1. Keep applying to jobs and follow up. Yes and a somewhat yes. I did apply for lots of jobs and there were a few I’ve followed up on, making sure my resume has been received and finding out about the interviewing process. Towards the end of the month, I decided I needed to take more action with my job searching and stop using the websites everyone is using. I’m looking at Craigslist and other media-centric job search engines.

2. Get back to eating healthy. Success! I am back on Weight Watchers and following the plan like I should. And now that I have eTools, I think it’s going to be even easier and more motivating to keep within my points range. I’m really hoping July is a month for crazy-good weight loss!

3. Exercise 5-6 times a week. Another big check mark for this one! And I can thank my new gym membership for getting me back on the exercise train — and loving it. I let my body rest on Saturdays but every other day of the week, I’m at the gym for at least an hour doing anything from a fitness class to regular ole cardio. Buying that membership was the best thing I ever did. (Plus, at $60 a month, there is no way I wouldn’t use it to its full advantage. That’s too much money to be throwing away!)

4. Make the most of my weekends. This goal was half-won. The first half of June, I killed it. One Saturday was spent at Busch Gardens, another spent at a water park with my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. It finally felt like I was doing more with my weekends and it felt good. But then I slipped back into my ways, living small and keeping to myself. My goal is to keep at this goal, making plans – simple as they may be – every weekend. I want to be more social and this is one small step to doing that.

5. Tidy up my blog. Uh, no. If anything, I made it worse. Sigh. Lots of work to do this month on my blog.

Goals for July: reorganize my room (it’s a mess right now, things shoved in different areas of the room with no real design feel), drink 1 liter of water a day, start writing again, make a budget and stick to it, and, of course, apply, apply, apply to jobs!

June marks a whole lotta nuthin’ for me. It’s nice to have a month free of obligations and nothing pressing to get to, but there’s also a sense of sadness that all the fun stuff of 2011 is over and now it’s time to hit to job hunt hard. I think it’s imperative I find a job for everyone’s sake. You really don’t want me complaining for another two months now, do you?

My goals for May were simple and achievable:

1. Graduate from college: Big fat checkmark for this one! My commencement ceremony was one of the highlights of my life. I was in a bit of a fog as I walked across the stage, mostly afraid I would trip or look stupid, but I just remember how happy I was that night. Happy that this part of my life was over and happy that I had finally achieved this monster goal. The fact that I’m not preparing for classes or trying to figure out how to coincide my work schedule with my school schedule makes me insanely joyful. No more school – ever! (Unless I decide to go to graduate school, which is still a decision I have yet to make.)

2. Enjoy my cruise. Oh, yes. I most definitely did. My mantra for the cruise was to enjoy the moment. I didn’t want to think about leaving the ship or going back to work or anything but what was happening at that moment. It was the best vacation I’ve ever gone on and I think I’m hooked on cruises now!

3. Apply to 3 jobs a day. Ehhh? I think I applied to somewhere around 15-20 jobs during the month of May, none yielding any positive results. Boo hiss. Discouragement is rampant but I’m also trying to settle myself down and just focus on applying my little heart out until the opportunity shows itself. While my current job isn’t ideal, it does give me some income and keeps me busy so I’m not sitting around like a bum. So there’s that.

4. Restart Project 365. Success! Even if I did start it on the first day of my cruise. I’m hoping to find it easier to just take pictures this go round, documenting the little areas of my life. I know that when I’m not seeking this goal, my camera gets thrown in a drawer and forgotten about so it’s a good way for me to keep snapping photos, no matter how lame they may be.

5. Take Dutch on two long walks a week. Let’s not even talk about this. Sorry, little guy.

As for my goals for June, it’s time to get back on the wagon! I want to keep applying for jobs daily and follow up on the ones I apply for when I can, get back to eating healthy, exercise 5-6 times a week, make the most of my weekends, and tidy up my blog.

Here’s to a rockin’ June! Who has fun plans for this upcoming month?

I am so excited about May. It marks the first month post-college and I have so much to look forward to! Between my graduation, cruise, and hopeful big news to come, it’s going to be a fun month! I’m excited about life without the constant pressure of school (although the constant pressure of finding a job is no better). I expect a lot from May and I can’t wait to see what’s next for me!

Last month, I had some simple goals:

Complete the IronGirl 5K. This was an easily completed goal, and I even beat my previous PR! I hadn’t been running much beforehand so I wasn’t expecting a PR but I have one and I’m very happy with the way this race went for me.

Keep school the priority. Another big fat plus! I let blogging fall to the back burner in April as I worked on assignments and studied. I put in a lot of hours of homework and I’m just so happy with the way I focused myself. But I’m even happier that school is OVER FOR GOOD!

Clean up my resume and begin applying to jobs. Check! In April, I applied for four different jobs in four different fields. And most everyone knows I had an interview with a company I was really excited to work for last week, and my second interview was yesterday. Well, the job was not what I was expecting. From 10:30 – 5:30 (with a one-hour break for lunch), we visited 39 companies to sell them a product. I do not do sales. At all. Not even a little bit. And especially not door-to-door sales. Needless to say, I was very honest about how this wasn’t the job I was expecting. I wasn’t hired for the job and I’m happy about it. Sort of. I am a little disappointed I didn’t get to turn down the job! 😉

Start meal planning and limit trips to the grocery store. Negative. Wow, I didn’t even attempt this goal. I did tell my mom that I will be taking over grocery shopping once I have a job because I just want to get this under control!

Take Dutch on longer walks. So-so. I did well at the beginning of April but fell off the wagon towards the end of the month. (Can I blame school for this?) Still, this kid used to be able to speed-walk 2 miles with no problems and he starts lagging after a mile. I need to get his endurance up again!

My goals for May are simple: graduate from college, enjoy my cruise, apply to 3 jobs a day, restart Project 365 (I totally fell off the wagon in April and I’m determined to be successful at this!), and take Dutch on two long walks a week.

I have high hopes for April. By the end of this month, I will have one more assignment due (a one-question essay final) until graduation. It feels surreal. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. For my professors to tell me I didn’t learn enough to graduate with this degree. It happened before, so I’m on pins and needles, hoping it won’t happen a second time.

April marks a month of preparing for life after college, taking my health seriously (I mean it, this time!), and organizing my life from the inside out. It’s sure to be a busy month, but I can’t wait to dig into all it has in store for me!

For once, I managed to accomplish all the goals I set last month. I didn’t make them too hard, as I was dealing with shingles and trying to figure out why I ended up with them so my goals were to heal and cope with stress, as well as prepare to read my short story aloud. I did heal, even though there were days it felt like my blisters were never going to go away. And I have taken some steps to help with my stress levels: to-do lists, making school a priority, knowing when I need to relax, and taking long walks when I feel overwhelmed. So far, so good. As for my short story? Well, you all know how that went!

For April, though, I have some very specific goals to accomplish:

• Complete the IronGirl 5K. I’m still not sure how I’m going to feel on race day, knowing I should be running the half-marathon. But every time I think of the race, it feels so good to know I just need to accomplish 3.1 miles, not 13.1. Ideally, I’d like to PR but my running hasn’t been up to par these last few weeks so I’m just hoping to run a good majority of it.
• Keep school the priority. I have two exams, a slew of blogs and quizzes, a portfolio website, and a short story standing between me and graduation. I want to give my full focus and attention to school and finish strong and luckily, the workload isn’t too insane. As long as I keep on top of everything, it should be a smooth month, school-wise.
• Clean up my resume and begin applying to jobs. I had to submit a resume for my capstone course and it was pretty rough, to say the least. Luckily, some awesome resume rock stars looked it over and gave me lots of pointers. Since then, I haven’t done much with it but I do want to spruce it up to make it more presentable. Also, happening this month: applying to jobs. I’m excited to see what’s out there, but not fooling myself that I’m going to find something quickly. I’m prepared to search for 3 months before I’ll let discouragement set in.
• Start meal planning and limit trips to the grocery store. My mom and I are terrible at meal planning. We usually end up at the store 4-5 times a week because we only buy for a few days. In the past, we have tried to become better at planning our meals throughout the week but we always fall off the horse. We end up spending 3x as much in groceries because we’re poor planners. Plus, this gives us an opportunity to try out new recipes as we usually just resort to the same stuff every week. (Any good websites for meal planning?)
• Take Dutch on longer walks. Since we live in an apartment, Dutch gets a short little walk a few times a day. But even at age 9, he’s an active little guy and I know how much he enjoys our longer walks – even if they do make him incredibly tired for the rest of the day. I want to get better at taking him on longer walks throughout the week, at least 1-2 miles, because I want him to stay active and it makes him so happy.

What are you most excited about in April?