2008 Mileage Goal

I was talking last night with my friend Tracy who lives in Washington state. She has recently caught the fitness bug and we were discussing ways to help inspire one another in 2008. We’ve decided to start a 16-week couch to 5k plan on January 1.

As we kept talking, she mentioned she wanted to come up with a location to virtually walk toward during the year. She thought it would be motivating to see the progress of getting closer and closer to some virtual destination, much like my friend Darla who is tracking her mileage in Middle Earth (a la Lord of the Rings).

So, as she’s talking, I got this idea that I thought was pretty darn cool. I checked on Google Maps to see what the distance was between our homes — 1134 road miles (not “as the crow flies” miles) for those wondering. I immediately asked her if she would be interested in completing 567 miles for the year and we could “meet” in the middle. She thought it was a cool idea, too. The next challenge came to figure out where that middle would be located. Imagine our surprise when we found a city that was virtually EXACTLY in the middle — Redding, CA.

Tracy will be covering 568 miles and I’ll be covering 569 miles. In order to meet this goal, we’ll need to both average about 11 miles per week over the course of the year. The distances may be a bit shorter each week earlier in the year, but will most likely be more later in the year as we become more fit. Our mileage will include any time spent walking, running, mileage from the elliptical trainer, or mileage from cycling either on a real bike or stationary bike.

I’ve created a map showing the route I’ll be taking. I’ll create a new box over on the right-hand side of my blog to track my miles through the year. I’ll also plan to post an update at least once per month in a blog entry and/or whenever I reach a major milestone like 100 miles, 200 miles, etc. Here’s my map:

Total Distance From Anaheim to Redding: 569 miles

Total Distance Walked/Ran: 0 miles
Total Distance Remaining: 569 miles

This should definitely help make getting in the miles more fun throughout the year. The cool part is that we’ll actually be able to get in part of our mileage together since we will be vacationing together in New York in October.

2007 Year in Review

Ok, so I know it’s a few days early, but 1) I don’t think this list will change much in the next 2 days, and 2) we were discussing on one of my stitching boards how we all did at meeting our stitching goals for 2007, so it got me thinking about it. Honestly, I didn’t even remember setting any goals for this year until I went back and searched my blog from this time last year. How pathetic is that?!

For 2007, I set a lofty list of 19 goals for the year. What the hell WAS I thinking?! Given that I’d forgotten that I actually did set some goals, I was surprised to see that I actually met just over half of them by completing 10 of the 19 items. Two others were actually halfway completed. If I had remembered setting these goals, I probably would’ve gone on and gotten those finished to knock them of my list.

Here’s the list with those items I actually completed indicated in bold:

2007 Goals:

1. Go on a stitching trip to Paris with Terri!! - got cancelled due to my back surgery
2. Finish Anything is Possible (Blue Ribbon Designs)
3. Finish Rosemarkie (Long Dog Samplers)
4. Finish B is for Bunny (The Sweetheart Tree)
5. Participate in one of Legacy Quaker Quarterly exchanges
6. Participate in ornament SAL
7. Participate in ornament RR
8. Finish remaining rounds of Quaker RR - unfortunately, still have 2 pieces to go
9. Start Taj Mahal (Chatelaine) - currently about 1/4 finished
10. Start Sampler Gameboard (The Drawn Thread) - currently about 1/4 finished
11. Start Home for the Holidays (Shepherd’s Bush) - started & finished
12. Start Moonlit Garden (Blackbird Designs) - currently about 1/3 finished
13. Start Quaker Samplings II (With My Needle )
14. Start Le Quaker a 6 Mains freebie (Le498/AMAP) - currently about 1/5 finished
15. Start Bunny Scissor Fob (Twisted Threads)
16. Start Old World Santas (Prairie Schooler )
17. Take at least 1 stitching class - actually took several this year!
18. Sort through charts and sell/trade things I know I’ll never stitch - only sorted them thus far
19. Frame at least 2 finished pieces - half finished, I got 1 piece framed this year

Here is a bit more of my 2007 Stitching Year in Review:

WIPs & Finishes:

Beginning 2007: 8 WIPs
New Starts: 41
Finishes: 26
Retired: 3 (knew I was just never going to finish these)
End 2007: 21 WIPs

So, given that I didn’t do so well in meeting my goals for 2007, and my current excessive number of WIPs, I have decided to only set a single goal for myself in 2008. With the exception of my traditional New Year’s Day new start (more on that later) and my Fair & Square exchange piece due in late February, I will not start ANY new pieces until I have finished 10 of my current WIPs. I’ve never had as many as 21 WIPs going before and that’s just TOO many, even for me.

I think one contributing factor to the excessive number of WIPs right now is that fact that I learned to needlepoint in 2007. So, not only do I have cross stitcing WIPs, I have needlepoint WIPs as well. I need to get a better handle on them though because I don’t want to let my WIP pile become so large that I find myself constantly shuffling all the WIPs in and out of rotation and nothing is actually getting finished.

I mentioned my traditional New Year’s Day new start earlier. This is something I’ve actually done for many years, so I’m going to do it again this year in spite of my no new starts goal. I’ve not decided definitely what project will be my New Year’s Day new start, but I’ve pretty much narrowed it down to 4 possibilities (in no particular order):

1. Winter’s Tale (Shepherd’s Bush)
2. Prairie Sampler (Little House Needleworks)
3. Acorn Hill (Little House Needleworks)
4. A Chill is in the Air (Homespun Elegance)

The LHN designs are calling me because I LOVE Diane’s designs and these are stitched with my new favorite silk of choice, Belle Soie by Crescent Colors. I have the charts & fibers already and more than enough fabric options should I decide to select one of these designs.

The Shepherd’s Bush design is calling my name because I think the little snowman is just adorable! There also just seems to be something fitting about stitching a snowman this time of year, even though we don’t really get snow here in SoCal where I live. He’s also stitched all in silk, but with AVAS and Waterlilies. This design came fully kitted, so he’s ready to go should he be the selected design.

The Homespun Elegance design is calling my name, quite honestly, because the colors in it are so amazingly yummy. I saw the chart at my LNS and, while I thought it was very nice, it didn’t really call my name. Unfortunately for me, I turned it over and saw all the wonderful autumn tones in the Crescent Colors cotton that came with it. Given that my LNS was having a 35% off all kits as part of their moving sale at the time, how could I NOT get it really? (Work with me here ) This is another design that I can assure you that the photo simply does NOT do the colors justice. They are divine!

So those are (for now) my finalists for my New Year’s Day new start. I may end up having to do a floss toss of each in order to ultimately make a decision. If you’d like to tell me which you’d one you would choose to stitch, just leave me a comment. You never know, it might help me make up my mind.

I wish each and every one of you a very happy stash-filled 2008! Happy stitching.

Cocktail silliness

I saw this on the blog of my friend Tracy and thought it was too cute.

The Recipe for Melissa

3 parts Courage   2 parts Love   1 part Fun   Splash of Genius   Finish off with whipped cream

What’s the Recipe for Your Personality?

I hope everyone has a great weekend. Happy stitching!

Mot de l’année

English translation: Word of the Year

This afternoon, my friend Tracy told me about a blog that she stumbled across earlier today. The writer’s most recent blog entry described how each year she picks out her “word of the year” to help inspire and motivate herself throughout the year. I thought it was a wonderful idea and have decided to adopt it for myself. So, here goes …

My Word of the Year for 2008:

com·mit·ment (Pronunciation Key: kuh-mit-muhnt)

1. the act of committing.
2. the state of being committed.
3. the act of committing, pledging, or engaging oneself.
4. a pledge or promise; obligation:
5. engagement; involvement
6. confinement to a mental institution or hospital

Ok, so we’ll just move past and disregard definition #6. Definitions 1-5, especially definitions 3 and 4, are more what I’m talking about for my word of the year. The upcoming year is going to be ALL about commitment for me. This is the year I return in full earnestness to my journey to improve my health, lose the weight, and step up my exercise/training.

I’ve actually done pretty well overall the past couple of months, but there have been times that it’s gotten sketchy even then. It’s mostly been more of the same old yo-yo situation I’ve found myself in over the past 3 years or so. That will NOT be the case in 2008.

I’m not typically one who makes New Year’s Resolutions. I think, for the most part, people don’t take resolutions very seriously. However, I have made the decision to set some very distinct goals for 2008. The term “goal” has more of the distinction of being something one is actually working toward more than just a resolution, in my opinion. With my goals, I’ve tried to keep them realistic and attainable. I’ve also made sure each could be broken down into smaller short-term goals to help make it easier for me to measure my progress through out the year. And now, without further adieu …

My 2008 Goals:

1. Lose 60 pounds

a. Attend weekly Weight Watchers meetings
b. Lose an average of 5 pounds per month

2. Run a 5k race

a. Walk/run at least 3 times per week
b. Complete 16-week conservative Couch to 5k training plan

3. Complete a 25-mile bike ride (possibly the 2008 Solvang Prelude)

a. Learn to ride my new bike
b. Ride at least once per week either outside or using a trainer.

Well, that’s it. I’ve COMMITTED (nice work in of my Word of the Year, dontcha think? ) my goals here in my blog. I hope those of you who are my regular readers will help encourage me along the way and hold my feet to the fire to get each one of them completed before Jan. 1, 2009. Here’s to an awesome 2008 …

Bike Toys for Christmas

Woo Hoo! I got a couple of toys for my new bike for Christmas. (Thanks, Nick! ) He got me a combination cable lock and a water bottle cage.

Things have been pretty quiet for me this week with my training. I tweaked my lower back Monday morning lifting a couple of cases of bottled water. So, I’ve been taking it very easy and my heating pad has become my new best friend. It’s feeling a bit better today, so I’m hoping to at least get out for a walk tomorrow. I’ll just have to wait and see how my back is feeling then.

I hope those who celebrate had a safe and very Merry Christmas!

Llama fibers

I got some cool new llama fibers for needle felting in the mail today. This is the first time I’ve ordered from Moonlight Llamas. I have to say, I LOVE these rovings! I can’t wait to start working with them. I just love how she packages them in plastic egg cartons. It made me giggle. Here are a few pics of what I got:

   
I have everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a stash-filled New Year!

Time is flying …

Good grief, Charlie Brown! Where does the time go? In my head it seems like I updated my blog just a few days ago, but now I see that it’s been two weeks. Things were so busy at work there for a couple off weeks that all my days just kind of blurred together. We were doing a major upgrade to some vital software used by my work group, so I was extremely busy with software testing and upgrading hardware in our computer. Thankfully, it’s much quieter now that were done with that and since so many employees on vacation now due to the holidays.

I went to my WW meeting this morning. I was up 2 pounds since my last “official” WW weigh in a couple of weeks ago. I did weigh myself on my home last weekend since I wasn’t able to make it to my meeting. Based on that unofficial weigh in, I actually stayed the same this week. Given all the take out and such we ate the week before at work and all the holiday food & parties I ate this week, I’m pretty happy to only be up a couple of pounds. At this point, all of my holiday eating events parties are basically over, so I really don’t have any excuses not to get myself back on track with my eating this week.

My dream goal on Nov. 1 was to make it to Jan. 1 with an 8 pound weight loss. My realistic goal was to make it to Jan. 1 without a weight gain which is my usual holiday season M.O. Thus far, I’ve actually managed to lose about 4 pounds since then. That leaves me pretty much in the middle between my dream goal and my realistic goal with a week to go still, so I’m pretty happy with that.

Christmas Fob

WOO HOO! Christmas came a little early via the post office.

Nicole made a beautiful crystal scissor fob for me and packaged it in a vintage Whitman’s tin. I was totally shocked when I opened it. It’s so gorgeous! I immediately put it on my brushed stainless Dovo scissors that had been “naked” up to this point. Here are a few pics:

Fob & tin:

Fob on my Dovo scissors:

Now both of my Dovo scissors had gifted crystal fobs:

Thank you again sooooooo much, Nicole!!!

S.E.X. & Jewelry Making 101

I had a GREAT weekend! On Saturday, I went and all day open stitch class at my LNS. As per norm, there was lots of stitching, laughing, and shopping. I tried to restrain myself from buying too much, but the owner extended her moving sale which meant kits were still 35% off and charts were still 15% off. So, I did end up picking up a couple of things. Here’s what I bought:

Brave Hearts - Little House Needleworks
A Chill is in the Air - Homespun Elegance (Limited Edition Kit) - photo does NOT do the beautiful colors in this piece justice!
Snowman - Shepherd’s Bush (I haven’t found this at any of the online stores, so this is a link to someone’s completed piece that I found on Webshots.)

I’ve also picked up a few other new stash goodies last week that I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet in my blog. I’ve definitely be taking advantage of some of the shops offering year end sales, that’s for sure!

Crescent Colors floss for Curly Q Ewe - Little House Needleworks
Belle Soie silks for Acorn Hill - Little House Needleworks
Belle Soie silks for Prairie Sampler - Little House Needleworks
Summer Sampler threadpack - Little House Needleworks
Autumn Sampler threadpack - Little House Needleworks
Winter Sampler threadpack - Little House Needleworks
Quarter cut of Weeks Dye Works 30-count Parchment linen

After leaving the LNS, I headed out with my stitching buddy Nancy to her house for the evening. Her DH is a musician and had a gig that night, so we decided to just extend our stitching day into the night. Ironically, neither one of us stitched after leaving the shop. She recently started making jewelry and decided to indoctrinate introduce me to this whole new world. By the time I went home that night, I had a new bracelet and 3 pair of earrings. They’re all make with sterling silver hardware and Swarovski crystals. All in all, I think I did pretty good for my first effort. Here are a couple of pics:

Well, that’s all for this update. I hope everyone is having a great December thus far and that all the holiday craziness isn’t making everyone crazy. Happy stitching!

Sunday Weigh In

It felt really good to get back to my Weight Watchers meeting this morning. I hadn’t been in 3 weeks due to work and going on vacation. I was down 1.2 pounds this week.

I was actually really surprised to see a loss today. Two friends of mine who carpooled to work together were killed in a car accident on Thursday. After hearing about it, I found myself turning to food for comfort. I tried to reign it in and not get too out of control, but I definitely ate too much of the wrong things on Thursday evening and Friday. I got back on track yesterday after reminding myself that my eating a bunch of chocolate wasn’t going to change the situation.

This week is going be to very stressful and busy due to a software/hardware upgrade on one of the systems we use. I’m really going to have to watch myself closely to make sure I don’t let the stress get the better of me and start mindlessly eating while working. I know I can do it as long as I keep my focus and stay aware.