Courtesy of City Eau Claire website

It’s been 6 months since I first posted my New Year’s resolutions, so I figured this fourth of July would be a great time to check my progress.

New Year’s Resolutions

Personal Growth

• Read a book a month – I’ve been doing this, and I couldn’t be happier. It’s been a fun way to make myself sit down and read. I love to read, but sometimes I forget to set aside time to do so. Here’s what I have read so far:
  • January – How to Win Friends and Influence People
  • February – Girl Who Played with Fire
  • March – The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest & Hunger Games & Happy Accidents
  • April – The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
  • May – The Happiness Project & Catching Fire
  • June – Mockingjay & Fearless: Imagine Your Life without Fear
  • July – An Invisible Thread & Wool (on the agenda)

• Continue with design & photography (take more photos of people!) – I’ve been taking my camera along a lot more and have been loving it. I also decided to take a full day class in photography in August! I’m really excited!
• Be honest with myself and others. – Yes. We don’t have living room furniture because I want to save up and not put it on a credit card. I’ve been trying! It’s hard sometimes, but it feels good!

Health

• Floss! – I did this for about a month and then stopped. I started up again June 23! I’ve been doing it every-other-day… for what? A couple weeks now and it’s awesome!
• Get more toned… June 25, I had a free personal training session at our local YMCA. It really felt good to be back into the gym.  The husband and I have been contemplating getting up early before work to workout… I think we’ll start that soon, too! I’m thinking about adding a post each week on this subject? We’ll see.

Religion

• Go to church, every week I’m in town– This I have been doing as well. We became members of our church back in January and have really tried to make an effort to go to church. Paul and I missed a couple, (April we only went once in the five sunday’s) but overall we have been adamant about getting to church!
  • Sunday’s
    • January 5 for 5
    • February 4 for 4
    • March 2 of 4
    • April 1 of 5
    • May 4 of 4
    • June 3 of 4
  • We also joined a Bible study, which was great for both of us on our spiritual journey.
• Volunteer – I only volunteered once, but it was a blast. Paul and I taught Sunday School at our church. 3rd graders are hilarious!

Work

• Be early to work (15 minutes not 2 minutes). Yep, I still get in 2 minutes early. Oops. Since January there was only three times I came into work before 8:15 am, I average 8:25 – 8:28, I have the flexibility to come in between 8 – 8:30 and I need/want to set an example for my staff.
• Meet new PA’s in the area – I met a new PA! Dawn! She is actually part of our new practice, and she is wonderful. I feel like we can become great colleagues.

Relationship

• Be 100% in it… = I’m in. End of story. Actually, more like beginning of story.
• Travel home to my family every other month. – This had to change. I went home in June and will be there in August, November, and December. With flights being around 1,000.00+ for both of us, I just can’t afford it. So, I’ll change this to quarterly.
• Communicate more with friends! – I’m trying. I still need to work on this! I’m a text-er but to pick up the phone, it’s a challenge.

All-in-all, I’m pretty happy with my progress! I really want to focus on two things moving forward: getting to work earlier and communicating with friends and family!

Happy 4th of July, friends! I got to go an enjoy one of America’s favarite past times… grilling out! (the husband calls it BBQ-ing) Yum!

I’ll be back on Friday with one of my favorite architects!