My New Year's Resolutions

My New Year's Resolutions for 2009:

• Run a 15K mini-marathon
• Run a half marathon (I don't know if this will happen, but I'm going to train for it)
  
• Get my weight down to xxx (you don't need to know the exact number now, do you?)
  
• Complete three ArcGIS classes
• Develop the perfect recipe for whole wheat bread in my bread maker
• Finish three knitting projects and six sewing projects
• Update this blog on a regular basis
  

Mondays...

I think I'll just start making Mondays my day to let someone else do the blogging. It's usually my busiest day at work and between that and the shock of going back to work after a nice weekend, my brain moves into auto-pilot. I get things done, but there's no contemplation going on.

I did walk the long path around Glenwood Gardens after work today and spotted about a half dozen Blue Winged Teal in one of the small ponds on their grounds. I'm always happy to see those pretty little ducks.

I leave you with a video on how to make a brimmed beanie out of an old sweater.

Grocery Project

I completed the first half of my grocery project on Monday. I photographed all the groceries I purchased during the month of March. I'm also going to photograph the groceries I buy in July, because that's when the farmer's market will be in full swing.

March is a little skewed because I was on vacation for almost a week and every meal while away was eaten in a restaurant. I didn't bother to include those meals in my total since when I'm not on vacation I only eat out once or twice a month at best. I spent a total of $230 on groceries for the month and I think that's somewhat under my average monthly bill, which I figure to be around $300.

This project was inspired by looking at these photos and I simply was curious to see how my purchases compared. I think my spending is on par with the average American's spending. I'm not a terribly frugal shopper when it comes to groceries though. I tend to buy what I want without worrying about price, I try to buy quality stuff and I don't use coupons. This is probably balanced out by not buying many "convenience" foods, which are often more expensive and less nutritious than whole foods.

So if you find yourself terribly bored, you can have a gander at what my groceries look like for one month. If you've done a similar project, I'd love to see it too!