Goals for March 2012.

I decided at the end of January to create monthly goals in an effort to help myself be a little more organized in all aspects of my life. I wasn't sure if I was going to keep this up, but after a month of working towards my little mini-goals, I found that they worked for me. :)

The first thing I am going to do is recap what I had planned for February. My little insights will be next to the original goals in italics (and you can find the February post by clicking here). I think I did reasonably well all things considered. I neglected some things in favor of other opportunities! A little further down I have stuff outlined for March.

FEBRUARY RECAP-
Grad School:

• Revisit requirements for the three programs I am interested in. Create a timeline for due dates, etc. This is pretty much done. I am still applying to all 3!
• Write to old professors for letters of recommendation, etc. I am working with 2 professors, but I need a third. Would it be appropriate to ask someone I am currently working with?
• Draft personal statement Not done. I outlined some ideas, but I am struggling with this a bit.

Writing:

• Continue working on my current piece The writing I did do this month was on the same piece I started in November, so hurrah!
• Write 20,000 new words this month  Ha! I only wrote about 2,000 words this month (I blame all the reading), so not even
• Continue writing in my journal 3x per week  I'll give myself credit for this. I wrote about once a week, and that is a fine pace for now. I know it'll pick up once I start teaching.

Blog Related:

• Finish the two Dickens titles I have selected for the month (David Copperfield and Nicholas Nickleby) in celebration of his birthday I managed to finish David Copperfield. I think I could have plowed through Nicholas Nickleby in the last few days if I hadn't stopped to read a couple of books for the new teaching job.
• Make progress in War and Peace (Hoping to get to 120 chapters) Haven't even opened it. If I intend on rereading it by the end of June, I need to at least start it this month
• Start Les Miserables Haven't touched this one either. I have plans to start it in a couple more days so that I can hit the first checkpoint on the 18th.
• Read Roots for the readalong Success!
• Read other books off my project list if time. :) After realizing I needed to read some books before starting the new job, I neglected the list for awhile. I'm okay with it and I still had a great reading month.

Crafts: I'm considering this entire section a FAIL. I ended up organizing my recipe binder instead of some of these because it was more urgent. I have pictures picked out, just need to order them. We'll just scratch this section.

• Finish my senior scrapbook (from my senior year of high school. Seriously, I need to finish it)
• Finish crocheting my mom's scarf (been half done for a year now)
• Print some wedding pictures to put in our frames...we've been married for over two years. This needs to be done.

Domestic:

• Continue to try one new recipe a week (I might be combining this into my weekly update posts in my continued effort to make the blog more "me" than just books). I think I averaged it out to 2.5 new recipes a week! We had a lot of yummy dinners this month and I'm getting a bit more confident in the ktichen
• Use my crock pot more (inspired a bit by Trish and this post) Also a big success. I used the crock pot to cook a few new things, including a yummy pot roast on Sunday (it was SOOOO good).
• Clean out our second bedroom and organize (seriously, it is our dumping room) I actually went organizing crazy and went through almost everything in the apartment. The only thing that needs a good going through is our big coat closet. Matt also has a few boxes of junk he needs to organize.
• Continue my "ten-minute" clean-ups every night (basically I set the timer and clean up for ten minutes every night and stop when the timer goes off-very helpful in getting rid of daily clutter, etc.) This is probably the most helpful thing I have done for myself!

Health:

• Go to the gym 3x per week I'm going to be honest and say it was probably only 1x per week. With the mild weather, I've been doing a lot of walking.
• Work-out videos and Wii Fit 3x per week
• Carry water with me everywhere! Matt makes fun of my water bottles, so success!
• Continue my diet! I did better this month than last, but I still need to improve.

 

MARCH GOALS-
Grad School:

• Finish Personal Statement 
• Order transcripts from MSU
• Hopefully get letters of rec back?

Writing:

• Continue progress on WIP-Add 5,000 to it?
• Continue weekly journal writing

Blog Related:

• Finish Nicholas Nickleby
• Start Les Miserables-hit first checkpoint
• Participate in Adam's Magical March event (finish the books I selected)

Crafty/Domestic Goodness:

• One new recipe/week
• Pack my lunches the night before (I sometimes have the habit of skipping lunch while teaching)
• Continue to cook 1 new recipe a week 
• Work on scrapbook since it was a fail in February
• Put our pictures in frames!

Health: 

• In bed by 10:30 on school nights :)
• Water, water everywhere! (I'm hoping for 3 bottles during the day at school)
• No getting overworked with school stuff!

There you have it! I'm hoping that getting back into a normal schedule will help me as I start teaching again. Keeping regular hours and staying busy always makes me more productive!