Growing up, February was my least favorite month of the year. The thrill of a new year was over and I was faced with a long month of no school breaks at all. Spring Break seemed incredibly far away and Valentine’s Day is probably my least favorite holiday. (Halloween is a very close second.)
February really doesn’t have much to offer itself to me. I have a long month of homework, half-marathon training, and regular ole work ahead of me.
But I’m also happier than I’ve ever been. I’m not sure why, but I’m going with it! There’s such joy in unexplained happiness!
Onto my goals for February…
Establish a bedtime routine. I don’t have much of a bedtime routine. I’m usually watching TV while reading blogs until 10:30pm, realizing how late it is and how tired I am and hurriedly rush through my bedtime routine before collapsing into bed after 11pm. Since I wake up at 5am, I really need to get to bed by 9pm. I want to establish a better routine of shutting down my laptop, taking Dutch out, washing my face and brushing my teeth, as well as preparing my school bags and breakfast for the next day. I’m aiming to hit the sack at 9:30pm this month and hopefully inching my way up to the 9pm time slot by March.
Run 3 times a week, hitting my goal half-marathon pace at least once. Lately, I’ve been having some really, really good runs. I’m actually enjoying it, even if my time is slower than I like. I’m trying to take the focus off the numbers and onto just running and having fun. So far, it’s working. I’m shooting to run the marathon in 2:55, which puts me at a 13:21 pace. For me, that’s incredibly fast. (For others, incredibly slow. Ha!) Just once, I want to hit that pace to give me the confidence I need to be able to run this way on race day.
Begin to create recipe cards. Stefanie is the one who got my gears spinning on this one. My mom and I have the hardest time coming up with meal ideas and the problem stems from a) we are members of the National Society for Indecisiveness (well, maybe. We haven’t made up our minds yet.) and b) we don’t meal plan correctly. I’m hoping to be able to start a little collection of meal ideas so we can refer to them while meal planning, making the process so much easier.
That’s it. Just three goals, because I think it’s the perfect amount. They all seemingly have to do with health and fitness (sleep, running, and eating) because that’s all that seems to consume my thoughts nowadays. If I can complete all these goals, I am treating myself to an Otterbox cell phone cover. I’ve been coveting this for a while but it’s pricey so I want to work for it!
Do you have any goals for February? What are you hoping to accomplish this month?
Great goals this month, girly!
This month I am determined to get in touch with my soon to be nephew's baby mama. I don't care about the problems she and my brother had. I would really like to get my nephew something and to meet him.
Good goals! Trying to get a regular bedtime is something I've been thinking about too..somehow I always get caught up in something throughout the night and always end up getting to bed way later than I'd like! Here's to both of us accomplishing that!!
(Also, how is it seriously February already?!)
Those are fabulous goals! One of the things that keeps me meal planning is that I cruise food blogs- it gets me fired up to try new things 🙂
Good luck! The going to sleep early thing is definitely hard, but I think you'll see a huge difference in your energy levels once you get it down pat!
LOL-you haven't made up your mind yet! Love it!!! Still needing some of your sunshine here.
All great goals! I am glad to hear that you are starting to enjoy running! Ah and sleep…I need to work on that as well. Perhaps I will make that one of my goals. 🙂 and can I join the National Society of Indecisiveness?
Great goals! Meal planning is SO helpful – and you'll be surprised at how much money you will save when you've got a plan instead of throwing a bunch of stuff in the cart.
PS .. is the picture of you and your nephew? It's adorbs.
This: "National Society for Indecisiveness" totally cracked me up. May I join? I'm indecisive too 🙂
I don't like February either. Gross weather. Stupid Valentine's Day. A month of nothing really.
My goals are to keep at the gym at least 4 times a week, organize my books (they are messy), and redo my resume since I haven't done it in ages and it's always a good idea to have it ready!
Great goals – I have a few, maybe I should post!
Wonderful goals for February! Making a recipe card box was one of the best things I've done since getting married. I usually go online to food blogs or websites and save or print recipes that sound good, and then I give them a try. If they're keepers, I make a recipe card for them and file it away. What also helps me with meal planning is making a menu for the week and grocery shopping for all the ingredients I'll need. This way, we don't have to wonder what to eat each night; it's already planned, and I have everything I need. It's saved us from eating out!
My goal for february: relax, don't freak out, try to make as many plans as I possibly can while also remembering that we can't really plan out life.
Great goals! I love them all! 😀 You will definitely achieve them. I have confidence!
I'm the same way about bedtime…there's just SO much to do in the space between getting off work and going to bed! Hard to get it all done!
My goal for this month is to SAVE MONEY! So very hard for me.
I'm with you on the bedtime goal. I want to find more time to read before I pass out for the night. Getting off the computer an hour early to just decompress sounds just right to me. Good luck with your goals for the month!
3 goals are good and manageable!
Great goals. I think that the bed time one would be the hardest. I am rarely in bed before midnight.
Glad to hear you're feeling happy 🙂 I'm totally over February, I'm ready for Springggg!! YES MAAMMMM. Hehe anyways.. establishing a bedtime routine? The only routine I have is stay up too late, do nothing, and then miss early class the next morning = bad. So yes, that's a good idea! Recipe cards? That's a good idea too. I have no real monthly goals other then to make more vintage sales than I did last month, which I'm losing hope on already. So much for a good attitude..
The good thing about Feb is that it's nice and short! 🙂 I like Feb, but I am one of the rare people who actually likes V-day. And my bday & my sister's bday are in Feb. So that helps!
My only goal for Feb is to fully enjoy my time in Paris!
1. "We are members of the National Society for Indecisiveness (well, maybe. We haven’t made up our minds yet.)" HILARIOUS. And can I join that club please, because I think I was born for it!
2. I love unexplained happiness 🙂
3. That bedtime goal sounds pretty good to me. I want to try getting on a better schedule for going to bed at a decent time and getting up early to tackle homework! Other goals: finish re-reading "The Eagle of the Ninth," start exercising more regularly, and develop a better quiet time.
I'm glad you like my recipe card box! 🙂 I have been doing it for two weeks now and it's been working well. My grocery bill decreased by $20 a week. 🙂
I am pretty confident that you will hit your half marathon pace. I just saw on Dailymile that you ran your recent run in the 13 min range. Congrats!!! I started out with a 11 min/mile pace in September and have shed two minutes of already. It's doable!!! 🙂