“Invest” is my word for 2014. I’m dedicating a post every 2 months to reporting about how it’s going. Want to catch up? Here’s my introductory post and January and February.
Self
This is probably the area where I feel like I’ve been most successful over the past couple months. Switching my focus from being “intentional” in 2013 to “investing” means I don’t feel guilty about taking care of my brain. I continue to participate in the She Reads Truth community and really enjoyed their Lent study. I also gave up sweets for Lent which was incredibly difficult, but overall a good thing, in the way that sacrificing for Lent is supposed to be. Over the past couple months I also joined a women’s inductive bible study at my church which has been a really good experience in reading the word and getting to know other women.
Another highlight of the past couple months was getting to see Gloria Steinem speak at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. Despite the fact that thinking about the way the evening was logistically handled still makes me mad (we waited outside in freezing weather for an hour with tons of other people before being let in…after the time the event was actually supposed to start…and were lucky to get in because many people were turned away at the door), the evening was awesome. I feel so lucky to have been able to hear such an iconic woman speak and it’s rekindled my interest in women’s issues.
Blog
Blog related progress has been stop and go over the past couple months. I finally scheduled a Helpout* with Katy Widrick, something I’ve been intending to do since she announced the option. Katy and I have emailed several times on blog issues (media kits, advertising, etc) and it seemed only fair that I actually pay for her services in a more serious way. Our hour long session was awesome and I’m so looking forward to implementing her advice. Unfortunately, immediately after our meeting my life got super busy with the end of the semester, the approach of the end of the school year and my trip to Montreal, so I haven’t been able to do as much with her suggestions as I’d like. One thing I have started to explore is some new advertising – you may have noticed the NatureBox, Amazon
Home
The list of things I want to accomplish in the house remains the same as it was in the first two months of the year. We didn’t make any major home purchases since February. In fact, we got rid of our microwave (it’s a long-ish story involving insects). It’s only been a few days, but I’ll be sure to post an update about how that’s going and if we choose to purchase a new one. At any rate, we continue to discuss our goals for the house in this and coming years. And I intend to hit a lot of yard sales this summer.
Relationships
I got to see my family twice over the past 2 months, which was really nice. We all met up at my sister’s newly purchased home in early March to help with painting and other home improvement tasks before they moved in. My sister’s motivation to paint and decorate her brand new (to her) place has sparked my desire to make some progress in our house. Then, last week, I met up with my parents and sister in Portsmouth for lunch before heading to Montreal without my dad for a long weekend. It’s been a long time since my sister, mom and I all spent that much time together and I’m really glad we were able to make it happen.
My theoretical desire to host gatherings and socialize continues to be outweighed by my interest in spending my weekends with my computer, but I did get in a craft night, a game night and Easter dinner with friends over the past couple months. Again, I’m hoping summer allows for more opportunities.
Work
Even though I just earned a teaching license at the end of January, I signed up to take another licensure test last month, in the name of job security. The test is in June, hopefully I pass on the first go-round. Otherwise I’m just plugging along…it’s always amazing how quickly the end of the year approaches after April break and I’m bracing myself for the chaos to come.
Fitness
In March, I started attending yoga classes again. My commitment has been on and off, largely because the classes I prefer are on weekends and life interferes on a fairly regular basis. Yoga class is one of those things that I love once I get there, but working up the motivation to leave the house isn’t easy.
I also signed up for my first race since 2011. Even though I “fell in love” with running that year, I just haven’t been running much since then. The race, which is this weekend, is a fun run without timers and such. Thank goodness, because I’m really unprepared. Still, I’m really looking forward to it and hope it will be the first of many organized events to come.
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