New Year’s Resolutions – February Update

It’s February 1st! Time to see how I’m doing so far for my 5 New Year’s Resolutions for 2018 (<– You can read the original post here.)

  1. Get Organized – My email inbox is a lot better. I just have 149 unopened emails right now which is mostly just junk. I did purchase these items: make-up case, shoe organizer & storage drawers and my closet looks SOOO much better along with one of my bathroom drawers I had all my make-up in. It’s so nice to be able to see all the things you own so you utilize them more.

2. Get Deepika Padukone’s Abs & Eat Healthier – I don’t have Deepika’s abs at all yet and the weight on the scale isn’t really changing but I have noticed some other positive changes. My butt is getting a lift and my stomach is getting a little flatter. But to help myself from getting discouraged, I did buy the RENPHO Bluetooth Body Fat Scale. So even if I don’t see my weight changing, I could just be building muscle. It seems pretty accurate.

My diet is not so good so definitely that has to change. I am keeping a good amount of healthy food stocked in the house but there’s an equal amount of dessert and junk food around. I am doing cardio about 4-5 times a week and burning 300-400 calories each session. I haven’t been doing any bodyweight exercises. I think I need to purchase a kettle bell to help me out but I’m afraid I’ll just damage our wooden floors.

Screen Shot 2018-02-01 at 11.12.16 AM
My exercise for the month of January tracked using MyFitnessPal.

Side note: wooden floors are awful. I’m constantly dropping stuff out of the fridge and leaving little dents. Wooden floors are definitely the hardest part of adulting and you don’t care about them until you’ve bought a place that has them….Sorry Mom and Papa.

3. Tune My Phone Out – Oh jeez, this has probably worsened so much because of this blog. I’m constantly checking stats to see how many visitors I get to my site. Should I start rewarding myself with an M & M every half-hour I don’t use my phone? I don’t know how to fix this and I don’t want one of those apps that locks you out of your phone because I don’t want any sort of emergency to occur.

4. Experience More – I haven’t gotten out and explored much yet but I am reading all about some of the changes going on and following local news. For example, there’s going to be a pizza shop in an old funeral home. What’s funny is that the pizza is delicious! (Here’s the article on that.) Also, there’s going to be a Friendly Toast opening here in April! I’ve never been but I’m down for more places that offer alcohol with brunch.

I did go to a Galentine’s Day Party, basically an all girls Valentine’s Day party. It was a lot of fun and just really nice to chat with some new faces and talk about all our experiences in Vermont and the things to do there. I did want to check out the indoor Burlington Farmer’s Market solo but I got caught up with some other things and missed it. I’ll try to catch the next one.

5. Study – My goal was to do 2 hours of Continuing Education (CE) and read 1 article/case study a week. I’ve done maybe 2.5 hours of CE’s for the full month of January so I haven’t hit my goal. And I never received my Pharmacy Times magazine in the mail…hmm….But I did tack on a new goal: I’d like to get my ACLS certification so right now I’m just reviewing the basics of the heart and then I’ll start teaching myself EKG’s.

Overall I don’t think I’m failing hardcore so far so I’m pretty happy with myself. I’m glad I’m doing this because I can analyze where I’m going wrong and correct myself. And there’s nothing like posting your resolutions for everyone to see, so you have to hold yourself accountable.

How is everyone else doing with their New Year’s Resolutions?

This post does contain affiliate links but all opinions are honest and my own.

relatableroniLeave a comment

Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas For Him or Her

This post does contain affiliate links but all opinions are honest and my own.

Here are a few tried and tested gifts I’ve either given or been given on special occasions:

Sephora Gift Card – This is the easiest gift a guy can buy for his girl. But make sure it’s not the only thing you get her. Put A LITTLE thought into it. And make sure you tell her she doesn’t need make-up to look beautiful because you can screw yourself over on this one.

Couple’s Massage – ALWAYS a good idea.

Dinner Cruise – We’ve done the Odyssey cruise around the Boston Harbor and it was a really good time. It is a little expensive and probably extremely expensive on Valentine’s Day but you can purchase a gift card voucher.

Try the World Subscription – I thought this was a good gift for those that love both traveling and food so I bought my husband a year’s subscription for Christmas in 2016. 90% of the items we’ve tried so far are delicious. We got a bunch of mustard items in one package and those have gone unopened so the challenge is utilizing everything they send you. With a discount code I found, it was ~$18/month. You definitely get your money’s worth.

I think my favorite was the Thailand box because it included tom yum soup, green curry paste, and Thai iced tea. The last box of our series was from Africa and the tea was out of this world. I’m a big tea person so trying teas from all over the world has been amazing. The mushroom risotto from Italy was also yum.

Clearly, this box ended up being more for me than him because he’s too busy to utilize the ingredients. They used to offer the items sold individually on the site if you especially liked something but they don’t anymore. Some of the items can be found on Amazon. I definitely recommend this (and I have no affiliate links for this).

NatureBox subscription – This would make a good gift for the health conscious people in your life or those trying to change their snacking habits AKA all those people with New Years Resolutions to get in shape. My husband got this for me for my birthday one year when we were still dating. When I first opened it, I thought this isn’t a very thought through gift. But he said he was giving me what I love most in life: FOOD. He knows me so well <3. He bought me a subscription for 5 snacks/month for 6 months. There were some hits and there were some misses but they’ll credit you for the snacks you don’t like which is a big win (I don’t think that was a policy back then).

They did discontinue my favorite snack but they still have the lemon tea biscuits I really enjoyed. The dark chocolate almonds were really good too. I definitely wasn’t ordering the healthier items. Below, I’ve linked some discounts they’re offering now.

Scratch Ticket Bouquet – This is a good idea for the girl in your life that says she doesn’t want a bouquet of flowers for Valentine’s Day. When I did this for hubs, I spent $50 on scratch tickets and he made $48 back so it may be worth the gamble.

IMG_5075

Shutterfly Mug or Custom Item – I love our custom mugs and I use mine constantly. I had them made at Shutterfly but now there’s tons of other websites that do the same thing. My husband has his mug at his parents’ house and puts his pens in it…so that was a bust. Not a good gift for guys, but the girl in your life will at least appreciate it.

Date Night at Home Basket: I have not given or been given this gift before but I would personally love this *hint hint.* Buy two bottles of wine (because one isn’t enough), some cheese/snacks and games and put it in a basket. Two card games I suggest are: What Do You Meme? (but it requires 3+ players) and Monopoly Deal (2+ players). I’ve played Monopoly Deal with people before and it was a lot of fun and it can be played in 15 mins unlike Monopoly the board game or should I say bored game!

Poo-Pourri – This is a gift for both of you if you live together and have just one bathroom. The commercials are hilarious:

And yes, it really works.

 

What’s your favorite gift you’ve ever received? Leave a comment below!

relatableroniLeave a comment