Currently - Jan '15

Last week got pretty busy at work, with even more time spent staring at a computer screen than usual. I know my eyes and brain appreciated the break in the evenings, but I am disappointed to have missed the "Currently" link-up with Anne and Jenna this month. Better late than never, here's what I've been up to of late: 

...to run my first 10K on March 1, provided the ground isn't completely covered in ice or other wintery precipitation.  I have a training plan taped to my fridge, but I have only gotten in about half of the prescribed workouts for the first two weeks.

...the work project I spent 20+ hours formatting last week doesn't need any revisions. With my track record though, maybe I won't be the one asked to do them.

...carrot cake. I was excited to try out a recipe my mom gave me over Christmas, but the second step called for three ingredients that were not included in the list above the instructions. I pulled out another cookbook and found a very similar recipe that made a dozen cupcakes for a dinner get-together and a single 9" round cake to take into work the next day.

...low heeled ankle boots. They go with skirts/tights as well as pants for work and keep my feet warmer than my usual flats and wedges. I've started looking for a second pair to put into the rotation for the cold months ahead.

...to continue working on my 30 before 30 list and general monthly goals. I am also trying to be more decisive and act on items from both my to-do and want-to lists.

30 before 30: 12 month report

Happy New Year! I hope everyone's 2015 is off to a great start! 

A year ago, I finalized my "30 before 30" list and created a page for it on this lil' blog.  I also proclaimed "I will be crossing off items as I finish them"  and "assessing my progress every six months." And just like June, I haven't really done the first part of that, but the six month check-ins are there for a reason, so let's get to it.

As the daughter of two lawyers I feel obliged to start with the following disclaimer: my deadline for completing this list is December 31, 2015.  Technically this three months and seven days after my 30th birthday, but who's counting anyway?

Blog
1. Edit labels - 12/2014 - Not so much editing as figuring out how to make them a look a bit neater, but that was mostly what I was going for anyway.

4. Photo site --> Post 1X/week* - As in June, I am allowing myself to edit one goal.  I've been trying to streamline my digital life by unsubscribing to offer e-mails, unfollowing blogs I don't consistently read and enjoy, and generally avoiding facebook, so starting a photo site didn't really make sense.  As an added bonus, this is now a two-fer goal!*

Cooking
6. Bake bread from scratch - Chocolate Almond Swirl 4/2014

8. Try 5 new/unusual foods - (2/5 - chipotle chiles in adobo sauce 10/2014, dragon fruit 12/2014 ) This one is actually harder than I thought it would be; I guess I know what I like and stick to it. Neither of the foods above is terribly exotic, but I had a hard time finding the chipotle chiles (and had no idea they came in the sauce) and I got pick the dragon fruit right off of the cactus, which I think should count for something.

9. New recipe 1X/week* - (33/52 - 2014)  I am really satisfied with this number! And very glad that I have started blogging about them every month, because there were definitely not that many blue circles on my wall calendar. 

Fitness
10. Run color/electric race - (Rainbow Rush "5K" 5/2014) This race was sponsored by an arts collective, started 20-30 minutes late, and was really only half as long as it was supposed to be. I went mostly for the experience of running through clouds of colored cornstarch, so at least that part went as planned.

14. Yoga 1X/week - (33/52 - 2014) While there is certainly some room for improvement here, yoga at least every other week is much better than than little or no yoga at all.

Personal Growth
17. Attend 2  professional conferences - (2/2 - National Women's Bicycle Bicycling Forum 3/2014; Safe Routes to School National Partnership Regional Meeting 10/2014) Both of these events were a bit different than the average professional conference, but then again, the growing field of active transportation planning (bicycle and pedestrian planning) is a bit different than other fields.  At the Women's Bicycling forum, I heard inspirational stories from female bicycle advocates, competitive cyclists and the CEO's of companies that manufacture and sell bicycle-related projects.  It was really interesting to see bicycling from the non-infrastructure perspective. Mark Fenton was the keynote speaker at the Safe Routes to School Regional Meeting, and hearing him speak seems like a requirement for anyone in my field, so that was pretty cool.

18. Find & commit to a regular volunteer opportunity - (Girl Scout Troop 788 Cookie Manager/Volunteer 1-6/2014) These girls, and my fantastic, fearless co-leaders are some of the things I miss the most about leaving Charlottesville.  Sure, we crammed an insane amount of stuff into one semester (seriously, cookies alone kept us busy for three months) but it was really fun, and fascinating to be around a bunch of 5th graders. Are they kids? Teenagers? Whatever they are at any given moment will be sure to change in the next 30 seconds.

19. Read 12 non-fiction books - (5/12 - Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices, Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Bikenomics, Blink, At Home) I feel like there's another one to add to the list, but I can't place it at the moment.  Oh well.  

20. Donate blood - (7/2014) Of all the goals on this list, this might be the one I most proud of so far.  I was really nervous walking from my office to the little conference center where the donation room had been set up. The finger prick hurt A LOT, and I had to avert my eyes most of the time but I survived and will likely donate again anytime its as easy as walking across the street.

Relationships
21. Plan wedding - (I now have 3 bridal magazines in my possession, and I joined Pinterest 11/2014) A year later, this goal and the next goal seem out of order. Read more below.

22. Get married - (Engaged 8/29/2014; Fiance visa paperwork filed 10/2014) Yes, I am trying to just casually slip in the fact that Keizo proposed in August, and I have never posted about it on any form of social media. I tried to let everyone closest to me know over the phone, and I hope no one feels left out if you are just learning about it here.  Maybe its selfish to keep such exciting news a relative secret, but honestly I find it much harder to be engaged to someone 8,000 miles away than just date him (even if it's been headed this direction for a while). There are so many questions we don't have the answers to yet: 'When will he be here?' 'When/where will you get married?' 'What will he do here?' and believe me, I wish I knew. The hardest is 'What do his parents think?' because I honestly have no earthly idea, and really worry about how often Keizo will be able to see them after he moves here. 

Here's the gist of it looking ahead: Last we heard, the application for Keizo's fiance visa was received by the processing center in Texas.  Once it is reviewed, they will forward it to the US Embassy in Tokyo, where he will go for an interview and have a medical exam. After he gets his visa and arrives in the US, we will have 90 days to get married.  After we're wed, he will apply for a "change in status" i.e. a green card so he can get a job. The current train of thought is a small civil ceremony with my immediate family shortly after he arrives, and a bigger reception at a location yet to be determined down the road.

24. Write letter 1X/week* - (37/52 - 2014)  I confess to beefing up this total with the 16 Christmas cards I wrote in December, but again this is something that I do manage to do slightly more often than I make note of on the calendar.

Travel 
Blergh! I hate that I don't have anything to show in this category yet.  There was definitely not as much travel as in 2013 for several reasons, but now that I have a job squared away it will be a bit easier to budget funds and paid time off for some adventures in 2015.

*Monthly Goals (Two-fers)

Exercise for at least 30 minutes 5X/week (162/260 - 62%) I set this goal thinking that 30 minutes was very achievable and I would work out more often. I logged 192 workouts in 2013, so my logic didn't exactly hold up. In my defense, I couldn't find my calendar among the moving boxes to record any workouts for most of August or September...

Cook a new recipe 1X/week (33/52 - 63%) I am still rather impressed with myself for this one! I wonder if this rate will increase when Keizo is living here; we will be consuming more food, and perhaps cooking more often thus more opportunities to try out new things?

Blog 1X/week (29/52 - 55%) This one turned out better than I thought it would. I will probably never have another 2011 with 93 posts (seriously, wow) but I would like to be in the 40's next year.

Write a letter 1X/week (37/52 - 71%) Including 16 Christmas cards in this count feels even more like cheating when I see the percentages, but they were all handwritten with personal messages. I think this year I will amend this goal to "Write a letter or call a faraway friend 1X/week."

Do something interesting/new 1X/week (5/52 -10%) I will be the first to admit that I have taken to staying in on these dark, cold evenings but I know I did more than the five "interesting" things I happened to record in 2014. Especially living in a new city with a ton of free things to do, I have no excuse not to dramatically improve this number in 2015. I think making a DC bucket list might help, but I also need to come up with a better tracking system.