Abbie's Real Life Blog

I know!  Neither of us can believe that it’s already April, and one-quarter of 2010 (and 1/40th of this decade) is already over.  Before we know it, it will be 2013 and we still won’t have repainted the front door.  We are lazy, aren’t we?

Stuff I Got Done:

• Open-ended goals: Well, diet took a downward turn during these few months, and I gained a few pounds.  Not a huge amount, but more than I wanted to gain.  I did continue to exercise, but it wasn’t enough to stave off the effects of Easter candy.  Seriously, though, I’ve eaten a lot of Easter candy in the past few weeks.  I did see my grandparents, and I did not have dinner with my International Center friend.  I did send her an email at Chinese New Year, but that’s it.
• Photography goals: I did participate in the Columbia Art League rotation in January, and I am set to hang up work this week at the University Hospital, so that is good.  I have not taken new pictures for the photo club meetings, but I did keep up with my 365 project.  I did not miss a day all quarter.
• I read two books: Consider the Lobster, by David Foster Wallace, and The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell.
• I watched three AFI movies: Lawrence of Arabia, Sophie’s Choice, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.
• Gardening!  After several weeks of not being able to do much outside because it was either a rainy/snowy weekend or I was out of town, the magical combination of cool-but-pretty weather and lack of prior commitments happened this past weekend.  I staked a small Rose of Sharon tree that does not want to stand upright, I fertilized all the trees in the yard, I removed rock and brick borders from around the side and back of the house, and I hosed down the patio and put all the furniture out.  Then I gave the dog a bath.  It was an extremely productive day.  Tonight I have to mow the lawn.  I am not looking forward to it.
• I took a road trip to Des Moines last weekend!  I think I also took a trip to St. Louis in January, just a day trip for some shopping.  I also made good progress scheduling my trip to Yellowstone in June.
• Taxes!  I did not do a very good job getting my taxes done before the end of March.  I think I finished them in mid-March.  But they’re finished and I sent them in.  They’re done.  Yay.

Stuff I Didn’t Get Done:

• I only saw three movies; I only read two books.
• I did not get much done in regards to cleaning up the two messy rooms in the house.  All I managed to do was to clean off the couch in what-is-now-the-den, and fix it up with sheets and pillows and blankets so that the dog can sleep on it (and she does, almost constantly).  I put up curtains in there so that it will not get so hot in the summer with the direct western exposure.  I ordered a new rug, hated it when it arrived, and returned it.  That’s about all I’ve managed to do.  And the rest of the house is currently a mess, but that doesn’t have anything to do with this goal.  Ugh, I managed to waste the winter months not getting papers organized.  Yuck.
• I did not do a very good job cooking myself dinner until last week, when I realized the weight gain I’d made and started to get serious about calorie-counting again.  Since then, I’ve cooked a couple of times.  I hope to do more, because it good for both my calorie-counting and my budgeting!
• Blog pictures.  Yeah, I didn’t do that at all.

Quarterly Resolutions for the Second Quarter of 2010:

• Open-ended goals: see my grandparents often, see my International Center friend, continue diet & exercise routines.
• Photography goals: participate in the Columbia Art League, take new pictures for the photo club meetings, and continue the 365 Project.
• Watch five AFI movies!  I am so close!
• Read one book!  This is my summer project: Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace.  I want to finish this book this summer.  I have a couple of other books that I want to read before I start it, but this is the primary book that I want to bring on my trips this summer and I want to read the whole thing by the end of the third quarter of 2010.  (It is 1104 pages in paperback and weighs 2.5 lbs.  It will be a pain to lug around with me, but I am committed to this effort.)
• Road trip!  I have a whole big plan, vacation time set aside, and I’m looking forward to it.  You’ll hear more about it later.
• Gardening!  You knew it was coming.  But I want to take advantage of this early spring weather when it’s not too humid.  I would love it if I continued the efforts through the summer, but I’m trying to be realistic this year.  I just want to rip things out and move things around, mulch it, and let it grow.  That’s all!
• Cook dinner for myself in the house at least once a week, and go eat lunch out of the office once a week.  Eating with friends counts (for both, though it is unlikely that I will cook for friends at home).
• Attend a Royals baseball game in May!  I have been trying to make a plan with family and it looks like we’re picking a date.  I think it will work out.
• Clean the garage.  It always needs it every spring because the car tracks in ashes and salt from the winter streets, and I have a pile of boxes from holiday shopping that I just put in the corner.  This all needs to be fixed up so that I can get the lawnmower in and out easily.
• Switch over to summer clothes, clean out the closet, and donate a big pile of stuff to Goodwill.  Not quite ready for this one yet, but the time is coming soon.  (It was eighty-four degrees on Sunday!)
• Ok, so the “clean up the two messy rooms” was too big of a goal.  How about: clean up the pile of cables in the office, hang up the two shelves that are sitting in the hallway,
• Get caught up on photos.  I am really overdue on some pictures that I owe for family members (from Christmas, gah) and I also really need to do some backups of my backups.  This should be all done before I go on my trip at the end of May.

I love setting these goals.  I really think about them all quarter and try to accomplish them before the end.  I’m so glad I do this.