly easy and fun to do!
  6. Swim at least once a week (even if it's only a lap!) This is what I will do for my cross-training. So far, it's a Saturday/Sunday thing, but I might do this more frequently depending on how my weeks go. Since I've never really swam like this before, I'll consider it a success if I swim just one lap!
  7. Read at least one Japanese book. My tutor will be in Japan for most of the summer, which means if I don't want to lose it, I have to be active on my own accord. Book, in this case, can mean anything from a novel to a children's book to a comic book.

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