March Goals and Highlights

February is always the month that feels the longest to me. It doesn't matter that it's the shortest month- it drags on and on! This was no exception, but thankfully it felt long because it was so packed full of activities. At the start of the month, I drove down to Savannah to surprise my mom for her birthday and had a great trip with her and my sister! It has been in the plans for a while- the two of them were flying down for a fun weekend but didn't know that I was going to show up at the airport to pick them up. The look on my mom's face when she saw me was priceless and we had such a great weekend.

After that, I flew up to Pittsburgh for work and got to stay a few extra days. It was great to be back in town and see some of my friends and also my nephew, along with some of my favorite co-workers. It's great to be able to go back to my hometown with work!

My last big event of the month was going to Oak Island with some friends for a half marathon. We rented an Airbnb and had the most fun weekend making memories and having a blast. It was definitely a month to remember with so many fun events, but I'm looking forward to getting back in the groove and a better schedule in March. Here's a look at how my goals are going-

Annual Goals

Korean Vegan Cookbook

February was the second chapter of Korean Vegan- Breads! I've tried one of the bread recipes before (the seaweed bagel) and it was SO good, but I was interested in trying something new. I decided on the red bean paste bread and made my own red bean paste. The recipe was really simple to follow but looked really cool at the end and tasted like something from a bakery. I just wish my braid was a little neater- I think I used too much flour because I couldn't get the ends to stick together at all!

Temperature blanket

I did my second month of the temperature blanket! I decided to do a half double crochet this month (and will go back to single crochet for March). One issue I had is that the HDC is a lot bigger than SC, so it's starting to get wider as I go. I hope that when I switch back to SC it'll adjust back, but I love howt the colors look no matter how wonky it looks.

Here are some stats for February-

- I used a total of 5 colors

- The highest daily temperature was 82 and the lowest was 43 (just a reminder, I'm only doing the "high" of the day so I didn't record the daily low or average)

- My most used color was teal for the second month in a row (used 9 times) which is used for the range 60 to 69 degrees.

Here's what the blanket looks like-

Hike 100 Miles + Check Out 10 New Parks

I went on two hikes this month (lots of walks though- but I'm counting a hike as a walk that's mostly on a dirt path with some elevation, not a greenway or road) for a total of 4 miles. I'm up to 12.5 miles for the year so far.

I also visited one new park this month- Historic Oak View County Park. This was a pretty small park right off of the beltway and even had some goats and chickens! This used to be a farmstead and still has some of the old buildings up with information all over, as well as 2ish miles of trails. It would be nice for little kids to explore but it was just meh for me. 

Read the Goodreads Best Books

Here are the books that I read this month.

Debut Novel - Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. I didn't really love this book- I talk more about it in my February book reviews but I found this to be slow paced and also really hard for me to read.  A lot of people love this book though so I'm definitely in the minority.

Work from a Coffee Shop Once a Month

My February coffee shop was actually one I worked from when I was in Pittsburgh- Rock n' Joe! I was trying to stick to Frugal February (see more below) so I just went to one while I was out of town for work and could expense it. I used to come to this shop a lot when I lived in Pittsburgh and worked downtown, so it was great to be back. It doesn't have the best coffee in the city (I prefer Adda or De Fer) but the atmosphere is great and it's a perfect place to work!

Let's check on how my February goals went-

Monthly Goals

Frugal February (ish)

I definitely wasn't super frugal this month, since I was traveling for a lot of it, but I definitely was more careful about my spending. I limited my drinking when I was out, which is a major source of spending for me on vacations, and also didn't go out at all when I was home. So- not the perfect month but way better than it would normally be.

Run a Half Marathon

Done! I ran the Oak Island Half Marathon and had a great weekend with friends. The race didn't go great- I was having a lot of stomach issues the entire race and ended up run/walking the second half. But- this was my first half in almost 4 years so I'm really proud of myself for completing it with less than perfect training and race day.

Take a walk every day

I was pretty good about this, but skipped a few days that I had long runs or had long travel/work days. There were so many days that I didn't want to go out and forced myself because of this goal, and it helped me be way more active than I was planning on! I'll count that as a win.

Start every morning with a glass of water

Yes! I love that this has become a habit and definitely want to continue this into the rest of the year. It felt great to start the day with water and made me drink more throughout the day as well.

And now here are my goals for March:

Stretch or do yoga every day

I've been having pretty bad back pain lately and have been feeling stiff in general, so I think spending some time every day doing a stretch or some light yoga would be good!

Be more consistent with working out

I signed up for one triathlon already and want to do a few more, so I need to get in the pool and also start biking again! I joined a gym and have been swimming a bit, but I want to be more consistent and go at least 4 times this month, as well as bike at least 4 times. I also want to work on my strength and do at least 2 classes a week (one of which should be a live class so I actually push myself!)

Build a garden

If you remember a few years ago, Dan and I made a beautiful garden at our old house. It was my pride and joy and the thing I miss most about that house. We have a nice yard now and have gorgeous weather in North Carolina, so I have no reason to not make another! We already started our seeds inside, and now we just have to build some raised beds. I'll bring you all along on the journey again!

Spring clean first floor

I have been so bad about keeping clean lately, so I'm well overdue for a deep clean. Tis the season! I am going to break it down by room and really make everything look great again. I'm excited for a clean slate!

What are your goals for this month?