resolutions reviewed

it's a tad bit late

but i thought i should do a mid-year review of my new year's resolutions (which reading this post seems so long ago...)

we were reviewing our "goals" at work yesterday - which i thoughtlessly accomplished 2 of the 5...

so i thought it was appropriate to also evaluate my personal goals for the year

a quick reminder of those:

1.  eliminate artifical sweeteners
2. eat out less/cook more
3. cook with my husband
4. clean out closet
5. save more money
6. run happy
7. knit more

easy peasy right?

1.  oh man, i am so smashing this one out of the park, ya'll!  granted a month or so ago i was still drinking a lone soda every once in awhile - old habits die hard

but since my discovery of liquid stevia - which is from a plant and not artificial - my coffee is now a safe place.  and i haven't touched a soda in 3-4 weeks.  i haven't been as mindful of sweeteners in my foods, but i can't off the top of my head think of anything i've had that uses artificial sweeteners

i'm considering this one a mid-year victory

2.  this goal was touch and go - but as of right now bill and i haven't ate out in close to 3 weeks.  that's pretty impressive for us.  tuesday lunches were ate out, friday dinners, and probably 3 meals on the weekends.  it was bad.  but we've gotten in the routine of taking lunches on hikes/bikes or making sure we are home at meal time.  i'll touch on how this is saving us/not saving us money on #5

3.  we were doing pretty well on this goal up until lent.  and then we ate fish out most friday nights.  right now we're on track, but i don't know if you could consider most of our meals as "cooking" - making rice, sauteing vegetables is hardly what i had in mind - but the fact that we're doing it together - i give it a 75% pass rate.  i definitely would like to amp up our cooking skills and expand our recipe base

4.  hahahaha. no.  fail. 

5.  i have sorta been saving more money, and sorta not.  we've done a few things like utilize our soda stream, green up our use of paper towels, plant a few veggies, and quit our eating out habit has really added to our bottom line!  but with less eating out, i've seen our grocery bill grow - not absurdly, and it's still a lot cheaper than spending 60-80 a week on takeout, but i'm definitely not used to spending $100 a week on groceries.  with that being said - we don't eat a lot of meat, we eat a lot of staples including grains and beans, and the packaged food i do buy comes from trader joes where there aren't weird additives- so i guess it could be more expensive.  we have some big goals coming up, and a few bills will be out of our hair soon enough, so saving should get a lot easier - i think i'm at about a 75% pass rate on this one

6.  i know my original goal talked about running happy.  i think what i really wanted was to feel alive again with working out - and running is my go to exercise.  i've greatly broadened that perspective and have added so many new exercises to my repertoire.  i'm going to give this goal a big ol check mark because i think i've earned it.  next week starts a new goal process for bill and i for our workout routine (our first one was to complete 3 weeks of exercising and eating right before awarding ourselves) and who knows, actual running is probable - with the promise of a pedicure?

7.  hahaha.  clearly these goals were written in the dead of winter - where all i do is knit.  i haven't picked up a pair of needles in months.  i'm ok with that.  i'll pick it up come fall, and hopefully complete a few things for my niece and nephew.  who wants to be surrounded by wool in 90 degree weather?  fair weather knitter - quite literally.  i'd give myself a 50% since this is kind of a seasonal item.

my average?  71% - for mid year i think that's awesome

i still have 6 more months to continue my progress and start on other goals

how would you grade yourself if you were to look at your resolutions?