Any excuse for a mead party.

In honor of Lupercalia and Valentine's Day, today marked the beginning of a new blood-red mead.  Who knows, perhaps a red mead made during the month o' love will add a little extra fertility oomph. 

Here is the hibiscus in all its glory.

Yum!

It's been over 3 years since I started a batch, so this mead is loooooong overdue.  I'll try this new hibiscus metheglin recipe, and then also a super-fast hibiscus hydromel.

January Habit Review, + February's plans

Let's see how it went.


It's not obvious from the chart, but my #1 goal this month was to complete "MFP filled, at/under TDEE" (down in the purple zone).  Not necessarily to lose weight, not to exercise... just to be honest with my diet, get in the habit of recording, and to not gain a single ounce.  Just getting myself to track calories 100% seems to be the hardest hurdle.

I succeeded with flying colors! 

(click to see full size)

As a result, I'm no longer obese!

My first big milestone, 25% of my weight to lose this round, was to get under a BMI of 30 (obese), and I definitely did that.

I am already well on my way to the next big milestone of 50%.




Habits fully assimilated!


Removed:  

• Weigh
• PM skin/vit routine
• MFP filled, at/under TDEE

I did so well on the morning weigh-ins that it's something I don't think about any more.  The habit is attached to waking up, so it takes zero effort to do or remember, and I actually like doing it now.  And the same with the PM skin/vitamin routine, it's attached to the nightly shower.  I'm removing them both from February's chart.

I also did perfectly on filling out My Fitness Pal and staying under my TDEE... and always at least 500 under.  Diet is still a huge focus, so I'm going to combine these two tasks into one.

Cooking from scratch is also something that I never really have to fight myself on... but it often takes a full hour out of the day, so I'm going to leave it on the chart for the sense of accomplishment.



The only disappointment...


... is how infrequently I took the dog for a hike!

Granted, she did go on 5-mile runs with my husband, so she isn't un-exercised... but she loves her "pack walks" with me and the kid and the stroller on a nature trail.  It is fitting then, that February's main goal is get back into a strong exercise habit.



Speaking of February...


Added:  

• Drive
• Read
• Meditate

Defined:  

• Time minimums for: hikes, cardio, crochet, driving, reading
• Hikes separated from cardio
• Reduced step goal by 500 steps, since I only made my goal once last month!  Easy goals are attainable goals. 
• Differentiated "working on blog" from "posting a blog"... because it looks like I blogged 11 times in January, but I only actually posted 6.

(click to see full size)

Now that my diet is in good form and pretty stable, my focus for this next month is to buckle down on exercise.  Having the flu for the beginning of January definitely didn't help the exercise goals, and I feel like I've only just begun to build those habits.  Back in August I pretty severely twisted my ankle, and having it braced cascaded into a whole pile of crud... I've been doing PT for months just to get back to pre-sprain pain levels (darn you, sciatic nerve)!  In any case, the sun is out again, so it's time to get my hike back on, and to strengthen up those loose joints. 

I also added driving to my list of habits to track.  I've noticed that when I have to drive more than usual, my stress levels for the day have gone way up, and it also tends to knock out my energy for chores/projects/socializing for the rest of the day (or week)... I want to see if this is true.

All right, that basically sums up all of my habit-tracking progress for January, and the plan for February!  I'm pretty happy with how the bullet journaling has gone so far.

January's Year-Long Projects Review

Woohoo, what a month!


Honestly, I'm surprised that I started on Christmas presents in January.  I FREAKING DID IT.

(Click photo to see it full size)

This chart called for 18 project pieces in January, and I hit 23... not bad!



While I accomplished a lot, I didn't do it evenly.


I may have gotten a little carried away with the orange crochet project at the top (did 2 months' worth) and the purple project on the bottom (did almost 4 months' worth), but it all works out in the end.  Now that I've actually started on my big crochet projects and committed some pattern parts to memory, those should go a bit faster.

The brewing projects did not yet begin... but the exotic ingredient only came in the mail this morning.  In retrospect it's probably not worth the wait, but waiting and saving $8 through the Amazon subscribe & save program seemed worth it at the time.

Now I just need to find an entire free weekend day to start a beer, and another to start a mead.  And, uhhhhhh... maybe another free day to clear off the clutter on the brewing table.  I am super excited to get started on the mead, because I got a big fancy bottle corker for my birthday!  It'll make the bottling process lightning-fast and easy on the hands.  And then the beer is exciting too, it's a modified Viking-style ale. 



Lessons learned?


The biggest crafting-related revelation for me from this month is that I need to make crochet more of a nightly habit.  I have a tendency to go deeply into one project and want to do it for hours at a time, and then my hands regret it and crafting is off-limits for a few days.

So next month I'd like to see more crochet days, but roughly the same pace of project completion.

And on the positive side, this is the first time that I've ever completed Christmas presents in January!  That's definitely a productivity win.

Happy Imbolc!

We made our first Brighid's cross for the holiday.  Yes, the 3-year-old picked the colors.

One of these days, I need to dig my wheat weaving supplies out of the garage and make a real one with some pretty Black Beard wheat.  But for now, pipe cleaners and ribbon will suffice.  Torin had so much fun doing the craft that he wanted to make a million of them!