101 in 1001 Update #4!

Wow, that month flew by!

I started thinking that I didn't really accomplish much on my list this month, but in reality I actually managed to get quite a bit done, although a few things really slipped. Running 4 times a month certainly has slipped since after work all I want to do is go home and take a nap. I only managed to squeeze in two runs this month, so I'll basically have to start over when I go for my next run. I battled a cold this past week, which has been the one week where I felt I had the energy to go to the gym. Ugh.. I guess I'll try and make up for it next month while doing my year-end balancing at work, busy days ahead!

That said, Jeff and I got a lot done in regards to our wedding and we got some important stuff done on our house! Which makes me very very happy :) We started off the month by booking a photographer, followed that up by booking a decorator, and painted our spare bedroom (finally). Only two of those things are on my list, but I'm getting excited!!

Completed Goals:
63. Book a photographer - the lovely Heather at HRM Photography will be taking all our shots!
76. Paint spare bedroom - I'll post photos once I get it decorated... this may take a while...

Goals I'm Working On:
6. Go for a run every week, weather permitting (12/143) - ugh, this number is not where it needs to be
13. Eat a vegetarian meal once a week for 3 months (1/12)
29. Read 10 classical novels such as 'Pride and Prejudice' or 'Wuthering Heights' (1/10) - thank you Sherlock Holmes!
34. Try 8 new foods (5/8) - I tried brussel sprouts..I still don't like them. Yuck!
48. Go on one date night a month (5/32) - we ate in, but Jeff cooked and set the table all fancy

49. Take a picture of Jeff and I once a month (4/32)

65. Create our centerpieces and wedding favours - the decorator is going to do the centerpieces so all I have to do is the favours now!
77. Organize and decorate the office - it'll get finished eventually...

Completed Goals: 12/101

Bambi Got Run Over By A Civic

Does anyone recognize the song I was referencing?

Well it's a little lot late, but I'm finally getting around to writing about what happened to my poor car at the beginning of December. But first, I must warn you - if you have a great love for deer, don't keep reading this post. (Haha) I used to be one of those people who was against venison and hunting, always wondering who on earth could ever do that to Bambi's mom, but after a few events concerning a stupid deer...well let's just say that my position has drastically changed.

Until my deer incident, I'd never been in a car accident. No speeding tickets, no parking tickets, nothing. I actually took great pride in that. Well, that's all out the window now.

I can't put into words what it was like that morning. It's all somewhat of a blur because after it happened I was riding on a wave of adrenaline, followed by shock. I remember driving along (ironically, having just gotten my car tuned for winter & oil-undercoated), minding my own business, humming along to the radio when I saw a deer emerge out of the trees on the passenger side of the road. I remember clearly thinking "Oh, a deer! I never see one this close to the road, and it's running this way! Deer hop kind of funny....it's still running this way...there's no way we'll hit each other" and BAM! The deer slammed right into my passenger door...its back end smacked my rear-passenger door. I noticed that there was deer spit on my window.

Yes, those are some very detailed thoughts but that's probably the clearest part of the whole debacle. And all of this happened in just a few seconds, just long enough me to start braking (but not too hard, because I had noticed a car approaching in my rear-view mirror) but not long enough for me to have slowed down enough for the deer to hit the front of my car. In fact, I'm glad that it hit the side of car because it could have been so much worse if I'd hit the deer straight on. I actually didn't damage the front of my car at all, which made this an easy insurance claim. The deer fur on my car didn't hurt either.

I remember screaming, because I could see the look in the deer's eyes as we hit and it scared me. The deer pushed me a little bit towards the middle of the road but I didn't swerve. It was then that I was riding a wave of adrenaline, and wisely pulled over to the side of the road where there was more shoulder. I saw the deer stumble to the other side of the road in my rear-view mirror. I thought that there would be minimal damage (from a full-grown male deer, running full speed at me? That was dumb) and that everything would probably be fine. I was shaking so badly that I could barely dial Jeff's number. I think I was pretty incoherent on the phone, considering that I couldn't really tell him where I was. He told me to get out of the car to see if there was damage...and that's when I fell apart.

My first glimpse of the damage

This door was really dented too, it's just hard to tell in this picture

Yep, that's deer fur stuck in my door handle

As soon as I got off the phone with Jeff I heard my phone ring again. I was outside staring at my car, wondering how on earth I'd be able to pay for this much damage. My caller id showed that it was the company that I'd had a second interview with the day before. My heart stopped, because I knew that they were calling all the applicants to say either yes or no, and I just thought to myself 'please don't be more bad news...I won't be able to handle much more'. Luckily, it was good news :) I made my new boss laugh when he was going over the details when I said to him "I'm sorry I'm not soaking all this in right now, I just got hit by a deer and I'm on the side of the road talking to you!" This all happened within 30 minutes, which just goes to show you how quickly your life can change. 

Around $4700 in damages and a week later, I had my car back. The repair shop I took it to did a great job, and although the experience was a life-affirming one for me, I'll always be more cautious around deer now! 

Bambi, you better watch out, I'm gunning for you! 

101 in 1001 Update #3!

Wow this month flew by! I meant to update my running progress a few weeks ago, but I haven't had the chance since....I GOT A JOB!!! Wooo! After almost 7 steady months of job searching it finally happened. I am now an accounting coordinator at a large moving company. I started December 6, and it's been going very well so far! How I got my job is a fairly ironic story involving a deer and an isolated country road, but I think that story deserves it's own blog post. With that said, having a job is definitely the reason that I'm slacking with this whole blogging thing, as I thought I was getting a lot better at it recently. I've thought about adding a tab where I post recipes either weekly or monthly. At first I was thinking weekly, but when I come home from work I'm pretty exhausted, so I'm going to go with monthly. That was the new blogging development that I hinted at in my last update. So get ready for Menu Monthlies, where I will post a few of my tried and true recipes!

Moving on to my running progress, I was actually doing really well at the beginning of this month and did my four runs, but then I 1) Got hit by a deer and didn't have a car for a little while, 2) Got a job and was extremely exhausted after work every day, and 3) Caught a really bad cold and couldn't go out for a run anyways. With that stuff plus Christmas, I haven't been to the gym in at least 2 weeks. So the new year is a great excuse to step it back up! I did complete week 3 of my C25K with relative ease, and I may repeat it since I won't be as accustomed to running next week. I'm definitely getting more used to being up earlier every day and working, and since I'm over my cold now and have my car back I'm actually really looking forward to working it out at the gym again!

As for my 101 in 1001 list, this month I am adding one goal. This goal was incredibly important to me, caused me many sleepless nights, seemingly endless amounts of tears, and had me endure criticism from myself and others. You guessed it - the job thing. I never wanted to publicly put it on my list, but it has always been on there in my mind, so I've decided to put it in my freebie slot for my wedding. That may seem like an odd choice, but it's necessary wedding funding, so I say good enough!

Completed Goals:

59. Spend our first Christmas morning together in our new house - This was kind of a freebie, but it meant so much to Jeff, who really hasn't woken up in a home of his own on Christmas for quite some time

74. Get a job! (So I can start paying for all this wedding stuff) - I am so relieved now, it's cliche but it's really like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders!

78. Organize the storage area in the basement - We have finally gotten rid of our moving boxes in the storage area! 

85. Organize all closets - With the end of the boxes also came the end of the disorganization of our closets

Goals I'm Working On:

6. Go for a run at least once every week, weather permitting (10/143)

34. Try 8 new foods (4/8) - I tried venison this month after this whole deer incident (I never wanted to eat Bambi before he tried to run me off the road)

48. Go on one date night a month (4/32) - We're going on a New Year's date night tomorrow, we have reservations at a new restaurant and then we're seeing The Hobbit in 3D!

49. Take a picture of Jeff and I once a month (3/32)

Christmas Eve

58. Try three new restaurants together (1/3)
63. Book a photographer - We're meeting with a photographer in two weeks to see more of her portfolio, I like what I've seen so far!

I added one goal this month:
74. Get a job! (So I can start paying for all this wedding stuff)

Completed: 10/101

Christmas Decor

I love winter in general. Call me crazy, but I think that there is something incredibly beautiful and peaceful about watching the snow fall when you're inside, holding a cup of hot chocolate. When I was in school and stressing out over a paper or studying for exams, I would look out the window and see the snow falling and it would calm me down. An overwhelming feeling of peace would come over me, and I would think, 'I'm OK'.

I have always LOVED Christmas. Absolutely loved it. From the earliest time I can remember, Christmas has always been my hands-down favorite time of year. It has less to do with the whole presents thing and more to do with snow, Christmas music, the smell of Christmas trees, decorating, the baking, the meaning behind it, the food, yummy hot beverages like hot chocolate and apple cider, wrapping presents, and getting together and spending time with people I love. And that's only the beginning of why I think this time of year is awesome. I used to wake up around 5:00 in the morning on Christmas morning, just so excited to get my favorite day of the year started. I actually only stopped doing this when I was in university and slept in a little bit on Christmas morning, not because I wasn't excited anymore but mainly because I was just always overtired then. So get ready Jeff, I may be up at 5am this year on Christmas Day!

Thus, given my feelings regarding this season, I have been extremely happy the past few days getting all of my Christmas decorations together. I'm so excited to spend my first Christmas with Jeff in our own home, and I think that feeling of love, and creating traditions for ourselves has really pushed me into action. I got super inspired and created my own Christmas artwork, which turned out fairly well, so I thought I'd share my decor ideas here.

My countdown to Christmas is on!

My Charles Dickens village 

My "mantle" 

I painted this design based off of a greeting card I found

I found the idea for this candle on Pinterest

The inspiration for this display also came from Pinterest - love that website 

My table decor - I picked up a huge box of ornaments at Liquidation World for around $10!! I ended up using them in my table decor, decor for my mantle, and on my tree!

First Christmas tree in our house :) 

A look at the living room

101 in 1001 and C25K Update

Ok so I'm slightly late on my C25K update as well as my 101 in 1001 update, but whatever. I said I'd post about how my running was going last week, but I never made it to the computer when I felt like writing the post. I have a whole slew of upcoming posts, plus a future thought for blog development, so I guess December will be a busy blogging month if I actually stay on top of things.

My running is going pretty well - I no longer feel as if I'm going to die when I run for longer than 60 seconds and I feel more confident in my ability to make it to 20 minutes on the treadmill, so I suppose that's progress. I completed all my week one runs, and am slightly behind on my week two runs, but I'm hoping to catch up this week. I have also been counting calories with a free Blackberry app and I find that it's really helpful to keep track of my food intake in relation to how much exercise I've had that day. I didn't think it was possible, but I am more glued to my Blackberry than ever now!

As for my 101 in 1001 list, things are still moving along fairly well. This month I decided to make two revisions to my list: #3. Lose 5 pounds for wedding, and #53. Do something nice for Jeff every week. I've lost over 5 pounds in the past two months, so I've decided to 'up the ante' a little bit in that regard. As for #53, it's just too hard to keep track of! I'm not saying that I'm going to stop doing nice stuff for Jeff or that I haven't done anything nice this month, just that I probably won't keep track of this one for the remainder of my 1001 days. Haha, sorry Jeff!

Completed Goals:
3. Lose 5 pounds for wedding - my new goal is to lose 15 more pounds before the big day, so I'm putting this goal in the 'freebie' slot
22. Make a new friend - I have a new workout buddy!
57. Write a letter to Jeff, for him to open 10 years from now - I'm pretty sure I won't be able to find this letter 10 years from now

Goals I'm Working On:
5. Skate once a week, once registered - I'm skating once a week right now, but I'm not registered at the moment so I'm not sure how long this will go on for
6. Go for a run at least once every week, weather permitting (6/143) - much better than last month!
11. Do a Couch to 5k running plan
34. Try 8 new foods (3/8) - I tried potato galette, profiteroles, and slow-cooked chicken tacos and I liked every dish!
48. Go on one date night a month (3/32) - Jeff and I went to see Victoria Park light up and then we grabbed a hot chocolate and talked, it was really nice :) 
49. Take a picture of Jeff and I once a month (2/32) - I got a photo of us at our date night in Victoria Park

Yes I know it's incredibly blurry, but I love how Christmas-y it is! 

67. Create slideshow of pictures of Jeff and I for wedding reception - Ok I've really only started asking people for wedding pictures of our grandparents, but that still counts as working on it right?
81. Hang Christmas lights every year (1/3)
82. Mail Christmas cards every year (1/3) - my Christmas cards never made it out of the box last year, so this is definitely an improvement 

I added one goal this month:
15. Lose an additional 15 pounds before I get married

Completed: 6/101

Am I crazy?

I think I may be crazy for deciding to start a Couch to 5k plan in the middle of November...in Canada...when I live in the snow belt...

I used to run long distance competitively in elementary school until I got hit with bronchitis and pneumonia within the same running season in Grade 8. I tried picking it back up in university but I soon discovered that I sort of hated running on a treadmill, and I didn't love running in the city either. Now that I'm outside it, I'm going to try to fall back in love with running again. It won't be easy, but I remember how rewarding a run can feel. I plan to post every week about my progress so I can relate how it's going to anyone out there who's interested. I'm not good at staying accountable to these sorts of things, so I'm hoping blogging about the next few weeks of my life will keep me on track as well as give me something to blog about. Plus, this is on my 101 in 1001 list and I need to get stuff accomplished! I'm looking forward to continually creating a healthier life for myself as the weeks pass by!

Tomorrow I start running...wish me luck!

Let me assure you, I do not look this good when I run

My First 101 Update!

I know it hasn't been a full month yet but I just couldn't wait to get started! Plus, I haven't blogged in a really long time. One of the goals on my list is to blog every day for a week...that's going to be much more challenging than I originally thought! I thought I'd write a monthly post regarding the progress of my 101 things in 1001 days checklist and keep up-to-date on my progress that way. Otherwise, I know I'd lose track of the fact that I'd started or completed certain tasks on my list. That's something I'm hoping to work on. I'm really good about starting new tasks, but I have a hard time following through on some of them. The state of my photo and scrapbook albums are a perfect example of that. (Plus, these updates will give me something definitive to blog about every month, which makes me happy!) What I've discovered this past month is that some of my goals are going to be extremely hard to keep track of, but I'll give it my best shot!

With that said, I made some great progress this month on my list. I'm not sure all months will progress as this one has, but whatever, I'm happy with my progress right now. There's just a certain satisfaction in crossing things off a long list! 

Completed Goals: 

16. Write a letter to myself, to be opened when the 1001 days are over 

62. Pick a venue - woo! This is the first legitimate thing we have done so far to plan our wedding!

79. Put in an island in the kitchen - I'm going to do a whole blog post detailing how we were able to save a lot of money and still get amazing results! 

Goals I Have Started Working On: 

2. Get my hair cut and highlighted twice (1/2) 

6. Go for a run once every week, weather permitting (2/143) - ugh, behind already 

26. Grow and use three varieties of herbs (1/3) - I grew trailing rosemary this summer, which smelled wonderful

48. Go on one date night a month (1/32) - Jeff made me a candlelit dinner at home, which totally counts I think!

49. Take a picture of Jeff and I once a month (1/32) - we had engagement pictures done on Thanksgiving weekend, a post on this will follow 

53. Do something nice for Jeff every week (4/143) - this is going to be so hard to keep track of! I don't know if I'll share every week what I've done, but so far I've cooked him special meals, made him hot chocolate, and watched one of his favorite movies with him. 

69. Get engagement shots done (1/2) - As I said, I'll blog about this experience in a separate post :) 

72. Figure out what music will be playing during the ceremony - I found two really cool songs, not sure if I'll share yet or if I'll keep them a surprise! 

I also added two goals this month:
100. Take a yoga class
101. Write my name in wet cement

Completed: 3/101