This is 39 (Month 7, Check-In 2)

I'm happy to say that month seven hasn't felt as overwhelming as some of the other months. It may be due to the heavy lifting in previous months that has allowed me to cross off a handful of my goals including:

• Try Ethiopian food (if you missed that blog post, you can read all about it here)
• Eliminate credit card debt
• Exceed last year's Cycle for Survival fundraising ($18,476)
• Travel some place new
• Try mediating for 21 days in a row

But I also think it has to do with finally smartening up and not waiting until the last few days of the month to do some of the more time-intensive and challenging goals (yoga, volunteering and going hiking).

At any rate, here's a summary of some of what happened this past month:

Call my grandparents 1x/month: The highlight of this goal this month was when I talked to my grandmother the morning after the Royal Wedding. I asked her if she had gotten up to watch it and her response was on point: "Oh did I ever dear I loved every instant of it. They're a charming couple, I think. There was more to it than just watching two people get married." Apart from putting a big smile on my face, I think my grandmother summed up the wedding perfectly!

Date night with Steve at least one night a week (when I'm not traveling for work): We weren't very good at this last month and unfortunately that trend continued this month too. Although we did go to dinner and a movie (Life of the Party, which was far better than I thought it'd be!) Next month is going to be challenging too because I'll be in Ireland for 2 1/2 weeks and Summer Steve will be doing his East Coast trip (luckily there's a lot of overlap between our two trips). And honestly, this time of year we're both just hanging on as hard as we can to the finish line of the school year. We're officially in the white knuckle part of the year where we both do the best we can. So date night and nurturing my marriage take a lot of patience and intention. These goals are helping me remain mindful of that.

Finish the remaining stair walks from the Secret Stairs of Los Angeles book: I've been doing a great job of continuing to cross more of these walks off my list. So far this year I've completed 12 and have 27 left (if I counted correctly to begin with). With the Memorial Day weekend coming up, I'm hoping to get in about 5 - 6 walks in the next few days. But in the last month, I only did three of them. I'm officially done with Highland Park and am starting to move into the Echo Park/Silver Lake/Los Feliz part of town!

As always, I've stumbled upon some very cool and fun neighborhoods that I'd never normally see. My favorite walk that I did this past month was Walk #12 which found me in a historic Victorian house district throughout Echo Park. I never even knew that existed, but the houses were gorgeous and seemed so out of place (see in the second photo below)!

Walk 8- Highland Park - Highlands. 422 steps over 3.2 miles. 

Walk 12- Echo Park Lake Victorians. 428 steps over 3 miles. 

Walk 13- Laveta Terrace. 236 steps over 2 miles. 

Get 4 facials and 4 massages: I had a glorious facial today with my friend Jena and now only have to do one more facial before I've completed this goal. I have a feeling I'm going to be so good at this particular self-care goal that I'll exceed this one. Which is fine by me!

The nice thing is that I'm absolutely seeing the benefits of putting attention to my body in this way. I move better. My skin looks and feels better. And it is helping provide a nice overall balance to my health, especially with all the increase in activity. I don't know what took me so long to do this kind of self-care, but I'm so glad that I'm doing it now!

Post-facial selfie. Thank you Jena!

Read 20 books: I've finished a couple more books in the last month and only have four more to go before I've accomplished this goal.

The two books I read this month are: Happiness: A Memoir: The Crooked Little Road to Semi-Ever After. I liked this book but didn't love it. And I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives. I totally recommend this book (thank you Leah!) about how an unlikely school assignment led to the most amazing relationship that has endured the test of time and distance. The beginning was a little rough as it started when the author was in middle/high school and didn't have big things to worry about. But overall it's such a sweet and special story.

Run a Half Marathon: You guys! Half marathon training is going really well. I'm up to 3 1/2 miles without stopping. I'm running 3 - 4 times a week. I'm totally staying on track with the training. And I'm feeling really great. I'm really proud of myself for sticking with this and for seeing the progress and results I've already seen in the 4 1/2 weeks since I started.

I've been holding myself accountable by going on Instagram after each workout and sharing a few stories about that day's run. Thank you to those of you who are watching and commenting. It's more helpful than you know. I'm really looking forward to continuing to progress through the training plan and gaining more confidence that I will cross that finish line!

Track each day's food in the Weight Watchers App: Nope. Still not happening. What's most important to me is that I'm following the program. And I am. Ya know, I went bonkers (as I do from time to time) in the first part of the year and by mid-March I was all "Enough Molly." And I actually listened. In the past nine weeks I've lost 21.4 lbs. I feel really good and that's what I need to use as my barometer. Not if I'm adding things to the WW app or not. So while I'm not knocking this goal out of the park, I'm also not eating everything in sight. So it's still a win to me!

Use my real camera at least 1x/month: Last week I found myself at the farmer's market because I was desperate for some lilacs. Unfortunately they weren't that good. But I did manage to snap some photos of some beautiful and colorful produce.

Volunteer 1x/month (must include something to help flip the House): Thanks to a couple of good friends, I was provided with an amazing opportunity to volunteer with Girls on the Run Los Angeles earlier this month. Together with my wombmate and three other friends who all work a variety of event-related jobs, we were assigned to be in charge of parking. Now anyone who's in events knows that directing traffic and parking on event can be a pain in the ass. And sometimes it does not bring out the best in people. With Sawnia at the helm, this rock start group (Karen, Katie, Cari & I) managed to live us to our self-imposed name "A+ Parking Team." It was a very fun experience and although it was an early day (out the door by 5:55 a.m.), it was great to be part of something so meaningful and to have fun while doing it!

This next month is going to be super exciting because I'll be making progress on my goals while I'm in Ireland on my annual trip back home! I. Can't. Wait!

Thank you. As always. For coming along for the ride. For reading my blog posts. For investing in these crazy goals. And for being part of my amazing support network!