Seeing as the year is more than half over (eek!), I figured it was a good time to let you know how I was doing regarding the goals I set around the New Year. Better late than never, as they say.

—>So, already off to great start here. This has seen its ups and downs. I’m trying to be better lately. Nevertheless, we can consider this a weak point that still needs much improvement.

—>Below are the new artists discovered (I’ve definitely tried more than this (though maybe not a new one every month), but these are the ones I like):

After a bit of floundering around in new music playlists, I found that Spotify’s Fresh Finds playlist (though I hate the name) has a solid offering. It’s given me more than a few leads to explore.

In addition, we’ve purchased some bluetooth speakers for around the house. This has significantly increased the amount of music I listen to. Nothing like baking to a soundtrack of Vampire Weekend, Belle & Sebastian, Leonard Cohen, and Joni Mitchell.

—>I engage in what might be described as binge knitting. It’s a little bit hard to say if this fulfills the conditions of this goal, exactly. Basically, I’ll go a while without knitting at all. Then be seized by a need to knit and do it for hours. Lately, it’s more of a dry spell since any time at home is spent rushing about trying to get a million things done (that may or may not actually need doing. Jury’s out on that one.)

—>Now that the anticipated pregnancy appetite has kicked in (though it’s not really that dramatic, I find. I just need to eat every hour or two, no big deal), I need more portable, nutritious snacks. This means that I end up baking muffins at least once a week.

Current repertoire:

—>This was off to a strong start. I found a delightful present to send to a friend. I put together a birthday package for my cousin. Then…nothing. It’s been such a hectic year so far with getting pregnant and both my husband and I having a lot to deal with at work. I’m sad to say, that I just haven’t had the mental bandwidth to be as thoughtful as I was hoping. And, on top of that, the idea of hosting a party or anything has become rather laughable. With a wedding almost every couple weeks, there’s just no downtime to think about or prep for something like that. Hoping we can cheat with the upcoming baby shower(s) and such.

—>This…has basically not happened at all. First, pregnancy spoiled things. Then…I’m not sure, exactly. I guess I lost sight of it. It’s just not that high a priority when I have essential things to do like organize my jewelry or make enormous piles of books.

—>This was going pretty well thanks to HabitRPG and the LC exercises. Then it dropped off close to entirely in my first trimester (oh, the exhaustion), and now I’m up to yoga 4-5 times a week and doing a few strengthening exercises every day.

—>While I was actively using HabitRPG, I was keeping on top of this. After getting pregnant, it fell off a cliff. I’m gradually getting better about it. I’m also wearing a lot less makeup. Confession: I’m coasting a bit as my skin has been very kind to me in pregnancy.

—>Doing way better at drinking more water (8 12-16oz glasses a day!) and produce. While I haven’t really had any proper cravings, I definitely just want more produce all the time. Summer also helps with that. It turns out being responsible (in a really weird and direct way) for the nutrition of another human being was the motivation I needed to be more disciplined about this one.

—>Yes and no. I don’t think I’ve really done an active job of improving on this. That being said, people want to talk to me way more now that I’m pregnant, so this has improved a little as a result. I feel a little weird taking the credit for that one though…it’s not really through any effort on my part. I don’t think it should count. I still need to work on this. A lot.

—>So pregnancy (and the weird time pressure I’ve put on myself as a result of it) and working part-time have definitely given the books department a big boost. This list also looks more impressive than it should since it’s year to date. I’ve had many months to read all this, people.

Books read:

—>This…is something of a moving target. Well, no. The target doesn’t move. Where I’m shooting from does, maybe. For a while, this really wasn’t happening at all. Just wasn’t a priority. Lately…and maybe it’s nesting kicking in (though I rail against that notion so hard (not sure why)), but I want things tidy and orderly all the time. I will put off much needed resting time to keep organizing and putting things away. The apartment looks a lot nicer as a result, but I think it’s adding to my generally increasing level of franticness.

—>Made a HabitRPG Daily to journal; doing a pretty good job of completing that. Now it’s intermittent at best. Sadly, I was better at keeping this up in the first trimester, when I had more to complain about.

I started back up with HabitRPG (post soon?), and this has brought me back into a good clip with journalling. I think it also helps that my brain is constantly going a million miles an hour, so I often need to sit back and get it all down so that I feel like I’m not spinning around in circles. I think it’s helping me stay sane.

—>Man…I kind of don’t even know what this one is about. It sounds like a coded way of saying “Make pinterest boards” which I refuse, on principle to do. Needless to say, I haven’t done it at all. Perhaps this was to help with my writing? On some level, it still feels like a good idea/nice thought. But yeah…not really top of my to-do list these days.

—>I’ve definitely made some progress here: reconfigured clothing and makeup storage; desk is pretty much a proper working station; have real plans to go through jewelry and makeup and closets and back bedroom. Getting ready for the baby will be another big piece of this. There’s a big general idea of “We don’t really need all this stuff. Let’s get rid of a lot of it. Especially to make room for the baby.” And it’s actually happening, piece by piece.

—>HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

No, but really. I need to get better at this.

I’m going to try and post these updates on a monthly basis from now on. Heh. We’ll see how that goes since I’ve not had the best record of keeping up my goals or a schedule. Plus, I’m sure the pregnancy will factor in there somewhere. But enough negative talk, I say. Onward and upward!