Happy February!
Can you believe that we’re in the second month of the year already? January seriously flew by with the most beautiful balmy winter that I have ever experienced in my life. Although I’m totally expecting a couple big Nor’ Easterns in late March. I thought that it would be a good idea to look back on my resolutions once a month to help keep me focused on my goals.
- Home Improvements: Yeah haven’t really done anything in this department unless you count reading YoungHouseLove.
- Wedding Planning: We actually made some progress here! We attended a wedding expo and talked to a lot of great vendors. We might even have a venue location!
- Spending time with friends: We had a semi social month. It’s really hard to do things during the week because I work so late and usually try to go to the gym after work but the week-ends have been really fun. Most of my friends are turning 30 this year, like me (yikes!) and my good friend Scotty’s wife threw him a surprise party at a haunted mansion. They filmed an episode of Ghost Adventurers there. We didn’t stay to do the investigation but we did go down in the creepy basement where a little girl ghost likes to play. Matt and I also had quite a few date nights which are our my favorite kind of nights.
- Workout consistently: Between the reset phase of the P.I.N.K. Method and being really sick I didn’t have much opportunity for exercise. I also got pretty lazy. After a week of no workouts in February I’m ready to get my butt back to the gym. I’m on the hunt for a workout plan and I really want to focus on my running.
- Get Organized: I have done some serious damage in the organizational department. My kitchen is more functional and my bedroom is like a boutique.
- Reign in the spending: This was pretty easy mostly because I was so busy cleaning and organizing on my days off that I didn’t have time to go shopping. I also started going to BJs to buy my salad veggies and other produce and that has saved us quite a bit.
- Continue to save and decrease debt: Matt and I were discussing our wedding budget and our savings so far have been right on track but we’re going to start putting a bit more away for that each month. I think all the information we’ve been getting has opened our eyes to how expensive weddings are. We have a goal that at the end of our wedding we don’t want to owe anything. I also was able to pay off my car insurance a little early so that helps too. I definitely want to explore more ways to save money though.
- Give our pets more attention and better care: We adore our fur babies and I think that we treat them fabulously but there’s still more that we could be doing for them. I want to start walking Monkey frequently and we need to find some sort of non-spray conditioner for the cat. I feel so bad for her because everytime we go to pet her she gets a little shock. Poor kitty!
- Take Yoga: Completely failed at this.
- Eat Clean: This is an area that I do better in on my work days. Those days are very structured and I can only eat what I bring and bring only the good stuff. My days off are hard because I slack on breakfast and wait to eat it way too late and that throws the whole day off. I’ve been trying to meal plan and that helps a ton not only with eating better but on how much I spend on food because I shop for what’s on sale or what I have coupon for. Unfortunately there aren’t many coupons for healthy food.
So I’ve had some gains and some misses. I like having focused goals because it keeps me more on track than when I’m trying to do everything “right”. I have some serious room for improvements and I hope to really work those in the coming year. On a completely different note, have any of you been watching the “Biggest Loser” this season? I really like that it’s dubbed the season of no excuses but I’m having a tough time getting behind Dovlett. I really liked him last season but this time around I feel like his focus is more on beating Bob than it is on helping his contestants get fit and healthy. I get really inspired by Bob and how he builds EVERYONE up, not just the ones he’s training. It shows by the effort and care that he gives how much he really wants everyone to live their fittest and healthiest life not just win a reality show. It’s one of our favorite shows!
Cheers!
Mandi
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Today is my third day on the P.I.N.K. Method reset phase. I started out with my breakfast smoothie.
The first day on the program was pretty easy. Mostly because I was at work and only had the food I brought with me to eat. I did get a major headache when I got home though. The second day was kinda tough. I got a bit discouraged when I weighed myself and the scale showed that I was up 2 lbs. Yeah, pretty frustrating. By the end of that night I was almost ready to call it quits, but I didn’t. When I woke-up today I was AWAKE. Like really awake. I definitely sleep like the dead when I’m eating super healthy. I was so well rested that I sorted, folded and put away all my clothes and made my bed before I even made it downstairs.
Punky is always ready to play fetch with her squeaker. I’m not the most athletic and given the choice, Punk will choose Matt over me every time to play squeaker with. Even if I’m the one playing with her, if Matt is anywhere near by, she’ll catch the squeaker and bring it to him. I guess I can’t blame her. When I play with her it usually ends up like this.
She totally looks like she’s thinking, “Seriously Mom?!” Yeah she wouldn’t even attempt to fish it out. Diva.
Speaking of Divas, look at that attitude. She’s completely taken over my spot on the couch. You know that I didn’t move her either. She’s completely in charge.
Since I had all of this energy from sleeping so well and it was my day off I decided to get started on one of my resolutions. Get organized! My dresser, specifically the top, has been a disaster since probably forever. I’m horrible with putting things where they belong. So this is the mess I have created. Impressive, I know.
Yup that’s my mess. I have a lot of jewelry. And apparently I have a lot of focus because it took me about 2 hours to straighten this mess out.
It went from this.
To this
Look! There’s a window behind my dresser! I’m already reaping the benefits of my labor.
I found this un-opened bottle of my favorite perfume hiding behind all the clutter. Score! I have a lot of necklaces and the majority of the clean-up was untangling them from each other. I grabbed an old tray that works color and style-wise in the room to lay them on. Fingers crossed that it keeps them tangle free for a while.
I had seen this great idea on Pinterest for displaying your bracelets. You simply put them on a glass soda bottle. I think the picture I pinned was an old coke bottle but Matt and I had these cool, green glass ginger ale bottles that we had saved from a lunch at the top of Mt. Greylock. Yeah we save our trash sometimes, hehe.
I even matched all my earrings and hung the ones I tend to wear the most on my DIYed earring holder. The rest are in a gold paper mached box. The loners were either filed or sent into the beading tackle box.
Even though this is just a small area of the bedroom, it makes the room seem bigger and brighter somehow just by being clean and organized. I’m going to try to tackle small areas in different rooms in the house instead of trying to organize an entire room in one day. I never have enough time and loose my mojo and it never gets finished that way. Fingers crossed that this method works and I can stick with it. For now I’m just happy to see all my accessories!
Cheers!
Mandi
Have you tackled anything on your New Year’s Resolutions list yet? Do you have tangled necklaces and lone earrings?
I'm a continuous work in progress. I'm 31. A professional hairstylist & make-up artist. I love to dance, cook clean food and bake dirty desserts. I really love coffee. I have a monkey dog and a fluffy cat. I love crafts and shopping. I sometimes love working out. I recently married my best friend. Stop by and check on my progress.
Ms. Mandipants 