Eeeeeeek!

I forgot to post my december goals:

• Personal: Xmas gifts
• Health: get at least 7 hours sleep every night
  
• Carreer: plan 2010 (exam + trainings)
• Finances: budget
• Organisation: 2010 word, goals and first trimester's plan

November goals

Oooops, I just realised I didn't even post my November goals! Here they are:

• Personal: create or buy Christmas gifts
• Health: workout 10 minutes every day
• Carreer: study for my exam and have it
• Finanaces: start preparing a budget
• Organisation: practice daily routines, especially the evening one

See you in 3 weeks to see how it went!

Goals review

Here were the goals I posted 2 weeks ago for april, and how I've been doing so far:

• Prepare cards for all the april and may birthdays (and there are plenty of them in may, so I better be prepared!) NOT DONE, my creative mojo is on vacation, too busy I guess!
  
• Workout every other day for the rest of the month, starting today HALF DONE, I'm usually consistent for the first half of the week and then... pfft!
  
• Catch up on pending to do's at work, especially the (huge) "to read" pile and the (also pretty big) "to file" pile WORKING AT IT and I definitely want to get rid of the "to file" before the end of the month!
  
• Create a budget NOT DONE
  
• File the (gigantic) "to file" pile in my home office NOT DONE but at least I'm keeping up with the incoming paper

Well, so far I'm not doing good. Even without being perfectionist, this is far from satisfying. Considering how hectic my life was over the last weeks (and especially the last days) though, I'm doing ok: I've managed to keep my sanity, not gain weight, not fight with anyone... I'm in survival mode until things settle down at work and hence everywhere else.

April goals and march review

Well, considering that we're halfway through april already, it's about time to review my march goals and plan my april ones, uh? LOL

My march goals were:

• Celebrate Guy's birthday with our family and friends, on a budget (to avoid the stress that goes with over spending!) DONE, we just went to a nice restaurant with his family and stayed on track with our spendings.
  
• Track my food for at least 20 days in the month NOT DONE!
  
• Catch up on my work for the web site: calendar, news page, etc. HALF DONE
  
• Track all our expenses DONE!
  
• Wash dishes right after each meal ABOUT HALF DONE
  

The last weeks were terribly stressful and hectic, so I'm already pretty satisfied to see that some goals have been accomplished, that's more than what I thought and much more than what I could have expected considering the amount of work and stress I had to deal with!

Here are my goals for April (or rather the rest of it):

• Prepare cards for all the april and may birthdays (and there are plenty of them in may, so I better be prepared!)
• Workout every other day for the rest of the month, starting today
• Catch up on pending to do's at work, especially the (huge) "to read" pile and the (also pretty big) "to file" pile
• Create a budget
• File the (gigantic) "to file" pile in my home office

March goals and February debriefing

I just realize I didn't even posted my February goals... Here they were:

• Find new techniques to reduce my stress (gratitude journal, meditation,...): NOT DONE I'm now not only stressed, I'm probably depressed as well... Yeeepeeeeeee. :(
  
• Work out at least 30 minutes 5 times a week. DONE!
  
• Get rid of all the pending to-do’s at work 80% DONE!
  
• Start a budget: collect all our incomes. DONE! I actually started a budget but I need to have a much more precise idea of everything
  
• Work on my evening and weekly routines NOT DONE

And here are my March goals:

• Celebrate Guy's birthday with our family and friends, on a budget (to avoid the stress that goes with over spending!)
• Track my food for at least 20 days in the month
  
• Catch up on my work for the web site: calendar, news page, etc.
  
• Track all our expenses
• Wash dishes right after each meal

I hope I will be more successful this month. I have to, or I'll keep feeling like a big failure and I'm not sure how long I'll be able to stand it!

January's over

Ok, I can't believe it but I blogged EVERY SINGLE DAY in January!! Wow, I'm in shock! I'd really like to keep going, it's nice! ;-)

Thanks to breaking my camera, I couldn't keep with the one pic a day challenge, though, but I'll get back to it as soon I can buy a new lense. Still have to make some arrangements for that.

My goals for this month are only half reached:

• Collect all my loved ones' birthdays dates and prepare cards for the first trimester.

I sent cards to all those that I knew had birthdays in January, and I'm still working on the first trimester's cards. I also got mom's file with all the family's birthdays and I've been adding them to my PDA to have everything in one spot.

• Get back to exercise: work out at least 15 minutes 5 times a week.

Mmmmm... NO! I totally messed up with weight loss this month, I gained a lot (still have to figure out how much, even if I'm not sure that I want to know!)

• Collect informations about the different options I have for my career: classes, exam, etc.

I had a nice chat with my friend Lydie who's a great professional and know a lot about our status (as state employees we've got different careers than people working for normal companies). There will be some major changes next month(s) with 3 new people joining the team, so I need to see what this will bring. My boss really sucks at planning and communicating about changes, so I don't really know where we're going right now... We'll see.

• Collect informations about financial management (blogs, books, etc.)

I read several blogs about this topic, and I will set up a plan next month.

• Get back to my routines, think about giving them a twist if necessary.

I've been improving this really nicely. The only routine that I still have a hard time with is my evening routine: I keep doing the basics like brushing my teeth but I need to improve the little extras that help a lot, especially as I plan to get up earlier to workout.

Stay tune for next month's goals!!

Happy new year... still?

Tonight my boss, the mayor, will have a little ceremony to wish all our partners a happy new year. That made me thinking: until when can you (or have you to) wish a happy new year? We still have people everyday coming at the townhall desk and wish us a happy new year. Nice, but 15 times a day... it's getting boring now!! I know you it's commonly admitted that you can wish it until the end of January, but I think I won't stand it until then! LOL

On the other hand, since I took the "it's the New Year, let's make resolution and try to keep those for more than 2 days" challenge, I think it's time to review the goals I posted here:

• Collect all my loved ones' birthdays dates and prepare cards for the first trimester.

DONE for the month of January. I still have to ask Mom for her list (more complete than mine!) and do the 2 next months

• Get back to exercise: work out at least 15 minutes 5 times a week.

HALF DONE so far... Gotta keep working on this!

• Collect informations about the different options I have for my career: classes, exam, etc.

I'll take the opportunity of seeing my friend Lydie this Friday to ask her some advice

• Collect informations about financial management (blogs, books, etc.)

I discovered some good sites... will post those for next "Tips Tuesdays"

• Get back to my routines, think about giving them a twist if necessary.

Morning routine is going pretty good, but I still struggle with the midday and the evening one! I know how useful they are, though, so I will keep working on them!

My goals for 2009... and how to get there

In 2009, I want to

• Be a better person
  
• Be in better health
• Make my career move forward
• Manage my money better
• Be more organised
  

Those are my resolution, but they will remain dreams unless I define them more precisely and turn them into goals... so here we go!

In 2009, I will (notice the subtle difference between my 1st sentence and this one! LOL)

• Thighten my relationship with the ones I love and develop my "internal life" (creativity, personal interests, culture)
• Get to a healthy BMI, that is below 72 kg (158 lbs)
  
• Decide where I want my career to move forward and take at least 2 steps in that direction
• Get educated about finance managing, define a budget, stick to it and adapt it to big changes in my life.
• Create order, beauty and peace in my home and be able to maintain neatness without too much effort
  

Now to get to that point, I need a plan. Setting goals without knowing how to achieve them is like going on a trip into an unknown country without a map: you have great chances to get lost along the way, even if you know where you're going! Since this is a long journey (a year-long one, to be precise), I will break down my plan into manageable, monthly steps.

In january, I will:

• Collect all my loved ones' birthdays dates and prepare cards for the first trimester.
  
• Get back to exercise: work out at least 15 minutes 5 times a week.
• Collect informations about the different options I have for my career: classes, exam, etc.
  
• Collect informations about financial management (blogs, books, etc.)
• Get back to my routines, think about giving them a twist if necessary.

To help me follow this plan, I have created a reminder that I will update every month and post everywhere:
Credits: papers by Victoria Greenlees (Crafty Fall@ chirpi.co.uk), stitching by Chere Kaye (Tristan's Treasures collab @ TDC), "2009" and month alpha by Victoria Greenlees (Delicate Dreams @ chirpi.co.uk), "my goals" stamps by Michelle Coleman (Stamped Alpha freebie), swirls by Christine Smith (Flourish), fonts by Darcy Baldwin (DJB Lorraine Bold and DJB Chloé).