Sunday, January 1, 2012

Checking off 2011's Goals

Today's the day.  My friend Cara B's birthday.  Oh, and also the day we all start our new year's resolutions.  I prefer to think of mine as goals for the upcoming year.  I'll share with you my goals for 2012 tomorrow, but first, let's check out how I did with 2011's goals.

1) Lose 100+ pounds.
Big, fat fail on this one (pun intended).  I did not, in fact, lose 100 pounds in 2011, and I'm further from my goal now than I was this time last year. But I'm trying really hard not to let that bother me as I press on toward the goal.

2) Visit England and France and my friend Stephanie Hardy.
Fantastic check mark for this one! I miss Stephanie.


3) Run my 2nd 10k and hopefully a sprint triathlon. I'm still thinking about a half marathon. Maybe.
Check and check and the jury's still out on the half marathon.


4) Visit the doctor for a physical for the first time in two years.
Done. While it wasn't the weight loss inspiring conversation I hoped for, at least now I can wait another few years before going back.

5) Celebrate my parents' 40 years of marriage!
They made it to 40 years in June, and we celebrated with the whole family, all 13 of us, in one beach house. That's how we roll, Stuckey-style.


6) Read through the entire Bible.
Check!


So to sum up, I've got a bunch of big checkmarks on the giant 2011 to-do list, except for one of the most important.  oh, well, that's why we have 2012, I guess. It's another try.

So, how'd you do with your 2011 goals/resolutions?


Saturday, December 31, 2011

Books of 2011

 Books of 2011

Here's my now annual "books I've read this year" list. (Still too much juvenile and young adult fiction, but I love it.)

If I tagged you, it's because I know you love books.

Here they are in chronological order. Read to the end to get the ones I thought were the best.

  1. Found (Juvenile)
  2. Sent  (Juvenile)
  3. The Maze of Bones  (Juvenile-39 Clues series)
  4. The People of Sparks  (Juvenile)
  5. Catching Fire (young adult) 
  6. Jemima J  
  7. One False Note  (Juvenile-39 Clues series)
  8. The Sword Theif  (Juvenile-39 Clues series)
  9. Beyond the Grave  (Juvenile-39 Clues series)
  10. The Black Circle  (Juvenile-39 Clues series)
  11. Sabotaged (Juvenile)
  12. In Too Deep (Juvenile-39 Clues series)
  13. The Vipers Nest (Juvenile-39 Clues series)
  14. The Emperor's Code (Juvenile-39 Clues series)
  15. Storm Wanring (Juvenile-39 Clues series)
  16. Into the Gauntlet (Juvenile-39 Clues series)
  17. I Still Dream About You
  18. Angry Housewives Eating Bon-Bons
  19. Gods in Alabama
  20. Ravenous (Non-fiction)
  21. Matched (young adult)
  22. Fly Away Home
  23. Mini-Shopaholic
  24. Gone (Juvenile)
  25. New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance (Non-fiction)
  26. Year of Wonders
  27. Revelations of a Single Woman (Non-fiction)
  28. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society
  29. Are you there, vodka, it's me, Chelsea? (Non-fiction)
  30. The Westing Game (Juvenile)
  31. Chelsea, Chelsea, Bang Bang (Non-fiction)
  32. Bossypants (Non-fiction)
  33. Revolution (young adult)
  34. City of Fallen Angels (young adult)
  35. The 13 Reasons Why (young adult)
  36. A Northern Light 
  37. Commencement
  38. The First Husband
  39. Okay for Now (young adult)
  40. Delrium (young adult)
  41. Stories I Only Tell My Friends (non-fiction)
  42. Divergent (young adult)
  43. Sisterhood Everlasting (young adult)
  44. Tinkers
  45. The Island
  46. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Juvenile)
  47. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Juvenile)
  48. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Juvenile)
  49. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Juvenile)
  50. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (young adult)
  51. Harry Poter and the Half Blood Prince (young adult)
  52. Prid and Predjudice and Zombies
  53. Made to Crave (Non-fiction)
  54. Fat Chance (Non-fiction)
  55. Name of the Wind
  56. Wise Man's Fear
  57. The Little Women Letters
  58. Good and Beautiful God (non-fiction)
  59. Summer of my German Soldier (young adult)
  60. The Little Book
  61. Wednesday Letters
  62. Me and Mr. Darcy 
  63. The Murderer's Daughters
  64. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner (young adult)
  65. Ready Player One
  66. The Girl with the Pearl Earring
  67. Night Circus

 

The books I would most highly reccommend to other adults are:

New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance

Revolution

The Little Book

Night Circus

Ready Player One

Divergent

A Northern Light

 

Top 5 Accomplishments of 2011

Without further adieu, here is today's Top 5 post.
Top 5 Personal Accomplishments of 2011
5. Europe. I finally made it to another continent besides North America on this epic trip. I saw many Harry Potter sites, climbed to the top of Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower and learned the beauty of an evening spent in an English pub.

4. Continuing my blog for over a year. When I started the blog, I wasn't sure I'd make it a month, let alone more than a year.  Keeping up with the blog is hard because it makes me face some hard truths, publicly.  But if I can't share this journey with all of you blog readers, what's the point?


3. Completing the U.S. Marine Corps Mud Run. It was muddy. It was hard. It was ridiculous. It was a team effort.


2. Jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft. A life goal achieved and documented with the help of two cute and courageous sky diving boys.

1. The Turtle Crawl Triathlon. Easily one of the hardest physical and mental things I've done, but made easier by the support of my friends.



What are you proud to have accomplished this year?


Friday, December 30, 2011

Top 10 Blog Pictures of 2011

Top 10 Blog Pictures of 2011.
10. Hard to believe my niece Natalie Grace is almost a year old. Last January was a scary time, with her arriving early and having to have surgery at four days old, but now she's a happy, healthy 11.5 month old! PS if you read all the way to the bottom of this post, I'll reward you with an adorable recent picture of sweet Natalie.

9.  Hard to believe all it took was a trip to Europe to unleash the style maven in me.  

 
8. Remember all of those crazy vegetable posts from my CSA-box this summer? Seems like a lifetime ago.

7. Blue sky, bottom side of plane, me gasping for breath, cute sky diving instructor. Does it get any better? 


6. Two years later, and I still haven't lost 100 pounds. Whether I lose it or not, life is still happy.

5. Isn't this the most amazing picture ever?


4.Some of my favorite people working to Stop Hunger Now.



2. My color coordinating running partner in crime


1 The four fives.  I love these girls.

That's it. My top 10 blog pictures of 2011.  Each of them brings me such happy memories.


Now for your reward. Here's Natalie at 11ish months old. :)


Thursday, December 29, 2011

Top 5 Lessons Learned this Year

In the manner of continued reflection, today's year-in-review Top 5 list is:

Top 5 Lessons Learned

Does dressing as diet soda mean I am not
drinking it in moderation? Most likely.
  1. Ab work is a self confidence booster
  2. It is possible to give up diet soda, but drinking it in moderation is better.
  3. Endorphins make you happy.
  4. Just be interesting. Accept nothing less.
  5. Never stop trying.

What are some lessons you learned this year?



Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Top 10 Posts of 2011

Hello! I hope you have not missed me too much since my last post on Christmas Adam.  I wasn't much in the mood to blog as I was too enthralled with eating delicious Christmas goodies like cookies and jello salad and dilly dip (those are my favorite of the Christmas goodies.)

This week between Christmas and New Year's is one of my favorites.  Not just because we get the week off of work, and there is almost always a Mafia party,* but because it's the time of year when the world reflects on how far we've come during the past 12 months.  We reflect, and then we turn it into lists.  Two of my favorite things.

In honor of the end of 2011, a pretty spectacular year in my life, I'm going to make lots of lists about the year this week and share them with you.

Today's list contains the Top 10 blog posts of 2011 from Lost and Not Found.  I wrote more than 240 posts this year, but these are the ones of which I am most proud, in no particular order.

Living in the Gray
Beginning to Run and Beginning to Run Part Two
Bricks are a Beast
Today's Affirmations
Nocturnal
Mama
Thunder Thigh
The Amie Outlook on Life
Happiness and Farm Fresh Friday
Loved

If you haven't checked out these posts, might I suggest that you do?

*Don't know what Mafia is? It's my favorite game and it involves lying and killing. It really doesn't get any better than this.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Merry Christmas Adam!

Short post today. I'm departing for my parents' house any minute, but just wanted to take time to thank you for your support this year. I'm not the best of weight loss bloggers, but I have a great community that supports me as I keep trying. For that I'm truly grateful.


Plus, I had a really great run this morning, which is always a great way to kick off the weekend.


Now me and the Christmas tree eating Bons are off!

*i know it's not the best pic of me and Bons, but she was eager to get on the road