Resolution Recap

My 2009 resolutions were somewhat vague: read more and lose weight. Pretty simple, right? I tried to keep them easily attainable so I would feel better when I actually achieved the goal. How ridiculous is that? Anyways, I figured I'd post about how I did on my 2009 resolutions since I haven't really made any resolutions for 2010 yet.

I lost over 30 pounds in 2009 and it was fantastic! I was so proud of myself, and I really wanted to keep going. Then I met Josh. Now, nothing about Josh made me stop trying to lose weight, but it was just the combination of a new relationship, eating out more, a more sporadic school/work/eating schedule, and less free time that led me into a slump. And unfortunately I've gained about half of it back... oops! But Josh and I are both on the same page - we're not really horrible eaters (he's lost a lot of weight himself), we know what we should be doing, but sometimes laziness and convenience get the best of us. Plus I have an insatiable sweet-tooth... and carb-tooth, too, if there is such a thing.We're really trying to eat better and work out more in the coming year. I also want to run a 5K this year. I hate running but I think setting a goal for myself like that is a good idea. I've got 6 weeks in the summer with no classes at all and I think that will be the perfect time to run a race. Of course, I'll start training wayyy before hand.

Side note -  apparently the night Josh and I reconnected, I told him I was training for a marathon. HAHA! He told me this the other night and I assumed he was mistaken, but apparently after a few glasses of wine I'm quite the storyteller. What I had really done was bought running shoes, so technically, I guess that's the first step in training, right?

My other goal was to read more. After some thinking I decided that that goal needed to be more defined, so I made a resolution to read 40 books in a year. It sounded daunting at the time, and I think it would have been if I had limited myself to 40 leisure books in a year. However, I had a few literature classes that helped add to my 40 book total. I actually read 43 books this year, and listened to 7 books on tape, (which I'm counting, since the purpose of this goal was to expose myself to more literature, even though I technically didn't hold the books in my hand). Only 23 of the 50 books were leisure reading; the rest were all for a class in some way, shape, or form. I hope to increase the number of leisure books I read this year. The breakdown of my books fits into 5 categories (which I've put together on a spreadsheet to keep track, just because I'm that big of a dork): Young Adult, Shakespeare, Books on Tape, Just for Fun, and Education Based. Here they are, in no particular order -

Young Adult Books
Chocolate War - Cormier
Go Ask Alice - Anonymous
Stargirl - Spinelli
Monster - Myers
Esperanza Rising - Ryan
Athletic Shorts - Crutcher
Devil's Arithmetic - Yolen
Giver - Lowry
The Winter People - Bruchac
Luna - Peters
Stolen Voices - Filipovic
Candor - Bachorz
Hero Type - Lyga
Speak - Anderson
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - Alexie

Shakespeare
The Taming of the Shrew
Much Ado About Nothing
Twelfth Night
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Hamlet
King Henry IV
King Lear
A Winter's Tale
The Tempest

Just for Fun
Garden Spells - Allen
Remember Me? - Kinsella
The Un-Domestic Goddess - Kinsella
Her Fearful Symmetry - Niffenegger
The Abstinence Teacher - Perotta
The Lost Symbol - Brown
American Wife - Sittenfeld
The Necklace: Thirteen Women and the Experiment That Transformed Their Lives - Jarvis
Look Me In the Eye - Robison
Twenties Girl - Kinsella
Twilight -Meyer
New Moon - Meyer
Eclipse - Meyer
Breaking Dawn - Meyer

Education Based
Naked Reading - Lesesne
Blending Genre, Altering Style - Romano
Writing Without Teachers - Elbow
Bird By Bird - Lamott

Books on Tape
Are You There Vodka, it's Me, Chelsea - Handler*
My Horizontal Life - Handler
The Earth, My Butt, and Other big Round things - Mackler
Alt Ed - Atkins
Prom - Andersen
In Search of Mockinbird - Ellsworth
I Feel Bad About My Neck - Ephron*

*I highly recommend these as books on tape. They're read by the authors (Chelsea Handler and Nora Ephron, respectively, and they are hilarious! I don't think they'd be as funny to read because the comedic timing and voice of the authors is truly impeccable. My Horizontal Life is also written by Chelsea Handler, but read by someone else and it was definitely not as funny to listen to as the first one.)

If you want my opinion on a particular book, just ask! I don't want to write out reviews for each and every book (but that's something I'm going to work on for 2010). I'll try to keep you all posted as I try to tackle reading 40 MORE books this year (I've already finished 1!)- all of them will be books in print, and not class related.