I will post later about the picture that Joel posted below, but Amanda you are right, the buffalo are behind the fence. :) My parents and brother came out this past weekend, so I will tell you about their visit later (stay tuned for a funny story). However, since we are now in the sixth month of the year, I thought it was time to review how I have done on my new year's resolutions so far. I put them on this blog as a way to hold myself accountable to them, so I figure it is only fair to share with people how I am doing on them.
1. Financial Resolution
a) Make a budget and stick to it. Joel and I created a budget on excel, but haven't done a great job updating it and following it. We aren't awful with finances, but we haven't taken the time to update the budget each month and with each purchase we make.
b) Save money to invest with. We have not invested any of our money, however we are thinking that this may be a good thing to do with part of the economic stimulus we received. We need to do a lot more research into this though before we decide anything. Now, that Joel is on summer vacation this would be a good time to research investing. I did start an IRA through work, so we are saving for retirement already.
c) Save money to put toward a house I was fortunate to get a raise in April. We decided since we have lived off my starting income for 6 months we can do it a bit longer. So, we have put the difference between my starting salary and raise into savings. It isn't much, but every penny counts.
2. Personal Health Resolution:
a) Schedule time to go and exercise My friend/neighbor Debbi and I would get up twice a week to walk at our clubhouse exercise room. Since, Debbi is gone and plans on moving in July, Joel told me he will wake up with me this summer and walk. Debbi and I got into a real routine, which was great! I hope Joel likes this enough to keep it up during the school year...but we'll see. I also try to walk the skywalk with my friend Aupreille at least once a week over our lunch breaks. I don't have enough motivation to exercise by myself very often, so if I have an accountability partner, like Debbi, Aupreille, or Joel, there is a much better chance that I do this. I have tried to do sit-ups, push-ups and jumping jacks each day.
b) Eat healthier I decided to join weight watchers after typing my resolution list. It has been well worth it. I am now watching what I eat (recording it actually) and the portions. I have also been making myself by the healthier options at the grocery store even if it may increase our food budget at times.
c) A and B should help me lose a few pounds. After seeing pictures of myself this fall I really wanted to lose some weight. I wasn't happy with how I looked and I knew I wasn't at a healthy weight for my age and height. With the help of weight watchers (learning how to eat and get more active) and the support of family and friends I have lost a total of 32 pounds!!! I am so happy about this. I feel much healthier and much more comfortable with my body. I am at the point where I want to maintain my weight. If I lose a few more pounds, I wouldn't be opposed, but I am feeling great with where my weight is now. I find that I have much more energy now!
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5 comments:
congratulations!! i wish I could play along! I, too, need an exercise buddy to be consistent. Good luck with your endevors (know that is spelled wrong but my brain is on vacation!)
Congrats on the weight loss! That is awesome. Being content with how I look is one of my goals too. After teaching this year, I am working on working out this summer. Going to try to walk the dog more, swim laps in our pool and maybe ride my bike and roller blade. We have realized we'll have to spend more in our food budget to eat healthy, but I guess it's worth it. We want to use our economic stimulus checks (whenever they come) to buy and elliptical and used Bowflex. We live far away from gyms and such so we figured it would be a good investment since it's hard to workout with no resources really here. My husband and I try to use the Microsoft Money program. You can set a budget, and hook it up to your online bank account where it will upload your expenses and you just have to make a category. You can set goals on it for saving, etc. I would highly recommend it. It makes pie charts and such to see where your money goes. We have made a new goal to weekly, save our receipts and update it on Sunday. I hope you don't mind I've followed your blog, I was Rebecca's roommate in college and have enjoyed reading Calvin blogs to see what other married people are up to. Feel free to check ours out. cohrs.blogspot.com (I deleted the above comment cause I didn't leave our address, i thought it would automatically connect to ours.)
well, shoot, i need an exercise buddy! there's just something nonmotivational about working out alone. but wow, congratulations on your progress! that's amazing! :) and by the way, i hate that the healthy food generally costs more...maybe they should make all the junk food expensive and then we are less apt to buy it!
Congrats on your goals Julie, you are on such great track and the year is only halfway thru. I did to get going on my resolutions again because there are some I definitely need to work on still.
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