Chicks On Lit discussion

Around the beginning of Summer, Teri started a thread here in Girl Talk about if we had any goals to achieve this Summer. (Look under Girl Talk, "View All" and go to Page 3).

I'm not sure I accomplished much, but I did get out of the 170's and into the 160's with my weight, so I'm pleased with that!

So, Chicks, were you able able to achieve any of your Summer Goals this year?

What are your goals for this Autumn? (Which begins this Monday, 9/22/08!!!)

I have to give this some thought, but some of things come to mind already are:
~Keep up with getting our home in order
~Finish the scarf I started LAST Fall!
~Keep Writing!
~Use my time more efficiently.

I didn't accomplish any of my goals. How lazy does that make me? Honestly.....I spend way too much time on talking to people about their lives than on me and my own life.

Here are my Autumn goals---which coincidentally are also my Summer goals----


1. Organize my pictures. Badly needs to be done.

2. Find a part time job somewhere where I can get a good discount ;)

3. Start a health plan for my heart because it really needs one.

4. Catch up on all the books I have to read that are in piles on my spare room closet floor.

OK I missed the summer goals so I can't comment on my own laziness!

Autumn goals:
1. Clean out one closet
2. Exercise more often
3. Lose some weight
4. Get my Xmas shopping done
5. Read some books from my never ending pile

I didn't post any summer goals, but this is a good chance to make some new goals.

1. Attend yoga three or four times every week.
2. Write my Moby Dick essays.
3. Finish my grad school applications and blow the GREs out of the water!
4. Keep losing weight (rather than gaining like I did this week).
5. Pay all the bills on time.

Here are a few of my goals that I'm brave enough to share!

1. Finish reading the pile of books that I have recently bought.
2. Lose 10 pounds (an obvious one we all work on!)
3. Continue to meditate every morning.
4. Finish our current house projects and plan out my new garden for next spring.
5. Practice my French more often.

I'd like to add "begin Yoga" to my list!

It's supposed to be very good for people in general and for those with all types of Arthritis for pain & stiffness & range of motion management/improvement and I need all the help with these I can get! (I have Psoriatic Arthritis, an RA/auto-immune disease and widespead/multi-skeletal arthritis (all throughout my body/moves around to weak points) as well and Ankylosing Spondilitis, arthritis in my spine).

1. Restart my yoga routine. I've been slacking all summer.
2. Finish all my knitting projects before Xmas.
3. Quit spending so much money.
4. Lose 40 pounds, or at least get a good start. :)
5. Catch up on my to-read pile.

I want to take a class. Im not even sure of what but I want to take one. Maybe knitting (learn more) guitar, cooking, I dont know just something.

Go to the gym since I bought a membership.

Catch up on my scrapbooks.

paint my bedroom and living room and find curtains i like

To get going on Cmas shopping / crafting early

To get back into walking every day, outside, while it's nice

To paint the kitchen

To start leaving books in random places

These are great and I will add to the theme we all seem to have:

exercise daily in some way or another

read through my stack of books without falling asleep

spend time connecting with friends on a weekly basis

Hug my kids every day and make them feel valued, no matter how busy our lives become

For those talking about yoga...it's been life-changing for me. My depression had made me so antsy that I couldn't lay still or sit still and relax. Yoga can do that. And now that I'm tapering off my medication this fall, I need it more than ever. So good with joints, stiffness, and just that stuff you need to take your mind off of for a while every day.

Emily, I can use a little help in that dept too!

For those of you looking for yoga classes and not finding it (like me) the wii fit has a yoga section and that helps a bit. I have not been able to find yoga classes in my area with my schedule so the wii fit is an alternative.

Thanks for the suggestion Meg! I'll look into that too! (I'm not so sure I can go to a class with other strangers & what not at this point anyway!)

I feel so dumb again - what's the wii fit?

Jo, yoga classes are very accepting. I've never felt uncomfortable in one (although I would cringe at the thought of going to an aerobics class). Also, Gaiam has a great selection of yoga DVDs - I personally love AM/PA Yoga with Rodney Yee and Patricia Walden. It has a very easy 15-minute morning routine and a very easy 15-minute evening routine.

The WiiFit Yoga is pretty cool, but not as relaxing without the music and guidance of a teacher. :)

Yoga classes can be expensive but I took an adult yoga class at the local college where I used to live, then developed my own routine so that I wouldn't have to keep going to classes. I also print off new poses & routines from yogajournal.com. They have a lot of great info and new ideas!

Laura, wii fit is a program that goes with the wii consol video games. It comes with this balance board that records everything you do. It helps with your center of balance, and you get an avatar personal trainer. It is pretty kewl.

Thanks, Meg! (another one of those things I should have asked my daughter...)

I tried that AM/PM yoga tape, and I guess you're doing pretty well Emily, because I didn't find it easy :( and that was like four years ago! Maybe I should give it another try. I've heard yoga is good for so many things.

But what are you supposed to do when you can't come even close to doing a pose? And how come they say there are some poses you shouldn't do if you have your period?

(sorry to be off topic, Jo)

Hmmm...this is where I wish I have taken yoga teacher training and I had the right answer. Or the ability to verbalize what I'm thinking. When I'm at my next class, I'll make a note to ask the teacher some tips.

I know you shouldn't do deep inversions when you're on your period (shoulder stands, etc.), but I'm pretty sure stuff like down dog and forward bends are OK.

I start yoga thread, so we can get back to autumn goals (sorry Jo).

Okay Autumn Goals! Okay I am waaay up there with ya'll of not completing my summer goals expect for one. I kept up with my tai chi classes. I guess you can say I upped it to taking two one of which is now with weapons. But mainly I need to start writing in my journal more often, clean house, pay off debts, lose weight (or at least drop body fat % because muscle does weigh more), but lastly reduce my tbr pile!!!!

Because these are "autumn goals" I find them less pressuring than New Years goals because there is no definitive "new year/new start." That being said, I hope I can keep up with the goals I've set for myself :)

- Start writing again, and write on a regular basis
- workout almost everyday (to lose weight and get fit
*already taken the steps toward this, as I signed up at LA fitness today :)
- save and spend money wisely
- Start (and FINISH) the hat I promised my boyfriend I'd knit for him... a year ago :/

Good luck to everyone and I hope we can motivate each other to keep up our goals!

I forgot one! And probably one of the most important in my opinion:
- eat healthier and stop eating so much fast food!!!
Working out will be in vain if I gorge on fast food all the time!

No worries for being 'off topic'!!! It's great when in cases like these, we're helping one another with our goals by sharing info we might not otherwise find!!!

I have to thank Teri (again!) for the "seasonal" goal style here! I loved the idea right off the bat because it seems way more manageable and less intimidating than say New Year's resoluations/goals like Anastasia mentioned because you're not looking at a long span of 12 months at once! This breaks it into 3 months spans which seems more do-able!

Hannah, thanks for sharing yoga journal.com with us! ( http://www.yogajournal.com ) I looked at it and like it wihtout having even gone past the home page!!!

HAPPY FALL EVERYONE!!! Keep us all updated with any progress or obstacles you run into along the way right here!

i didn't post any summer goals...but i have some too! i just hope i stick with them...

1. read all of the books in my never-ending pile
2. print off all the pictures i've taken this past year and get them into a photo album
3. decorate my downstairs living room
4. save money and pay off debt (this is the hardest thing for me to do)
5. lose weight (every womans nightmare!!!) i say this every year - but i never stick with it!!
6. eat less fast food (my weakness)
7. keep in touch with all my online friends and continue making an effort to get into the group threads!

I want to add that I'd like to begin putting pics from the computer onto my disc and take it to Shop Rite to print out so many per week, say 25. I've got more pics on this computer (and off on cd's) than I've got in albums and I really want to change that! (How else to enjoy them?!)

I did it! I ran a 5K today with my 70 year old Dad who has been my coach/mentor/ running buddy forever!

We almsot made my time goal by completing the race in 31:25!!!

We are going to run another one at the end of the month!

Thanks for this board and the encouragement!

Oh my gosh, Cyn! Congratulations! That is an awesome accomplishment!

thats great! Congrats to you both. what a great thing to share together.

Good god Cyn! Is there ANYTHING you don't do?? LOL I say this because Cyn and I chat in the mornings via PM's and I love to hear about her life. SHe's always going here and there and everywhere it seems!!

Congratulations!!! You are one hell of a woman Cyn :)

WooHoo! Great job, Cyn!

That is so awesome Cyn, congrats!!!

You guys rock...this made my day, thanks! !!! I am proud to be part of such a supportive group! :)

Congrats, Cyn! That is a big accomplishment! I did a race w/my dad too & it meant a lot just being able to run it with him. :)

Kudo's & Congrats Cyn!!! That's awesome!

Hannah~ I totally get that feeling. My dad has been my coach and sports support forever! It was a bit wierd to be the one cheering him on to keep going this time, but a great feeling, too!

1. Lose weight
2. Get into a gym routine that I stick to
3. space out Christmas shopping so I am not stressed out like last year.
4. Save some money.
5. Make a dent in my TBR pile

Now that it's officially Winter, how does everyone feel they've done with their Autumn goals?

I was doing well with my weight until having a house full of people since the middle of November! I've gained about 5 or 6 lbs back (and feel it, let me tell ya!).

I haven't started the printing out of photo's yet. I haven't started yoga yet but have started reading about it.

I have finished last Autumn's scarf as well as a new one and I've been keeping up with getting our home in order. And I finished NaNoWriMo again this November. I started editing my book in October but stopped when writing for NaNo and will go back to editing after New Year's. (I needed a break!)

I actually did pretty good with mine! How about that? I accomplished something. lol

Still haven't done the pics, I can't work at all anymore per my doctor so part time job goal is now moot, I have started a health plan for my heart and I'm doing well with that, and I have definitely put a dent in my books I need to read that I own.

YAY

Congrats on your accomlishments this Autumn Holli!

Holli, I just had a thought - have you looked into working or studying part time from home? If you're crafty in any way, there's a site called Etsy where people sell all kinds of hand made items.

I accomplished all of my goals except lose weight, I am feeling pretty hopeless about it.

But you accomplished everything else Meg!!! That's got to be a good feeling ya know?

Jo...I'm not crafty at all. But thanks for the suggestion! I don't need to work for monetary reasons...thank god...but I did want the job to meet people and make friends. Now that I've done that on my own....I'm happy and content with not working!! LOL