#FoodForThoughtFriday New Years Resolutions

Happy Friday!

Today for my #FoodForThoughtFriday post, I'm going to look at this whole New Years' Resolutions situation.

It's a thing that people have been doing for decades, selecting something they can work at to improve their lives in the New Year; and most people, year after year, don't succeed in their New Years' Resolutions. So I want to talk about that.

So, let's start with the concept.

People select a New Years' Resolution that they think would be a great way to make their life better. Sounds great, right? Yeah, I'm gonna do this thing to have a better life next year! Rock on!

But if you want to improve your life, why wait for the new year? Why not just do it now? If you're sure that making this change will improve your life in one way or another, wouldn't it make sense to implement it as soon as possible?

Also, a lot of people pick very vague resolutions, things like "I'm going to eat better," "I'm going to exercise more," or "I'm going to get healthier," which sound great, until you realize it's really hard to gauge those things. And when we can't gauge our goals, it's a lot easier to give up on them.

So, I'm all about new years resolutions, but I recommend deciding on a specific goal ahead of time and working to implement it earlier than just January 1 [note: I have seen people succeed at New Years' Resolutions that they started on 1 January, such as my friend who decided that in 2016 she wouldn't dye her hair or have any major haircuts because it was a thing she frequently did on a whim and she wanted to adult more and she's been very successful with that goal; I also gave up soda and chewing gum as New Years' Resolutions in high school, and those were successful because they were very specific and both improved my life in ways].

So now let's look at some good, specific goals we can set for ourselves as resolutions for 2017. I'll start with my own goals:

My first goal is to take and post a photo to instagram every day. Which sounds like a really silly resolution, but I've found that I don't do a very good job of documenting my life as it happens, and I really want to, so I'm setting a realistic goal to help me do that. By taking and posting a photo every day, I will be able to keep track of my life through the pictures and the captions that I'll write with them. Sure, not every picture and caption is going to be super substantial, but it's a start, and it leaves the door open for future goals to improve my life documentation.

My second goal is to walk or run or bike at least a mile every day. This is another thing that I can easily track. I already track my walks and runs with two separate apps (Charity Miles and Runkeeper) and I was operating on a goal of exercising 3x a week this year, but it just didn't feel like enough. By selecting the goal of doing a mile a day, I am giving myself flexibility in the activity I do, as well as flexibility in the distance I move. This also allows me to have my "rest days" without having any days where I am fully sedentary (which is super unhealthy for you). 

My third goal is going to be to read a book every week. Which adds up to 52 books. This year, my reading goal was 16 very specific, very long books, and I'm close to reading those, I just need to finish Alexander Hamilton, which I took a break from by accident and read both The Angel's Game and The Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon to get all of my goal books read. That being said, I've read like a dozen or so books that were not part of my list, so I'm going to operate on a less strict list next year. And I've done this year's goal by dividing up the total number of pages in the 16 books I selected last December (10 thousand and something pages) by the number of days in the year (366 days since it's a leap year) to get about 30 pages a day. Now, I stuck to this 30 pages a day rule for about 1/2 of the year, often reading more than I was supposed to, but also often not getting enough reading on a given day. My hope is that by having a less specific goal, I'll do better at sticking to it--I've got a few shelves full of actual books and a kindle with tons of books on it, and access to my local public library, so I've got literally hundreds, maybe thousands of options, and it's always possible to get more. This goal will just be about buckling down and picking up a new book every week (and I'm going to try to stick with books that are in the 100-300 page range for the most part, because I have to be reasonable with myself and much more than 300 pages is going to be a bit too much for me, 300 pages in a week is like 43 pages a day which is more than my goal for this year was).

My fourth and final goal is going to be to run a race every month. I've already gotten started on this one by signing up for the 1st Day 5K in Midlothian (a town near where I live) which is just a 5K on 1 January. Committing to a race each month is easy to keep track of because at races you generally get a bib and you also get like confirmation emails and probably pictures and times get posted. It's also a good way to make sure I keep up with moving every day because I'm hoping to do races of increasing length throughout the year for the most part--my true goal is to run the Marine Corps Marathon in October, so I'll work toward that by doing increasing lengths of races (and hopefully training with others who are interested in the same races as me) and see where it goes. 

So, those are my "New Years Resolutions," which I've already started working toward because why wait to improve my life until next year when I can do it now, right?

Other things I'm incorporating into my life include the intent to be more eco-friendly and to waste less by using reusable containers wherever possible (including asking places where I get takeout [read: Chipotle] to put the food items in a bowl brought from home, rather than their own disposable ones) and trying to be more financially responsible (so far, not so good, but I'm working on saving more of my paychecks and not buying everything that I see and think "yeah that looks awesome!") and giving more (which I've started by automatically donating $10 from each Target paycheck to United Way and $10 from each Mathnasium paycheck to the Elephant Sanctuary, and plan to continue more by donating a few items each month to charity and things like that).

So anyway, those are the goals I'm working toward, and I encourage everyone to work toward improving their lives in whatever ways they think will be best for them. Don't worry about what your friends or family are doing, just worry about you. Only you can make goals that you will keep and that will actually help you improve your life.

xx,

Sienna

The Fierce Feminist

Happy Monday!!!

Happy Monday, Everyone!!

I mean, I know people usually don't like Mondays, but how can anyone be down this week? It's Thanksgiving week! Which means people with regular jobs have off on Thursday and probably Friday, too. Which means it's a short work-week!

I mean, for most people.

I actually have to work every day this week, including Thanksgiving (Which I'm pretty upset about, but I already posted a really long rant-ey post about that so I'm just going to let you check that out on your own by clicking here). 

But I'm not gonna let that get me down! It's gonna be a great week!

To start with, I just started reading I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai and I'm pretty excited to read about the youngest Nobel Laureate in history. I'm only about 40 pages in, with a goal of getting to at least page 90 today, but so far it's been really interesting. She does a great job of explaining the culture that she was raised in so that the reader isn't just thrown into this world that may be completely different from the one they live in [like, I knew a little bit about Pakistani culture, but I would have been completely shocked if she hadn't explained the culture of the Swat Valley where she grew up, because it's so completely different from what I've experienced in my life].

I'm looking forward to learning more about the culture she grew up in and her activism to promote education for girls, because that's a cause I care a lot about. So I'm probably going to read this book much faster than I would normally read, but that's only if I can actually get myself to sit down for a while to do so. 

Anyway, other than reading, my day is supposed to include a long run, which I have postponed due to the fact that it was below freezing outside when I got up and I'm not about to try and run in below freezing if I don't absolutely have to. So I'm probably going to head out for my run at about 11, to give the sun a chance to get high enough in the sky to actually produce some warmth and hopefully it will be like in the 40s by then (It's 36 now at 9:45, so it's looking solid).

I also did one of my training modules for my instructor position at Mathnasium, and that was a good time. I am really appreciating the way that we instruct at Mathnasium because it makes more sense than how I was taught in school growing up and if I had been taught the way that I'm learning to teach others now, I would have been much better off throughout my education.

And, finally, I am scheduled to instruct this afternoon/evening, and I'm excited because the students I work with are all pretty cool and helping them is always a fun time for me.

So, ta-ta for now, I'm going to log off the computer and get to my reading for the next hour and 15 minutes.

xx,

Sienna

The Fierce Feminist

#SelfCareSaturday Math, Chili, and Cat Cuddles!

Happy Saturday, everyone!

I hope everyone's had a lovely day so far and is looking forward to a wonderful evening as well.

Today's #SelfCareSaturday is about making some delicious and warm autumny comfort food (which is what's happening in my house right now) and cat cuddles and snuggling up with a good book.

So, I actually had work this morning because today was the annual "Trimathlon" for some of the Mathnasium centers in the area, and I was working as event staff for one of the centers, but we finished earlier than anticipated, which was nice, and it meant I got to go home early, which was even nicer!

When I arrived at home, my mom was working on putting the ingredients for the chili that I wanted to make with our acorn squash together (I found a cool recipe in a vegan cookbook and was like "this would be a great idea since we already have an acorn squash" so I told my mom about it and she was like "okay, yeah"). However, the recipe technically calls for 8 hours on low in a slow cooker, which caused some logistical issues since it was nearly 4 when I got home, which would have meant a midnight dinner (not so nice) but we're modifying it a little bit by cooking it on the high setting which should cut the time at least in half, and if that's not enough, we'll move it over to the stove for a little while to get it done in time for supper. 

There was also the small matter of the recipe calling for cubed acorn squash but not mentioning if it should be pre-roasted or not. We went with not. That was a silly idea, because it meant we had to peel the acorn squash (because while the skin is full of fiber, it's not really the yummiest part). So we're thinking that next time we want to make this one, we'll probably roast it and then dice it and do it as a stove-top dish, rather than a slow cooker thing because it'll be quicker and easier. But I'm super excited because the whole house smells like this delicious acorn squash chili and I can't wait.

In the meantime, however, I'm getting some cat cuddles with my precious lovebug Lucy and catching up on my reading of Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton (I didn't get a chance to read yesterday because I was busy doing my prep for an evening training session/class for my new job.

My precious Lovebug Lucy 

So, all in all, a pretty good day, since the event this morning was a lot of fun and I have the pleasure of the entire house smelling like acorn squash chili and also cat cuddles and reading--what more could someone want on a Self-Care Saturday.

xx,

Sienna

The Fierce Feminist

#OutInTheSunDay AND/OR #SundayRunDay

Happy Sunday!

If you couldn't tell from the title, I did a #SundayRunDay for my #OutintheSunday

Also, today was the Marine Corps Marathon in DC/Alexandria, VA so to anyone and everyone who went and did that: Rock. On. You're a star!

I, personally, did not run the Marine Corps Marathon, because my body is not ready for a marathon at this point. Maybe next time. Or maybe not. I'm still not sure marathons are something I'm interested enough in to dedicate the amount of time and effort it takes to train for one.

But I know one of my former professors did the MCM and she inspires me with her motivation and commitment to running, as well as her superior intellect in her field and just being a generally great person.

Instead of the marathon, today I ran 5.36 miles in an hour and 10 minutes (okay, I walked a little bit, but that's still on the high end for me for both distance and time when actually running in the real world--my indoor machine runs are generally much more mileage, though every machine I've been on makes me stop running and cool down at an hour). It was a beautiful day and I'm glad I got to spend some time outside in it instead of inside doing work and stuff the whole day.

That being said, since my run, I have done half of a puzzle (the puzzle is a van Gogh self portrait and very difficult because, you know, it's like half blue with blue speckles) and I've been reading some of Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. I'm trying to get caught up on my reading goal because I did not keep up this weekend. I'm only like a day behind now though (with yesterday's and today's pages to read).

So I'm gonna get back to that. Enjoy this image of the van Gogh self-portrait that I am trying to piece together from 400 little bits of speckly color.

xx,

Sienna
The Fierce Feminist

Happy #SelfCareSaturday!

Happy Saturday, y'all!

I hope your weekend's off to a great start!

Mine's a little wonky because I'm starting a new position as an instructor at the local Mathnasium centers and also working at Target, but I'm hoping to make the best of the busy weekend (and make some bank when payday comes next week).

My schedule is doing a weird thing today where I'm free until I work 11-2:15ish and then I'm home for a few hours before I work at 5:45, so I'm trying to figure out the best way to practice self-care in the hours I have free.

So far, I've spent an extra hour in bed before getting up and cleaned Lucy's litter box (because it was a huge mess since the other cats have discovered it and decided they want to be able to use it as well and they're super messy and make big piles of litter outside the box) and fed myself, Lucy, and Dale (not in that order).

I'm also putting off changing from my comfy elephant pants into my khakis for work, so that's a good thing for me. But I don't think I'll get to do much before I have to leave to get to work by 10 'til 11 (since it's my first day, I'm going to be early to familiarize myself with the center since I've never been to this particular one).

I think in between work shifts, I'll probably go for a short run since I missed the last two days because on Thursday I was also super busy, and on Friday I ended up spending the morning doing not a lot and then going to the grocery store. 

I'll also try to do my daily reading in Don Quixote so I can stay caught up, but I'm not sure if I'll have time because if I run, I'll have to shower and I need to have dinner before I go to Target at 5:45 because my shift is only 4.25 hours which means no meal break (I usually eat an apple or granola bar or both in my 15 minute breaks, but it's never enough time for a meal).

So hopefully, I'll have time to do all the things I want to do in between my work shifts, but if not, then it's okay because I have all morning tomorrow since I only work at one place and not until 12:45 which gives me like 4.5 hours to do things!

So, yeah. That's about it. Have a good day, everyone!

xx,

Sienna

The Fierce Feminist

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday, y'all!

I've decided that doing weekly #mancrushmonday and #womancrushwednesday isn't going to happen because I would have to do a better job of keeping up with what's happening in pop culture and the news and stuff, so those are going to be more of an occasional thing when it's relevant.

Like, seriously, I was so at a loss for whom to feature today that I actually considered featuring Sancho Panza from Don Quixote. I mean, he's a pretty great character. He sticks around for Don Quixote and takes him seriously and loves him even when he's doing super ridiculous stuff and some of that stuff leads to injury for Sancho. Like, what a guy! (insert heart-eyes emoji) And Sancho is the only person who is like actually looking out for Don Quixote and not mocking him relentlessly. Sure, sometimes he does things that are mildly unkind (like tricking DQ into believing his lady-love Dulcinea has been enchanted to look like a peasant girl instead of going to try and find her) but it's usually for a good purpose (Dulcinea may be a figment of DQ's imagination and Sancho certainly doesn't know where to find her, but he can lead DQ to happiness in believing that she favors him. Really, he's just such a bro.

But I feel like it's weird to feature a fictional character that is hundreds of years old as my #mancrushmonday. (Although that didn't stop me from going on a paragraph-long rant about how awesome Sancho Panza is)

So I think I'll just do the #mancrushmonday and #womancrushwednesday when there is someone I really feel should be featured.

Anyway. Moving on.

My day so far has been weirdly productive but also unproductive. Like I exercised and showered and I'm running some laundry, but also that took me until noon so eehh?

And I still have to read my 30 pages in Don Quixote and I really need to work on getting my stuff out of the spare bedroom and into my own. So I still have a lot to do. It's just a weird feeling to feel like you've done a lot, but still have a lot to do. So I'm going to go do those things now instead of writing about it.

xx,

Sienna
The Fierce Feminist

Out in the Sunday!

Happy Sunday!!
#OutintheSunday

I hope everyone's having a great day so far!

I got my day started out by going to work for a few hours, but now I'm home and hanging out for the rest of the day.

For my #outintheSunday activity, I took my cat, Lucy outside to sit in the sun because it's a beautiful day! Unfortunately, we were only out there for a few minutes before someone nearby decided it was a good time to cut their grass; Lucy had a very strong opinion on this matter and she NOPE'd right out of there (except that she was attached to my wrist by a 3 foot long leash, so she NOPE'd 3 feet away and then couldn't go any farther despite her best efforts).

So, we came back inside and I cuddled her and gave her some treats to calm her down, and now I'm probably going to spend the rest of the afternoon reading in the window, since the mosquitoes are very active today (I got like 8 bites in so short a time it's not even funny!) and I really need to get caught up on my reading (I was so close yesterday, but the sun went down so I had to stop--non-natural light just doesn't work as well for me).

xx,

Sienna
The Fierce Feminist

Happy Self-Care Saturday!

Good morning!

Happy #SelfCareSaturday!

I hope everyone's weekend is off to a great start! I got mine started off with a nice hour run/walk outside using CharityMiles to raise money for Girl Up!, an organization dedicated to empowering girls worldwide. Who says self-care can't also be helping others?

Anyway, other than that, today is looking like it'll be a pretty relaxing day for the most part. I mean, I have to go to the grocery store and get a few things, and I need to go pick up some cat litter and mouse food, but other than that, I will probably mostly be reading and getting cat snuggles.

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I'm currently reading Don Quixote  by Miguel de Cervantes, translated to English by Edith Grossman and it's going pretty well, but it's just such a long book that sometimes I get overwhelmed by reading it. My goal for today is to catch up on my scheduled reading, because I've fallen a few days behind (I think I've got Monday-today's pages to get through, so about 180 pages maybe, I'm trying to do an average of 30 pages per day this year to get through the 10,000-some pages in the 14 books I've selected to read throughout the year (though I've already surpassed the page goal and the total book count in books that I got sidetracked by)

I also plan to stop by the local library and try to get a library card. I'm not sure if I'll be able to, because my driver's license doesn't have my current address, and neither does my passport, so I have to locate some piece of mail I've received at the address in order to prove I'm residing in the city of Richmond. But hopefully if I can't get one today, I'll be able to get one within the next couple of weeks, because most of the rest of my books for 2016 are ones I don't have and will need to borrow from a library or else buy (I do have one of the books I planned to read this year on my bookshelf, so if not I can do that one next).

So yeah, that's about it for my plans today. I'm looking forward to a relaxing day off!

xx,

Sienna

The Fierce Feminist