Month of Purification*

As promised, my monthly post of resolutions.

But first, let's recap January:

Goal: Unpack my suitcase from winter break before MLK day.
Result: Success! I made it in just under the wire, finishing Sunday of the holiday weekend. Also, this small task inspired me into a full on cleaning frenzy.

Goal: Purchase a Metro Smartcard.
Result: Did it. Love it. Can't believe it took me so long.

Goal: Lift weights 1-2 times a week.
Result: Yes. I lifted at least once, and probably twice each week this month. When school (and group exercises classes) started again, I started going to a muscle conditioning class on Mondays for low weight/high reps. Wednesdays I've been using the machines. Also, we always do about 10 minutes of weights at the end of my step class on Thursdays. I plan to keep this routine up. Supposedly, now that I've done this for 21 days it should be ingrained in me as a habit, therefore eliminating the need for me to formally resolve to this again.

Goal: Have at least one day in January where all of my clothes and linens are clean, dry, and folded or hung in their proper place, save only the sheets on my bed and the clothes on my back.
Result: Not quite. I spent several evenings in a row watching Alias DVDs while doing laundry, and made huge progress on the doing of the laundry, but not so much progress on the putting away. The upside is that it's in laundry baskets, rather than in piles on my futon. Part of the problem is, you know in the movie It's A Wonderful Life when there's a run on the Building & Loan and George Bailey has to explain that the money isn't all in the back in a safe, it's in your house and his house . . . Anyway, my clothing storage system depends on a certain amount of clothing being in the laundry hamper. Also, I need more coat hangers. (Wow, that's a nice segue!)

February Resolutions

1. Purchase coat hangers.
2. I haven't gotten around to finding a dentist since I've been in DC, so I resolve to finally get around to that and make an appointment.
3. Find a place where I can donate an old cell phone and an old lap top, and donate.
4. Apply to an average of one job a week.

*Just in case anyone's interested in the etymology and history of February.

In Praise of Cereal

crunchy with whole grains
late night; spoon splashing cold milk
satisfied, shortly

Dishevelled Lady? Me Thinks Not!

Just wanted to report that I am making good progress towards disposing of my formerly dishevelled self. Last night, I even managed to cook myself dinner. (Thanks, Mom--the can opener worked great!)

Something came up at work around 5:00pm on Friday (which is always fun), so I ended up having to stay late, until about 9:30 or 10. While I was working, I got it into my head that, since I didn't have any plans for the evening, it would be fun to cook as opposed to ordering out or heating something frozen up. I was thinking back to an episode of the Take Home Chef, which I happened to catch several months ago where they made turkey meatballs. For whatever reason, that just sounded really good. So I googled an easy-looking recipe for low fat turkey meatballs and spaghetti and headed to the grocery store on my way home.

There is one grocery store between work and home, which is small, and another one only two blocks away from my house, which is smaller. I got to the store a few minutes before it closed (I forgot this would be an issue for the small, family-owned places) and grabbed a few things I needed. One of my classmates from law school said that every time she tries to cook, she just ends up calling her mom every five minutes asking for help with the directions. I didn't think I was this bad (my position has always been, that it's not that I can't cook, it's that I CHOOSE not to), but I did briefly consider calling my mom from the store to ask if there was a discernable difference between crushed tomatoes and diced tomatoes (I could find the latter, but not the former.) I finally did find "crushed tomatoes," but it looked more like tomato sauce/tomato paste and I wanted something a little chunkier. Luckily, I found a compromise--chunky crushed tomatoes. Unluckily, the store had no ground turkey, no ground beef, basically no anything in the meat department.

Undeterred, I decided I was on a mission. The corner grocery store by my house was closed as well (and even if it had been open, I doubted it would have ground turkey) and my car wasn't working so I couldn't drive to the 24-hour Safeway. So, in my infinite wisdom, I decided at 10:30 at night, in 30 degree weather, I'll just run to Safeway! As it turned out, however, there was another corner-ish grocery store a few blocks away from my corner grocery store that stays open until 11. I went to the meat section, and there was exactly enough ground beef for the recipe. I did debate going on to Safeway anyway so I could actually get turkey, but decided there were many good reasons to just go with the beef in the hand. (Probably a good decision considering (1) my Safeway's nickname is the UN-Safeway, (2) I didn't eat dinner until 12:30 as it was, and (3) I was cold enough just walking home five blocks with groceries and Safeway is a little over a mile away.)

Anyway, no major cooking disasters and I enjoyed both the meal and the satisfaction of cooking for myself. (I even remembered how to separate an egg!) Now that I have my fancy new can opener and a new car battery, I may try this more often. Fodder for future monthly resolutions, perhaps....

You say you want a resolution?

My friend says she doesn't believe in New Year's resolutions because there's no point because everyone gives them up by February anyway. I propose that's because most people aim too high and resolve to do things that are somewhat vague. Any good personal trainer will tell you, the only way to reach your goals is to set some that are realistic and measurable, as opposed to "I want to lose weight and improve my fitness." Therefore, I propose to set a few bite-sized monthly resolutions. My only New Year's resolution is to do so here on this blog each month, and the next month, I'll report back on how I did.

January Resolutions

1. Unpack my suitcase from winter break before MLK day.
2. Purchase a Metro Smartcard so I don't have to worry about having change for the bus or slowing my friends down when I have to purchase a new metrocard and they can just quickly swipe on through.
3. Lift weights 1-2 times a week. (I'm aiming for two, but one is sufficient to meet my resolution. If I end up doing it twice weekly, next month I'll consider upping it to thrice weekly.)
4. Have at least one day in January where all of my clothes and linens are clean, dry, and folded or hung in their proper place, save only the sheets on my bed and the clothes on my back.

UPDATE: I'm already 3/4ths of the way there! I just purchased a Smartcard online.
UPDATE II: Resolution #5. Improve math skills. I meant to say, I'm 1/4 of the way there, and only have 3/4ths to go.

How do you measure...?

The best advice I've heard about taking stock of those 525,600 minutes was from Ally McBeal (but then again, I only take advice from television shows about quirky lawyers). Anyway, if I recall correctly, Ally's mother used to say something along these lines: "A year is only wasted if looking back on it doesn't make you both laugh and cry." Check. And check.

Happy New Year!