Goals in Progress: November

And just like that, it’s December and we’re full into holiday season.  Brian is setting up the Christmas tree as we speak and I’ve been wrapping gifts, planning Christmas cookies and humming holiday tunes for the past couple days.  I love this time of year and for some reason I seem even more into it than usual. But before I get too carried away with the final month of 2011, let’s check out November’s progress.

1.  Waste less time/Create a posting schedule and stick to it
2 months into the school year, I finally got my act together.  Sure, there were days when I wasn’t as organized or productive as I should’ve been but my plan book is mostly set from now until Christmas and I’ve felt good about how I spent a lot of my “free time”.  November seemed to contain an extra large number of meetings and appointments, so I didn’t accomplish everything I wanted to, but I’m satisfied. Posting went well this month and I mostly stayed on schedule.  Just like school, the blogging part of my life is starting to fit better into my routine.

2.  Read a chapter of the bible every day/(no revised goal)
November was spotty, but not awful.  Now that it’s a new month and I’ve got a clear calendar page in front of me, I’m more motivated to make this part of my daily life.

3.  Drink more water/Drink at least one water bottle of water a day and drink something else with every meal
As per usual, I got pretty mixed results in this department.  My tea consumption is up to an average of 3 cups a day though and I refuse to believe that I can’t count at least some of that towards my overall total.  I drink a lot of water during school, but I could easily go a whole Saturday without much more than a couple cups of tea for hydration, so it’s still a work in progress (and probably always will be).

4.  Read at least one book a month/Read at least 12 books this year
I did it! I finally completed a book within the one month time frame! In search of something engaging, I ended up with a copy of Water for Elephants from our local library and I consumed it fairly quickly.  It wasn’t the most amazing book I ever read, but I certainly enjoyed it and I think changing to fiction was the right choice.  This week I started reading Lost in Shangri-la, which is non-fiction but reads like a novel.  I’m only  a couple chapters into it, but I’m really looking forward to it.

5.  Improve my fitness by going to the gym twice a week and doing sit ups and push ups on off days/Do something physically active at least 3 times a week
You know those friends that you want to keep in touch with and you keep thinking “you know, I should call them sometime…”, but never do? The gym is sort of like one of those friends. I only manage to get there a couple times in November, partially due to all of the aforementioned appointments and meetings, but also due to pure laziness.  We did get there this week and I’m hoping we’re going to continue to trend in that direction.  Needless to say, not a lot of fitness is happening at home either.

6.  Open our home at least once a month/Have at least 12 different groups of people over to the apartment
I kind of feel like I’ve given up on this goal.  I still think it’s a good one, but there just doesn’t seem to be a good time to have guests over, especially with the busyness lately.  We did get more dishes from my parents for Christmas, so maybe I’ll feel more motivated in the new year.

7.  Give Relishments a makeover/(no revised goal)
It may not be clear to all of you, but at least in my brain Relishments has been getting clearer and more refined.  I feel really good about where it’s headed and I’ve got some really neat things in the works (including another giveaway at the end of the month, when Relishments celebrates its 3rd birthday!)

8.  See new things/(no revised goal)
We spent Thanksgiving in Maine, which wasn’t really anything new but since I hadn’t been there in almost a year and was going through Maine withdrawl, it was like seeing something new.  I hope you enjoy these photos of our sightseeing as much as I do.