May Highlights, June Intentions

It’s been a good, rather eventful month. I’m enjoying the pace of 2013 so far. We’re almost halfway through and I want to keep the momentum up.

May Highlights:

May means lots of hiking in the woods. Source: Grouse Mountain

• Found out one of my closest friends is pregnant with her second. I’m so excited for her.
• Got a pedicure with a fun glittery colour for my vacation.
• Took my mum out to a brunch spot she’s been wanting to try for ages with my family for Mother’s Day
• Took a week and a half vacation from work and went down to Las Vegas to party with 64 other bloggers and knock an item off my life list – I saw Shania Twain perform!
• Hit up Trader Joe’s in Bellingham, WA for some American grocery shopping action on the way home from my trip.
• Attended the rehearsal dinner and wedding of a wonderful friend, Julia
• Enjoyed quite the whirlwind romance that was over before I’d had a chance to absorb what was going on, after months of utter boredom on the love life front. It’s been… interesting!
• Read two more books that I really enjoyed this month: I loved Requiem, which wrapped up the Delirium series by Lauren Oliver and was very pleased with the way it all ended. And I finally picked up Roomby Emma Donoghue after hearing about it for months, and devoured the entire story in one weekend. Definitely worth a read.

How did I do on my May intentions?

• Let loose and enjoy lots of new friend time in Vegas! – Check!
• Related: do not let TOO loose. Have 3 meals of whatever I want; make smart food choices the rest of the time. 3 alcoholic drinks per day. -I didn’t really track it, but I did alright on this front. I only gained 1 pound over my 6 day trip and lost it (plus more) quickly upon returning home.
• Spend no more than $600 in Vegas on things that haven’t already been paid for. – Check!
• Back on track healthwise when I return from Vegas: eliminate sweets from your diet for the rest of May. -I have had a few cookies but have mostly been eating well. Half check?
• Complete a hike longer than my usual 1.5 hour hike before month end. -Oh, so close! It has been pouring rain since I’ve been back almost relentlessly, so I haven’t been out on the trails much. Finally the sunshine returned today so I met this goal two days late!

June Intentions:

• My fabulous Vegas roommate Karlyn has made a custom blog header for me, so stay tuned to see that go live this month!
• I’m participating in Nicole‘s 30 Day Sugar Detox program. I’m avoiding all sugar-laden snacks for this month and expecting to make some weight loss progress and some changes to the way I eat.
• I WILL NOT BAIL ON MY BOOK CLUB THIS MONTH. I WILL NOT BAIL ON MY BOOK CLUB THIS MONTH. I WILL NOT BAIL ON MY BOOK CLUB THIS MONTH.
• Celebrate my sister’s birthday this month without breaking my resolve to avoid sugary treats. I can celebrate with her without eating cake.
• Complete the Grouse Grind hike up Grouse Mountain this month. I use this hike as a gauge of my fitness level because it’s technically very difficult and intense, and I have had to turn back without finishing it several times because if I don’t pace myself carefully I become dizzy. I’m hoping to finish in an hour and a half for my first run at it this season.

April Highlights, May Intentions

Wow, what a great month! Summer has arrived in Vancouver, and everyone is running around in shorts & tshirts. It feels like the beginning of something fresh and new, as though the sunshine holds the promise of adventure and happiness. Wouldn’t that be nice?

April Highlights:

• 

  Perfect gold sandals. Source: RW & Co.

  I discovered Homeland and have subsequently fallen down that rabbit hole in an obsessive way. No but seriously, I must know what’s going to happen in Season 3!

• I found the perfect gold sandals. The impetus for this purchase was my upcoming trip to Vegas, but I’ve been wearing them nonstop and I’ll be lucky if I haven’t worn them to shreds before the summer is out.
• Attended a good friend’s bridal shower. It was neat to see how it washandled, because she lives far away and didn’t want to ship all the gifts home at great expense. Most people bought off a registry, had the gift shipped to her home address, and included a picture of the gift in her card. Great way to handle gift showers far from home!
• Gave away a bunch of stuff I didn’t need following the apartment move. I feel good knowing my duplicate stuff that I don’t use is going to people that really need it.
• Made these delicious cookies and tried my hand at homemade potstickers – success!
• Celebrated the birthdays of a couple of great friends – one of which was a 40th birthday! *GASP* I can’t believe MY OWN friends are starting to turn 40. It doesn’t seem so long ago that it was my parents’ friends celebrating this milestone.
• Fell back in love with hiking and have been hitting up the local trails several times a week.
• Had a strategy chat with a career mentor.

How did I do on my April intentions?

• One short weeknight hike and one longer weekend hike per week – success!
• Yoga 1 time per week – Nope! It seemed sacreligious to go inside the yoga studio when the weather has been so incredible.
• Sign up for ballet flow yoga – My friend and I tried a trial class and jointly decided it wasn’t worth the fee for the full 8 sessions. We’ve been hiking lots instead.
• Unpack and get the new place feeling like home. – Mostly done! Putting up artwork feels like cheating on my old house. But everything else is unpacked.
• Take Magdalena for a real spin! (I have named the new car Magdalena) – Yup!
• Do a lil’ shopping for this lil’ vacation I have coming up in May – Success! Have most of my outfits planned.

April showers bring May flowers… Source: John-Morgan on Flickr

May Intentions:

• Let loose and enjoy lots of new friend time in Vegas!
• Related: do not let TOO loose. Have 3 meals of whatever you want; make smart food choices the rest of the time. 3 alcoholic drinks per day (holy crap that sounds like a lot of alcohol to me. That’s 15 drinks in 1 week, for a girl who’s used to 1 or 2!) and drink lots of water.
• Spend no more than $600 in Vegas on things that haven’t already been paid for.
• Back on track healthwise when you return from Vegas: eliminate sweets from your diet for the rest of May.
• Complete a hike longer than my usual 1.5 hour hike before month end.