August goals - how did I do?

The month is over, and it was a mixed bag, in terms of progress against goals. I had my highest cardio & mileage month of the year (in fact, in a couple of years). I finished 103 miles (walking & running) in August. Woohoo!

1. Fitness-related:
1. Lose 1 pound - nope. I've gained a pound. :-( 
2. Track my calories every day in MyFitnessPal - Yes!
3. Complete 1000 minutes of cardio - Oh yes! I had 1,340. Lots of training for my relay.
4. Complete 8 strength workouts - No. :-( Only 2 strength workouts, and I can tell! I've lost muscle tone.
5. Complete 6 stretch workouts - 2 stretch workouts. I need to make this a focus, because my back is in misery with my lack of yoga. 
6. Run/finish my relay event - Yes, and it was awesome!!
2. Finance-related:
1. Finish reworking our budget to take into account yearly categories (vs solely focusing on monthly numbers) - I'm 90% of the way there, but have changed my approach a few times. Want to keep iterating on this in September. 
2. Stick to our budget! - I booked our holiday trip + paid for the boys soccer. See above, I wasn't doing a very good job of tracking yearly expenses for our monthly budget, which I need to change.
3. Stick to vacation budget on family trip to the Oregon coast. - Yes!
4. Sell 2 bikes on Craigslist, and put the money in the boys activity fund (help offset their expensive soccer club). - Sold the last one yesterday, so snuck in just under the wire. ;-) 
5. File all paperwork. - Ack. No.
6. Rework childcare budget for 2015, with nanny & summer camps finalized. - I started this, but it's not done. 
7. Finalize Hawaii trip details. - Mostly done. 
8. Start looking at plans for the holidays (flights, time off, etc) - Done. 
3. Personal
1. Get all back to school details sorted out, including nanny schedule + soccer schedule. - Done
2. Get sorted business trip sorted out, including passport & early entry program. - Done
3. Plan one social event with friends. - Done - August was a very social month.
4. At least one date night with M. - Done! Had a great dinner out this weekend.
5. Continue to rework my work schedule to better accommodate evening meetings (consolidate them all into one evening to minimize disruption to my life). - Well, I've made progress, but new meetings crop up all of the time, so it's a work in progress. 
6. Use or freeze all fresh produce from the garden. - I did well until we started traveling. I have a boatload of tomatoes in the fridge, and had to throw out a handful. 
7. Read 5 books. - Yes! All of the flights helped with this. :-) 

That's how I did in August - it's a busy month, full of travels & fun, and less about "getting things done". What about you? How did you do on your goals? 

A fun end to summer

We've had a great few weeks, but I'm exhausted, and spending the long weekend recovering! I was out of town two weekends in a row, and weekends are critical for my planning, organizing, etc. But, we had an amazing time.

We met my parents at the beach house (Oregon coast) for a week of family time, then flew back, got the boys started at school, and I flew back to Portland last Thursday for Hood to Coast (the largest relay in the world!) My family did the walking portion, and we had everyone from my 12 year old nephew to my mom, sister, best friend, etc. It was AWESOME. We had a fabulous time, and everyone is already signing up for next year.

Here are some of my favorite pictures! In the 4th picture, you can see my amazing flip flops. ;-) My shoes broke during the race (I always wear flip flops between my actual running legs, to avoid wearing sweaty sneakers for two days solid) & the only store in the Oregon mountains was a Wal-Mart. The shoes are two sizes two large, hot pink, & glorious. They cost $4. ;-) The little guy in the pictures is my amazing 12 year old nephew, who did an awesome job on his relay legs. He rocked! The sweaty picture with my sister is after our 10 miler. I'm not sure why she's so tan & I'm so white - I live in California, after all!

Now we're back to reality! And, the last few weeks reminded us that we really need to plan our 2015 trips, from a budget, time off, and calendar perspective. I spent about 5 hours on it, and I'm very close to a plan for 2015. I'm just waiting for my sister to confirm dates for our 2015 family trip. We'll celebrate our 10th anniversary next October, and I think we're going to go back to the Grand Wailea (where we got married) to celebrate. SO excited. :-)

We spent yesterday running errands (plus a date night!), have a barbecue to attend today, and we're going to Nick's "welcome to second grade" party tomorrow. In between all of that, I need to get our week planned (soccer, carpools, late meeting nights), meals planned & prepped, etc. 

I have lemon bread in the oven (bringing it to the barbecue) & it smells amazing. 

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Sunday, again!

I love Sundays. I always create my to do list for the day while drinking my coffee. :-)

We have a lot of fun ahead in the next few weeks - can't wait! Tomorrow is a busy work day (8 am to 10 pm), and then on Tuesday, the boys & I fly to Portland. My sister will pick us up at the airport with my nephews, and we'll head straight to the beach & our vacation house. I'm looking forward to spending time with the family - relaxing, riding bikes, walking on the beach, & playing games! We fly back on Sunday, just in time to start school on Monday. :-)

I'm flying back to Portland on Thursday, for my relay event - Portland to Coast. I can't wait! We've been training & planning & it should be super fun. My fan consists of: my mom, my mom's best friend, my best friend, my twelve year old nephew, and my Uncle. My sister is the captain of our second van, and she's with a family friend, my two cousins, and my aunt. My sister has done this relay before, & I've done the more extended/running version, but everyone else is a novice. Should be awesome!

And, on to today! I need to use all of the tomatoes before we leave town, and . . . there are a lot!

I already made an awesome breakfast - Spicy Poached Eggs in Tomato Sauce . I've never made poached eggs before, but these were amazing. The sauce was incredible!

Here's what else I need to do today:

1. Wash all sheets/make beds. 
2. Make tomato soup for the freezer. 
3. Make roasted garlic tomato freezer jam.
4. If I *still* have more tomatoes left over, I'll make more of the tomato sauce from the poached egg recipe & freeze. 
5. Walk 8 miles, as training for my relay. The pace time is pretty fast, considering all of the hills - 13 minute miles.
6. Power yoga. My back has been killing me, & I really need to stretch. 
7. Return a couple of things to the mall.
8. Plan schedule for Monday
9. Finish cleaning fridge & freezer, to prepare for our vacation.
10. If time permits, get a pedicure

What about you? How are you spending the last few weeks of summer? What are you up to today? 

Summer is in full swing

The boys have their last week of summer camp starting tomorrow (I'm downright giddy - summer camp is incredibly expensive, the locations are varied & far away from our offices, and the hours mean a lot of unpredictability for our work schedule). I've taken copious notes on how to avoid this next summer. It was our first summer in a new area, so these things are bound to happen.

Favorite camps of the summer:

• All day soccer camp. This is through their select league, and the hours suck (9-4), and the kids play soccer for that entire time, save for a 30 minute lunch break. It's nuts. They come home sweaty & so tired they can barely move. But, it's their favorite. I had to start packing coolers & giant water bottles on top of their normal stuff once I realized that they would indeed be playing soccer in the sun for the entire day. 
• Sleepaway camp! This place was a hidden gem in the mountains near Santa Cruz. Huge outdoor water park, beautiful new cabins. .. when we drove up, I wanted to stay! It was a YMCA camp, so expensive, but not crazily so. The boys want to do two different (not back-to-back) sessions next year. It was also super fun to get a few date nights in with M while the boys were at camp, so I won't say no to that!
• Another local sports camp. I'm glad this was a hit, because it had super flexible hours, and the location was the most convenient of all. We will likely only do this camp, the mandatory soccer camp, and sleepaway camp next summer.

Another lesson learned is that very few camps are open in August (kids go back on August 18th). The boys have also requested a week at "Nana & Papa's Camp" (i.e. my parents house) next summer, so we will try to arrange that as well.

So, last week of camp coming up, and soccer practice starts tomorrow as well. Luckily, the weather has cooled down a bit and it's been around 80 for the past few days, rather than the high 90s we've been having.

I'm also in the throes of getting ready for our family summer vacation (my parents, my sister, my nephews, etc). We are going to our vacation house on the Oregon coast, and I'm very excited to relax & spend some time with the family before school starts up again.

I finished all of my school supply shopping today, and we topped off the afternoon with swimming lessons, and "free" ice cream cones at Thrifty. Our Rite Aid has a Thrifty ice cream shop inside, and when I scanned my Rite Aid card, it used my UP rewards! I had no idea this was an option - and, it's probably dangerous to know that I can get "free" ice cream on a whim. ;-) So, the total OOP was $.29 or whatever was left after the rewards. What a nice treat.

I'm planning to make risotto tonight (with a glass of wine, of course!), finish the menu, and hopefully list a few things on Craigslist.

What about you? How are you spending one of the dwindling summer weekends? :-) 

Saturday happenings

So excited for a nice & relaxing Saturday! The only fixed commitment we have today - swimming lessons for both boys. I've even saved up cash to pay for today & tomorrow, so I'm feeling pleased about the minimal budget impact. We live in a neighborhood where many people have pools, so we've decided that it's critical for both boys to be great swimmers. Sam is already a very strong swimmer, and comfortable in the deep end. But, he's forgotten his strokes. Nick likes the pool, but isn't comfortable in the deep end, and doesn't know any strokes. Both boys have had a couple of lessons & are making great progress so far. The swim teacher is going back to college in a few weeks, so we're getting in as many lessons as we can before she goes. :-)

I also skipped the house cleaning yesterday, since I had to work from home. It's not at all conducive to a lot of video calls to have the cleaning lady running the vacuum in the background. ;-) We've already vacuumed & cleaned the bathrooms today, & we'll wrap up the rest of the house tomorrow. I'm paying both boys $5 for assisting, to save for our trip to the beach in a few weeks. They are pleased, I've still saved $80 with a few hours of work, so win/win!

Other than that, I need to go for a quick run, do either yoga or my 30 Day Shred dvd, make a menu plan for the week, and run a few errands.

I'm also watching flights for Christmas. They are currently about $150 under my planned budget, which is awesome. But, we had a ton of expenses in July & August is looking to be expensive again. In order to ensure I don't have to touch our emergency fund to cover travel costs, I may wait a few more weeks to buy. I have to request time off for work at least a quarter in advance, so the travel dates are already well known. ;-)

I made homemade salsa (tomatoes, tomatoes, everywhere!) yesterday for the freezer, plus chocolate chip banana muffins for kids lunches & snacks this week. I need to get really organized about using the food we have on hand this month & making room in our freezer for things we need. I went through & purged (this is our other freezer - not the one that was suddenly defrosted. That one is already pretty clean ;-)) to make room for other goodies, & took a quick inventory of what we have. I really need to come in under the grocery budget this month!

And, what's a post without a picture? My son asked for a "selfie" earlier in the week. Note the team USA world cup shirt, and the hair that he styled himself. He's into a "hair phase" right  now. :-)

What are you up to this Saturday?

August Goals

It's that time again! I liked the format I used in July, so I'm going to continue again in August. Here's what I'd like to accomplish this month.

1. Fitness-related:
1. Lose 1 pound
2. Track my calories every day in MyFitnessPal
3. Complete 1000 minutes of cardio
4. Complete 8 strength workouts
5. Complete 6 stretch workouts
6. Run/finish my relay event
2. Finance-related:
1. Finish reworking our budget to take into account yearly categories (vs solely focusing on monthly numbers)
2. Stick to our budget!
3. Stick to vacation budget on family trip to the Oregon coast.
4. Sell 2 bikes on Craigslist, and put the money in the boys activity fund (help offset their expensive soccer club).
5. File all paperwork.
6. Rework childcare budget for 2015, with nanny & summer camps finalized.
7. Finalize Hawaii trip details.
8. Start looking at plans for the holidays (flights, time off, etc)
3. Personal
1. Get all back to school details sorted out, including nanny schedule + soccer schedule.
2. Get sorted business trip sorted out, including passport & early entry program.
3. Plan one social event with friends.
4. At least one date night with M.
5. Continue to rework my work schedule to better accommodate evening meetings (consolidate them all into one evening to minimize disruption to my life).
6. Use or freeze all fresh produce from the garden.
7. Read 5 books.

What are you hoping to accomplish in August? 

July Goals - Recap!

Wow - that was a lightning fast month! I feel pretty good about how much I got done this month. I had a bunch of work commitments, as well as a girls trip, so all told, it was a busy & fun 31 days. :-)

Here's what I accomplished this month!

1. Fitness-related:
1. Lose 2 pounds - I lost 1.5 lbs! I'll take it. :-) 
2. Track my calories every day in MyFitnessPal - Yes!
3. Complete 1000 minutes of cardio - I completed 765 minutes, after taking almost a week off around my half marathon. 
4. Complete 8 strength workouts - Yes, I did 11 strength workouts.
5. Complete 6 stretch workouts - Ack. This obviously wasn't a focus in July, because I only did 1! Shameful. No wonder my back is tight these days.
6. Run/finish a half marathon - Yes! Woohoo!! It was an exciting moment. :-) 
2. Finance-related:
1. Meet with a tax planner - Yes!
2. Rework our budget to take into account yearly categories (vs solely focusing on monthly numbers) - I've started this project, but it's not yet complete. In progress. 
3. Stick to our budget! - Definitely no. We had lots of unplanned car expenses this month. 
4. Stick to vacation budget on girls trip to Las Vegas. - Yes!
5. Sell 2 bikes on Craigslist, and put the money in the boys activity fund (help offset their expensive soccer club). - Nope. 
6. File all paperwork. - Nope. 
3. Personal
1. Finalize all nanny details. 
2. Get passport picture taken, and get this renewed. - Just under the radar - I did this yesterday! 
3. Sort out vacation hours at work. - Yes. Unpleasant, but done. 
4. Get to the dentist & doctor for regular check ups. I've been putting these off due to work conflicts. :-( - Both appointments are next week. On the calendar & booked!
5. At least one date night with M.- Yes!
6. Rework my schedule at work to better accommodate evening meetings (consolidate them all into one evening to minimize disruption to my life). - I've done an "okay" job at this. My schedule is very unpredictable, so even when I iron things out for one week, the next week is different. This makes it hard to plan and harder to keep a family schedule. Let's call this an ongoing work in progress. 
7. Use or freeze all fresh produce from the garden. - I've been a cooking fool, but yes. As far as I can tell, everything is getting eaten, and/or made into things for the freezer. 

That's all for me. How did you do with your goals this month? I'm now looking forward to focusing on August! 

What a difference a week makes

Last week, I was in Las Vegas, at the pool with my sister & BFF. . . BFF on the left, sister in the middle, and I'm on the right. So much fun - so much fabulous girl time!

And, today, taking these guys for swimming lessons!

It was an absolutely insane work week, so I was very excited to spend some time with my favorite little boys today. We picked up school supplies, bought new desks at Ikea (a long standing promise :)) & I made a fresh tomato pasta sauce for dinner. Yum! I got in a quick workout. I need to be super productive tomorrow as well!

Here's what's on my list:

• Make fresh tomato paella for dinner. I forgot about this recipe, but . . . yum!
• Update my budget. Yikes. I'm way behind
• Run three miles
• Yoga
• Make strawberry freezer jam
• Make salsa with all of our tomatoes. So.many.tomatoes! Luckily, they are one of my favorite foods.
• Finish a big proposal for work. Ick.
• Plan our carpool & camp pickup schedule for next week.
• Make a menu.
• Bake bread.
• Go to Costco.
• Return books to the library.
• Run a few shopping errands (produce stand + Rite Aid)
• Register for my next half marathon & build a training plan.
• Get my passport renewed. I cannot put off a work trip any longer. . . :-( 
• And, figure out what to make with a giant tub of dates I've discovered in the pantry that need to be used up ASAP.

And, one last picture from last Saturday! Obviously, quite a bit different than my normal life. Which makes it special & fun. But, I'm a pretty big fan of days spent in the kitchen & playing rousing family games of Sorry with my little guys as well. :-)

What are some of your favorite diverse activities you enjoy? I love fancy girl time, followed by a weekend of running errands & filling my freezer with goodies!

That glorious moment & a half marathon!

When you meet with a tax accountant to start planning for 2014, and realize you made an error on your 2013 taxes. Run home, enter the correct data in TurboTax, and realize you're getting a $2500 refund (or, your enormous tax bill that you already paid is reduced by $2,500, thus you'll be getting some of your money back). Hot dog! :-)

Today has been filled with cookie making (sending them with the boys today, as they are both attending pool party/sleepovers) & turning a LOT of fresh tomatoes into this:

I can honestly say that having too many tomatoes was never a problem in Washington, but this is the second weekend in a row that I've used up 20+ pounds of tomatoes

In other news, I finished my half marathon & ran this morning! Feeling very, very happy that it was still an option with the lupus. I'm slower than I used to be, but I'll take it!

I'm a little sore & tired, but feeling pretty great. Life is about embracing changes, challenging yourself & believing that anything is possible. If you'd asked me if this was in the cards a year ago, I would have said no. What a great day!

What's the best thing that happened to you this weekend?

2014 Mid Point Net Worth Check

I keep track of our net worth semi-regularly, and use the information as a directional guide for how we're doing. Lately it's been all about paying down our mortgages, while increasing our retirement savings. I consider us in the wealth accumulation stage of our lives - we have no debt other than our mortgages, and have a large retirement portfolio. That said, we live in/near San Francisco, and a starter house in our neighborhood is $2.5M, so we may never buy here ;-) It's all relative, I suppose. We have a decade left until our kids are out of the house, and we're starting to consider whether it makes sense to tie up SO MUCH equity in an expensive house that we will not need for very long. . . More thoughts on that later.

• At the end of 2013, we were at $1.2M. 
• At the beginning of June, we were at $1,411,000
• As of July 1st, our net worth is at $1,439,000. So, a small increase, but we're moving in the right direction. Our property values have remained stable, and we continue to pay down our mortgages and max out our 401Ks. The stock market gains have also benefitted us, given the size of our portfolios. 

Liabilities:
-$904,000 (property loans). 

Assets:
+Seattle house value - $1,180,000
+Vacation house value - $400,000
+Retirement savings - $760,000
+Cash - $3,700
Total assets = $2,343,000

Assets - Liabilities = $1,439,000

I don't count either of our current stock equity packages in our net worth, as it's dependent upon us staying with our employer. We currently have about $475,000 worth of stock equity vesting over the next five years (pre-tax, and we're taxed at the 50% rate for these), but I think it's highly unlikely either of us will be there for that long. We'll recognize those assets towards our net worth once the stock has been converted into cash (or, another asset).

I also don't count the kids college accounts in our net worth, but we're about 50% of the way done with saving for tuition (does not include room & board). We're technically at 46%, so would like to see us hit 50% by the end of this year. We're buying tuition credits, which have gone up pretty drastically over the past few years, so we need to focus if this is going to happen.

That's pretty much it! Do you regularly track your net worth? What are you focusing on for 2014 - increasing retirement, paying down mortgages, reducing debt? 

The year is half over! 2014 Goal Check

Wow - time to check in on my 2014 goals. If I don't continue to check my own progress, I have the bad habit of forgetting to do what I'd hoped for. ;-)

Here are my 2014 goals, with a status check:

1. Lose 10 pounds, bringing my weight to 135. I've really struggled to lose at my current weight & activity level, so I need to spend some time considering what's necessary to drop these last (very stubborn) 10 pounds. After my doctor's appointment & prescription complication, this goal is more important than ever. Time to focus.- I'm decently on track. I'm at 142, so while the progress has been slow, it's at least there!
2. Continue tracking my food and exercise every day in My Fitness Pal. This has been tremendously helpful. - On track! 
3. Improve my fitness by doing the following:

1. Complete 11,000 minutes of cardio. -On track, with 5,300 minutes completed!
2. Complete 100 strength workouts. - Close - I'm at 44%
3. Complete 75 stretching workouts. - I'm at 32%, so need to step this up.

      4. Choose a half marathon to train for, and complete it! Sometime this spring. - Yes! The race is in two weeks. :-)

      5. Have one date night per month with M. - On track! 6 for 12. :-) 

      6. Plan one social/friend activity per month - On track! 6 for 12. :-) 

      7. Finalize will/guardianship. - Half way done! I've ordered all of the paperwork. They just need to be signed & finalized. 

      8. Save $50,000 towards a downpayment for a house in California. - We've paused this, as we continue to pay for our vacation house, and have decided to instead focus on paying down our second mortgage.

      9. Put $5,000 in boys college accounts. - Not on track - we've paid around $1200. 

      10. Pay $30,000 towards our mortgage principal(s). - We are on track! We've paid just over 10% of our yearly total

      11. Figure out a plan for vacation house. - Yes! It's listed and we've made all needed repairs. 

      12. Track our all of our spending, stick to our budget, and create monthly spending reports.-On track!

      13. Plan an adult only vacation with M! - Yes! This is happening in April. Can't wait.

      14. Likely most importantly, figure out the work/life balance, even if it means finding a new job. Money isn't worth the current schedule. - Somewhat on track. There are short term and longer term plans in the works. Not ready to roll them out (as we are still working through some big challenges, but they are on our radar.)

I'm feeling good about our progress on the year so far. How about you? How are you doing with your 2014 goals? Are you on track? How can you refocus your time & energy on the most important tasks? 

Menu Plan Monday

Planning our weekly menus reduces stress on weeknights & ensures that we don't eat out - keeping us healthier & saving money!

I tend to do all/most of the cooking on weekends, to minimize time spent in the kitchen after work.

Here's what's on the menu this week:

• Monday - Grilled burgers (reheated)+ grilled peppers stuffed with goat cheese
• Tuesday - Homemade meatball pizza (really, thinly sliced burgers instead of meatballs) with peppers, tomatoes, & basil from the garden. (Leftovers - it was amazing!)
• Wednesday - Chicken & pesto pasta
• Thursday - Tacos with homemade guacamole
• Friday - Clean out the fridge day
• Saturday - homemade pizza
• Sunday - Chicken tacos

How about you? What's on your menu plan this week?

A very sunny Sunday

The weather has been a bit too warm for my taste over the past couple of weeks. It makes it hard to get out & do my runs. I was out at 8:00 am yesterday, which was nice & cool. I missed the window today, but have a 5 mile walk planned. Let's see how I do. ;-)

I've been off since Thursday, and it's been a great mix of relaxing & productive! On Thursday, we went to a water park (we have season passes) & it was great. Not very crowded & perfect weather. I put on loads of sunblock, but still managed to get a few small patches of burn. This is what happens when you're extremely pale. ;-)

I made a quadruple batch of fresh tomato sauce, using all of the fresh tomatoes from the garden - plus our basil & green peppers. It turned out extremely well. That's all now frozen in individual dinner portions, ready to go. I also made homemade bread, a chocolate cake, cranberry muffins, homemade pizza dough, and this morning, I made 9 dozen muffins - 3 dozen pear muffins (loosely based on this recipe), & 6 dozen orange muffins - to use up our stray yard oranges. The muffins will be frozen & added to lunch boxes for the kids.

We barbecued burgers on the 4th of July, so I turned the leftovers into homemade pizza yesterday, using up extra green peppers & tomatoes.

I have some additional housework to tackle today, but am looking forward to relaxing (maybe doing some reading?!) & planning the week ahead.

Here's what's still on my list:

1. Complete 30 Day Shred workout DVD.
2. Yoga
3. Walk 5 miles.
4. Clean kitchen
5. Finish laundry
6. Pack lunches for tomorrow
7. Menu plan for the week
8. Plan calendar/week/camp drop offs & pick ups
9. Find an alteration place to hem a dress.
10. Finish packing for my trip in a few weeks. (I like to have the majority packed well in advance, so I can just top off the suitcase with the final stuff the day before. Especially important, as I have a late meeting the night before the trip).
11. Figure out dinner for tonight.

I think that will do it. I hope you all are having a fabulous weekend!