28 for 2012: A 5/12ths Report

Good gracious, it’s mid-May. How in the world did that happen? In the interest of keeping myself in check and publicly accountable, and because I’m in the throes of some spring cleaning mania, I thought I’d post my original list from New Year’s.

Fitness and Eating
1. Hire and work with trainer Thwomp (real name: Steve) once a week to make my gym workouts more effective.
2. Track my food and water on SparkPeople at least four times a week to avoid long periods of unhealthy eating. revision: keep some sort of food/drink diary daily.
3. Cook one meal per week- no more letting Kev do it!
4. Try to log 180 minutes of exercise a week. 180/week = 730/month = 8760/year. YAY!
5. Register for and complete a sprint triathlon this summer            revision: go to two exercise classes a week during the summer, and one a week during the school year in addition to the trainer.

Notes on Fitness: The fitness stuff is certainly not terrible. I've been exercising 3-4 times a week for 40 minutes, but I certainly haven't been doing so with any sort of plan in mind. While my trainer sessions have definitely built some muscle, the scale isn't budging. Not a spec. SparkPeople can get tedious, so I'm thinking about carrying around some sort of notebook that I can keep track of food/water/spending during the week. Maybe awareness is the first step?

Work
6. During the hour after school, when you don't have meetings, grade papers! Avoid those pile ups.
7. Finish Special Education classes (3 to go!)
8. Update certifications- move from initial to standard teaching and add your Reading Specialist degree.

Notes from Work: Let's face it, the grading daily just isn't going to happen what with meetings and so forth. Considering we have three weeks left of school, I'm just going to try to do one assignment a day, and then we can re-evaluate in the fall. Huzzah for getting my standard, big girl teaching cert, though!

House
9. Print and frame black and white photos. Hang.
10. Write down the money you spend daily.
11. Clean 2 hours per week (ideally divide into 20 minute daily chunks so you don't self-destruct)
12. Get a recycling bin and use it.
13. Sort old books. Take to MarketFresh Books in Evanston to sell. Open account and buy your new books there.
14. Get rid of random crap. Donate or eBay it. In progress.

Notes From the Homefront: We have too damn much crap in our home. I shop too much, and I getting really tired of walking into a hot mess. I seriously need to re-evaluate my current plan. Maybe do 10 minutes of tidying while I leave in the morning and another ten when I get home during the week, then do an hour or so of deep cleaning on the weekends? We need to start living like the adults we are.

Reading
15. Read 52 books this year.
16. Read 10 non-fiction
17. Read 10 recommended titles from BookLust
18. Finish A-Z and Chunkster reading challenges.
19. Post bite-sized reviews of each book finished on twitter.

Notes: Goodreads tells me I'm currently 3 books behind the pace I'll need to finish by the end of 2012, but I'm not worried. I usually make up for it during the summer. I know I need to read a lot more non-fiction, and I think instead of BookLust, I'll revise to the 1001 books you should read before you die and crank out 10 from that list. Good plan. Go me. As for the bite sized reviews....welp....hopefully soon.

Photography
20. Use Groupons for date night photo class and Chicago photo class prior to going to Peru.
21. Practice! Take camera out with you more often!
22. Start a habit of posting nearly wordless posts on blog.

Notes: I was doing so well with the Wordless Wednesdays....sigh...I need to get back to that.

Personal
23. Make a plan to study and practice more Spanish. If you don't use it.....well...you know...
24. Plan a weekend getaway somewhere new in the U.S. with Kev.
25. Do something spiritual daily.
26. Go to mass twice a month.
27. Go to PERU!!!
28. Talk to each grandma once a month.

Notes: Some of these are in progress. I have a groupon for summer Spanish classes, and I can easily hop back on the daily Bible emails I get. As for mass, I really have to stop and think about this goal. I'd rather read something spiritual and reflective once a month or do some sort of volunteering instead......must ponder...must ponder.

Overall, I think I've got to get my rear in gear.

What are your 2012 goals?