New Year, New Goals

Happy 2022 everyone! This feels like it's going to be a great year- I love even numbers so years that are even always feel more lucky to me. Let's try to make it a great one, which for me means making a bunch of goals. Let's start off my recapping how I did on my annual goal from last year, and my monthly goals I set in December.

2021 Combined Miles

January -  44 running miles and 218 bike miles for a total of 262 miles

February - 32 running miles and 206 bike miles for a total of 238 miles. 

March - 36 running miles and 113 bike miles for a total of 149 miles.

April - 31 running miles and 118 bike miles for a total of 149 miles.

May - 26 running miles and 97 bike miles for a total of 123 miles.

June - 33 running miles and 59 bike miles for a total of 92 miles.

July - 50 running miles and 85 bike miles for a total of 135 miles.

August - 50 running miles and 141 bike miles for a total of 191 miles.

September - 54 running miles and 79 bike miles for a total of 133 miles.

October - 74 running miles and 114 bike miles for a total of 188 miles.

November - 66 running miles and 110 bike miles for a total of 176 miles.

December - 92 running miles and 108 bike miles for a total of 200 miles!

I did it! I ended the year with 2,036 miles. So proud of that number!

Now let's see how the rest of my December goals went-

Beginner Strength Program

We went through the first two weeks of the program, but it was really slow and a little too easy. The moves got really repetitive so we decided to not do it (especially because I was doing a lot of other strength classes for the challenges below!).

Fitness Challenges

Finished up both of these challenges! One was a different type of class each day which was great to get lots of variety and try out new instructors, and the other was kind of like the 12 days of Christmas with different types of classes. I took a lot of meditations and restorative yoga, which was great!

Early Activity

Crushed this goal! Luckily the weather was really nice this month so I got outside a lot early in the morning. There were a few days that it was rainy so I did a yoga class before work, but it was so nice to have some movement early in the day. Plus- Selma loved the longer walks with me in the morning.

"Winter-Clean" Apartment

Done! I deep cleaned each room in the apartment and switched out some of my clothes and it feels so much better in the apartment. Everything feels fresh and clean and I love that feeling.

Make a Yule Log

I didn't make a Yule Log, but I did make an elaborate dessert for Christmas. I made a fancy dinner for Dan and me since we stayed in, and I tried out another recipe from Great British Bake Off called Torta Setteveli which was layers of sponge cake with hazelnut cream, chocolate crunch, and mousse. It was amazing and very rich, so neither of us could stomach another big chocolatey dessert.

Now that we recapped 2021, it's time for some new goals! Here is what I want to work on in 2022-

Spend More Time Outdoors

There are so many great places to be outdoors in my area, from parks to lakes to greenways, that I want to take advantage of that (and the beautiful weather) as much as possible! So- in order to do that, I have a few goals that will force me to be outdoors more:

• 1000 Hours Outside - This is an initiative my friend Jessie told me about, and I love the idea! I printed out a tracker sheet and will try to remember to mark down how much time I spend outdoors. I'm really curious to see how hard this will be to accomplish!
• 2,022 Outdoor Miles - I'm keeping my mileage goal from last year, but to change things up I'm only going to count miles that I do outside! That means that any time I run on the treadmill or ride my stationary bike, I won't count it. But, now I'll also count walks or hikes outdoors.
• Visit all the gardens in the Triangle - When we moved to North Carolina I made it my goal to visit all of the parks in Cary and Apex (the two areas I live close to) by the end of the year. I crossed all of them off, so now I want to visit the botanical gardens in the area! I've only been to one so far and all of them are free, so I'm looking forward to getting out to see them.

Donate to a Different Charity Every Month

In the past few years I've gotten much better about making consistent donations to a few of my favorite charities, and this year I want to do even more and be more intentional about it. I want to find a new cause to donate to every month, and also find a place to start volunteering consistently! I did a few events this past year which were great, but I would love it to be part of my normal schedule.

Read all the Goodreads Best Books of 2021

I've fallen back in love with reading in 2021 and go to the library near us almost weekly to pick up new books! Since I love checking things off a list and exploring new genres, I thought it would be fun to read all of the books that won last year's best book awards. So far I already checked off two of them- Malibu Rising and Project Hail Mary- and I can't wait to check out the rest!

Re-launch Etsy!

This is probably the only goal that doesn't have a measurable quality to it (I love my SMART goals!) but I want to do more with my Etsy in the new year. I'm going to work on some new watercolor paintings, take better pictures, and learn how to use keywords better. Plus, I'll work on doing more paintings on TikTok to try to drive traffic to my page. Let's see how it goes!

What are your goals for the year?