More Changes...

So, it's no secret that I'm still getting a hold on attempting to be consistent in my posting schedule here. It's not that I'm not doing things - I actually have multiple things to post about lined up (something like around 10 or so recipes, 4 books, and 4 crafting projects, and a handful of exersize hours) - it's just been hard to get on a schedule and keep myself accountable for getting it all written down. But ultimately, I committed to this project and I want to see it through to the end. So, here is the plan to make this all a little more manageable and organized, including a change to one of my goals:

1. First, I want to get on a specific posting schedule, and hopefully writing it down here will help me stay consistent with posting (although I can't necessarily promise that it will be 100% consistent). I'd like to post at least three times a week in order to encourage me to be more of top of getting things done, and to get new content on here regularly. Here is what I'm hoping it will look like (with the help of iCal's consistent harassment):

• Sunday: Exersize update & any state-of-the-union type discussions
• Wednesday: Theme post (book, recipe, or craft)
• Friday: Theme post (book, recipe, or craft)

2. I need to revamp my the way I track exersize, and my exersize goal (again, I know). I've been really inconsistent about tracking exersize, and I think there are two main reasons for that.

• One, what do I say during a post about exersize? I've had a hard time figuring out how to make them exciting, so I'm going to take some tips from some of my favorite bloggers and try to jazz up my exersize posts, which will be taking place weekly from now on.
• Two, I've been struggling with the scope and parameters of my exersize goal. On an good week, I will go to the gym 3 or 4 times (not that this always happens). I average about an hour per visit to the gym, so on a good week I will do 3 or 4 hours of exersize. And I feel really good about that. In terms of balancing my life with fun things, work things, and staying healthy, going to the gym 3 or 4 times a week seems really reasonable. But, if you'll remember, my goal on here is to exersize an hour for each day, which just isn't really working for my current life right now. I do other active things aside from going to the gym (going on hikes or mini-hikes with Ramona and Jared, walking around the neighborhood, playing with Ramona out in the backyard), but I feel guilty counting any of these activities, as I intended the exersize goal to be counting capital-E Exersize, not just general activity. So, in an effort to be fair to myself, and make sure that this goal is one that feels attainable to me (to encourage me to stay on track, be accountable, and not feel ashamed about not meeting my goals), I'm going to change the exersize goal to reflect what I feel good about doing on a weekly basis. If I feel positively about going to the gym 3 or 4 times per week, I'll average that out to 3.5 times per week, meaning that I'd be exersizing 1 hour for every 2 days. So, my new managable but still encouraging exersize goal: 185 hours for the year, not counting general activity. I think this new goal with really specific parameters will be more helpful for me, and allow for less confusion when I try to decided if a two hour walk on Owen's Beach counts as exersize or not (in the new regime, it doesn't!).

Sorry for all the rambling (if anyone even got this far down aside from my mother) - this post was mostly for me. As for a current exersize update, in the last few weeks (however long since I last updated), I've done approximately 15 hours of exersizing doing a variety of things I don't really remember. So, this will be my last really unspecific exersize post. Hooray for new specificity and goals!

The Most Amazing Ron Weasley-Inspired Meat Pie

This is the most fatty and the most amazing meat pie ever. I mean really. It has ground beef, sweet Italian sausage, pepperoni, and bacon (and technically ham although I took it out in my version because ham is gross). Yes, this is real life. Spoon Fork Bacon is a really wonderful food blog that I've started following since finding this meat pie on Pinterest and pretty much falling in love. You should probably take a look, as they post really tasty and beautiful looking recipes.

Probably the best thing about making this pie (aside from eating it, because let me tell you - that was downright wonderful) was that the morning I was prepping to make it, I called my mom and told her about it. She then proceeded to say "I want to make a meat pie too!" and had me send her the recipe so we could make the same savory pie at the same time two states away. So, in far Northern California, my mom made a full size "Ron Weasley's Everything But The Kitchen Sink Pie," for her and my dad to enjoy, and I made six mini pies in Washington state for me and the boyfriend. We all enjoyed the pies immensely, and if they weren't so fatty, I would make them all the time.

If you're a meat enthusiast, I would definitely take a stab at this recipe, found here. It was hearty and warm and comforting, like the best possible winter recipe. I'm sure even Ron Weasley would be sated by a couple of these little pies.

[Also, a note on the pictures: I took them on my iPhone, and then it proceeded to die after I dropped it on the floor, making it so I could turn it on but not actually transfer anything to my computer. So, these pictures are actually photos of the screen of my old iPhone showing the image. This type of picture will continue for the next few recipe posts.]


In other news, I was sick for about two weeks straight and have thus been a sedentary bump on a log. But before that, I did some good exercising, adding a couple hours of hiking and a few hours of gym time.

Whoops. And I'm back.

Okay, that was a bit of a bump in my road to becoming a good blogger. For some reason I have just been the most lethargic person on the planet for the last couple weeks (meaning I pass out around 9:30 - 10 on my couch every night and don't end up even doing my laundry or washing my dishes, let alone actually blogging). This was all exacerbated by the 9 day weekend I had in late January (snow shuts down my workplace and my motivation to exercise or really do anything that isn't drinking mimosas and watching How I Met Your Mother). Also, my mom visited during the last weekend in January, so I was busy then and am now busier consistently since she brought my PUPPY (read: small but fully grown dog) to live with me! Which is just great and fantastic, but adds another thing to the list of stuff I'm more likely to pay attention to than my blog.

But ultimately, these are all just excuses. And now I'm back, attempting to get back onto track. Just because I wasn't posting doesn't mean I wasn't doing things, though! Currently on my blog to do list I have one book (soon to be two), two crafts, and eleven recipes, so these should all be (hopefully) coming out in the next couple days.

Today, though, I'll update on the exercise. Things have been a little shaky as I've fluctuated from going to the gym 4+ times per week to walking around as my only exercise all week (hello, snow week). I didn't keep great track of what I've done over the past few weeks, but I'm going to estimate that I did about 14 hours of exercise, ranging from trudging uphill in the snow to jogging at the Y while watching Toddlers and Tiaras (I know, it's awful).

So, here's to a fresh start on my new beginning, and get ready for a bunch of posts in the next couple days!

Change In Plans / This Week In Exercise

Minutes ago, i published a version of this post in which I described how much I hate running (a lot) and how this week I only ran once for two miles. The moment I posted it, I realized that this running goal wasn't quite accomplishing what I wanted it to do in my life (multiple times this week I thought about going to the gym and ultimately talked myself out of it by internally whining "but if I go to the gym I'll have to run because of this stupid goal!"). The purpose of the running goal was to encourage myself to be consistently active and up my fitness level, but obviously sitting on my couch watching How I Met Your Mother and thinking about how much I do not want to run but would be okay with going to the gym is not really helping me accomplish that.

In the spirit of setting goals that are achievable and empowering, instead of daunting and awful sounding, I'll be changing my "Run 500 Miles" goal to a "Exercise for 365 Hours" goal. I still plan to run as part of this goal, but this way, if I'm really not feeling the running vibe that day I can go to the gym and not feel guilty for doing a different kind of cardio. I maybe could have achieved the running goal, but I think that ultimately just being an active person is a better and more apt goal for me to aspire to than being a runner (and hopefully I'll become a better runner along the way anyhow).

Phew. I feel better now.