Friday, December 31, 2010

2010: A Year in Review

On January 1st I set some goals for the year. Now it's time to look back on them & see how many I achieved:

1. Compete in at least one 5K run. Yes, in fact I completed 2 in December the first one I blogged about here, & I will be blogging about the second one soon.

2. Finish cross-stitch project. Yes, the finished product can be seen here.

3. Make working on my quilt a regular part of my routine (once the cross-stitch is finished). Yes, I have begun sewing regularly in September, and I hope to finish my first soon.

4. Workout consistently. Run/Cardio 3 days/week. Relax with Yoga on off days. Yes, I now run 3 days a week. & I do yoga on occasion.

5. Practice music 3 times/week. No, I was really good about this earlier in the year but recently not so much.

6. Take swimming lessons. Yes, I took lessons for one session in August but I didn't get into the following session, so I haven't done any swimming since.

7. Set up long-term savings account by March 26th, 2010 (Update 3/26/2010: Ben and I have a plan, but need to save a couple thousand more to implement) Yes, got this one taken care of.

8. Have dog so well trained she can be off the leash. No, we just let her out in the yard or play with her to burn off energy so she hasn't been for a walk in some time.

9. Learn something fun and new, like skiing. Yes/No took a quilting class but not much else.

10. Make my life and home greener. Reduce plastics, buy more things second-hand, eat local, eat organic, plant some herbs and a container garden. Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, & Not yet, but currently doing research.

11. Read More Books:
1) The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
2) Buy-ology The Truth and Lies About Why We Buy by Martin Lindstrom,
3) The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch,
4) Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has
Never Seen
by Christopher McDougall (Audiobook)
5) Numerous comic books
Hmm, I'm gonna call this a fail, as 3 books, 1 audiobook & some comic books isn't very much for 1 year.

12. Blog more, at least once per week. This makes my 25th post this year, Last year I only posted 13 times. So while it is an improvement, almost double the amount it is not once a week. This is gonna count as a half point.

13. Become more Fluent in French, reading, writing, and conversing. Well I have been working on my foreign language skills, but Spanish instead of French, Ben is supposed to be working on his French

14. Improve posture. No, I haven't really consciously been working on this.


Accomplished: 8 Unfinished: 4 Half & Half: 2

I have found that having this list to check & reassess throughout the year has helped me reach & remember these goals.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

My First 5K Run

I ran my first 5K fun run on Sunday December 12th at the Seattle Jingle Bell Run. It's put on every year by the Arthritis Foundation & this was the 26th year. Seattle's is the largest Jingle Bell run in the country & about 12,000 people ran it this year.

I got up that morning at 4am & the stomach butterflies started almost right away. I left for Rachel's at 5am we drove to downtown Seattle and breakfast at 13 Coins. I had the french toast. Yummy! We made our way to Westlake Center to pick up our packets & change for the race.

Seattle was experiencing a rainstorm and the streets were slightly flooded in spots. We reluctantly left the cover of the sidewalk awnings & made our way to the middle of the street & the starting line. Thankfully most of the race was run on the covered I-5 express lanes. However, the worst part of the race was not the rain. It was the walkers & strollers. You would get stuck behind the walkers and have to maneuver your way around them. The runners pushing strollers had to start during last wave & many were pushed by obviously elite runners. They would mow you down from behind with little or no warning.

Despite all this I turned in a finishing time of 38 minutes 59 seconds. We stretched in the Westlake Center as stores were opening and shoppers were showing up for the day. Overall, I felt a little disappointed in my first race. It wasn't my time, but the dodging the huge crowds of people that made the experience lackluster. The biggest lesson I learned from this race was to avoid races that allow strollers, walkers, & tend to register more than 10,000 participants

Monday, December 13, 2010

Kaleidoscope Quilt: More Fabric

For the past few months I've been work hard on the quilt I first started at a class I took in September. I have decided I am going to arrange the blocks on the diagonal with lattice work in between the blocks.

On Friday I went shopping for fabric to make the latticework. I found a beautiful green fabric to use at Material Girls in Silverdale. I also stopped at one of my favorite stores: Rochelle's Fine Fabrics in Port Orchard. They had the perfect stripped fabric to use as the border. I bought enough for the quilt back as well. However, I think I may change my mind and save it for a future project.