+ Run SEVEN times. Also: somehow start to measure how far my runs are so I can keep track of my progress/see how pathetic my endurance actually is.
Dammit, dammit, I hate that this is the first goal! Because I only ran SIX times! And I feel really bad about myself for not pushing myself to actually make it SEVEN. Which is awful, because running six times is still kind of a lot (for me), and I should be proud of myself. Having these goals, and thinking about these goals all month, is starting to have a weird psychological control over my life. I mean, at the same time that it's great and actually motivates me to do stuff. Anyway, I found out from the website Mandy told me about that the runs I had been doing were generally about a mile and a half. I feel somewhat embarrased to write that since I feel like it's pretty whimpish, but really I was relieved because I was worried that these runs that exhaust me wouldn't even be a MILE. So with almost every run this month, I pushed it to what I believe is around two miles. Which made me feel remarkably good about myself each time I did it. Also, what I've learned: I feel awesome for the first like, two blocks. Like, "Look at me, going on a run, wheee!" And then I feel AWFUL for the rest of the first mile. And then I tell myself I can keep pushing myself, and it's like the second mile I'm just numb and running on autopilot and it's easy (easier). Which is neat.
+ FINISH Work Sample II.
Yes! Handed in to my supervisor last week! Feels really great.
+ Go to a farmer's market for fresh/local produce at least twice.
I'm going to count this as a success, sort of. As someone who works each weekend day every weekend, it's hard to find farmer's markets which are open at times I can actually go to them. I excitedly drove Kathy and myself to one I thought would still be open after we were both done with work one Saturday, but turns out I had the days wrong and it wasn't open at all. So we went to the
Kruger's Farm stand thing that's on Hawthorne and bought some stuff there, but it's tricky--although I love Kruger's Farm, I have no idea what's actually from the farm, or even local, or in season, at this market stand. I mean, there was stuff that clearly wasn't either, like bananas and oranges and stuff. So, I dunno. But, I did one Wednesday get to go to the Farmer's Market downtown on the Park Blocks, otherwise known as the Shemanski Park Farmer's Market. The only real produce I got was strawberries, and then I got some great bagels and a delicious scone from a local bakery. It is really awesome to live in a place that has
SO MANY FARMER'S MARKETS, and it feels good to finally be actually researching and using them. More will open next month, too.
+ Write EIGHT blog entries.
Seven. :( But I liked all of them, so, don't feel too bad about it.
+ Get caught up on uploading pictures from the last few months to Flickr & Facebook, and also upload a photo gallery on daffodilly.net.
Yes, and it literally took me all month to do it! I think I literally uploaded hundreds of pictures on
Flickr, and just finished my
Tahoe gallery last night.
+ Rollover goal: buy a new black polo, pajama pants, AND a new bra.
No. Really need the polo, though. Couldn't really afford anything. :(
+ Send my resume to/apply to at least two other schools/districts for subbing next year.
I dropped off an official resume/cover letter in person to the charter school I applied to last month, where I actually believe I might be working; sent my resume to another alternative school; and applied for a part time youth librarian position. I really, really wanted the librarian one, but haven't heard back. :(
+ Take Toby on another fun drive somewhere.
Took him to Battle Ground Lake State Park in Washington last weekend! It was so much fun. He was so excited. Tobyyyyyy.
+ Go on a hike: specifically, one from the newspaper clipping that has been hanging on the side of the fridge for two years.
No hike for me this month. :( :(
+ Decide on two major wedding things: our reception location, and a date. Everything else should be downhill after these two things.
YES! To be honest I'm shocked but so pumped that we actually accomplished this. Pending confirmation of everything, we'll be seeing you July 21, 2012, at the Boston-Cambridge Marriott. What whaaaaat!
+ Read THREE childrens/young adult books.
Yes, although they were all really easy/quick reads. I read Riot by Walter Dean Myers; Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon & Dean Hale; and Diamond Willow by Helen Frost.
+ Important goal: get back into practicing Spanish. Either work in my workbook or Harry Potter en espanol for thirty minutes FOUR times a week.
I failed pretty badly in this goal. I kept track of any time I did even the measliest bit of Spanish practice in my planner, and I only did it seven times.
+ Go through all of the newspapers in my Huge Newspaper Stack that are still hanging out there from before 2011.
I also failed pretty badly in this one, but I didn't realize how time-sucking it would be. I thought I'd be able to breeze through them, but (shockingly) discovered there's still a lot I'm interested in reading! Especially in the more recent ones from winter last year. Hopefully it'll get easier the further back I go. But then the current papers from May were also stacking up, which was stressful. Ha! I took a picture at the beginning of the month of the huge stack of papers, all ready to post a before and after picture, but alas, it looks pretty much the same.
+ Bike to Lane FOUR times a week.
I count this as a big success, although I didn't necessarily bike four times each week, since there were many weeks this month where for one reason or the other I wasn't at school all five days. But of the days I was there, I usually only drove once. (And I usually only drove because I had to get somewhere quickly after school.) Biking to Lane is awesome. Except when it's pouring rain and I'm not prepared for it. Then it's not awesome at allllll.
+ Make THREE new recipes.
Yes. It's shocking that this is the one goal I've consistently met each month.
1.
Almost-Summer Noodle Salad, taken from Orangette. In the beginning of the month I asked on Facebook/Twitter for suggestions of good food blogs and I got a lot, and Orangette was one of them. I love the idea of the combo of essay writing and recipes that she does; it's very artistic and sophisticated and fancy. That said, while this recipe turned out good, I found a lot of her and other food blogs I tried to look at way too fancy for me. :( A lot of the recipes only seem practical for, uh, full time food bloggers. And rich people. So I still like Budget Bytes the best. Her step by step photos really help me, and her recipes and writing are just more approachable and my style.
I have to say that making Asian dishes, as much as I love them, intimidates me sometimes. There's always just a lot of ingredients and a lot of chopping and stuff, and, I dunno. Kathy helped me out with some of the most annoying parts of this recipe (shredding carrots, shelling and peeling peanuts), but it still took me a long time and I was frustrated with a bunch of things that happened. That all said, it tasted really nice and light and yummy and made a ton of food good for leftovers.
2.
Thai Peanut Rice Pilaf. Man this one was good, and relatively simple. That peanut sauce was so delicioussssssssssssssss.
3.
Broccoli Cheddar Baked Potatoes. Uh, yeah. There's no way these could NOT be good. I love potatoes. And broccoli. And cheddar. So, there you go.
Also, this month, Kathy made yummy biscuits:
And I made this yummy
chocolate banana bread recommended by Katie. Mmmmmm want some in my mouth right now.
+ No fast food. Once Reiko (and other visitors we may have, like Eliz) leave, no eating out in general, with the exception of a food cart here and there.
This was a fail.
+ Sign up/take the Civil Rights ORELA test thing I have to take for my teaching license even though it costs over $100 to take, a $100+ I don't have, but I have to do it.
Ugh, yeah. It's over, I passed, it was dumb and costed a ridiculous amount of money, and I hate the corporate educational monopoly whores.
+ Watch THREE movies. They could be Netflix-ed or at a second-run theater or whatever, I just want to get back into watching more movies.
Yes! Which is surprising since I hardly watched anything for the first half of the month. Watched Bridesmaids obviously, then a cute lesbian movie called Imagine Me & You, and I watched Diary of a Wimpy Kid before I showed it to my class for a Fun Friday. I actually kind of loved it. Hah.