November!

Halloween has passed, the clock has fallen back, and it's time for me to check in on my October goals.

October Goals
1.  Health/fitness:  No Ben & Jerry's purchases in October.  Successfully finish the KC Half Marathon - ideally as fast as (or faster than) my spring marathon.   

Done, done, and done!  
I'm happy to say I think we've broken the weekly Ben & Jerry's routine.  
In regards to my half marathon, I was really happy with my finish.  It wasn't a PR, but it was my second fastest (of four) half marathons- and faster than my spring race.  This was also my first time doing this race so TECHNICALLY I can say it was a PR for this particular course.

2.  Financial:  No clothing/accessories/shoes purchases in October.  Stay within Mint budget for food & dining.

Part one was a success.  I did buy a Mizzou sweatshirt for Josh when we went to Homecoming last weekend, but that's a gift, right?  That's how I categorized it on Mint since it wasn't for me.  I consciously thought about this goal several times throughout the month.  I almost broke down once towards the end of the month and bought a purse - but I resisted.  Damn you, online shopping deals!  (I will say that I also realized when November 1 rolled around that I could buy said purse.  Which I did.)
I did not meet the second part of this goal, but I came close.  I have a pretty generous budget in Mint for food & dining (includes groceries, fast food, restaurants, coffee shops, bars & alcohol, etc.).  I went $34 over.  I did go out of town two weekends for Mizzou games (once to Nashville and once to Columbia), which upped my dining spend.  However, it probably evened out since I went to the grocery store a bit less.

3.  Work:  Positive attitude! Positive attitude! Positive attitude!  Prepare for interviews but also stay engaged in my current role.

Huh.  A lot can change in a month.  I had been hoping last month that a change would happen on the job front, because it just felt like time to move on.  In October the job I was interested in finally came open, it got posted, I "interviewed," (though the hiring manager had already decided), and my job offer was extended.  Yay!  I officially move Nov 18th.

Here's what I'm looking to accomplish in November.

1.  Health/fitness:  Go to yoga 4 times.  Finish two races (Wilderness Run and GOTR 5k) and complete at least two 'long' runs (defined as 5+ miles).

2.  Financial:  Change savings allocation split among 401k/savings account to increase liquid savings in preparation for Christmas purchases and hopeful near future car purchase.

3.  Work:  Have a tidy transition to the new job.  This means cleaning up old e-mails and the shared drive, sorting through old project files, leaving instructions/details on projects where necessary, wrapping up any loose ends, and reducing my cubicle stuff down to one box.  (I will be sharing a cube when I move...so there won't be room for much in my new space.)

4.  Other:  It's NaNoWriMo month!  Participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is on my bucket list.  While that's not going to happen this year, I'm going to incorporate the spirit into one of my goals for the month.  I plan to write at least 20 out of 30 days this month.  (Not all posts may necessarily be online.)  It doesn't matter how LONG I write each day, it's the starting and getting the words down that matters.