New Years “resolutions”

I admit – I started writing this post before new years and somehow never finished.

I realize the last time I blogged about “New Years” was the start of 2010! Reading it, I am really happy I wrote that post. It was a great summary of a year as well as my goals for the coming year. Looking back at my post nearest to New Years this year, I realize I was really depressed and remember not wanting to blog because everything I started to write came out negative and whiny. But I think either way it is important to regroup, recap and reinvest myself in life and thinking about what I want.

A look back at 2012

Work Stuff:

• Started working at Newton Wellesley as a Clinical Inpatient Dietitian
• Did Maternity leave at Massachusetts General Hospital as a Research Dietitian.
• Got offered and accepted a permanent job at MGH as a Research dietitian.
• Got my very own NIH research protocols! (Up to 9 now!)

Personal Stuff:

• I was a Bridesmaid in my good friend Melissa’s wedding (the first wedding I have been in since I was a flower girl around age 5!) 

• Melissa got pregnant- making her my first friend close friend MY age to becoming a mom! (I have lots of friends with kids, but they all seem older and it still seemed out of the realm of possibility even though I guess I am getting to be a real live adult now.)

• Got married myself to one of my best friends.

• Got a new name!
• Maintained my optimism for the most part.
• Made it through most major holidays without my typical self destructive melt downs.
• Despite being a lot further away from most of my friends – I think I managed to maintain a lot of good friendships- though there is always room for improvement and love seeing everyone!

Physical:

• Tried hot yoga (and hated it!)
• Tried crossfit (and loved it!)
• Ran my first 5K (Zombie Run for Our Lives) 
• Did the 10,000 push up challenge (100 push ups every day for 100 days before the wedding.)
• Did lots of other yoga
• Started working out with my hubby :) 

Looking back on my 2010 “resolutions”

· Learn how to accept a compliment – I have definitely gotten better at this.

· Work on being healthy, mentally and physically. – Still working on it. While I may have more adipose tissue, and I am not sure about my cholesterol etc, I would say I definitely feel better, and I am treating myself a lot better than I used to.

· Live in the moment, but make decisions that I will be comfortable with and proud of looking back.  – So far so good. If anything I may have found I do better when I plan a bit more!

· Continue to work on financial stability, while paying off undergrad loans.  -  I still feel like I have no money- but I did successfully graduate grad school with no debt, and I only have <$1000 left on my undergrad loans. I do now have a car payment, however, but little by little, chipping away!

· Prioritize. And make sure I am living accordingly. – An ongoing battle!

Goals for 2013:

·         Be happy

·         Be healthy (physically and mentally)

·         Be financially responsible

o       Finish paying off my school loans  

o       Pay off at least 1/3 of my car loan

o       Continue saving for the future/ an emergency

·         Keep learning

o       Listen to NPR or the news at least every work day.

·         Try new things (maybe do 1 new thing a month?? Hmm I will have to think more about this!)

I have taken so many counseling classes that I know my goals should be specific and manageable, but for now, I am going to leave it at that!

What are your thoughts on resolutions and the New Year? 

Hot Core Yoga Take 2!

As promised- I did it again! I reattempted HotCore Yoga after a terrible experience the first time.

It was significantly better! I managed to stay in the room for about the first 80 minutes of the 90 minute class and I actually did all of the poses for that time. The last 10 minutes were kind of a wash but much better than last time. Once we did the camel position I started getting really nauseas.

I think just knowing what to expect was a huge mental saver. Knowing that this WAS in fact close to Bikram yoga and not just a crazy guy in a basement making us do weird breathing really put my mind at ease.

Also just knowing the general progression that

* Each pose would be repeated twice
* A half time would be announced
* The beginning of class was standing and the end was mostly on the mat

All of those things made me push myself a lot harder since I had more of a general sense of hat was to come. I admit, in most exercise type classes I tend to take it easy the first class because you never know what is to come and it sucks giving an all out effort in the first 5 minutes and then not being able to keep up for the rest of the class! At the same time that has bitten me in the butt when the class does not actually become much harder and then ending the class without feeling like I got all that much of a work out.
Do you ever have that problem or do you always push yourself from the get go?

One of my biggest issues with the class was the aftermath- I had to g et up to pee 6 times last night because of all of the water I drank during class!  At least you can't say I didn't hydrate!

I still definetly do not like it as much as most other yoga I have tried because

• I feel like I am just sweating but not actually getting as much of a workout and a stretch. thus far the teacher mostly just does the poses with us and does not go around and correct form and sometimes I cannot even tell what I am supposed to be doing.
• If they dod the same thing every time, I can see this getting boring. (though at the same time I see the advantage of always being  able to see how far you come, and get a bit deeper into each pose).
• I miss inversions!

Again-- all that being said- this was only the second class and after the first class I absolutely hated it, not after the 2nd class I thought it was Ok. We shall see how I feel by class 10! Maybe I will be a convert after all.  
How do you feel about most types of exericse/ yoga, do you know right away if you like it, or does it take a while to develop a love/ addiction to it?

I tried to make Leo do some yoga with me at home, but he wasn't feeling it.