Taking Stock of 2010...

Oh, lets face it...you always set out for bigger and better...so when it actually kind of happens, its hard to know what to do with it sometimes. You don't always accomplish everything you expect or hope to, but instead, I choose to focus on what did happen this year...

-I had a baby...

My adorable and sweet little Eli...

(Feel free to awwwwwwwwwwwww your head off...If you don't, there's something wrong with you, I don't care how biased I am...)

-In spite of having child, still lost 20 pounds...give or take...

This is just a prediction, but i'm pretty positive I did anyways...I know my double chin disappeared and my face is not as round. I take this as a positive step forward...:) And since I won't be going through pregnancy this year, i'm gonna shoot for an additional 25 pounds off the body...or at least better muscle mass...and continued better eating...

-I have more than 5 dollars in the bank!

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssssss!

-I have less stuff...

This is a good thing....less clutter = more time to think about other things...like my kid...

And best of all...

I'M ENGAGED!!!

Ummm, omg, I have something super sparkly on my finger...that's just crazy! :)

Goal for 2011...Happiness...unadulturated, ridiculous amounts of happiness...Yup, I like that plan...

The Self - Improvement Quest - Post-Partum Update

Ok, not gonna lie, I really didn't think I was going to be writing this soon about self-improvement. I pretty much figured that I was going to be writing at the end of the year, about how there's always next year. I'm shocked to discover that I'm not! Yay!

K, here we go...

-Career Development

This out of everything has to be the exciting improvement! I got another job!! Yay! A job I like!! Yay! A job that only lasts until the end of January!! Uhh, awwwwwww. Oh well. Its another job. A job I like or at the very least, can tolerate. It makes me decent money. It gets me away from the ugly trend I've had over the last 2 1/2 to 3 years of taking crappy ass jobs because I needed the money and didn't really have a choice, because the economy sucked and everybody was competing for the jobs I wanted the most. Of course, I'm a mom now, and its amazing how much your priorities change in 9 months. I was devastated, heartbroken, over the loss of my radio career, and at a loss as to what I was going to do about it, because if I wasn't in radio, then who was I? Like, seriously, that was my attitude about it. I still think things happen for a reason, even if it takes a while for those things to happen. Maybe I was too into the whole working thing. I mean, I have to work, money is important if you want to do things, like take care of your child. It just doesn't have to be my whole life. More importantly, I don't want it to be my whole life. Like I was telling E (the runner) yesterday, I would like a job that pays decent, has decent benefits, and allows me the luxury of taking a week of paid vacation once in a while. While this job only lasts until January, there is the potential that I could turn this around in my favor and turn it into a permanent job. I did it with radio, not to mention several other jobs. The key is to get my foot in the door. My foot's in, now I've just got 4 months to prove myself.

-Financial Stability

This is the area that has improved the least since I wrote my mid-year update. Financially, we are technically barely keeping our heads above water, which sucks. Our saving grace was the simply fact that Ray makes good money and that I scrimped and saved before I went on maternity leave so that we would have gift cards and cash to fall back on when we really needed it. But, it still hurts to be out of work for 6 weeks or so, and then have Ray's paycheck take a beating because of the stupid weather (torrential rain = no work in Ray's world), so that hurt a lot. But, our kid has had food, diapers and wipes, which is like the big three of things they require most in baby world. It hasn't been easy, but I think by the end of the year, we'll back on a more even keel, especially since i'm making more money then what I was making before I went on maternity leave.

-Health and Wellness

This one is another shocker for me. Five weeks after birth and I'm back down to my pre-pregnancy weight! HOLY CRAP!! No seriously, you have no idea how excited I am about this. Couple this with the fact that my pre-pregnancy weight is the lowest I've weighed since I've graduated from college, and I'm setting a good trend for my future endeavor of losing some serious weight over the next year or so. I'm doing really well with my eating habits, continuing my trend of eating well-rounded, colorful meals and drinking LOTS of water, and very little other things, though my caffeine intake has increased some, since well, I don't sleep much. That's my only problem to an extent right now, but its not really my fault or my kid's. Its just how things roll. As he gets older, i'll get to sleep more.

Exercise is of course lacking, since I went through vaginal labor and i'm not allowed to do anything strenuous without official clearance. Its fine, I go back to the doctor on the 22nd, when I should get clearance to exercise and go back to my yoga and start my year long goal of training to walk/run the Susan G. Komen Foundation 5k. I'm trying to be positive, and i'm not guaranteeing the 5k will happen, but we'll see what happens.

Stress-wise, things have improved ENORMOUSLY since giving birth. Its not perfect, but i'm more back to my normal stress level, which is pretty cool. I feel better about life in general, and things feel accomplish-able, which I haven't felt about life in a really long time. We'll see how things go once i'm back on birth control. The one i'm going on has the potential to make me a little bit loopy, but i'm crossing my fingers it will be temporary.

-Education

That whole goal has been completely turned upside down on its head. This is because my career goals have changed and all that good crap. I still want to go to Barnes and Noble and get a Ms. Fix it book I was told about that hooks you up with how to fix things around your home. I'm officially ready to research taking a cooking class to really learn how to cook "outside the box". My friend A, who's practically Suzy Homemaker, gets creative with her cooking, so my goal is to aspire to be her to an extent. Bacon-wrapped Asparagus is pretty frigging sweet, so i'm looking for a class that will allow me to expand my mind enough to make things besides Hamburger Helper and things of that nature. Oh, and the one other thing, a parenting class of some kind, I think mostly as a way to meet other mommies and also to prove to myself that i'm not completely screwing up my kid.

-Minimalization/Organization

Uuugh, this more than anything has crashed and burned like you wouldn't believe. Of course, you try having this tiny person that some days refuses to be with anyone else, but YOU! Its getting better though, but i'm not nearly as organized as I could be. Minimalization is easier, of course, because I get rid of lots of stuff everyday and as Eli grows out of stuff, i have a tendency to put it away for future use for others. I'm hoping by the end of the year I'll be back into the swing of things being able to organize my stuff and my life and packing things away and getting ready to move somewhere next year.

-Future plans

I haven't made many future plans over the last few years. I've never felt I've had the ability to, without paid vacation and making more than $8.00 an hour. Having had those two things potentially change, makes me want to plan for the future. Finalizing our moving plans, marriage in another year or two maybe, planning a major trip for me, my son and my mom to go to England, so that he can experience culture like I did when I was little. Going to Disney World, making plans for holidays, having fun, learning, exposing my son to the joys and heartbreaks of life. I'm really excited about my future...more than I have been in a really long time.

The 2010 Self-Improvement Quest Mid-Year Update...

Umm, exsqueeze me, but we are already halfway through the year? Shut the hell up. No, seriously, I mean it. Anyways, since its been six months since I originally set out on the adventure of trying to improve my life FOR REAL this year, I figured I'd pause for a second and review what I planned on doing, and if I've actually gotten anywhere...

-Career Development

Ok, so here's the thing...unfortunately, the job market is tough. Whoa, way for me to blow your mind. However, I've still been job hunting. Well, I was job hunting until I got to be about 4.5 months pregnant and there was no way to ignore the fact that i'm, well, preggo. I mean, I tried, but unfortunately, while they may not come out and out and tell you they aren't hiring you because they don't want to lose you in 4 - 5 months to maternity leave, THEY DON'T WANT TO HIRE YOU BECAUSE THEY DON'T WANT TO LOSE YOU IN 4-5 MONTHS TO MATERNITY LEAVE. Blah! It sucks. I have lots of skills. I made a list of them for goodness sakes. But, you can't make someone hire you, I still fully believe that with all my heart. I have plans though. I sent my resume to the local chapter of the Susan G. Komen Foundation to volunteer with office work and event planning, because that is one good way to get some good experience, even if I can't convince people to hire me right now, maybe 6 months down the line they will. It can't hurt to try. I'll try to work on improving this after my son arrives.

-Financial Stability

Surprisingly, in spite of the fact that my job stinks and the pay stinks, I am on financially better ground than I was a year ago. Crazy, i know. But, our bills are being paid, on time. My credit card is going to be paid off hopefully before I go on maternity leave, and by tax time next year, we should only be paying two bills..cell phone and car insurance. Holy crap! The one thing I've sucked at is still savings. However, if we can continue down the path of paying off bills, i'm hoping that we will be able to start adding to our savings account when I get back to work. At least, that's my goal.

-Health and Wellness

Health and Wellness took on a mind of its own. Along with pregnancy, came my sudden addiction to fruits, vegetables, wheat bread, peanut butter and milk and water. Caffeine has not been in my system in over 7 months. (Imagine what I'm going to be like when I get it back, yikes!) I've cut a lot of unnecessary crap from my diet. I do yoga five days a week. (Not the most flexible gal still, but it helps with certain wellness aspects.) And, with Gestational Diabetes, i'm extremely picky about what I put in my mouth and how much. I'm not going to lie, i'm not perfect. I still like a little bit of sweets every once in a while, but it's quite different from a year ago, where I just kinda put whatever I felt like in my mouth and was done with it.

The one thing I didn't think about wellness wise, was stress. Stress is actually still quite a big thing in my life, and I really have got to find some constructive ways to deal with besides eating, or yoga...or crying, blech. I'll have to do some research on this and go from there.

-Education

There's a tie in I didn't talk about up in career development. But, its education too. Its considering taking tax preparation classes and becoming a tax preparer during tax season. Earlier this year, I ended up doing 4 different people's taxes, including my own. I mean, I got paid for it a little, but if i'm gonna do it, why not get really paid for it. I need to find a good program though. H&R Block has one, but its $300!! Aaaah, how do I pay for that? I'm researching that plan. (And looking into it for my mom, who needs a part time job.)

In other education aspects, I've had a lot of education on stuff I didn't plan on, especially the whole becoming a mommy thing. I'm taking a Lamaze class at the end of the month, a breastfeeding class, oh, I also took a nutrition class about having Gestational diabetes too. I don't know, my genius plan of getting a book to learn about my car failed miserably when my car died and we haven't been able to get the car fixed yet. I basically want to try to get a "Mrs. Fix-it" kind of book and learn how to fix basic things around the house, toilets, this, that and the other. And the boy and I have been discussing taking a cooking class together as something fun to do after I have the baby, though it might have to wait until next year depending upon the cost. Yes, i am in fact a nerd.

-Minimalization/Organization

Ok, here's my opinion. After the last 8 months, I really think minimalization/organization is a LIFETIME process. You can get rid of as much stuff as you want, and still end up with more stuff. Now, this may have to do with the fact that I keep accumulating so much stuff for the jellybean, but seriously, the amount of clothes I've donated, the things from college that i've gone through and decided what I did or didn't want once and for all, and then minimizing my parents house down some, its been unreal. We've gotten rid of so much stuff. But, it feels like we have so much more stuff!! I was really proud of myself for getting rid of quite a bit of our DVD collection, which was craziness, and in actuality, we only got rid of about half of what we actually had, but we still got a good chunk of change from it, which was pretty cool.

I think that's the best summary of my self-improvement, at least at this point...Things are about to get seriously crazy, especially with my jellybean coming. We'll see how things progress from there!

The 2010 Self-Improvement Quest Update

Anytime any major self-improvement project comes along in my life, unless I am really into it, I need a motivator. I can handle the career improvements and educational improvements on my own, but unless I basically have someone slapping my ass and telling me to "GO GO GO!" or unless I have a really good reason to do something exercise or health wise, I probably won't do it.

As it turns out, being an expectant mom is quite a motivator. Yes, I should do these things for myself, but part of my problem is that I like to help people and by eating better and exercising, I'm helping my baby and then once the baby's born, I can set a good example by continuing to eat healthy and lose weight. I'm weird, but hey, I'll take what I can get.

While browsing my favorite bookstore, I stumbled upon two books that are quite helpful so far in my self-improvement quest "What to Expect When Expecting" and "The 50 Best Jobs for Your Personality". Along with common sense and a changing appetite, my diet has thoroughly changed over the last month and a half. "What to Expect" helped guide me along into learning exactly what I need to make sure I need to get in my system and how much of it to help my baby, but even before I got the book, I started to find myself leaning towards eating better snacks, better meals and drinking different items. Its tough. I had to give up my freaking coffee (because there is no freaking point in drinking Decaf, i might as well just drink hot water and tea, which helps with nausea, my freaking mortal enemy right now), I am trying to get myself to drink more milk everyday to increase my intake of calcium, which is not one of my favorite drinks. One of my bestestes' favorite meals includes yogurt, granola and fruit and I've been tearing it up! (OH MY GOD, Strawberries are awesome right now!) Salads have become a daily part of my life and I'm learning about the good fat I need to intake to help the baby grow. The worst part of all of this right now has been the nausea, which leaves me not wanting to eat at all and having to work past it so that I don't starve myself or the baby, but i don't make myself sick.

I started Yoga! It kicked my ass. I found the DVD at Wally World for 9 bucks and after reading and talking to my baby doctor, I went ahead and started working it out. I had to take a break a few times the first day I did it to get a better idea of what position I was doing and also because I am not the flexible yet (which leads me to worry about how i'm going to do this at 6 months when my belly is popping out more and my balance is not nearly as good). But I felt so much better stress wise and health wise. I'm going to have to find another DVD to watch because I think I'm going to get bored doing the same thing after a month or so and once the temps warm up around here (which should be within the next week to two weeks), i'm going to go walking around the lake near my house every other day and mix that up with the yoga. I'm impressed with my motivation right now and am totally running with it for all its worth. (Haha.)

Career improvement is so hard right now. I can't believe i'm saying that! But there is nothing more frustrating than going on job interviews at a temp agency, only to find out you are competing against 30 other people for a job! Its hard to be optimistic. I've also come the conclusion that I need to come up with some back up plans for future careers I can have in my life, but I have such a hard time coming up with stuff for myself, because I've been in such a rut the last several years that I don't even know what to do anymore. So while I was walking around the bookstore this weekend, I stumbled up "The 50 Best Jobs For Your Personality" and immediately grabbed it and ran home. In it, it tests your personality traits and breaks down where your interests lie in terms of realism, artisticness (?), research and 3 other categories. Its really helped me to start think outside the box in terms of things I might like to do in this next stage of my life. I still think I would like to find a job I can do from home for the next 5 years or so, so that I can raise the baby and get the experience all the cool stuff, so I've been doing research and trying to get through all the crap and scams and hopefully I'll find something legitimate soon.

Organization/ Minimization is going ok. The boy is pretty positive that I am never going to actually minimize my life down because I have a tendency to keep certain things that remind me of certain times of my life. I'm emotional and this is not my fault, it makes me a well-rounded person, damnit. But I have thrown out a lot of stuff. I think its going to be a constant work in progress until we move out. Whatever, I'll be happy if I get organized to where I know where my stuff is at.

Education is being turned on its head constantly. I have my two books that i'm reading through and my baby doctor gave me three different magazines which are giving me all kinds of ideas and knowledge on the little munchkin inside me. I'm pretty positive that I'm going to end up going back to school, which I have absolutely no idea how I'm going to do, except hoping that I'll be able to take a lot of my classes over the internet. A girl can dream, right? I dunno. We'll see how things go.

I have to say though, that I think my progress is way awesome considering its only a month and a half into the year. Onward and upward!