July!
When did that happen?
Did you remember to say Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit this morning? I did, though it wasn’t the first thing out of my mouth. I think the first thing out of my mouth was, “F you, 5 am, stop yelling at me.”
Today is going to be awesome. I hope you agree.
One of my July goals is to minimize stress in my life. There will always be inevitable stressors that arise and that I cannot totally control. But I can do my best not to further aggravate myself by worrying about them, because stress = Crohn’s. Right now my body is headed back to its happy, disease-free-ish place, and I’d like for it to stay that way.
Of course, being stressless means tackling To Do list items as methodically as possible.
One of last night’s tasks involved organizing my jewelry box.
Simple? Yes.
It’s been messy and driving me crazy, so I got organized. And now I feel much better.
I laid everything out, did some untangling, and put everything neatly into the box o’ jewels.
I give it about a week until it’s a mess again. But for now, I’ll take it.
I was up with the sun this morning to get to the gym. I’m starting to get into this morning spinning thing on days I don’t run! I love getting to the gym when it’s empty and having everything to myself.
Before spinning, I did some ab things, some arm things and some stretching, and I had a little fun with the foam roller.
We have an intimate relationship, Mr. Foam Roller and I.
I also made my return to planks!
I went through a phase where I was so diligent about doing planks. I would do two 2-minute regular planks (on the elbows) and 1-minute side planks on each side. I definitely felt my core getting stronger when I was doing this regularly.
But as my days got busier, I stopped making time and, honestly, just got bored with them. Planks are hard.
Planking my little heart out this morning felt great though. Note to self: get back in the habit.
The spin class was tougher than I expected. The instructor had us doing uphill sprints and climbs and all kinds of crazy things. I was a sweaty beast. Nothing new to report there.
So, now that we’re officially six months through 2011, it’s check-in time.
When the year kicked off, I, naturally, made a list: 2011 Resolutions. How am I doing with those goals? Let’s find out:
- Take a tap class. Fail.
- Try out Yoga to the People: Fail.
- Take a SoulCycle and/or Flywheel class: Haven’t made it to SoulCycle, but I did try a Flywheel class and definitely plan to return!
- Run a sub 2-hour 1/2 marathon: Done. I ran a 1:44 at the National Half Marathon. I think that’s my highlight of 2011 so far.
- Don’t nag ABS about apartment things: Haha. Fail?
- Travel somewhere new: Fail. Stay tuned.
- See Becky: Done!
- Read three books: Almost done. I read The Help (liked, didn’t love) and I read Bossypants (obsessed, can’t wait to re-read). I’m currently in the middle of a third book, and then this resolution is toast.
- Hit a “certain number” in my savings account: Considering my unplanned apartment move, this probably won’t happen. But you never know. An anonymous donor could pop up and offer me his millions. And according to an email I got the other day, I do have some Nigerian dollars coming my way from a distant relative or king or something.
- Complete a marathon! September 24. See you at the finish.
Not bad! You better watch your back, 2011 — it kind of looks like I’m dominating you.
I’m in a completely different place right now than I predicted I would be in when this year started. I couldn’t be happier though.
The beginning of this year brought on a ton of drama and stress and things I thought would bring down my entire year. Run For The Rabbit came at the best time for me and it helped bring me out of a potentially bad, long funk. Now it’s July and life is looking good. I feel like I’m in a good place.
Also, I’m getting a massage today.
And tomorrow I go to Disney World.
Game on, 2011. We have many good times still ahead of us.
TELL ME: How are your New Year’s Resolutions coming along? Did you make any and, if so, have you stuck with them? Plus, if you’ve got goals for the second half of 2011, now’s the time to make ’em!
0 Responses
Ummm I just realized while reading this that July = half way through 2011. Jeez! I am sure if I look back on my goals many of them have been untouched since January, or have changed. You’ve definitely inspired me to go take a look at what they were! I am pretty good at setting goals, but remembering to check in on them on a daily or weekly basis is something else entirely. Thanks for the motivation, Ali!
You are a girl after my own heart with that amazing collection of jewelry!
Good luck with your marathon training – you will kick ass in September!
Wow- you’re doing a fantastic job at completing your resolutions so far! De-stressing is definitely an important thing in striving for health and balance in life:)
Um can you come organize like my entire apartment?
The only goal I made was to run 3 races. Not many, but I wanted to come back easy after a long hiatus.
I was told to say “White Rabbit’ three times. Since hearing about this at the age of 8 I have only remembered to say it once! Surprisingly that did turn out to be a good month so maybe there’s some truth to it!
I don’t make resolutions usually but I love how you’ve rocked yours! Bossypants is on my bookshelf patiently waiting to be read this summer! Have a great 4th!
I had 3 New Year’s Resolutions: Start a blog, train for a 1/2 marathon, stop prostinating. I haven’t run a 1/2, not sure it will happen this year. And I did start a blog…in March. So basically, I am 1 for 3. I’ve done worse!
I do have a giant-cosmic-life-to-do-list thingy, and I have started kicking some major A on that. Which kind of makes me happier b/c all the things on that list are fun/will make me a better person…so at the 1/2way mark of 2011, I’d say I’m doing pretty well.
Have fun in Disney!
I love that you make new year resolutions, me too! BTW, your jewlery is waaaayy to pretty to be in a box! You should hang them up and double as wall art….like here: http://images.younghouselove.com.s3.amazonaws.com/2011/06/Towne-Jewelry-Wall.jpg
you have inspired me to jot down my goals for the second half of this year. They’re all in my head, but it’s so much better when they’re written down somewhere (for crossing off and checking in!). Minimizing stress is at the top for me too. If you figure out how to do it, let me know 🙂 You are going to have an excellent rest of 2011, I am sure of it.
AH! I am super impressed with your organized jewelry. My jewelry box is a dis-as-ter and I quickly scrolled through those photos above because I was so ashamed, haha.
Nice, you’ve completed a lot of BIG goals for the year and still have 6 months. #highfive
My NYR was to “Relax More” and I am proud to say I’ve accomplished it, and continue to work on it. I eliminate a 90 minute commute from my life and a bunch of other stuff that was stressing me out for no reason.
Enjoy the massage + disney! Awesome!
Glad you’re in a good place! 🙂 Although the fact that we’re half way through the year freaks me out, I’m liking the 1/2 way checkpoint game. I could use some work, but not bad for 1/2 way……(now I will sing the chorus of living on a prayer…..)
Super jealous you get to hang with Mickey tomorrow – tell him (and Prince Eric if you see him – I used to reallllyyyy want to be the Little Mermaid…..) I send my best regards!
Yayy for accomplishing goals! I honestly can’t remember my New Year’s Resolutions.. so I think I might start making new one’s right now
My goals for the rest of the year are to say upbeat and outgoing, despite some tough personal situations that are coming down the pike later this year.. and to rock my half marathon training! 🙂
Way to rock your resolutions so far – especially given how changed things are today vs. where you were in January. I looked at my resolutions for the year and so far I’ve nailed all but one of them (learning to swim/signing up for a tri). I call that success!! Have an awesome massage and trip to Disney!
The ABS nagging thing is not a fail and should not be recorded as such… it’s a N/A and doesn’t count towards your overall success rate 🙂
Happy Half Year to you!
I’m delurking to say hi, and I took my first Yoga to the People class last week and loved it (it was candlelit!). I really recommend Sundays at their St. Marks location at 8:30pm. I thought it would be too far for me to be worth it, but it was awesome!
I’m a NYC runner too and I’ll be at the Hamptons on 9/24 (but only doing the half marathon — it’ll be my first!). I love your blog!
Bethany
Woo hoo! You are having a kick butt year so far!
Have fun at Disney tomorrow!!!!! I’m jealous! I haven’t seen Mickey since I ran the 1/2 marathon in January! 🙁
Hey – I ran that half too! Are you doing the Disneyland half to get the Coast to Coast?
Well, I made resolutions. Got lost on actually following them… But I am going to re-resolve this month. Not the same ones, new ones for the rest of the year.
And I love that last picture. Leg warmers and thumbs up FTW!
Wow! You are slapping your 2011 goals one at a time 🙂 I am glad to see you are doing better 🙂 Let the fun begin!!
you know what’s not stressful? DC. DC is most definitely not stressful…and it’s July. You want no stress is July and DC is not stressful…hmmmm. Do you see where I’m going with this?
you have some great jewelry! a way that i found to organize all my long necklaces is to hang them from coat hooks – i bought hooks with my initials on them, and hang all my long necklaces from them. keeps them neat and showcases them off! way to go on your new years resolutions, particularly the blustering fast half-mary! i dont make resolutions for fear of failure!
I love how you’re so diligent about your lists. Your neat, perfect, beautiful list the other day inspired me to start more to-do lists. They will not look as pretty as yours…but baby steps.
Impressive progress on the New Year’s Resolutions! I know the start of the year was tough but MAN, you turned it around!
My new year’s resolution was to run another marathon. I ran the National Marathon: CHECK! haaha I should have put more on that list. I’ll re-evaluate for the second half of the year.
Have fun in Disney World. I’m obsessed- ran in the Disney Marathon and it was my favorite one so far. YOU WOULD LOVE IT!
You have so much jewelry! I wear the same things every single day. AND it is still messier than yours.
I can’t believe the year is half over already. It just started! We just went to Refine together on New Years Eve and got pedicures!
It is funny how much things can change in such a short time. I am so happy Run for the Rabbit came into your life when it did. You really seem so happy.