Progress Toward Goals: February in Review

I'm so glad February is almost over. I sucked at  making progress on my goals during this past month. For example, I totally fell off the journaling wagon. Actually it would probably be more accurate to say that I dived off of it and then went frolicking around in a magical land made of gingersnaps, chocolate cakes, cheese, and corn chips. What can I say? February was a fucking hard/busy month for me, and I'm not going to beat myself up. I am however going to try to stamp my passport and leave eating the weight of my feelings in cheese and chocolate land and regain entry into at least eating more fruits and vegetables land in March. On the plus side, I ran 76.12 miles during February, which makes it my highest mileage month since August of 2011. In terms of getting faster, I ran a faster timed mile than in December, a faster treadmill 5K than in January, and ended the month with my fastest 800 repeats workout in quite some time. I also went snowshoeing for the first time and got in a few walks here and there and spent some time on my yoga mat.

This month I was able to meet my professional goal of writing or revising at least 3 pages each week. Although I admit that I'm not anywhere close to where I wanted to be with it, I have made progress on an article manuscript. I've noticed that I tend to feel a lot better emotionally and mentally when I'm making steadier (if not quite daily progress) on research and writing, and that's been harder the past few weeks to maintain because of a new class prep and some other academic responsibilities. At least I also wrote a grant application this past month. Also most days I've managed to spend about 30 minutes doing lessons on Rosetta Stone.

February was another photography fail as far as consistently taking and posting photos for my 365 project goes, though I did take some photos that I liked over the past month. I didn't get as much recreational reading done this month as I did last month, as we were running a search for a faculty position in my department and I had a lot of grading to do. I only finished one book in February: Harry Potter y las Reliquias de la Muerte. I did, however, make progress on another novel -- I'm about a third of the way through Susanna Clark's Johnathon Strange and Mr. Norrel, which so far has just been a fantastically fun read. In terms of sticking to my budget, I can mark another x in the win column. I spent just over $100 in February. (I had $5.30 left from January.) My purchases were the J. Crew sweater worn in my Love List post, a pair of ribbed tights on clearance at Target, and a box of hair color.

How was February for you? Are you ready for it to be over like me or sad to see it go?