2010: A Retrospective

I often use this week between Christmas and New Year's as a time to reflect on the year past and make goals for the new year. I take stock on places I have gone and people I have met, professional accomplishments and personal milestones.

I left home this year to go to Michigan, Florida, New York, Connecticut, Bermuda, Chicago, Maine and New Hampshire by car, plane, train, boat and bus.

I navigated an increasingly difficult work environment while only driving my friends slightly mad with my complaining.

I improved my knitting skill and turned a new hobby into a big part of my life, completing homemade holiday gifts for all of my family. I taught myself 2 new and useful techniques and had countless hours of entertainment with friends over a ball of yarn.

I tackled my debt and inability to budget. While this is certainly not the end of my debt I feel confident in moving forward with the plan in place and barring major financial hardship I can see the light at the end of that tunnel.

I reinvested in my health goals with more focus than I have had in years. This was not something new to me, my apartment is littered with food journals from the past few years, started in earnest and abandoned after a couple weeks.

I have a new niece, an adorable happy baby that in her 7 weeks on the planet has already brought me much joy. I watched my other nieces grow and change, each year of their young lives so important while it seems mine move quickly and with little difference.

2010 had plenty of happiness, but it was rife with hard decisions and fervent planning. I am approaching 2011 with more whimsy. Stay tuned for my 2011 goals tomorrow...

57 Books in 52 Weeks

So yesterday I tallied up my books for 2010. It was a great reading year for me, some really wonderful novels came into my life and a smattering of non-fiction (more than normal, but not quite enough) peppered the list.

This is not exactly on theme with this blog, but I did notice an interesting budget point here. I read 57 books this year and only purchased 5 (and 3 of those were impulse buys while on a business trip). That means I read 52 books this year (1 a week) that were either a gift, borrowed from a friend or taken out of the library. That is a year's worth of free entertainment and knowledge, how cool!

Here, in no particular order, are my 10 favorite books read this year:

Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok (hands down my over all favorite)
The Passage by Justin Cronin
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
The Annunciation of Francesca Dunn by Janis Hallowell
One Day by David Nichols
Little Bee by Chris Cleaver
Map of True Places by Brunonia Barry
Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner
Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

On my list for 2011 are some daunting tomes, including War & Peace (yes, I will really use it as more than a door stop this year) and a few voluminous works of history. Perhaps I can combine my workouts with my reading and just do exercises with the books....

Life is Like a Box of Chocolates

That Forest Gump quote has nothing to do with this post except that I got a box of really good chocolates for Christmas and have eaten them all. Bad bad Annmarie....

Christmas Recap

The holidays are by no means over, I still have 2 large festive gatherings to come, but I stepped on the scale this morning and balanced the check book last night and since I failed to blog over the weekend I thought I would do a Sunday-style recap for the holiday season so far.

Diet: I have gained and lost the same 2 pounds for the past month. I am up 2 pounds from my lowest weight right now, but still4 pounds under my personal barrier set in my mind back in early November. Last week I stuck to a good eating plan right up to Christmas Eve and then allowed myself whatever I wanted for the 2 days of Christmas. I was both proud of myself for eating and exercising earlier in the week and satisfied and content with my holiday treats. On the way back to Boston yesterday I did a grocery shopping full of healthful foods for the week leading up to New Years and while I will likely not venture out in the snow today to the gym I will do a workout here at home.

Budget: I will likely go over my gift budget for the year, but I am well under what I have spent on Christmas for years past and I paid for all of it with cash without deferring any other bills. A week at my parents alleviated some of my household expenses so I am a little ahead in other categories and for the first time in many years I used the money my grandparents gave me for Christmas to buy something fun (yarn to attempt my first sweater) instead of putting it towards the bills that were piling up.

Mood: Typical Christmas stress eeked in last week, but over all the holiday was pleasant and relaxing with friends and family and snow! I love this week between Christmas and New Year's, it is a time to look back at the year that was and look ahead to what is to come and I feel really good about both those things this year.

I hope all of you enjoyed the Christmas holiday (or the quiet if you don't celebrate Christmas) and are looking forward to a festive New Year!

Target Practice

I often complain that downtown Boston is lacking in a big box store (preferably Target, but even a Wal-Mart would be OK) for affordable household items and such. Buying cleaning supplies and such at Target is generally cheaper than the grocery store or CVS.

The problem with Target is the temptation factor. Having everything you could ever need in one store (including groceries at many locations) leads to over spending. No matter how strictly you try to stick to your list there is no way to get out of Target without a few items you were not planning on buying.

So, perhaps I should be glad there is not one more conveniently located to home.

Work Out at Home

So yesterday I was here at my parents' house by myself almost all day. It was snowing pretty steadily and my first two plans of working out were dashed: walking down to the subdivision near here for a long walk at lunch or driving to the local Y and getting a trial pass for the week.

Around lunch time I was going a little stir crazy. I went out and shovelled the walk and though it was snowing fast and furious the snow was very light and hardly any effort was exerted. Then I remembered the wonders of On Demand cable.

If you have cable you have a world of exercise videos at your disposal. I went down to the living room in the finished basement and selected a 30 minute cardio workout.

Before I began I did a couple jumping jacks to ensure that my exercising would not disrupt any of the Christmas decorations and then I hit play and 30 minutes later I was sweating and feeling good.

I ate 3 healthy meals and allowed myself a small ice cream treat in the evening, not a bad day over all!

Home for the Holidays

So I came home to my parents' house on Saturday and will be here until Sunday after Christmas. My parents have lived in this house for 33 years, it is the only place I really call home.

I moved out of this house shortly after my 17th birthday to go to college and have made brief residential visits since then (one summer during college and a while after returning from Russia in '96) but for the most part my parents house is a place I come to relax and enjoy my family.

I think of it as a bed & breakfast of sorts, where the owners are the most important people in my world. I am often pampered and entertained here in a way I cannot and do not pamper myself at my own apartment. This often includes food.

No matter how firmly my mind is set on maintaining my diet I instantly want a treat when I get here. Couple that with this being the week of treats like no other and I am chasing my preverbial tail to not gorge myself.

The weekend was full of holiday events, but now it is Monday, my parents are at work and I am working from here and trying to fall into my normal eating routine and hopefully sneak in a work out if I can...

Sunday Recap: Week 18

So it begins, the true holiday madness. This week featured a business trip and the first weekend of Christmas festivities at the parents...

Diet: Up and down all week. I am really considering the holidays a 1 meal at a time plan and trying to sneak in a few solid healthy meals to balance out the rest. I worked out 3 days in all.

Budget: Doing well with my Christmas budget, with a week to go I have a nice little bit of cash for last minute gifts and treats. I have also already put aside money for New Years and Russian Xmas.

Mood: Slightly stressed in a manic holiday way, but merry over all!

As far as both the diet and the budget go I have a maximum threshold for indulging, I am hoping to fall shy of it. Hope you are all enjoying the holidays!

Credit Card Roulette

While standing in one of many long lines yesterday (is the economy coming back maybe?) I watched a woman ahead of me do something I have done many times in the past 15 years: she tried and failed to pay for her purchase with a revolving handful of credit cards.

It was painful to watch, although certainly not uncommon, everyone in line in front of me paid for their purchase with a credit card (although granted some could have been debit cards), when I handed the cashier cash she seemed flummoxed.

I used to play my credit cards like slot machines, paying a little more on one over the others at bill time so I would have some credit to shop with and then checking all the balances and using whichever one fit the purchase I was trying to make. It was a ton of work and exhausting and stressful.

This holiday season has been exhausting and stressful also, but the difference is, when it is over the stress will be too. I will not be getting any credit card bills in January to add to the doldrums of winter. I have had to budget very tightly to make Christmas work this year, but I did and even have a little money for fun things this week. I never want to be that woman again.

Healthy on Aisle 4!

Eating well is not an easy undertaking. As I have written it has taken me months to get in the habit of making meal plans and writing shopping lists. Often I will go to more than 1 grocery store to do my shopping, this works for me for a number of reasons:

First, I live in the city and have no car, so I am limited to the amount of groceries I can buy in one trip. If I am making multiple trips any way it doesn't matter which stores I go to on each trip. I have a Shaw's, a Trader Joe's and a Whole Foods all equidistant from my apartment.

Next, if I am making a list and sticking to it I can divide the list up by what is best and most convenient at each stop. I do not need to browse, browsing leads to cookies.

Finally, each store has value in different departments. Household items are definitely cheaper at mainstream stores, produce is a better investment at Whole Foods, cereal, yogurt and other dairy is a steal at Trader Joe's so I can work my budget while working my shopping lists.

Yahoo posted an article from Health.com the other day on the healthiest grocery stores in America. Whole Foods and TJs made the list! What I love about them is the incredible lack of temptation, even if I cave and get cookies at one of these places I know they are devoid of artificial crap.

Life on the Road

If you have been following this blog you know one thing about me: I like a good plan. When plans go awry I get antsy.

Last Sunday I was scheduled to fly to Chicago, Mother Nature had other plans. A canceled flight and rescheduled itinerary later I was en route to Chicago at the cruel hour of 6:30 a.m. on Monday.

All things considered Monday was not a terrible day for the diet. I had yogurt at the airport and a granola bar on the plane, a decent lunch at the hotel and a nice dinner out with my coworkers. I skipped the ice cream at dinner, but did eat a chocolate chip cookie during our meeting break that afternoon. I had some wine and a beer, but overall food-wise it could have been much worse.

I also snuck in a work out. In this regard the schedule change helped. So many people were delayed getting in we started after lunch on Monday and I arrived at 9:30 a.m., so I changed and went immediately to the hotel gym for 50 minutes of cardio.

Tuesday was not quite as good, I had a bigger breakfast than normal, but for lunch just had a turkey sandwich. Dinner involved a lot of wine and a huge dessert and no time for a workout.

Wednesday I had no breakfast and a fairly healthy lunch, no snacks of any kind and a lot of walking around a convention center and an airport. Dinner was a challenge though. The week before Christmas at O'Hare airport and the place was a zoo. I tried to sneak in to a regular restaurant to try and find something that did not come with a side of fries (5 months and counting, no fries!) and there was not a seat to be had. So I grabbed a sandwich from Quiznos, which was really not tasty and ate half of it standing up.

That is the short story, the longer version is I walked about 20 times past a McDonald's and really wanted fries. I literally was talking myself in and out of getting fries over and over. Am I totally insane? I didn't get them and I am proud of my resolve to stick to a fry-free lifestyle.

The next few weeks will be an avalanche of temptation and I ultimately would rather have some homemade Christmas cookies than a greasy soggy carton of McDonald's fries.

Sunday Recap -- Week 17

Today has been a bit hectic, but I am sneaking in this blog post before heading to Chicago tomorrow. I will not be blogging for the next few days, don't worry about me, I will just be busy and I am too frazzled to write ahead and time the posts, so no new blog until Thursday...

Diet: Had a decent week, weighed in on Friday and was happy with a small weight loss for the month which included Thanksgiving. My ultimate goal over the next few weeks is to not gain any weight, so a little weight loss is a nice cushion. Had good work outs and ate well most of the week.

Budget: Nothing of note here this week, that is good I would imagine :)

Mood: Little stressed about this work trip, now weather has delayed my departure until tomorrow, but other than that mood is festive and bright!

I will have a thorough post when I return documenting my 3 days out of town and how I do with eating and exercising while on the road!

Subconscious Sabotage

At this time of year I have come to terms with treats and indulgences. I do not feel guilty having wine and cheese with my friends or tasty desserts with festive holiday sprinkles. I have to live like this for the rest of my life and my life contains treats.

Yesterday I inadvertently treated myself to something bad though. On a visit to Starbucks for a hot chocolate, I forgot to order non-fat milk. As I crossed Charles Street into the beautifully decorated Public Garden I sipped my treat and realized quickly it was full fat.

It was delicious but I did chastise myself for not being more thoughtful. That hot chocolate would have been just as good a treat made with skim milk.

Stretching

When I started working out in August I was just moving. I was adding movement to my life in a focused way. All the experts say this, if you don't move start moving, if you move a little move a little bit more. You should not jump into running 5 Ks if you hardly ever move.

As the months have clicked by my workouts have definitely increased in intensity and I have found I really need to stretch more.

Stretching is vital to preventing injury and I know this from my years of walking and working the 3 Day Breast Cancer walk. I get lazy though and stretching takes time and I try to squeeze my workouts in during my lunch hour.

I think stretching is going to be inevitable though, so I am in search of a good quick stretching routine.

Giving and Receiving

I have talked a bit on this blog about charitable giving at the holidays. I know many of my readers are philanthropic all year long and this morning I read an article on how to get a little back from the IRS at tax time.

This article talks a bit about the parameters of what you can deduct, how much and what sort of back up you may need. Tax time is right around the corner and there are 22 charitable giving days left to make the cut for 2010 taxes.

A lot of the donations I make during the year are online in support of friends. I file all my online receipts in one email folder and print them out before heading to my accountant (oh yeah I don't do my own taxes so please don't ask me about tax forms....). It has become a routine and an easy way to keep the info in one spot instead of having to go back through bank statements to remember when I made donations throughout the year.

Shape Ups

Is anyone wearing the new "shape up" sneakers? The ones with the balance ball technology that is supposed to shape your calves and butt while you walk?

As you may remember I considered buying them earlier this fall and balked for fear of causing pain or injury by veering from my standard walking shoe, but I confess to being tempted once again.

Now that I have lost some weight, I am interested in toning and shaping a little more than I was at the beginning. I am focusing my strength and conditioning time on my arms and middle, but something that would also work my calves (which are strong and ugly) would be a bonus.

If anyone has tried them, good reviews and bad, please let me know. Thanks!

Health Insurance Hassle

So just when you think you have your budget locked in, something goes and changes. In my case, health insurance costs. I currently have the double whammy of regular open enrollment rate hikes and a new company merger that is throwing everything into chaos.

To stay with the PPO style (think co-pays and a lower deductible) of health care I have always had I would be looking at an increase of about $100 a month. For many people $100 a month is not a huge deal, for someone who has budgeted down to her last $13 of discretionary income a month, it is a huge deal.

My other option is an HSA, Health Savings Account, which has a much lower monthly premium and a much higher deductible. The philosophy is, you take the money you would have paid on the premium and put it in a savings account (pre-tax) and then use that money to cover the higher deductible. Basically it gives you greater control over your money, privatizes health care a little bit.

I have been assured this plan is very good for people who do not visit the doctor frequently or have many prescriptions. I did not see a doctor at all the past year, if I had been funding my HSA this year I would have a sizable nest egg to use towards any medical costs that come up.

Good news is, in both instances, all preventive care is covered at 100% (including all cancer screenings) and there is no max cap with no pull on your deductible. So you can take good care of yourself for free.

The only real fear with switching to the HSA is a sudden catastrophic event, say I get hit by a bus. A wise friend pointed out that a catastrophic medical situation is a financial burden regardless of insurance plans though.

So I lean towards the HSA. My premium will go down about $100 a month and I will funnel that money into the HSA, so it should not effect my take home pay and I will have half my deductible covered by the end of the year. I can also fund it independently, say with my tax refund in February, with no penalty.

I consider myself to be fairly intelligent, but these past few days have left my head spinning, but with a commitment to making myself healthier so I don't have to deal with medical issues for awhile...

You Are What You Eat

This old adage is so true. This past weekend I ate worse than I have in 4 months. Not only did I indulge in junk, but I didn't eat any regular meals. My body is not happy with me.

I woke up this morning lethargic and puffy.

It is truly frightening how easy it was to slip into old habits though. I can blame it on the holidays of course, but truth is I was just lazy. The snacky food was handy and tasty and I ate it, in abundance.

Luckily I do not need to step on the scale until Friday, so hopefully a week of workouts and meal plans can undo some of the damage.

I am what I ate this weekend, a blob of unhealthy useless calories...

Sunday Recap -- Month 4

One quarter of year one, so one sixteenth of my 4 year plan complete. Over all I am pleased with my progress. I am one quarter of the way to my weight loss goal and my budget, though a work in progress is working for me.

Diet: This is the first month of festive holiday time and my goal really is to maintain the weight I have lost between now and Russian Christmas. If I lose a couple extra pounds that would be great, but as long as I do not back slide I will be happy. Friday is my weigh in date for Month 4 and I think I will be a pound or 2 down. I have increased my workouts, both in intensity and duration and am really happy with my work out efforts, eating is a different story right now.

Budget: My budget just took a hit with increased health care premiums, but I will try to make adjustments within my household budget to accommodate that. Once the holidays are over I have to become a little stricter, not only with the gift budget, but the food and entertainment budgets.

Mood: I have been increasingly anxious the past couple weeks. The holidays can do that and the impending gloom of near total darkness as winter descends doesn't help. I am trying to keep my mind on festive things and I have a beautifully decorated apartment to relax in.

Time is a fluid concept. In some ways it seems like just yesterday that I started this life plan and in other ways I can hardly remember a time before this. That is good I think, my ultimate goal is to make this way of life organic to my being and not a "plan" that will be over in 4 years. I hope that what I learn about eating and budgeting will just be part of who I am when I'm done.

Look in the Mirror

I do not own a full length mirror. I used to, but it got purged in a move and I never replaced it. As far as I know it was not a conscious decision. I often consult full length mirrors in dressing rooms and at my parent's house.

In my apartment though I only have the little mirror above the bathroom sink and a hand held make-up mirror. I use these looking glasses to make sure I haven't inadvertently written on my face.

I think I need to invest in one. I was surprised by my reflection over Thanksgiving, I actually kind of liked it.

Free Things to Do

OK, I know I talk about the joys of the library a lot and I know how lucky I am that my local branch is the main branch of the Boston Public Library but even I am uncovering more and wondrous aspects of library life.

Last night I attended a panel discussion on Emily Dickinson. As many of you know, Emily has been a big part of my personal and academic life for over 20 years. The evening was arranged by Sam Cornish, Poet Laureate of Boston (had no idea such a position existed!). Sam admitted to falling in love with Emily late in life and he was trying to make up for lost time.

The panel was 4 poets, who read works about or inspired by Emily, a mystery novelist who sets one of her series in Western, MA and Emily's genealogy makes an appearance and a professor from UMass Amherst who teaches Emily. It was a casual, fun evening of discussion, all for free in the gorgeous McKim Building of the BPL right in Copley Square.

I confess to having not really exploring the BPL very well. I go to the Johnson Building (where the regular collection is held) do my business, notice the revolving exhibits and leave. In heading over to the event last night I traveled through the gorgeous courtyard, that even in the dark was breathtaking, and into this wonderfully beautiful building.

Yesterday on Facebook the BPL posted that they offer free art & architecture tours 6 times a week. I had no idea. Upon leaving last night I saw a sign about the tours with schedules. Tuesday and Thursday the tour is at 6:00 pm and while there is a tour on Saturday and Sunday the 3rd floor is not accessible on those days, so I am going to go next Thursday at 6:00. I definitely want to see more.

This will make 2 Thursdays in a row where I got out of my house (working from home in the winter is really depressing), interacted with other people, learned something and did it all for free.

I know lots of librarians and these events happen at all libraries. Event he small town library in my hometown had an open house a couple weeks back and they frequently have children's events. Bookmark your libraries website and keep an eye out for events near you!

Elliptically Challenged

I have belonged to a gym for about 7 years now, off and on. The frequency of my visits has varied greatly, but one thing remained the same. I was terrified of this thing:


The elliptical machine seemed like too much for "unfit" me. I wasn't coordinated enough, my arms and legs couldn't possibly move at the same time. I tried it, oh how I tried it, numerous times, usually with embarrassing results and always with me winded and in terrible pain after 5 minutes or so.

This week, due to the unexplained pain in my foot, the treadmill has not been my friend. The repetitive impact of walking is very difficult, mostly because I never know which step is going to hurt and when it hurts it is star-seeing pain.

On Monday I did a thorough strength and conditioning workout, but didn't feel right skipping the cardio all together. So I decided to try the elliptical again, it has been a couple years.

Luckily the gym was practically empty and if I had to hop off less than 5 minutes after starting it wouldn't have been too humiliating. I set it to manual and level 5 for 10 minutes and started off. The motion was much more fluid and caused very little pain in my ankle (which was the point) and after 5 minutes I was not winded and while my legs felt it in different places I was not seeing stars.

The 10 minutes elapsed and I did the 3 minute cool down. A 13 minute cardio workout won't cut it regularly, but since I was planning on no cardio that was an improvement. Yesterday I did 20 minutes without a problem.

I don't know what has changed, I certainly am no more coordinated than I was a few years ago, but maybe I am a little fitter.

Holiday Greetings!

In this age of near constant and instant communication, Christmas Cards seem a little out-dated. I can chat with friends all over the world any time of day or night now and a Christmas Card is no longer necessary, or is it?

Certainly before email a Christmas Card was a great way to touch base with people all over the place that you did not converse with or see regularly. Now thanks to All Gore, Facebook and Twitter we are all thoroughly sick of one another. That is not stopping me from sending Christmas Cards.

Because they are so old-fashioned the act of writing out Christmas Cards forces me to slow down and think about the people I am writing to, to remember holidays past with them and reflect on what they mean to me. Even people I talk to and see all the time.

I love the whole process, selecting the cards (often done right after Christmas to get a good bargain), updating the addresses (who has moved/gotten married/had kids this year), waiting for the holiday stamps to be unveiled, choosing a good pen and finally sitting down by my tree with a cup of tea to write.

I have a Christmas Card address book that I have used since 2001, it has the history of my loved ones in it, friends and family who have passed on and new additions to life in the past decade. It is a journal of my beautiful cast of characters.

The Christmas Card experience is not cheap, cards and stamps add up, but I now will factor it in to my holiday budget, one fewer gift for mom or dad will cover the cost of reaching out to those who make life so sweet.