July goals: Update

Hello there! I’m working from home today because the train I usually take to get to work was cancelled and with the next one it was unclear whether/when it would be stopping where I wanted to go. If I’d realised that earlier, I’d have stayed in bed longer! But never mind… this way I started work earlier than usual so I get to have extra breaks.

At the beginning of July, I posted some goals for the month. Now that it’s August, I suppose I should look back at those goals and see whether I actually achieved any of them or not. Making monthly goals is not a thing I usually do (and I won’t be making any for August… goals and birthday month don’t mix!).

• Complete the 30 day squat challenge.
  I actually did it! Okay, it ended up being more of a 33ish day challenge because I inserted a few extra rest days when my thighs went on strike and refused to even consider the number of squats I wanted to put them through that day. I see no difference in the size of my thighs, but Jan claims they feel firmer so there’s that.
• Be more careful with my money.
  Meh. Sort of. More careful than in June anyway, although I still had slightly less left at the end of the month than I would have liked to, especially sionce I assume I am going to need a lot for Taiwan!
• Lose 2kg before my brother comes.
  Well, I got half way there. Lost 1 kg before my brother came. Now I’m down to 1.5 kg lost, although it fluctuates a lot. The scales did show the weight I was aiming for once last week, but I think it was just a fluke.



Not a combination of ingredients I would have thought of myself, but utterly delicious!

• Complete the summer reading challenge.
  Those who read my last post will know that I did not, in fact, complete the challenge. I still have one book to go.
• Eat fruit.
  Wellll, I had some raspberries in a glass of spritzer, ate two whole apricots in July and also had a mago and avocado salad (amazing!) one night while my brother was here. Not quite as much as I was aiming for, bit it’s fruit so I’ll take it 😉

So, there you have it. A semi-success, I suppose. I would have liked to save more money and do better on the fruit front, but this is better than nothing.

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July goals

I don’t usually do this kind of post, but this is supposed to be a place for me to gather my thoughts and what I’m thinking about right now is goals for the month 😉 Also, our internet has been flaky since we got home, which has kind of thrown a spanner in the works of the Vienna posts. It’s difficult to upload photos when the browser keeps telling you it’s unable to connect!

• Complete the 30 Day Squat Challenge! I had to restart because I didn’t do any squats in Austria. I’m now back to day 4 and this time I actually want to finish it.
• Be more careful with my money. I did waaaay too much online shopping last month (mostly buying books and summer clothes), and when I checked my bank balance just before we went to Austria I nearly had a heart attack. Of course, it didn’t help that the TV licence people took their money, which doesn’t happen every month. In July, I need to budget better and actually have some money left when my brother comes to visit!
• Lose 2 kg before my brother comes. That will put me 2 kg above what I weighed after I had my wisdom teeth out. I can’t believe I’ve actually put on 4 kg since then (almost back up to my original weight!) so I’m determined to get at least halfway back to that weight!
• Complete the summer reading challenge. I should be able to read 2.5 books by the end of the month, right?
• Eat fruit! I’m terrible at it because whenever I buy fruit it goes mouldy before I can consume any so I end up not bothering to buy any more. But this month I want to buy some and actually do something with it before it’s too late!

That’s all. Five things sounds like it should be doable. Especially since some of them I’ve already started anyway… I just need to actually stick with them this time!

 

Friday letters – Holiday time!

Between Monday being a holiday last week, the seminar in Mainz that caused my weekend to be only one day long and another yesterday I’ve spent most of the week being completely confused as to what day it was. But now it is definitely Friday and next week I’m on holiday!

Dear 30 day Squat Challenge. I am now on day 12. Yesterday I did 110 squats. That is a lot of squats! When do I get to start noticing a difference?

Dear Vienna. Can’t wait to see you on Sunday!

Dear scales. You and I are going to fall out if the number on you doesn’t start going down soon!

Dear sleep. I hope being on holiday will give us an opportunity to spend some more time together.

Dear throat. I fully intend to ignore your scratchiness until you go away. Don’t even think about turning into a full-blown cold right before I go on holiday!

Happy Friday everyone. Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Life right now

Oh, heyy!
I’ve been kind of absent from the blog this week (by which I clearly mean entirely absent!), so here’s a quick rundown on what’s going on in my life right now…

• I started the 30 Day Squat Challenge on Monday and I am so unbelievably glad that today is a rest day! My thighs hate me already. Back to it tomorrow with 70 squats. Hopefully by the end of it I’ll have lovely toned thights though…
• I went to a local brewery’s beer festival at the weekend (more on that in a separate post) and it was HOT! According to a local news website, temperatures hit 37.6°C at one point over Pentecost – a record for this time of year apparantly. It’s now down to a “mere” 29°C, which is still too hot for me. Especially since it’s also horribly hot at night, meaning I can NOT sleep!
• On Tuesday I was at a charity concert here in Karlsruhe (well, Durlach, which is a borough of Karlsruhe). It starred Fools Garden (remember Lemon Tree anyone?) who are from the area, Eva Croissant (who those in Germany might remember from The Voice of Germany), David Hanselmann (who I had never heard of but has apparantly performed with famous bands like Canned Heat and Colesseum II – obviously before my time) and the big special guest of the evening: Fish, of Marillion fame. If nothing else you will have heard of the song Kayleigh. All the artists were accompanied by The Seán Treacy band, who are kind of celebrities in the local area. If there’s a Fest going on in Karlsruhe you can practically guarantee that they’ll be playing. So that was a nice evening. The concert didn’t finish til nearly midnight though, and then we still had to get home! Combined with the heat keeping me awake most of the night before and I was a very tiiiired Bev at work yesterday!
• We fiiiinally made it to the train station last night to buy our tickets to Vienna! Normally we buy train tickets online, but travelling to a different country with 2 different Bahncards makes things slightly complicated. My Bahncard 100 is valid until Salzburg, so I’ve ended up paying less than €100 for the return train ticket. Result!
• I was so tired last night that I actually managed to sleep from 11:30 p.m. until 3 a.m. (when I woke up so thirsty my throat actually hurt!). I had some bizarre dreams, which I’m totally blaming on the heat! I don’t remember much, but it involved running away from someone or something in the middle of the desert! I definitely think this was my brain’s reaction to my body being so hot. Also, when I got up at 3 a.m. to fecth more water, I happened to glance out of the window and the moon looked amazing! Sadly, I did not think to take a photo (well it was three in the morning!).
• I’m currently reading Peony in Love by Lisa See for the reading challenge, and so far I’m disappointed! I will still read the whole thing though. On the other hand, I started reading Captain Cook’s birography this morning as my “train book” and I found myself wishing my commute was longer so I could read more! That almost never happens with non-fiction books 🙂
• Tomorrow I won’t be at the office, which means I’ve only had to work 3 days this week (Monday was a holiday). I’m not “off” work as such though… I’m spending tomorrow and Saturday(!) at a seminar for translators. It’s about banking terminology, so not sure how much fun it will be! But hopefully it will turn out to be useful anway.

That’s all folks! I need to eat my lunch and then get back to work. Normal blogging service will resume next week, I hope.

P.S WordPress informed me earlier that I registered my blog 6 years ago today… so happy birthday dear bloggy!