2021 Goals — One Quarter Down
Where has the time gone? How is it already been a quarter of the year…what have I gotten through on my goals list? Here’s a little recap of what I’ve been up to over the last quarter. I’ve done 5 hikes, gotten back to working out and getting in my physical activity, and oh yeah…I bought a house that’s a big one.
January:
To start off 2021 I made a quite ambitious goals list and I’m proud to say I checked off a pretty big one in January…I bought a house all on my own. This has been a big goal of mine since graduating college.
I started dating a new guy, Kevin. He’s been my rock and has loved my goals list so it’s nice to have someone who has similar goals and ambitions as you do. I think I’ve finally met my match who is always on the go, ready for anything, and super adventurous! So he joined me on my 2021 goals adventure!
January was also a month of decent physical activity. On average I need to hit about 168 miles a month and this month I was able to get in 162 miles between running, P90X work outs, walking, hiking, tennis, basketball, and rollerblading. Kevin introduced me to P90X workouts — we’ve been doing Ken Po (similar to kickboxing), Arms/Back with weights, plyometrics (my favorite, because you burn a ton of calories from doing lots of movement/jumps), yoga, ab ripperX, and core synergistics! Definitely whipping me into shape, which was a huge goal of mine to get fit and not worry so much about my weight.
I went on 2 hikes this month, both I had never done! Pinnacle Peak out in Enumclaw was a quick 4 miler that I got to do with a couple friends New Years Day. Not too much of a view, but some mountain sights, clouds, and some fresh air. Kevin and I did Kennedy Falls out in Olympia while we were out at his parents cabin. A great 6 miles and a pretty flowing waterfall! Love exploring the state!
Being a little more adventurous this month and saying yes to chopping wood at Kevin’s parents house was honestly the most intense, but fun thing ever to do. I highly recommend to anyone — a great workout and you get to use the firewood! We also went shotgun shooting with clay pigeons which was so much fun. I found out I was holding the gun not far enough into my armpit and got a pretty awesome battle bruise.
February:
Snow, painting, new recipes, and protein shake perfection were the stars of this month. We had a pretty fun filled couple of snow days over the long President’s Day weekend/Valentine’s Day weekend. We spent time locked in the house, walking to the stores in the snow, trying new recipes, and of course built a snowman. Late last year I bought some paint by number paintings and we finally finished one!
New recipes were a big piece of February as Kevin got me a new gadget for my kitchen-aid! He got me a pasta roller attachment which I’ve wanted for so long, but have never bought for myself. We made fresh pasta (linguine, fettuccine, ravioli) and fresh dumplings for Chinese New Year. This month we tried out warm recipes as the weather was a bit chilly so we experimented with hot, Japanese curry, Thai green curry, tempura, gyros, and crab cakes!.
Did a lot of different physical activity this month racking up 182 miles. We went rollerblading, ice skating, played some basketball, hit up swimming at the gym, and even hit the batting cages down at Kent Valley Ice Centre. We did 1 hike this month and we chose Oyster Dome. It was a grueling hike and we were sure glad we had micro spikes and our hiking poles. The first couple miles weren’t so bad, but once we got higher elevation the snow was still very apparent. The wind was the worst up at the top and not much of a view, but we did it nonetheless. We went to Taylor Shellfish afterwards and had some fresh oysters! We started weight lifting this month and it’s been crazy to see my progress!
March:
This month went by so fast! We did A LOT this month…we hit 221 physical miles. So for Q1 2021 we hit 565 total miles of out 2021 → 28% to goal! Not too shabby for 3 months into a year! We kept up most of the physical miles due to going to the gym, lifting weights, and hiking. I’m getting stronger and stronger at the gym going from 10 pound weights to 35 pounders for single weights and dead lifts/squats/bench 135lbs!
We got in 2 hikes — the first was Snoquera Falls which was a great hike near Crystal Mountain. It was literally 5 minutes from the mountain, very hidden and we were the only people on the trail. We saw lots of elk tracks, definitely needed our micro spikes and poles as we trudged through the hard compact snow. We came upon the waterfall and it was pretty awesome to see and decided to climb up closer to see it. It was a good 6 miler! The second hike we went on with a couple of my friends. We chose Iron Goat Trail — -I have still yet to finish this trail and this time I thought we could climb it, but again too much snow. Maybe 4th times a charm next year. The snow this year has been heavy and has caused lots of issues hiking at least for the first 3 months of the year.
We tried a couple new recipes and began a new paint by number painting — this one is a big bear! We decided to be more adventurous this month so we went rock climbing at Vertical World, which was amazing! Kevin has been a member there for a while, but that was my first time there and rock climbing in general. It was super fun, pretty difficult, my forearms were dying by the end, and a little scary letting go and falling back at the top. We did an impromptu drive and visit out to Crystal Mountain on a sunny day and boy was it worth it for the views of Rainier! I mean all the mountains were out that day. We took the gondola up to the highest point and had a little picnic up top and sat in the sun. Our cheeks were a little pink from the snow glare.
Our last adventure of the month was our first trip together! We went to Jackson Hole, WY to go visit one of my best friends who works for the forest service there. Flying still during the pandemic was a little weird, but safety precautions seemed pretty good! Neither of us had ever been to Jackson Hole so this was going to be quite an adventure and a good test to see how we both travel together. We saw so much wildlife; it was like we were on a snow safari →elk, foxes, long horned sheep, moose herds, birds, and everything in between. The only thing we didn’t see was a bison. We ended up being in town the same weekend as the world championship hill climb for snowmobiles was happening and that was awesome to see right at the bottom of our resort too. We went on a wagon ride (a la Oregon Trail) through the Elk Refuge, went to Astoria Hot Springs, ate way too much good food, and oh yeah tried cross country skiing for the first time!
Overall, the first quarter of the year has been super fun, eventful, and lots of memories. I’m looking forward to what this next quarter has in store from more cooking adventures, hiking, road trips, house projects, and vaccinations. As we are nearing closer to being able to be with family and do a little bit more normal things as summer approaches.
