2015 Resolutions

While 2014 had its highlights, most of them occurred at the beginning of the year. By the end, my speed was dwindling, I wasn't racing or running as consistently, and other than my marathon, I didn't experience many proud moments.

I want to make sure my accomplishments carry me all the way through 2015. I've spent a couple weeks (as is usual for me) finessing my resolutions and figuring out action steps to reach each goal.

 My first resolution is consistency. In 2013 I was running at least three times during the week, and each run was at least 4 miles. Then I'd add a long run if I was training for a race. In 2014, in order to accommodate marathon training, I only ran three times a week to avoid overuse injuries.

I think I would have raced stronger and been better prepared if I had stuck with four runs a week.

I will commit to running three 4-6 milers during the week and one long-run on the weekends.

Although I meant to cross-train more consistently last year, I definitely didn't meet that goal in the way I wanted.

This year, I'm going to shop around for gyms so that I can start weight-lifting again. I also need to work on my flexibility, and I will incorporate a day of yoga or Pilates into my weekly schedule. I will be more consistent with my core-work.

I've joined a push-up challenge group through my Sub-30 group, and my goal at the moment there is to do 10 pushups a day. Some people are aiming for 20,000 this year! I do hope to get strong enough to do 20 a day.

Specifically, I am gearing toward a new half or 10k PR. After Ragnar in 2014, I was able to obliterate my last half PR by four minutes. I think that after running a marathon, I should be able to PR a half. Ideally I'd like to break 2:10 for a half or 58 minutes for a 10k, but any PR will do!

PR's don't happen by accident, of course. I'm going to be better about my speedwork this year. Whether that means running 400s and 800s, working on hills more often, or learning to embrace the tempo run, I will do speedwork at least once every two weeks.

(I'm was going to say once a week, but I've decided to listen to this article and not over-do it, at least without a goal-race in mind.)

Honestly, this seems like a lot. I know that when you set up a lot of big goals at once, it's easy to give up. But I plan to incorporate the goals into my year slowly and with purpose. That way, instead of starting the year strong but then drifting as fall approaches, I'll be building on my goals as the year goes on.

I'm not sure what my race schedule will look like this year. While I miss running 12 races a year, I can't really justify the cost. I only ran one or two 5ks last year, so I'd really like to refocus on that distance. And of course, I'm playing with the idea of a second marathon sooner rather than later.

I am signed up for a 10k in April (the Shark's Tooth that I did last year). The course is warm but flat and I think I could PR on it. I'm also signed up for a half in March (the Sarasota First Watch, which I've never run before). I've heard good things but the giant bridge makes me nervous. I may run the Paradise Coast Half on my birthday again and aim to PR that one, but that also depends on whether or not I'll be running a full that day!

Outside of those two races I'm already signed up for, my plans are still nebulous. I have time to get them in order. At the moment, I'm more concerned with taking these foundational resolutions and running with them. (Haha.)

In 2014, my word was dedication. This year, it's consistency.

What are your goals for 2015? 

ABK

Making Our House A Home

Well, it only took us six months, but we've finally hung decorations, organized the office/guest rooms, and added some warmth to our house. 

There are still a lot of big projects to face, like tearing down a wall and redoing the kitchen/master suite, but for now the majority of the house is coming along. Here's what Matt and I spent winter break working on. (It doesn't seem like much, but shopping and decorating take a deceptively huge amount of time and effort.)

To see the before shots, go here. I'm not putting the photos in this post because, let's face it, scrolling through a million house pictures isn't really why most people read this blog!

Living Room

First, we spent approximately half my lifetime at Lowe's picking out curtain rods and curtains (which we returned, then went to Bed, Bath, & Beyond to find new ones).

This is my "OMG CAN WE GO HOME?" face.

Then we got to work!

Matt removed our oatmeal-colored verticals. Yuck.

I patched and painted the holes, with Archie's help of course.

Matt hung the curtain rod...

...with Archie's help, of course.

We debated on colors. Originally I really wanted red curtains and finding a set that matched our rug nicely was awesome. But in the end we went with white.

Our living room gets pretty dark so white curtains make it feel more open. Plus, the sliders go out onto the pool so light, airy curtains made sense.

The finished product. We also hung an autographed SUP paddle Matt won at a race.

Dining Room

Our dining room is connected to the living room, so we wanted curtains that matched. We went with the same white. When we moved, my parents gave us three pieces of real art. We've now hung two of them; the third's frame shattered and we need to reframe it.

We hung the Möbius Strip in the dining room.

The view to our front patio. We clearly haven't done anything out there yet! You can also glimpse the new cushions I got for our chairs...no more red and green plaid!

Guest Rooms

Even though we're planning to get a queen bed for at least one of these rooms, they're still complete enough to accommodate guests.

One of our hand-built shelves came crashing down this week (too many books!), so Matt had to take them down and add supports. Now the office/second guest room is all set up. Our framed diplomas are hanging over the desk, too.

We have two beds in the first guest room, and now there are even pictures on the walls!

I had some fun framing my All Star Game tickets, etc.

Foyer

We hung our second nice piece of art, the King of Hearts, on one side of the foyer. Across from it we put up a nice mirror surrounded by photographs I took during our various trips around the world. I can't wait to add more photos to the collection...We don't have one of Panama printed yet. 

From top left around: Edinbrugh, Aix en Provence, Florence, Jerusalem, St. Mark's Square (Venice), Cliffs of Moher (Ireland), Venice, Arc de Triomf (Barcelona), Aix en Provence.

We plan to get a nice table to put under the mirror, too.

Master Suite

We finally took down our gross, broken verticals in the master bedroom and can now actually let daylight into our room! We have a wonderful view.

We haven't hung anything on the walls in the master yet. The problem is that everything we love we want out on display where people can see it! So our room is still very bland; but our new duvet set, rug, and curtains do help!

Addition

The space off the kitchen that we had been using to store junk has been cleaned out and organized! We're not sure what we want to use this space for, but at least now it's not an eyesore.

 

Obviously there's still tons to get done, but the entire house feels warmer with so many little details added. I'm starting to feel proud of it and like I can really call it "home!"

Do you like decorating and organizing house stuff?

What is your favorite room in your house? Why?

ABK

Happy New Year!

Matt and I spent the majority of our time between Christmas and New Years doing stuff to the house that we should have done six months ago when we first moved in. I'll post some updated photos of that stuff soon, but a more timely post is about why we finally got motivated to decorate...

We decided to host our first party!

We are not natural party-throwers and I particularly have trouble staying up until midnight, so we figured having friends over for a low-key shindig would be a great way to warm the house and ring in 2015.

(Spoiler alert: I managed to stay up until 1:30!)

Kendall checks out the spread: various cheese dips, guacamole made from the avocados in our backyard, bacon-wrapped-dates, pasta, meatballs, etc!

Of course there was plenty of food.

Kendall made these amazing champagne-and-strawberry gluten free cupcakes!

We sat around and relaxed out on our lanai, played some Cards Against Humanity, and turned on Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper just before midnight.

Alan, Ben, and Kendall await Justin's judgment.

The guys look really excited about their hats.

 We had perfect weather for our outdoor setup! We kept a fire going for ambiance only.

I had my concerns about staying up until midnight but we never even had to put in a movie! Midnight arrived sooner than expected, which I guess is a sign of a successful party.

Cheers!

Champagne and a champagne cupcake? Perfect combo!

Happy New Year!

One weird tradition my family follows is eating sauerkraut at the new year...It has something to do with eating something sour so the rest of the year is sweet. Anyway, I bought a giant jar and encouraged everyone to have some.

Matt ate one piece, but at least he put up less of a fight than last year. Ben had never had sauerkraut before and said it wasn't bad. Archie refused to taste it. I personally love it!

I bought crackers for everybody to open at midnight. Inside were paper crowns, silly jokes (the box said "fortunes" and I was pretty disappointed!) and noisemakers.

Double-crowns ftw.

It was really nice to have people over. I guess one of the perks of owning a house is really feeling like the space is yours. I'm excited to host more get-togethers! The house feels so much happier with people in it!

Here's to 2015 and all it has in store!

How did you celebrate the new year?

Would you rather be a host or a guest at a party?

Do you have any New Year traditions?

ABK