FRIDAY:

• Got some groceries after work
• Picked up my new glasses

• Video chatted with my family (Indio, Costa Mesa AND China!)

SATURDAY:

• Washed a ton of dishes
• Made a spinach fruit smoothie

• Worked out (HARD) at the gym
• Proofread a book (seriously…an ENTIRE book)
• Went to dinner and karaoke with some friends and sang my heart out

SUNDAY:

• Made another spinach smoothie (I’m officially hooked)
• Ran a four-mile race (which I signed up for the day before)
• Went to church directly from the race (yep, a hot, sweaty mess) — and I’m so glad I did because I needed that message
• Treated myself to an In-N-Out cheeseburger and fries
• Went for a four-mile hike/walk along the Ellwood Bluffs, which was seriously breathtaking

• Tried my hand at roasting Brussels sprouts* and butternut squash (and it wasn’t half bad)
• Watched some Gilmore Girls

In spite of everything I managed to get done, I still failed to do two of the major things that were on my list for the weekend: studying two more chapters of my NASM textbook, and emptying out my desk so I can start working on my February “12 Changes” goal. But I’m not going to feel bad about that! I plan on getting those two things started tonight.

(You may have noticed that nowhere on my Sunday list is anything related to the Super Bowl. That was intentional, and I have no regrets. I watched a few of the commercials online last night and realized I really didn’t miss out on anything. I may make it my yearly tradition to go for a hike or some other physical activity while everyone else is pigging out and watching a bunch of guys do their jobs. Not that I’m judging you if you’re a Super Bowl fanatic! Honestly, football is just not my thing and I’m glad I avoided all the unhealthy snacking, which, let’s face it, will ALWAYS be my thing.)

*This was my second time ever having Brussels sprouts. The first time we dipped them in cheese fondue, so I really didn’t taste them all that much. Are they always tinged with a bit of bitterness, or did I just not prepare them right? Any sprouts connoisseurs are welcome to advise.

• My first thing for “12 Changes” is going really well. It actually was a pretty easy habit to acquire, keeping my clothes put away every day. All it takes is one thought as I’m taking off an item of clothing and about to drop it on the floor wherever I am: “Where does this ACTUALLY go, and how difficult is it to put it there NOW versus letting it pile up later?” It’s pretty effin’ easy, is all I’m saying. Next month’s change may be a tough one, but I’m all in this thing.

•  My personal training studies are going well, for the most part. I am about a chapter behind on my reading, based on the rough plan I put together to be ready by late March. So I’m going to crack down on that this weekend. While I’m still 100% excited about the prospect of making this career change, I am also beginning to feel that self-doubt creep in: can I really do this? Am I cut out for it? Will I even pass the exam? Which is silly, I know. But, ugh.

• I’ve been hanging out more often with a few girlfriends in town, and I feel really blessed by them. I hope I can continue developing those friendships, because it’s something I’ve needed and not done the best job pursuing for the last several years.

• I went on a hike last weekend with a couple of those girlfriends, and it was amazing. I think the last (and possibly first) time I had been hiking was in Romania, probably in 2007. So this was a fairly easy hike (4 miles) and when we got to the top we were greeted with a stunning view of Santa Barbara. I really need to do this kind of thing more often.

Me, Caitlin, Lauren and Amy (and Parker) at the top of Inspiration Point

• A couple weekends ago, Joe and I went to see the Mythbusters Live tour in LA, and it was a blast! My mom got us the tickets for Christmas, and she couldn’t have picked a more perfect gift for Joe. Our seats were excellent: we could see everything from our central location in the orchestra section. We didn’t get picked for any of the audience-participation stuff, but that’s okay. It was really interesting and entertaining nonetheless. And a couple of girls in the row in front of us had made Adam and Jamie puppets that looked freakishly like the stars of the show, so that was cute. (And Joe was glad they didn’t hold them up to block our view except during applause and when they were trying to get picked to participate.)

Our view of the stage -- oh, and Wil Wheaton made a special appearance! That's him in the blue T-shirt on the right.

• Joe had an interview in Tucson last week, and I’m finding myself torn between trying not to get too excited about the possibility of moving there, and believing in faith that it will work out because it feels like such an amazing opportunity for both of us. I’ve been pinning houses in the area and dreaming about having so much space to cook, clean, have sex, work out, play games, and eventually chase kids around. But, much like my self-doubt over my potential career changes, I find myself holding back from hoping for this too much because I don’t want to feel completely devastated if it falls through. It’s not like living in Santa Barbara is unpleasant by any means, and I need to remember that I am also crazy blessed if we end up staying here.

• Last week I tried out a couple of DIY cleaning solutions from Pinterest, because our bathtub seemed hell-bent on NEVER getting clean enough to not be embarrassing to show other people. And then Martha Stewart saved the day with this stuff, which worked better than any commercial product I’ve tried. Our tub looks almost as good as it did the day Joe’s dad re-did it for us!

• I don’t think I’ve mentioned it here yet, but I stopped taking the pill back in October. Before you get excited, though — We’re still using protection. I just felt like I’d heard enough stories of girls who felt like the pill made them crazy, or decreased their sex drive, or screwed around with them in some way or another, and I wanted to try going off it to see if it helped things. Well, I certainly feel less crazy since stopping the pill. When I was on it, I felt like my mood would change drastically ALL THE TIME, with no real reason or explanation. And now, that seems to be happening much less frequently. I mean, I’m still a girl, so I still get moody and cry for no reason sometimes, but it’s not as intense or as often nowadays. As for my sex drive? That’s still suffering some. I feel like I could benefit from writing a whole post about this, but I don’t think this is the place to post it. Or if I do, it’ll be private. But I can say that when we have sex now that I’m off the pill, I seem to enjoy it physically a LOT more than I did before. I just need to work on going after sex more often, rather than constantly rattling off practical reasons why we should wait for a more convenient time. (Clearly all the guys are jealous they didn’t get ME for a wife, right? Messy, disorganized, can’t cook, doesn’t care enough about sex…I’m a keeper.)

• Oh, and my orthodontist said I will probably get my braces off late spring or early summer of this year! That was some exciting news, since his original estimate had me getting them off around April-June of NEXT year. Which means it’s highly likely I will have them off before we go to Scotland in August.

The top photo is my teeth last May, and the bottom is my teeth a couple weeks ago when I got the left front tooth fixed (had a small chip).

• Did I mention we’re going to Scotland? Because we are. (YAY!)

Enter Katherine and Stephany, who have joined up to create an initiative called 12 Changes, 12 Months. They’ve been talking about this since December and I’ve been stubbornly pretending I didn’t need to be a part of it because I have all my crap together. This probably isn’t a newsflash to ANYONE, but hi! I do not have all my crap together.

A lot of people seem to be focusing on making healthy changes like eating better, exercising more, drinking water and so on. And I think my initial resistance to joining 12 Changes was probably because I don’t feel like I am really off-track with that stuff, seeing as how I’m pursuing a career in physical fitness and all. Sure, I’ve got room for progress, but it’s not something that is affecting my everyday life or well-being.

But then the other day, I had one of those Ugly Cry Talks with Joe and suddenly that light bulb in my brain (which was apparently catching dust from lack of use) lit up and I realized, hey! I need a measurable plan. I need something I can work at gradually rather than trying to make it all happen at once — because clearly I have failed at that approach countless times over the last, like, 20 years of my life.

Plus, I never regret opening myself up to a community of supportive people willing to keep me in check when I go on a growing journey like this. (I’m looking at you, Weigh-in Wednesdays. I seriously don’t think I could’ve lost those 15 pounds without promising my readers I’d tell them what the scale said each week.)

So here we go. I’ve made a list of twelve changes, one to focus on during each month of the year. My hope is that I will be able to set my mind on each month’s change and really solidify it as a habit, so that it’ll be easy to continue doing it the next month when I start working toward the next change. I’m going to describe each change thoroughly here so that I’ll have a good road map to follow at the start of each month.

These are the changes I hope to turn into habits this year:

Keep clothes put away daily. This means putting away all of my clothes as soon as laundry is done, rather than leaving them in piles for days or weeks or forever. It means putting dirty clothes in the hamper as soon as they come off, rather than leaving them on the bathroom floor, bedroom floor, living room floor, etc. It means putting worn-but-still-wearable clothes away as well, rather than draping them over chairs or stacking them on top of my dresser.

***

Organize surface clutter. This means creating specific homes for everything that usually gets scattered across my dining room table, kitchen counters and my desk. I’ve been pinning tons of organizational how-to posts, which I’ll check out to come up with the best way to sort and store paperwork, hair accessories, electronics and cords, and all that jazz. The main goal for this month will be to create a system that works, which will probably require some tweaking as things progress.

***

Keep counters and tabletop clear. This means putting into effect the system I have just spent February perfecting. I want to see my dining room table used to actually eat meals rather than to hold endless crap that can easily be put away as soon as I walk in the door.

***

Put away bathroom stuff daily. This means that once I’m done getting ready in the morning, my makeup, brushes, hair dryer and such don’t get left on the counter. It means putting that stuff in its specified place, not just throwing it in a drawer or cabinet, either. Fortunately I already have the system for where things should go pretty well established; I just need to stick to it. Since putting stuff away will hopefully be a fairly easy task now that I’ve been working on it in the other rooms for a while, I also want to spend April getting the bathroom cleaning supplies more efficiently organized.

***

Organize pantry and cupboards. This means purging excess cooking supplies (like, do I really need FOUR cupcake baking sheets?) and outdated canned foods, and then coming up with a solid organizational system for all of it. I’m thinking I may even take photos of each area so I can reference it in the future to make sure stuff stays where it belongs.

***

Organize fridge and freezer. This means a thorough cleaning (which hasn’t been done in probably a year and a half — eek!) and deciding where stuff is going to go rather than just shoving it wherever it fits. Perhaps food won’t go bad as often if I can actually see it? If this proves to be a super easy goal this month, I’ll take the extra time to evaluate the first five months’ goals and make sure I’m still doing well with them.

***

Sort through and organize recipes. This means getting rid of some of the cookbooks we received as gifts, if it’s pretty clear they have never ever been touched. (Sorry, gift-givers!) It means gathering loose recipes and transcribing them onto the pretty cards I had custom made from an etsy seller and then promptly did not use at all. It means creating a more user-friendly system for tracking recipes I’ve tried and liked, ones I want to try, etc.

***

Start using my nice, organized recipe system for meal planning. This means utilizing some of the tips I’ve pinned on storing leftovers, cooking in bulk for freezing and defrosting later, and trying out new recipes so I can add to my very tiny collection of Things I Don’t Suck at Making. It means learning to prepare fresher foods so we can cut back on processed foods, which will not only help make us healthier, but will also help me feel like less of a cooking moron. I’d like to come up with a weekly plan that includes at cooking least one “real” meal and work my way up from there.

***

Email purge. This means go through my ENTIRE Gmail account and get it — THE HECK — together. This task is overdue to the max, people. I’ve gotta trash the crap I don’t need, make folders for stuff I want to keep, and reply to emails I’ve been “saving” for ages and ages. This will also be the time to work at staying on top of emails from now on — the folders, the prompt replying, and the not holding on to pointless trash.

***

Organize computer files. This means everything I just did for Gmail, applied to all other electronic aspects of my life. It means sorting out digital photos and creating a system by year, month, date and event. Probably I should also have a folder to stick extra special or awesome photos for potential printing or creative projects. It means cleaning up my Google Docs for better navigation. AND it means updating my resume (if, by October, I’m not already working an awesome job as a personal trainer).

***

Make a cleaning schedule. This means sitting down with Joe and mapping out daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly chores. I want to be WAY more on top of keeping the bathroom and kitchen clean especially, but also we need to pinpoint those oft-forgotten things like dusting the blinds, pulling out the fridge to clean the floor underneath, and washing our guest comforters, to name a few. I also want to investigate some of the cleaning solutions I’ve pinned like how to keep the tub/shower clean (especially in a very moist environment like our cozy beach condo).

***

Budget overhaul. If we haven’t sorted out our bank accounts by now, it is MAJORLY about time. This means getting a joint savings account; figuring out the best plan for retirement savings; looking at our total take-home income after bills, payments, etc. and planning monthly grocery, gas, and other spending budgets; setting up direct deposits into our savings account(s) and making specific savings goals for things like Babies, Cars, a New House, and so on. Basically, by December I will hopefully have the rest of my domestic life relatively under control, and then we can get serious about planning for our future. Or something responsible like that.

***

I really hope this helps me get my life in even SLIGHTLY better order than it is now, although I have a feeling the change will be a lot more than slight. The one thing I’m just a little nervous about is how this will affect the parts of my life that are currently pretty a-okay, like my workout routine and relatively healthy eating habits, and the development of good friendships and regular girlfriend get-togethers. But the plan, at least as it’s materializing in my head, is to keep up with all that stuff and allow these twelve changes to slowly become integrated in with everything else.

Anyway, wish me luck! And if you made it to the end of this post, have some cookies!

***

Joe took me to a shooting range to get comfortable with the type of gun he keeps at home for potential intruders, and it turns out I’m not a terrible aim, for the most part. I even hit a couple bullseyes, thankyouverymuch. But I also pinched my finger the first time I went to pull back the slide mechanism, which resulted in an icky blood blister and a little cut. I felt pretty silly walking up to the counter to ask for a band-aid when everyone else was there to buy ammo.

***

Joe’s gift from Santa (otherwise known as my parents) this year was two tickets to see Adam and Jamie (of Mythbusters fame) at their live show in LA next weekend! So really, it’s a gift for both of us, and I’m pretty excited about it. I have NO idea what a live Mythbusters show entails, but I’m sure it will be spectacularly nerdy.

***

We’re going to Scotland! I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that we’re hoping to go in 2012, but plans have been firming up with Joe’s parents over the last several weeks, and TODAY we bought our tickets. Non-refundable, so there’s basically no backing out now (I should probably hurry up and get my passport changed with my married name, huh?). August 24 cannot come soon enough! It’s been way too long since I flew over any oceans, you guys.

That’s all for now. Happy Friday!

Anyway, here’s a quick slightly lengthy update on life since November 30th…

***

I got A’s in both the classes I took last semester at city college (not that it matters, since I only took them for fun). I was going to sign up for another class or two this semester but thought better of it, since I need to really focus my evenings on studying my CPT materials. Also, the class I was most interested in was already full before my registration slot even came up.

***

I found out I may be getting my braces off as early as this fall (instead of spring 2013)! I’m crossing my fingers that it’ll happen before my anniversary, but we’ll see. Anything in the realm of THIS YEAR will be a spectacular improvement on the original predicted duration for these doggone braces.

***

I did not manage to stay under 150 pounds during the holidays, but I also didn’t screw myself over completely. Yesterday I weighed in at 151.4 and I decided I’m only going to weigh myself once a month from now on, instead of weekly. The number isn’t so important anymore — it’s about how I feel in those skinny jeans! (And despite my slackerish eating and exercising in December, I still feel pretty good in them, and I plan to feel GREAT in them again in no time.)

***

My belly button piercing almost got the best of me. I knew going into it that the navel can take six months to a YEAR to heal, but nevertheless, I started getting impatient with it when it was still a little red and sore after only two months. I actually tried to unscrew it and take it out at one point, but I couldn’t get the stupid thing apart. Lo and behold, it’s much better now and I’m glad I’ve kept it in. Still healing, but I think it’s gonna be okay.

***

Christmas was excellent. I had such a fulfilling, relaxing time with both my family and Joe’s, and I even managed to avoid catching the nasty bug that three of my family members had while we were with them. Gift exchanges were lovely and thoughtful, but my favorite thing was just kicking back and being with loved ones.

***

While I was in the desert, I checked out my friend’s new fitness studio for a few of the group classes she offers. (This is probably a key reason I didn’t gain several pounds MORE than I might have if I’d taken the two weeks completely off from exercising.) If I still lived in that area, I would definitely be signing up for a membership. And if YOU live in the Coachella Valley, I highly recommend checking it out!

***

I got Joe an adorable hat for Christmas, and I saved this photo as my phone’s background because I think he looks absolutely pulchritudinous in it. (Also, re-watching Gilmore Girls has me on a using-fancy-sounding-words-that-mean-pretty-basic-things kick.) Please disregard the unhappy-looking lady staring at the camera behind Joe’s shoulder.

***

My sister broke her ankle in a major way. She had to have surgery to put the bone back in place AND fix a ruptured ligament or tendon or something. Sucks for her, but it meant I got to hang out with her a lot at home while we were there, playing games and catching up on life. She is really a stellar human being, and I wish I could spend more time with her regularly.

***

I’ve sort of given up on my 101 in 1001 list. I mean, I will probably accomplish a bunch more of the items on it before the 1001 days are up, but there are enough of them that are already technically “fails” because the timeframe is “for an entire year” or something, and my 1001 days are up on my anniversary this year (August 8). So, I dunno. I’ll keep the page up and update it as things happen, but I’m not freaking out over getting everything done because frankly? Life is full of excitement and progress lately, and I don’t need a list anymore to keep me motivated. (Also, my goals have changed some since I wrote that list.)

***

Joe got me an ENORMOUS water bottle. No, seriously. It holds 64 oz and is BPA-free and shiny and basically doubles as a dumbbell to carry around all day so I’m pretty much working out and hydrating at the same time. But my point is, I’m going to make a conscious effort to fill it up at the beginning of the day and finish the entire thing at least once per day. I succeeded on Tuesday, but not so much yesterday. Today I’m almost halfway done with the bottle, so I should probably get to drinking more of it. Anyway, I like it a lot, especially because when I take it to the gym, people are all, “Whoa! Have some water, will ya?” And I’m like, “Why thank you, I think I will!” *GULPGULPGULP*

***

Our church is encouraging everyone to read through the entire Bible in 2012. I have made weak-sauce attempts at this several times in the last ten years, but never even come close to succeeding. I feel good about it this time, though, because it’s a HUGE group effort, and I have an app! How could I possibly fail with an app, right? But really, I’m looking forward to taking on this challenge, and I’m 5 for 5 so far this year! Only 361 days to go.

***

The Nerd Nook is back from a sort of unannounced hiatus over the holidays, and we’ve welcomed a new member, JennBizzle! The structure at this point is that we each have a designated day to vlog (versus the rotating — very confusing — schedule we were doing before), and my day is Fridays. I’m all for taking topic suggestions, too, so that we’re not just rambling for four minutes about nothing.

***

I’m now a part of two book clubs! One is local and one is virtual. But anyway, my SB book club is reading The Night Circus this month, and I finished it in record time. Our meeting isn’t till the 19th, and I am seriously considering reading it a second time because it was THAT GOOD. (I don’t understand why some of the reviews on Goodreads are so negative, but whatever. I loved it.) The virtual book club is called #twookclub (and I don’t want to brag or anything, but I totally came up with that name), and we’re supposed to be reading The Marriage Plot this month. Jury’s still out on whether I will actually read it, though.

***

I would mention some of the things I hope to do this year (I guess the kids are calling them resolutions or something), but I’ll be covering that in my vlog tomorrow so I don’t want to be repetitive. Except I’ve already kind of touched on some stuff here, so I guess I’m gonna end up being repetitive anyway.

***

Clearly I am out of practice at blogging, because this post is ridiculously long and rambly.

Oh wait…I think that’s basically how I roll all the time.

***

Until next time, pals. But don’t hold your breath; it could be another month before I think of something to say again.

But this year, I’m not sure how inspired I’ll be now that the thirty days are done. I definitely had more days of “fluff” posts this month than I would have liked, but it was mostly because I spent so much of this month doing things away from a computer. I rarely had the urge to sit and reflect on life, because I was having too much fun DOING LIFE.

So, I may or may not stay active in the blogging game in the coming months. I hope to at least record the big stuff, the special memories and whatnot. But I have so much planned for the next while, like studying my butt off for my NASM certification, and I’m kinda also hoping to be a lot more social in my own town next year.

All this to say, I love NaBloPoMo as much as ever, but I make no guarantees about how often I’ll be posting after today.

Anyway, this book showed up on my Goodreads personalized recommendations, based on books I’ve read and rated in the past. And Goodreads knows me, apparently, because I am really enjoying this one. It’s about two women who work together at a newspaper and send each other personal emails using their company accounts. They know their emails are being “monitored,” but they never get in trouble so they figure maybe it’s just a scare tactic. But the reason they haven’t been caught is that the person hired to check all the flagged emails gets emotionally attached to the women’s stories, and basically he falls in love with one of them.

I’m about three-quarters through with it, so we’ll see how it turns out. The endings of books are usually the part where I can get a little irritated if it doesn’t turn out in a way I like or can at least understand the rationale behind. (Wow, terrible grammar much? I must be tired because I’m not even gonna try to fix it.)

Read any good books lately?

I decided yesterday that it’d been WAY too long since I last watched the entire Gilmore Girls series from start to finish. As in, it’s been at least a year, maybe TWO. (I know, you’re gasping for air right now.)

So I’m almost through the first two discs of Season 1 already, and I’ve begun collecting one favorite quote from each episode by tweeting it using the hashtag #GilmoreGirlsFaves. Out of context, there is probably nothing all that funny about these quotes, but if you know the show, you might giggle a little at them. Here’s what I’ve tweeted so far:

If you’re thinking, Meh, I don’t know Tabitha’s sister, so I’m not really invested in her well-being? Just…LOOK at this adorable face and tell me you don’t already love her.

I mean, she’s only the greatest sister in the history of the universe. So wish her well, would ya?

I wasn’t sure if I liked it at first, but I couldn’t stop smelling my hair all day, so I think I must like it after all. It’s a really fresh scent!

Note: I wrote this long before midnight and accidentally uploaded it as a draft instead of a published post, so I’m counting it as a legit one for Saturday.