Progress Toward Goals: January in Review

January, you have gone by too quickly, and we are not amused by how quickly our last semester of course release is passing. By "we" I mean my pink pants and me, naturally.

Not amused by any of the following: having to go teach a class looking wrinkled after sitting at one's desk for 3 hours to work on an article and lecture notes, not having lecture notes already done at the time of sitting, or barf-worthy prose written by past self

At least in January I made some progress toward the goals that I set at the beginning of the year.

In terms of my fitness and health goals, I've been establishing some good habits. While I missed journaling a couple of days and have had some ice cream and cookies in January, I have been working toward eating more mindfully. So far I've run 57.32 miles this month and have 4 more on the schedule for the day today. My monthly mileage should increase over the next few months thanks to marathon training. Also I've been working to more regularly integrate speed work into my weekly routine. The past couple of weeks I've been getting back into Ashtanga and trying to make at least one class a week at my yoga studio.

My professional goals included writing or revising at least 3 pages  of academic writing each week and learning another language. So far, I've met my minimum writing target each week, and I (at least for the time being) have finished work on the co-edited volume I've been working on for the past couple of years. This past month I also wrote a book review for a journal and made some progress on an article manuscript. I've been trying to spend at least 30 minutes a day most days a week using Rosetta Stone, and I've completed a few lessons.

I did an alright job with my personal goals this past month. I didn't take photos every day this month (I also accidentally deleted some that I did take before I could post them), but I did take some that I liked, like the one above of the first moose I've seen out and about in town. I read three novels in January (Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness, The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, and The Sleepy Hollow Family Almanac by Kris D'Agostino -- I didn't love any of them, but of the three I thought The Snow Child was the most original and had the most potential) and made my way about half-way through the last Harry Potter novel in Spanish. I also managed to stick to my budget. In January I spent $94.70 of the $100 I'm allowing myself for monthly clothing, accessory, and shoe purchases. My purchases included mascara, nail polish, a sweater, a shirt, and running socks.

How was your first month of 2013? What have you been reading lately? Do you keep to a budget?