This is 39 (Month 1, Check-In 2)

Keeping myself accountable to my goals is so incredibly helpful in ensuring I accomplish them. I know that's a totally Captain Obvious statement. But for me, the goal setting and reporting back on them is making a huge difference.

For example, yesterday morning, knowing that I had two days left to accomplish some of my monthly goals, I found myself at a 7:00 a.m. yoga class and by 10:00 a.m., I was volunteering to help set up Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless. If these things were not on my This Is 39 goal list, I would not have done it.

The yoga class went well. (I mean apart from that moment at 7:02 a.m. when my alarm went off. Nothing like a dog barking alarm ringtone to disrupt the freaking energy in the room!) I can't remember the last time I attended one in person, but with one month left on my Equinox membership, I knew I'd be going there. I did things in that yoga class I'd never done before. And while there were some things I couldn't do perfectly, just the act of showing up and participating certainly made me feel better. I love yoga, but it's not something I make the time for often. So adding it to my monthly goal list is my way of hoping I start to incorporate it into my life more regularly. I know it'll make a difference in my overall well-being.

While some of my volunteering needs to be politically minded (I'm still getting used to the fact that politics is something I care about since I went the first 38 years without putting any energy towards it), I knew Thanksgiving would give me the perfect opportunity to give back and chose to do it with Westside Thanksgiving. I've wanted to do this for years, but of course never got around to it. I was there for a couple of hours and what made it even better was that I got to do it with my friend Carrie and her two children. I loved sharing the experience with them and we're already looking forward to ways in which we can volunteer together again in the future. While it was a little disorganized and included a little too much standing around for my liking, it felt really good to give back and help set-up the space for Thanksgiving dinner.

Another goal I crossed off my list since my first update of the month is my monthly hike. Before my final event of the year in San Diego and with my friend Tara and the wombmate, we went for a hike on another gorgeous Southern California day. While it wasn't a new hike, it was just what we needed. And, we almost died! Not really, but we did come across a freaking rattlesnake! Katie heard the suspicious noise and smartly took off, while Tara and I looked down only to see the thing slithering away. Needless to say, we picked up the pace and were Freaked Out!

One goal I want to call special attention to is my effort in organizing and backing-up my photos. I started out with over 22,000 in my iPhoto library. It's the blessing and the curse of having an iPhone which so easily captures all the moments of your life- even the ones you'll never go back and look at. My insanely large photo library is also the result of my seven months and eleven days of documenting the life of Clancy and four trips to Ireland. I've set aside a bit of time and a critical eye and am happy to say that my iPhoto library currently sits at 9,681 photos. This means I've deleted over 12,000 photos so far! I will be very happy once I have this beast under control and now that I've gone through so many photos, I absolutely know this is in sight!

While I already talked about my eye cream goal during my previous blog post, I have to give a shoutout to my friend Wags who brought me back some eye cream from Korea! While I have some eye cream already, I'm finding myself gravitate towards places like Sephora and Ulta to see what other products are out there to minimize the signs of aging and wrinkles (who am I?) so this was an incredibly sweet and thoughtful gift from Wags.

There's nothing else I need to call special attention to as far as my goals go. I'm tracking it on my tracker and absolutely have a good handle on what I've set out to do. I'm still enjoying the focus and the ways in which I'm stepping out of my routine and comfort zone. And I can't wait to see what I get up to in month two!

Thanks for following along.

xom

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This is 39 (Month 1, Check-In 1)

Well. As promised during my This Is 39 blog post last month and as outlined in my goal list, I'm reporting in to share how I'm doing on my list of goals/things I want to accomplish in my 39th. Let's hit it:

• I have been mindful of communication and trying not to say anything about someone I wouldn't want them overhearing. BUT. This is hard. Harder than I'd like to admit. But by being aware of it on a daily basis, it's helping me make careful and nicer word choices. I'm not always succeeding, but I am always thinking about it. And I know by the end of my 39th year, this will be easier. 
• Eye cream- check! I've only missed one day of application so far. Thank you to my good friend Brooke (a wonderful esthetician whose new Glory! mask is now available online) she recommended this: (also I can't wait to report on the eye cream my friend Wags brought back from her recent work trip to Korea!)

• For the past few weeks, I've spoken with my grandmother each week. Getting in touch with her is challenging because my grandfather isn't doing so well and is in a separate area of the senior living community where they live. I'm sad that I haven't spoken to him, but I'm glad that I'm keeping in closer contact with my grandmother during this sad and challenging time. 
• Date night with Steve has been fun. Sometimes it's just making and eating dinner together at home. And other times it's been going out promenading and getting a bite to eat. But more than anything, and especially during event season, it's just about being protective with the time we do have together.
• I was intentional about not making weight-loss goals. While I'd love to lose weight over the course of this year, I didn't want to set a specific number or make this about the scale. So instead of focusing on that side of things, I've made other goals that, if followed, will only help me make this a healthier year and one in which I lose weight. So I've been going to Weight Watchers meetings (three so far). For a really long time while I've still been attending meetings, it's really just been to weigh-in. Sometimes I stay, but most times I go, weigh-in and leave. At almost every meeting, however, I'm inspired by people in the meeting and walk away with a nugget of info to help me in my own weight-loss efforts. This past week at a new-to-me meeting, the leader shared a story about a woman who stretched out her birthday for days and then a week later was thinking of not going to a friend's birthday party because she didn't trust herself to make healthy decisions. The leader reminder her "it's not your birthday." It's amazing what that one response has done for my thinking. And I hope in moments of celebration, I can remember and consider if I need to be celebrating or just nourishing my body. 
• Getting back into journaling is good for me. There's just so much going on between work, love, the world we live in, and everything in between. And life always works better for me when I'm writing things down. I think I've maybe missed a day, but so far I'm journaling far more consistently than I have in a long time. 
• I've been successful in no McDonald's. There have been times since 10/23 where I have had a case of the Fuck Its as far as food or following any sort of healthy routine is concerned. And remaining on track with not turning to McDonald's (one of my go to binge/drunk food choices) is something I'm very proud of. It's not like it's that hard. But still. 
• Nurturing my marriage is important this time of year. Especially when I'm traveling so much for work. Steve and I have to work hard to remain connected. He thinks the phone is an option and not an obligation and when I'm gone, it's my only way of being in touch with him. And when I'm home, we need to readjust to being back in each other's orbit. We're working hard on communication, quality time and making plans together. And I'm learning what it means to nurture my marriage. 
• Thanks to my friend Nick, I have a bit of an accountability partner with my organizing and backing up of photos. I have over 21,000 in one of my iPhoto libraries. I can't really focus on backing anything up until I go through what I've got and do a serious purge of these photos. This very well may be a goal that I don't accomplish until the end of my 39th year. While it's daunting, I'm determined! (P.S. I've already trashed over 2,000 photos. So...progress.)
• Resistance training 3x/week has been hard, but so so good to stay on top of. I love resistance training. I always feel better when I'm doing it and certainly afterwards. I also *love* to be sore! And this app, Sweat, is well worth the investment. I work out much better when someone tells me what to do. It hasn't necessarily been easy with all my travel. But I've made it happen three times each week. Even if it means stealing weights and bringing them up to my hotel room! 
• I haven't been to the doctor in over a year for my BRCA2 gene appointments. Which really isn't cool at all. But. I have nearly all my doctor's appointments lined up. I'm going in December 5th to see the gynecological oncologist, December 13th to see the breast oncologist and then I just got my authorization for my breast MRI, which I think will happen on Monday November 20th. It feels good to be back on top of this and I won't let this much time lapse between appointments again either. 
• It hasn't been pretty but I have tracked every single day's worth of food since 10/23. There have been days when I've gone wildly over my daily points allowance (and my weekly anytime points too), but I can honestly say that this is the first time since I've ever been on Weight Watchers that I've actually tracked every little thing. I can only imagine the positive ways in which this will benefit me this year and hopefully translate to much more awareness, action and weight loss. 
• Yesterday I took my camera out for a morning of exploring. My friend Kristin, whom I haven't seen for 21 years since our senior year of high school, came to Los Angeles for a quick in-and-out trip and I couldn't let her pop into town without getting to see why LA is so freaking rad. We did a quick few hour tour of some of the highlights: The Hollywood Sign, Hollywood Boulevard, The Sunset Strip, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, Marilyn Monroe's cemetery, Muscle Beach, Venice Beach, The Venice Boardwalk and a dip (of the toes) in the Pacific Ocean. I love, love, love seeing my city through someone else's eyes and here are a few of the photos I took:

It's been a productive month and I've really enjoyed having these goals/things to do to guide my actions. What I love the most, though, is that even though I haven't been 100% perfect, it's not derailing my commitment to see all of this through for my entire 39th year.

I can't wait to tell you about the other things I'll be doing in the remaining 13 days of this first month in my next post.

Here's to 39!

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