August 2016 in Review

It's been a few weeks since I've had a chance to post here. The rest of my trip was a whirlwind of research, seeing friends, playing tourist, frenetic writing, and an academic conference. My itinerary took me from Valladolid back to Madrid and then on to Paris, Leiden, Bruges, Gent, Cologne, and Frankfurt before I headed home. One of the major highlights was going to Moulin Rouge, Versailles, and out for a night on the town in Paris with my friend Adeeb, whom I met a decade ago in Mexico City but whom I hadn't seen in person in almost as many years. While in Paris, I got in a somewhat bewildering 9 mile run that took me through my neighborhood, along the Seine, and around the Eiffel Tower. The addition of Leiden into my itinerary was a bit last minute, but it enabled me to see another friend after far too long and to ride a bike along a Dutch canal.

My academic conference was productive and intellectually stimulating. Plus, it took place in Bruges, where I'd never been. In between papers, I explored some of its streets and churches and ate my weight in waffles, frites, and chocolate. And the beer was more than amazing! It was also lovely to see professional friends. I roomed with my friend John, and we were able to get in a short run together and take a quick trip to Gent for some more church and castle exploring before I made my way to Germany and after two days there back to my corner of the Arctic.

Once I got back home, I had to immediately begin to prepare for the start of the semester since classes commenced on Monday. I also have a big deadline looming so I've been working toward that. I have managed to eek out a little bit of progress toward my goals.

I'm eking closer to my mileage goal for the year, but am likely going to fall short of this one, and that's probably okay. In August I ran 64.3 miles. Of course with my traveling schedule I encountered some challenges in fitting in all my scheduled training runs. However, I only missed one long run on the trip and usually managed to run at least two short runs a week. The same can not be said of this week since I've had a nasty cold and haven't run at all.

Like July, August was quite research focused. I finished up my archival work for the summer and wrote and presented a conference paper. I would like to continue the positive momentum and continue carving out an hour here and there to work on my new book project. I also recently received a revise and resubmit for a journal article that I submitted in the spring and will need to find some time over the coming months to deal with revisions.

Because I rarely had an internet connection for my last week in Madrid and then couldn't get my phone to connect to the wifi in my Paris hotel, I kind of fell off the wagon with my gratitude app. I'm hoping to use it more consistently in September. The bright side of not having internet access meant that I didn't waste time reading way too many comments on the internet so that likely contributed to my over all health and well-being in August.

Also because I was on the go, I didn't have much sustained energy or time for other types of writing. However, I did have a piece of non-academic writing accepted for a publication by a local literary journal! Their fall issue will be publishing a poem that I wrote over the summer.

If you're going back to school, how has the start of your term been? What was one of the highlights of the last full month of summer?

Mental Health and Mountains

Lately I have been fretting a lot about how to make everything happen in the compressed amount of time that it needs to happen in. On Friday during a really stressful moment, I was driving to campus to a meeting that had suddenly popped up as a result of an issue with an event that I'm directing in a couple of weeks, and suddenly I felt a pain in my left arm. Lest I worry you, I will go ahead and tell you that it was actually my tricep being sore from yoga, but in that moment of stress I had this brief but intense fear that the pain was shooting and that I was having a cardiac event. My father died from a sudden and massive heart attack behind the wheel of his truck during an incredibly stressful time for our family in 1999. I pulled over into a parking lot and spent a couple of minutes breathing deeply and making sure that my other arm felt the same way (it did). Although there were other stressful moments in the day, I kept thinking back to that moment when I thought stress from my job might actually be killing me and reminding myself to slow down and breathe and let go of some of the worry.

I know that I am privileged to work in a field that I love. But institutions often bank on their faculty working far more than 40 hours a week. On Friday when I was driving back to campus, I had already worked close to 70 hours that week. On Sunday I had worked from 7am to 10pm with a two hour break for brunch and shopping. The rest of the week was not much better. That moment in the parking lot made me realize that I need to recommit to drawing some boundaries and to stopping letting molehills at work become mountains for me that I spend all my time trying to scale. I need to be better about saying no, asking for help, and recharging my batteries. It's hard for me because I strive to be good at my job, to give my students and my research attention, to be a good community citizen of my university. But I cannot do any of these things if I work myself sick.

Plus, I have some actual mountains to tackle. After a much-needed evening out with Mark and some dear friends for dinner and vino (at a cool bar where you can buy a card and get wine out of dispensing machines), I hit the sack in preparation for Saturday's beast of a run. My Team in Training group was running up Arctic Valley Road. Because I knew that there was a very good chance that I would try to avoid running up this cursed mountain and bail if left to my own devices, I had committed to carpooling with one of our coaches. We went a little early and set up a water stop.

I dedicated this run to my dear friend Geoffrey who has been my sponsor twice for TNT, my mentor, my co-author, and my friend.

It was a 60 minute out and about 40 minute back run. The elevation gain was approximately 2,700 feet. It was painfully slow going on the way up, and my lungs and calves were on fire almost the whole time. The last 10 or 15 minutes I had to alternate a minute of running with a minute of walking in order to keep moving forward. The way down was much better and felt like a great reward for making it up so far. Due to the ice and snow on much of the road, I wasn't making up tons of time in terms of pace, though. We'll return to this route in a few weeks, and it will be interesting to gauge our hopefully increased levels of fitness next time we go up, up, up. Hopefully, the next time I run up this mountain I'll log more than 7.8 miles.

Running friends, how do you feel about hills? What are your strategies for minimizing work-related stress?

Frenetic February 2016 in Review

The second half of this month has been insanely busy. At the moment, I feel really overextended because of a confluence of events and deadlines on top of the grading, committee work, class prep, and marathon training. I may require many centering moments and mini meditations and copious amounts of coffee and glasses of wine in order to not lose my sh*t over the next couple of weeks. Thanks to my husband's deft cooking skills and kindness and wine's antioxidants I probably won't contract scurvy. 

Even with the intense schedule, I've made some progress toward some of my goals. 

1. Run my third marathon and PR while doing it. I was sick and off my feet for about a week during the middle of the month. However, I still feel like I'm making decent progress with my marathon training plan. I've had several good runs with my TNT group, including a 70 minute long run that featured a beautiful sunrise a couple of weeks back. In February I ran 39.55 miles and dedicated training runs to my friends Gail, Jen, John, Liz, Shanda, and Zeynep.  

Scenes from a 6.3 mile training run dedicated to my friend, colleague, and sponsor Liz

2. Make significant progress on other research projects. I only transcribed three documents this month so I didn't meet my transcription goal. I made better progress in some other research arenas. I wrote a research presentation and have made some significant progress on my article project. In the month to come, I'll largely be focused on working on a conference paper and copy edits to my book manuscript that just came back yesterday and have to be turned around pretty quickly. 

3. Establish a mindful practice of gratitude and optimism. Although I haven't used my gratitude app every day, I've used it most days. I've also tried to be kind to myself, to make yoga more of a routine for both my overall physical and mental health, and to not compromise when it comes to getting enough sleep. Exhaustion is the enemy of optimism.

4. Write some non-academic things.This has been on the back burner for most of this month as grading has mounted and academic writing deadlines have popped up. I'm alright with that as I'm still percolating on ideas for the short story I've been working on and writing down a sentence or two here and there. 

How are you progressing toward your goals for this year? Did you do anything special with your extra leap day?

January 2016 in Review

I know it's cliche, but I can't believe January is already over. The semester is in full swing. I already have piles of grading to do and more irons than fires to heat them. Yet, I'm not sure I would have it any other way. Here's a brief recap of my progress toward each of my big four goals for the year.

1. Run my third marathon and PR while doing it.
I'm hoping to hit 800 miles this year, and in January I ran 41.15 miles. My first full week of marathon training with TNT is also in the books, and it was lovely to run with other members of the team. My most challenging run was probably just a short recovery run last Monday. The trails were really mushy and slick and my slow pace felt a lot harder than it should on a recover run. I might have bailed early had I not been with my buddy who shares my love of bright running clothes. My best run was probably Saturday's 50 minute run. I just felt steady and in-tune with my body the whole time. Also I was delighted that the trails were much less slippery than I anticipated. I did a fair amount of cross-training this month, as well, so 2016 is off to a solid start in the running and fitness category.

2. Progress on my academic research projects. I have been leading a writing group at my university and, as a result, over the past couple of weeks have made some good progress on revising a draft of an article I'm hoping to send out by the end of this term. As of yesterday, I have met my goal of transcribing five documents for my new book project this month. I've also started drafting a proposal for a conference paper. I'm hoping that I will get accepted and be able to go to the conference in August.

3. Establish a mindful practice of gratitude and optimism. There have been some pretty big obstacles to this: the Alaska economic problems and concerns about budgets at my institution have been worrisome. The semester started with the announcement of a hiring and travel freeze (thus, my uncertainty about being able to attend the conference if I'm accepted). We know more cuts will be coming. There's not much I can do about the price of oil, though, so I've been trying to focus on positive things and positive steps to change things I can control. One thing I've been doing is journaling daily in a gratitude app. I only missed one day in January. Another thing I've been trying to do is say thank you more frequently to colleagues who lend a hand and to students who are working hard inside and outside of the classroom. In general, I'm trying to be a bit more polite and patient. I am privileged in many ways.

4. Write some non-academic things. Well, I've already written more blog posts in 2016 than I did in 2014 and 2015 combined so there's that. I've started working on a short story, but I admit that I'm struggling a bit to find a voice and a style outside of the academic genre. It's been ages since I've written any fiction so it's not a surprise that I'm finding it to be alien terrain. We'll see how it goes, but I'm hoping to finish at least one draft of one short story by the end of the semester. I've been trying to get up early and research and write this piece two days a week, but due to the insidious workaholism to which I can be prone it's hard for me not to feel guilty for using that time to work on fiction rather than academic writing or class prep.

If you set any goals for the year, how is your progress going? Do you struggle with maintaining work-life balance and/or with feeling guilty about spending time on your interests and hobbies?

Goals and Intentions for 2016

As some of my friends and family members know, I can be something of a chronic goal setter. Obviously this tendency can be good for my professional ambitions and general productivity. However, it can also lead me to feel overwhelmed at times and to feelings of failure at others. It sometimes also creates situations in which it's hard for me to be still or to feel gratitude for a recent accomplishment before feeling like I have been slacking. It can make a person feel like she always needs to be moving on toward the next milepost. Knowing all of this about myself, I would like to set fewer major goals this year than I have in some (I'm looking at you, 2011 and 2012).

The truth is I know that I will continue to work hard to advance in my career, that I will continue to set goals for myself as a (pretty slow) runner, and that I will continue to challenge myself to grow in other ways, as well. I'd like to think that I would do this even without putting pen to paper (or fingertips to keyboard in this case), and I probably would. Just in case, though, here are the big things I would like to do/accomplish in 2016.

1. Run my third marathon and PR while doing it. I'm registered to run the Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon in June, and I will be doing it as a fundraiser for Team in Training! I ran my first marathon with them back in 2009, and I'm excited to be doing this again. If you would like to support my fundraising efforts, you can do so here. I'll be posting more about my training plans and workouts, as well as my fundraising endeavors and running musings, in the weeks to come. My intention is to do a lot more of the team workouts this time around than I did the last. Hopefully, that will connect me with some new running buddies. While it's really only an ancillary goal, I hope to hit at least 800 running miles over the course of this year. Time to remember my dailymile password. :)

2. Make significant progress on other research projects. In the spring semester I will be leading a faculty writing group at my institution, and my goal is to submit at an article to an academic journal by the end of the term. I'm also starting to dive into research for my next book project. There are a few contingent factors that make it harder to set more concrete goals at this point, but ideally I would like to transcribe and take notes on at least 5 documents a month during the spring semester. At the end of the term I'll be able to evaluate my progress (and I should also know about the status of some grants and fellowships) and can make further plans for the summer and fall. One of the things I did this past year, which I really got a lot out of on a number of levels, was making a writing pact with my seminar students, so that I had to produce the same number of pages that they had to for their final paper. I would definitely consider doing something like that again in the autumn semester.

3. Establish a mindful practice of gratitude and optimism. There are two key areas/development of habits that I want to focus on in this regard. One is keeping a gratitude journal by using the Gratitude app on my phone on a daily basis. The other is working to retrain my emotional responses to food and my body so that I don't associate so much value and judgment with food.

4. Write some non-academic things. One avenue for this will be this blog. Although it's debatable whether or not it's a good idea to do so pre-tenure, I'd like to write a couple more journalistic pieces even if it turns out that I can't find a home for them. I'd also like to try to return to writing some fiction in 2016. It's been a long time, so I plan to start with a couple of short stories. If it's possible without making work and life overly stressful, toward the end of the year I hope to participate in NaNoWriMo in November. November tends to be a rough month for academics, so if it doesn't work out I'm not going to sweat it.

What are your goals for 2016? If you posted about them, please feel free to share a link in the comments!

Currently: January

This month has really gotten away from me, but mainly for pretty mundane, work-related reasons. Here's what's been going on with me of late in currently fashion….

Current Netflix/TV Obsession: Even though neither seem to be as good as they were in the earlier series, I've been enjoying the return of Downton Abbey and now Sherlock. My guilty pleasure the past few months has been Dracula.

Current Running Revelation: I need to be doing more of it.

Current Food Journaling Progress: This past week involved a few meals out, so I had to do some guestimating. But I've journaled every day this month so far.

Currently Looking Forward To: I'm really looking forward to a trip to Hawaii next month. We're going to Maui! I've never been before, and I can't wait to enjoy some warmth, hike, and walk on the beach.

Current Book: I'm currently reading a novel in Spanish by Isabel Allende called Inés del alma mía. I'm reading a lot of fiction written by Latin American authors these days. Up next is The Underdogs, which was written by Mariano Azuela during the Mexican Revolution

Current Drink: I've really been enjoying Midnight Sun's beers here lately. If you can get your hands on any of them, I definitely recommend doing so. My favorites are the Panty Peeler Tripel and the Cocoho Imperial IPA.

Current Excitement: I'm pretty jazzed about the Super Bowl party that we'll be hosting on Sunday.

Current Fashion Trend: I may regret this, but I'm buying into the floral track pant trend. I'm not wearing them to work with a blazer yet, but that may change as the semester progresses. I jest… I jest….

Current Love: I love texting with my mom a few times a week in addition to our more or less weekly catch-up phone calls.

Current Food: I bought Mark a waffle maker for our anniversary, and I am enjoying reaping the rewards of my self-serving gift.

Current Indulgence: Dark Chocolate Açai Blueberries. We bought a big bag at Costco….

Currently Pondering: A haircut? I haven't been to the salon since early in the fall semester. It's pretty overdue, but I'm not sure what I want to have done to it at this point.

Current Mood: Pessimistic. For now I'll just say we are looking at some serious institutional budget cuts in the works, and I can't think that they will mean anything good for the overall quality of any of the facets of my professional life.

Current New Find: I'm not sure that I have one this month.

Current Outfit: Not the floral track pants. I hadn't planned to wear these particular tights with this dress, but I started to put on three pairs of black tights only to discover giant holes or runners in each.

Current Peeve: It's not a pet peeve exactly, but I've been irritated the last couple of times I've been to the gym because a) it's been more crowded since the new year (New Year's resolutions no doubt) and b) my favorite elliptical machine got removed from the premises.

Current Song: I really found all the songs that Lily & Madeleine sang on the NPR tiny desk concert they did incredibly charming, but I especially liked "Devil We Know."

Current Triumph: I broke through a bad and ill-timed case of writer's block to get an abstract sent off for a conference and to make some progress on a book chapter. I wrote/revised over six pages in about two hours yesterday.

Current Wish-List: I'm really wanting an end to this crisis in Higher Ed. I'm more likely to actually receive a nice Le Creuset Dutch Oven.

Currently Delaying: Grading some short writing assignments from one of my classes. I can't put it off too much longer, though.

Do you have a guilty tv pleasure? Are you planning to watch the Super Bowl? What's currently on your wish-list?

Spring Half-Marathon Plans: SLC Half-Marathon

snuggling with my new niece

I got back to my mountain fortress early yesterday morning after a great conference and a hellish day of travel from the east coast, which could have admittedly been much, much worse due to the Polar Vortex's mayhem-causing powers. I had a wonderful time in the lower 48 visiting family in Louisiana, which was wonderful and relaxing, and attending a conference in D.C., which was wonderful and exhausting. I was hoping to see more of D.C. and visit some museums and monuments while I was there, but I was so busy with meetings, presentations, and meet-ups with friends and colleagues that I saw nothing but the conference hotels.

Unfortunately, due to illness and travel, I have yet to go for a run in 2014, but I'm planning to do an easy run/walk a little bit later today to get back on track (hopefully without provoking a coughing attack). This first wog of the year will begin (again) operation rebuild the base for me, because I have registered for a half-marathon in April. Due to a serendipitous confluence of events, it looks like I will be able to combine a trip to give an invited lecture at a university in Utah with running the SLC half-marathon on April 19th. I'm really looking forward to both opportunities!

In a couple of weeks, when I have a few runs back under my belt and it's a little closer to the event itself, I'll pick a training plan for the race. Are you running any spring races? What do you do in the pre-training-schedule-periods of your running year? How's the start to your new year been? I hope my Midwestern friends and readers are all safe and warm!

Four Goals for 2014

Somehow 2013 came and went, and I didn't do too much blogging during the year. Although I ran two half-marathons and a 10K, it was also a low mileage year for me (only about 520 miles logged and most in the first half of the year). While 2013 had some good moments and brought with it some opportunities for professional and personal growth, it wasn't my favorite of years for a variety of reasons that I won't go into here and now.  I'm welcoming 2014 as a symbolic reset and setting four major goals/intentions for the year to come.

1. End 2014 in better physical condition than I am starting it. I will get into better shape by running more -- hopefully closer to 750-800 miles and at least two half marathons: one in the spring (I'm still deciding between a race in Portland and one in Salt Lake City) and one in the late summer or early fall. I might also run one in the later autumn, depending on how the rest of my schedule is shaping up. I will also achieve this goal by maintaining a food journal every day for the entire year. For every day that I honestly log everything that I consume I will allow myself a dollar to spend. I'd also like to work toward eliminating most junk food and meat from my regular diet and trying at least one new healthy recipe a month. Finally, I will establish a regular meditation practice.

2. Work smarter (but not necessarily harder). This is a year when I really need to prioritize research and writing. To that end, I'm going to make a work plan and priority list at the beginning of each week, limit my use of social media during regular work hours Monday through Friday, limit my reading of and writing of emails to a couple of times a day, and make better use of small available blocks of time between meetings and classes. Those random half hours that appear when a meeting ends early or a student doesn't show up for an appointment seem like good times to grade homework or do a quick Italian lesson. I will also continue to strive toward a goal that has been successful for me over the past two years of writing or revising a minimum of 3 pages each week.

3. Take a class and learn a new thing or two. Aside from my continuing Italian lessons, I'd like to learn more new skills. Maybe I'll take a cross-country skiing class or an online photography class or a cooking class. Maybe I'll do all three.

4. Blog more (and more regularly) than I did in 2013 in order to be accountable and connect with wonderful communities on the internets.

Happy New Year! What are your goals or intentions for 2014?

Progress Toward Goals: April in Review

It's hard to believe but April is over and so are classes! I taught my last class of the year on Monday, and now I just have a final to administer tomorrow and exams and papers to grade. It's been a busy few weeks for me professionally, as I've had a lot of papers to read and mark, submitted a journal article, and served on a search committee. While I'm not feeling quite as well-rested as I would like for my upcoming half marathon, I am really looking forward to a bit of a break and perhaps some more spring-like weather.

So far the only flowers I've seen here this spring have come from the grocery store

I did pretty well with my fitness and health related goals this month. I definitely could have done more yoga, but I got in 65.32 miles running. I also walked a lot this month, but I didn't keep track of my mileage. I've been doing well with journaling in the form of tracking my points on Weight Watchers Online.

I consider this past month to have been a writing success, as I not only met my minimum page production goals each week, but in the early part of the month I exceeded them pretty significantly. Getting an article kicked out the door felt really good. Now it's just a matter of waiting and seeing what the journal editor thinks. My language study did drop off a bit this month, as I spent a lot of time marking papers and reading through applicants' files for a faculty position, but I did manage to continue to make a bit of progress.

My personal goals were again something of a hit or miss category. I epically failed again at re-jumpstarting my 365 project. But fun travels are upcoming and I'm determined to get back into the habit of taking pictures on a daily basis. I made progress with my novel-reading goal. I'm about a fifth of the way through Bolaño's mammoth tome 2666. I also read Aphra Behn's Ooronoko, which was deeply upsetting but incredibly interesting to me as a historian of the early modern period, and Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending, which had been recommended to me by a friend. It was interesting as an exploration of memory, but I have to say that ultimately I didn't love it. After going overboard with shopping and spending in March, April was a lean month for me. I honestly didn't feel much like shopping as the weather has not really been spring-like, but I'm tired of winter clothing. I spent about $20 on socks and nail polish.

How was April for you? If you set any goals for the year or new year's resolutions, how are you doing with them a third of the way through the year? Academics, has your term wrapped up yet?

An Unplanned Break

I hadn't intended to go almost two weeks without posting here, but in the days immediately following the terrible bombings in Boston and the devastating fertilizer plant fire in Texas. Most of last week I felt like anything I might write here might seem too trite and cliche for some, too self-indulgent for others, and maybe even too political for a few. I'm still trying to process all of it. I'm still angry and still sad.

By the time I felt like I might be ready to write again at all in this little space of mine, I had become inundated with work. It's the end of the semester, and I'm feeling the fatigue that comes at the end of the academic year. Between committees and grading and trying to get a manuscript off my desk and out to a journal before the end of the term, I've had little free time lately and what time I've had lately I haven't wanted to spend looking at a computer. I hosted a departmental/honors society event at my home so part of my typical bit of weekend downtime was used to clean my house both before and after the event. As this week started, I found myself still wading through my students' papers and through paperwork for several other service tasks. However, I did finally get that article sent out, after taking advantage of a grey and snowy day to power through some of the lingering revisions I had been putting off tackling and a final read through for copyediting and proofreading.

Ducks on a pond near my house

Although I wasn't blogging about it, I did also get some running done since I last posted. While I'm not quite where I hoped to be with my training, I had a solid 12 mile long run this past weekend and an 800 repeat session last week that gave me a bit of a confidence boost. I'm starting to feel both excited and nervous about the upcoming Vancouver Half Marathon. I head into taper mode in just a couple of days.

Progress Toward Goals: March in Review

March has been a pretty eventful month for me, as I went to San Diego for a few days to run my eleventh half-marathon at the beginning of the month, hosted a mini writing retreat over part of spring break, celebrated my birthday, and had a pretty busy second half of the month on campus between classes and some service tasks. I am very happy to say that I felt much better emotionally than I did in February. Thanks in part to Spring Break and to some fun activities -- I caught up with an old friend in San Diego, Mark and I went to a fun Seder for the second night of Passover, and we went tubing for the first time -- I was able to feel a bit of that often-elusive life-work-training balance thing.

At the Japanese Tea Gardens in San Diego's Balboa Park

Tubing Adventure!

Also in most areas I made some progress toward my goals. As far as my fitness and health goals are concerned, I did pretty well. Although I was still pretty lax with eating while in San Diego and not journaling during the first half of the month, I knew that a day of reckoning was coming as I struggled to get into one of my pairs of pants toward the end of spring break. The day after my birthday I joined Weight Watchers Online and have successfully journaled each day since then. My yoga has dropped off horribly this month, as I used up my class pass last month and since my yoga studio was closing at the end of the month (tear) I did not renew it. However, I'm planning to check out another studio soon for a class with some lady friends. In terms of running, I logged 64.2 miles in March, and, as I mentioned in my race report, while San Diego was not my fastest half it was 8 minutes faster than any of the half-marathons that I ran in 2012. I feel good about that.

Happily, this month even with travel and some of the general malaise that often makes itself known at this time during the academic year, I met my writing goal of at least 3 pages each week. Last week I sent a rough draft of an article manuscript to a couple of friends for some feedback, and I'm hoping to incorporate their suggestions and kick it out the door by the end of this next month. My Italian lessons did drop off a bit this month, but I still made some progress there.

In terms of my personal goals, my progress was something of a mixed bag. I really fell of the wagon with 365, though, and will be looking to recommit to this in April. I think part of it was that I opted not to take my DSLR with me to San Diego and when I returned I didn't really feel inspired to take pictures of snirt and then more snow on a systematic basis. I'm pressing reset, though, and I'll be better this next month. I did do some good reading in March and finished two novels, started two others, and read a memoir. I finished Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which I would rank as one of the best books I've read in the past few years, and Shirley Jackson's classic and creepy The Haunting of Hill House. I bought A Thousand Days in Venice on the cheap for my kindle back in December, and wasn't paying close enough attention so I didn't notice it was a memoir and not a novel. I wasn't impressed with it, which is too bad as Lord knows I love Venice and eating. The prose was just not to my taste -- though I was pretty happy that I got almost all of the Italian passages without her translations. March was an expensive month due to my trip to San Diego and then we bought our tickets for Vancouver, and I have to admit that I went over budget this month. I blame DSW for sending me a birthday coupon. The damage: $170. I bought two pairs of shoes, and I also bought a pair of navy polka dot jeggings.

I hope those readers who celebrate the holiday have had a wonderful Easter! Did the Easter Bunny visit your house? If you could learn any language, which would it be and why?

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?

A Love List

On this day devoted to love and friendship, I just thought I'd share a list of a few things that I'm loving here lately.

1. My family.

2. Ridiculous Valentine's Day cards and tumblrs that feature Vladimir Putin, Richard III of England, and puns about Platonic love.

3. My new sweater from J.Crew. Xoxo, indeed!

Please excuse the self-indulgent and poorly lit bathroom mirror shot

4. Seeing initial mock-up pages for the volume I'm co-editing. It's still in the early stages, but it's tremendously exciting to see some of the work that I've done on this project. And to know that it is getting a bit closer to publication.

5. Making travel plans. I'm looking forward to San Diego next month, Vancouver and New York in May, and then Spain in June. I don't have all the details worked out yet for New York and Spain, but a 10K with some friends in NYC and a weekend trip to Valencia with one of my dearest friends may be in the works.

6. The returning daylight. It's still not quite normal, but the days are getting longer now and the sun is getting to normal positions in the sky. Hooray for that.

7. Having a student I encouraged submit work to an academic showcase. It fills me with pride.

8. Confidence-building runs. I wish every run rocked that hard!

9. The pleasure of reading a good novel. Right now I'm reading Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and finding it absolutely delightful.

10. Sentence fragments. Apparently.

What are you loving on this Valentine's Day?

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?

Things That are New(s)

Since I last posted there have been several new developments around these parts. For one thing, we are seriously considering adopting a second dog. A woman who goes to the same climbing gym as a woman who works at our doggy daycare is having to give up her dog as she is moving out of state. We're still trying to work out a time to meet the dog, who is currently being fostered, introduce her to Bailey, and make sure that we are all compatible, but I'm hopeful that by the end of the month we may have a canine addition to our family.

Another new thing is that I got a long overdue haircut. Scissors had not touched the hairs on my head since May and part of me was trying to keep long hair for a while longer, so I was initially just planning on getting a trim. However, I was bothered many times by my hair on our trip to Louisiana. It kept getting pulled by my backpack, and it was attracting static electricity like you would not believe. I decided to check out an Aveda Concepts Salon here, and I loved the atmosphere and my new stylist. I had her give me an asymmetrical graduated bob, and I immediately felt more like myself.

Late last week I started to feel a little bit anxious about the start of a new term. It's now just one week away, so I spent much of this weekend working on my syllabi and doing some preliminary course prep. Bailey was not much help. She absolutely refused to read about early modern blood transfusion experiments on animals, quickly tired of reading about radicals in the English Civil War, and took a nap to protest that I did not assign any readings about learned pigs.

Finally, I have picked out and registered for a spring half marathon. I will be running the San Diego Half Marathon on March 10th! I'm hoping for a strong performance that will give me confidence going into the second half of my training for the Vancouver Marathon, and I'm definitely looking forward to a few days in southern California as a break from winter in Anchorage.

What's new with you? Do you have any spring races planned?

2013 Goals

I have to admit that I was a little bit sad to see 2012 go, as, all told it, it was a pretty fantastic year for me. It brought me a niece, a tenure-track job, adventures with my spouse, time with far-flung friends in Madrid, New York, Boston, Chicago, and Columbus, among many other good things. I spent most of the last week of the year in Louisiana with my family - eating too much, playing with my niblet, enjoying sister time, drinking copious amounts of coffee with my mom, playing Santa, and going to a bowl game with Mark. It was the perfect way to wind down the year.

Playing with new toys on Christmas Day

As a perpetual goal setter, the transition from one year to the next is a time for me to reflect on what has been working well for me and what I can do better. I'll be working toward several major goals over the next twelve months. Here they are.

Running/Fitness Goals
1. Run 800 miles in 2013. I know that I'm starting to sound like a broken record with this goal, but considering my relatively low mileage in 2012 (only 557 miles) it seems reasonable to set this number as a target again. Since I have a marathon on the schedule for late spring and won't have the craziness of job market related travel going on this winter (thank you, God!), it seems likely that I can get the year off to a good start with running.

2. Get faster. I definitely want to set a marathon PR this year. I still haven't completely determined my race schedule for the year - in part because it is prohibitively expensive to travel from Alaska and in part because I plan to be in Europe doing research during a good chunk of the time of year that I can find more local races here - so I'm not sure quite yet what other distances I will be targeting. Hopefully, I can get a 10K PR and a half-marathon PR as well. In general, though, I also plan to integrate more speedwork into my training and set some short term training goals to work on this. For example, I have a goal to shave a minute off my timed mile time (currently a slow 8:53) by my birthday (3/17).

3. Eat more healthfully and mindfully in 2013. I've been pretty lax in my eating habits here lately, even when maintaining my food journal. I want to eat more whole foods and significantly fewer crackers and cookies in the year to come. To that end, I will be not only keeping a food journal this year, but actually working to specifically keep my intake focused on plant-based foods and within a certain caloric range.

4. Continue to deepen my yoga practice. Since the summer I've been doing yoga pretty consistently and have started attending classes at a local yoga studio. I want to continue with this as well as continue having a regular (if not daily) home practice. I see another month or two of yoga streaking in my 2013 future and working toward finding peace in a couple of poses, as I keep my joints healthy.

Writing/Professional Goals
5. Write or revise a minimum of 3 pages of academic writing each week in 2013. I did really well with this writing goal in 2012, and, while part of me is tempted to take it up to 4 or 5 pages a week, I know that 3 pages is reasonably challenging during the weeks of the year when there are research papers to grade or while on family vacations. Again I hope that I will be more productive most weeks, but this sets a bar, and again I will be keeping track of my progress on a tab here on the blog that I will update regularly. This year I want to focus my energies toward:
A) Submitting two journal articles for publication. One of these will be a revise and resubmit that I need to tackle. The other is a piece that I have about 80% drafted but will require some significant time and polishing once that's done.
B) Send my book proposal out to presses, get a contract, and finish writing the manuscript. Oy vey. I really do not want to be putting this down on my goals next year. It is time to really get cracking with this project.
C) Finish work on the co-edited volume. While I'm not entirely in control of the timeline on a collaborative project, I'd like to do everything in my power to get this off my desk and into print in the next year.

6. Learn another language for my next research project. I'll reveal more about this at a later stage, but I have an idea for another research project, but it's going to require more than the cursory reading knowledge of a language aside from English or Spanish. My plan is to use Rosetta Stone and grammars to teach myself the basics and then read some books and look for a Skype language exchange partner later in the year.

Personal Goals
7. Continue working on my photography skills. To that end, I will finish my 365 project and take a class (either online or in person) at some point in the next year. I'd also like to do a couple of photo challenges on Instagram.

8. Read at least 26 novels in 2013 and at least 6 of them in Spanish. I've been watching more television and Netflix than I should here lately, and I would like to limit my tv watching time to only a few hours a week. So instead of watching shows in the evening, I'd like to spend more of that time curled up with a good book in the next twelve months. I know that some times I'll need to work after dinner to meet my writing goals this year (especially when my course load goes back up in the fall), so I think a book every two weeks will be challenging but doable.

9. Stick to a budget for all clothing and accessory purchases. After going on a shopping diet in 2011, I was pretty bad about keeping track of and limiting my spending in 2012. As it's so expensive to travel from here and I want to see family and run a couple of destination races, I'm going to have to make some changes in my spending habits. For 2013 I will be limiting my clothing, shoes, and accessory purchases to $100.00/month. I'm including nail polish and manicures in this tally, but I won't include things like shampoo and haircuts (I am long overdue for one incidentally). I will allow my unspent budget to roll over each month. If I PR at my marathon in May and have either submitted two articles or have a book contract by then, I will allow myself one special reward outside the budget.

Did you set any goals for 2013? I'd love to hear about them in the comments or have you link up if you wrote a post about them! I hope that 2013 will be a wonderful year filled with productivity, excellent runs, and sweet moments with loved ones for all of us! Happy New Year!

December Goals

This month promises to be full. I have research papers and final exams to grade. I have a new class to prepare for next semester. I have some holiday gift shopping to finish. I'm heading to Louisiana to see family later in the month. I have marathon training plans to ponder a bit later in the month. I'm looking forward to the break as the first semester at a new institution is always tiring. I considered not setting any goals this month at all as a result, but, as we all know, I'm a perpetual goal-setter. So to satisfy my addiction I'm setting a few focused, simple goals.

1. Finish the modernized edition of primary source texts for the edited volume that I'm working on. I really need to get this project off my desk so that I can focus my research and writing time on other things during the spring semester. I want to finish this stage of work on the edition by the end of the year.

2. Maintain my food journal every day during the month of December. While I have no real plans to count calories, keeping track of what I'm eating makes it more likely that I'll eat an orange every now and then through the holidays and not just consume Christmas cookies, latkes, and pumpkin pie.

3. Take a photo every day during the last month of the year. Some how I've more or less fallen off the 365 wagon, and I need to get back on. I've been taking a lot of photos with my phone -- many of them with instagram. But I want to get back to taking more shots with my DSLR and working with my zoom lens.

4. Write up some posts reflecting on the past year. I have end-of-the-year reports to give on my goals and want to record some of my favorite and most meaningful moments of 2012 here.

December has gotten off to a good start for me. On Saturday I went to a movie with a friend, and yesterday we had friends over for brunch. They brought their cute ten-month-old son over, and it was a lot of fun to play with a happy little kiddo. Bailey is pretty sure that he is her new BFF -- possibly because Sam shared his toys with her and she shared her bone with him. I also got some good news this weekend. An article that I submitted to an academic journal has been accepted for publication and will come out in print in the spring!

Do you have any goals for December?

October Goals

I'm happy to report that as October arrived so did a delivery of surplus furniture for my campus office. I now have a desk, a set of bookshelves, and a filing cabinet, so I can at least unpack some of my books and the research materials that I want to keep on campus. I'm going to buy a cheap bookcase for home so that I can unpack the rest in the meantime and decide after I get my new furniture installed in January whether or not I want to bring everything else into my university office or not. I'm also glad that the first snow has melted off and we might get atleast a few more days here  that resemble autumn more than winter.

My goals for the month are:

1. Work toward getting completely unpacked and organized. There will be some odds and ends that need to wait until the furniture install in January, but in the meantime I can finish hanging up other things and hopefully hire someone to fix my desk at home now that our insurance claim has been processed.

2. Devote a minimum of 15 hours a week to research. I have to finish the conference paper I'll be presenting at the end of the month. I also want to make progress on a couple of publication projects, in particular the co-edited volume that continues to haunt me and an article manuscript.

3. Make being active a priority in October. I'm aiming to run 80 miles this month, and I wouldn't mind running my fastest half-marathon of the year. I'd also like to go to at least 4 yoga classes before Halloween.

4. Maintain my food journal for the entire month. I really want to finish the year stronger with this goal that I set for 2012. If I journal every day for the rest of October, I'm going to reward myself at the end of the month with a new pair of jeans or pants.

That's it. October will be a busy month, but I'm hoping that it will be a bit kinder to me than September was. I'm also hoping for a fun Halloween and considering wearing a costume that day to campus.... Do you have any goals for October? Are you a Halloween fan?

September in Review

September really just hasn't been my month. Setbacks and unforeseen issues, like the office situation and property damage, have been difficult to deal with and were not things that I anticipated when I set my goals at the beginning of the month. However, I've done my best to keep my chin up and to keep moving forward with what I can. I don't feel that I fully accomplished any of my September goals, but I made pretty substantive progress with all but one of them.

My goals for September were:

1. Devote a minimum of 15 hours a week to research and writing which would be directed toward the following:
A) Get as close to possible to finalizing the transcription and the edition of the primary source texts for the co-edited volume.
B) Have a finished draft of the article manuscript I've been working on this summer.
C) Make progress on the conference paper I'll be presenting in late October.
I would have to say that I did alright with this. There was one week when I didn't come anywhere close to 15 hours of research and writing, as I was dealing with insurance agents and contractors thanks to the damage the winds did to our property and also was sick that week. However, the other weeks I either hit or came very close to logging those research and writing hours. I feel like I have started establishing good work patterns. I didn't quite get any of the projects that I wanted to off my desk, but I got closer to doing so with all of them.

2. Make running a priority and run 80 miles in the month of September.
I did suffer some setbacks and missed a couple of runs here and there and didn't quite hit 80 miles. However, I feel like I did make running a priority and had a solid month, logging 68.54 miles in total. This is my highest monthly mileage total for a year, so I'm pleased with my progress. I also ran a really solid 10K (more on that later).

3. Get back to maintaining my food journal. 
I have not done very well with this. Back in the spring (right before I fell of the journaling wagon) I switched from my old journaling system to Sparkpeople and for some reason I just can't seem to get into the groove with this new system. This next month I'm going to try setting some daily google reminders to journal and hopefully that will help me to establish the habit once again.

4. Finish unpacking and get organized.
Well, as I mentioned on Friday, my unpacking has been somewhat derailed by the campus office situation and further derailed by the home desk situation. We have most of our stuff hung up, but there are still some odds and ends to deal with in addition to my books, research files, diplomas, etc. I think with the exception of the items that I'm planning to take to campus we need to make a concerted effort to finish the job in the next few weeks.

5. Spend some time exploring my new city.
I did alright with this one. I acquired a library card. M. and I went to a beer festival. I ran a local 10K on one of the trails. I went in search of a local pumpkin spice latte. And this morning M. and I had brunch at a local restaurant. There is still plenty to explore and check out, but I am at least not spending all of my time on campus or at home.

I should say that September hasn't been all crying and gnashing of teeth or goals. I reencountered one of my favorite beers, hosted a little football-watching party, had a couple of colleagues over for dinner, baked a lemon cake with ginger cream cheese frosting, and went to a few fabulous yoga classes.

How was your September? Those of you who maintain food journals, what system do you use and why do you like it as opposed to other methods?

June in Review

June has been a good but strange month for me. I began it in Madrid. I ended it in Minnesota. I spent part of the month in Alaska and a bit of it in South Dakota.

Statue of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza in the Plaza de Espana

View from the observation deck of the Guthrie Theater

With no campus office at the moment and a week in Alaska to house hunt, I tried to set realistic goals back at the beginning of the month. They were:

1. Finish my book manuscript proposal and get going with revising a sample chapter. I made minimal progress on this goal. Right after I set this goal I had a long talk with a mentor of mine. I was expressing my frustrations with trying to gain traction on revisions, and we discussed whether or not my hoped for timeline was realistic considering the events of the next two months and the fact that I want to take a second research trip before I finish the manuscript draft. She recommended focusing on an article that I had on the back burner and trying to have that ready to go out soon after the fall term starts, so I've been devoting most of my writing energies to that instead. Right now I have about 22 pages drafted. 


2. Run at least 50 miles in the month of June.  I didn't get to 50 miles. I finished out the month with 39 miles. I didn't run the week that I was in Alaska, so I know that under more normal circumstances I would have hit this objective this month. At least I've started doing a little bit of speedwork again after all easy running in the month after my oral surgery. 

3. Get ready for the move. I might have been able to pack a few more boxes in June, but I'm really happy with the progress I've made here. I sold my bike and my extra briefcase. I cleaned out my closet and took 6 bags of clothes and shoes to Goodwill. I went through my filing cabinet and recycled random articles I had printed off during grad school. I've packed most of my books and dvds and have started packing my clothes, shoes, and miscellaneous crap. M. and I have been doing our best to stay on top of mortgage-related paperwork, and we've made arrangements with the moving company. 



4. Start work on a conference paper/article manuscript draft. This one goes in the books as a success. I have about half of the conference paper drafted and outline of where to go next.


So while I didn't check off all my goals this month, I'm alright with it. I've managed to pack a lot into this month - spending time with dear friends in Madrid, making an offer an house, getting to know some of my new colleagues a bit better, taking a quick mini-break with my spouse to South Dakota, and seeing a theater production with a blogging buddy.

How did June go for you? Did you go on a vacation or are you planning one? Have you run any summer races yet?