December Sanity Challenge Wrap-up And A Monthly Recap

by Valerie on December 31, 2011 · 7 comments

While I am all about easing into the New Year’s, I wanted to wrap up the December Sanity Challenge today and, since I did not do weekly recaps this month, I am starting with a monthly recap of what I did in my free time:

  • 16 flow yoga classes
  • 2 restorative yoga classes
  • 8 elliptical sessions
  • 1 zumba class – this was yesterday and I met a blog reader, which was very exciting!
  • 2 long walks (2-3 mile walks) in addition to my normal walking commute
  • Christmas Eve at home with dear husband
  • Christmas day travel to see part of my husband’s family, return day after Christmas
  • Christmas eve and day eats: Vegan Mushroom Stroganoff (amazing!), kale salad, a quinoa-buckwheat pilaf I will be sharing soon, a simple tahini dressing (which I will share soon too), and this Apple Cranberry Sauce
  • Shophouse (review coming early 2012, really), Sweetgreen (past visit) and Yola (hmmm, looks like I need to review their berry kale smoothie – I have mine with Amande yogurt) helped me eat healthfully on a few hectic days this month
  • Holiday lights and dinner with dear friends at Open City Diner (past visit)
  • Art journaling with friends
  • Midnight Flow Yoga, Laughing Lotus style – I am so grateful that Flow Yoga here in Washington hosted Dana Flynn as I was never able to go when I lived in New York – Midnight Flow was just as fabulous as I had ever heard it was
  • Dinner with Gena at LPQ (see Gena’s recap)
  • Met the lovely Olivia of Green Junkie Living and some of her friends – it was so nice to finally meet her in person and she loved Open City Diner too
  • Amazing dinner at Elizabeth’s Gone Raw with dear husband last night – best macademia cheese ever.

december sanity challenge badge final

And now, for the December Sanity Challenge:

Also, do check out JT’s post on joining the challenge over at The Faux Foodie Girl.  I met JT earlier this year and am so excited she joined us on the challenge!

As for my December Sanity Challenge goals and the outcome on each:

  • Keep moving in December: The goal was working out 5-6 times a week, a minimum of 30 minutes a time, with a combination of vinyasa/flow yoga classes, the elliptical and lots of walking and, schedule permitting, Zumba. The outcome was good as I worked out or did yoga a total of 26 times this month, and went on a couple of long walks (see above monthly recap).
  • Restorative and/or yin yoga classes in December:  The goal was to take a total of 4 restorative and/or yin yoga classes in December in addition to the flow yoga classes that are part of my routine.  The outcome was 50% as I made it to two restorative yoga classes.  Work demands trumped the yin yoga schedule (it is only offered a couple of times a week at the studio where I do yoga) unfortunately, which I realized early on in the month, so I added a yin pose (usually yin butterfly) at the end of many of my regular vinyasa classes,
  • Cut back on blogging in December: This was both hard and easy.  Hard because I missed it and definitely wrote parts of several posts, but easy in that work was very busy this month.  It also made me think about how I wanted to blog moving forward and whether I wanted to go back to the daily lunchbox framework – the verdict was no, but I do want to go back to making blogging a near-daily practice.

And there you have it.  December in a nutshell. I am really pleased with how I kept working out and going to yoga all month, despite travelling and work demands.  And I am glad that a semi-hiatus in blogging gave me some clarity on how I wanted to structure posts moving forward – I think it is going to be more a freestyle mixing food, yoga, product reviews (I have several to share with you all), and life.

Have a wonderful New Year’s and I will be back with some best-of / 2011 recap-type posts this next week.  Who said those have to be done by today?

   

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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

1 bitt January 1, 2012 at 12:34 am

I’ve missed your blog, so I’m glad one of the goals is to do it more. But by not doing it, sounds like you made some room for other things that were important to you. Hope you can fit it all in.

I need to fit in Elizabeth’s next time I am in town! I can only imagine how wonderful it was.

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2 Shirley @ gfe January 2, 2012 at 12:07 am

Wow, that recap is both impressive and wonderful, Valerie! My sanity was maintained (pretty much) by not adding anything more to my plate than my holiday event and regular holiday home stuff (and scaling back on some of the usual stuff). Like you I don’t have a New Year kickoff post (or even a year-end post) ready yet. I think I will combine the two into one post, but it’s not quite done percolating. 😉

Happy New Year!
Shirley

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3 Rachel {at} It's a Hero January 2, 2012 at 4:44 am

Inspiration! That’s what you are! Way to kick some goal booty! 😉 You’re an inspiration for my upcoming year!

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4 Jaclyn January 2, 2012 at 2:23 pm

It sounds like you had a lovely month and did very well at maintaining your sanity during an always-overwhelming time! And I’ll join my voice to the chorus saying that we’re looking forward to more blogs. I love the more freewheeling style too!

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5 Gena January 2, 2012 at 3:05 pm

I think it can be important to cut back on blogging sometimes, as it helps to make sure that quantity isn’t being prioritized above quality. Great recap of your December!!

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