With the new year just a few days away, I wanted to take a look at the 10 Things I Want to Accomplish in 2014. It’s easy to keep thinking about things that you can do better in the new year, but it’s great to take a moment to acknowledge how you’ve come. Goals can shift in 365 days, so let’s see what actually happened with Shelly in Real Life this year. ๐
Fitness
OMG, so I literally just got off my couch to try to do 10 good-ish push ups on my toes. I did it!!! I’m red in the face, slightly out of breath, but I was able to do it with elbows bent and all. My pushups last year was like planks that dipped a little, if you can imagine (weak sauce for sure). Still not up to 20 yet, but getting there!
Been really focused on other workouts (explained in #3) the last half of this year so I haven’t really gotten around to this. I want to finish these classes before I move away from NYC for sure.
3. Integrate more weight-training into my workout routine.ย Must research more about lifting!
This is where I feel like Iย excelledย the most this year. I actually avoided this for the first part of the year, but after I returned from my trip to Italy, I sawย Alyse’s new program she set up on her BiteSizedFitnessย Instagramย account and it really inspired me to get started.
Before this, I would look through different lifting programs on BodyBuilding.com and it just intimidated the crap out of me. Something about Alyse’s animal print workout sheets and army of fellow ladies starting to lift made me feel like I was in a “safe zone”. It’s truly what inspired me this year, and I can’t thank her enough!!ย
Here’s 2 posts that I wrote about this:
- How I Finally Started Weight Lifting with the #BiteSizedArmy
- Learnings from 6 Weeks of Weight Lifting as a Newbie!
- Squats – 85 lbsย
- Bench Press – 70 lbs
- Deadlift – 115 lbs
- Overhead Press – 45 lbs
- Barbell Row – 65 lbs
Cooking & Dining
Learned the ins and outs of making Vegan Cashew Foodsย (Ricotta, Cream Cheese, Mayo, Cashew Milk), but still haven’t gotten around to making the Scallion Cheese Roll. I will have to do this one!!!
5. Try 20 different soup and smoothie recipes with my new Vitamixย –ย Yes, I’m finally upgrading myย $15 blenderย which is now onlyย $10 on Amazon!
Not quite the 20 recipes that I originally anticipated when I first set out on this journey. My proudest is conquering Cashew Cheese. Would love some recipes with my Vitamix if anyone has any they want to share!
P.S. setting this goal made me realize that my 2015 goals should be more defined, so instead of saying make 20 recipes, maybe pinpoint which 20 I should try.
6. Make a soufflรฉ.ย This seems to be the ultimate challenge on so many cooking shows!
Didn’t do this one, still curious. 2015 maybe?
7. Dinner at Le Bernardin. Also make a NYC bucket list and complete it.
Had dinner at Le Bernardin (yum!) and made a NYC bucket list that I’m working on completing!
Blogging
Not really sure where I am on this one and continue to feel conflicted between my health-ish and not so healthy lifestyle…
Taking a note from #5, instead of putting out a number like this, might have to try to make more solid plans on how I would try to accomplish this instead of just having an idea that I want to do it.
Did a pretty decently job writing my Best Bites of Italy series, but there’s a ton more up my sleeves that I want to write about. Will have to try to combine my being a more consistent blogger with writing my travels in a set schedule.
