November Goals

Happy Election Day! This is sad, but I am excited to celebrate the end of the elections because I am very tired of the commercials, radio ads, mailers, debates and discussions.  I am very thankful to live in a country where I have the right to vote, but ready to not hear any more political mumbo-jumbo for a while. (I am extra grateful that I don't live in a swing state because they have it much worse.)

I enjoyed a very busy weekend in Iowa, but now it's time to get back in the swing of things.  Time to wrap up October goals and tell you about my November goals.

Goal 1. Budget, budget, budget. And follow that budget.  CHECK!

I was able to plan out my budget and stay within the reigns of that budget.  Budgeting is not really much fun, but saving money for a ski trip is a longer term goal for me right now.  I still allowed myself money to spend on shopping and fun things but  paid much more attention to what I was spending.  

I'll try to do a post soon on how I budget!

Goal 2.  Try a new class at the gym.  CHECK!

I went to a new yoga class at my gym.  I really liked the instructor and format and I have already gone back.  In fact, I will be incorporating yoga into my November goals as well.  The class was so tough because I haven't done yoga for about 3 months now.  

Goal 3. Send cards to 4 friends.  Fail.

I only managed to send one card this month.  I bought another Halloween card but then forgot to send it. It's a little to late now. 

Goal 4. Try a new recipe.  CHECK!

I tried several new recipes this month including butternut squash gnocchi and a butternut squash soup from my leftover squash (similar to this recipe but I made it spicy with cayenne).  I also made quinoa stuffed mushrooms for book club (which I need to blog about) and a new queso dip recipe for my coworkers on Halloween. It was a busy cooking month in October and I'm hoping to continue this in November!

November Goals

Goal 1.  Do yoga once a week.  

I hope to continue going to the Monday night class that I went to the last two weeks.  I already attended my class for this week which included lots of hip openers (last week we focused on chest openers).  It seems like this class will offer a lot of variety which I like because I get bored with the same routine in yoga.  

I am hoping that yoga will help prevent injuries as increase my mileage for the marathon that I signed up for! (Yup, I did it!)

Goal 2. Follow a cleaning schedule.  

I'm choosing this schedule and hoping to avoid the "all day clean-a-thon" on Saturday. If I spend just 20 minutes a day tidying up and cleaning hopefully my apartment will get clean and stay clean.  I really like the idea of setting the timer. I did my first cleaning session last night for 20 minutes.  My apartment is still a bit of a mess, but I definitely made progress.   

Maybe, just maybe, I can keep my living room from looking like this all the time.

Goal 3. Keep a gratitude journal.

This is something I've been seeing on Facebook that people are doing for the month of November. Each day I will write down one thing that I am thankful for.  It will be good to reflect on the day and think of the many positives in my life.
Goal 4. Run three times a week.

Like I mentioned above, I signed up for a marathon in April.  My running has been a little sporadic lately because I've been enjoying other forms of exercise including Zumba and several Jillian Michael's DVDs.  I want to add running back in while keeping up with strength training to keep me strong and injury-free for the next training cycle!
I've been somewhat successfully recently with getting up before work and working out.  With the ending of daylight savings time, it is so dark by the time I leave work that I don't want to run outside.  I can easily fit in 3 miles in the morning when the sun comes up.  

Like this except with a lot more clothes because it's cold.

That's all the goals I have for the month of November.