15 Things for 2015: May Check-In

Hola and happy Cinco de Mayo! Tonight my plans involve mowing the yard, and then going to a small fiesta with some friends and N. This month is already jam-packed with college graduations (my little brother!), a trip to Colorado over Memorial day weekend, and my dad's birthday. I'm looking forward to all of it!

Here's my progress report on my 15 Things for 2015 so far:

1. Try 6 new recipes that aren't desserts (and post the review/recipe on here).Still stuck at 3. I've been unmotivated to cook lately so I purchased the Skinnytaste Cookbook. This is a reminder that I need to actually try some of those recipes! You can see the recipes I've made so far here and here, and  here. 
2. Read 5 new books. I read First Frost on the flights during my work trip and it was a nice, light easy read. I definitely recommend it to someone that's looking for a fun book. Only one more to go and I've met my goal!
1. Bossypants by Tina Fey
2. Is Everyone Hanging Out With Me? by Mindy Kaling
3. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (seriously, SO good!)
4. First Frost by Sarah Addison Allen
3. Try something that takes me out of my comfort zone. I could probably name off two big ones for me: pushing myself skiing (hello black diamond runs!) and flying 8 (yes, freaking 8) times over the 6 day trip for work to Puerto Rico, Barbados and Trinidad. I'm still thinking there's an even bigger one though that I'd like to get to this year...
4. Take pictures for at least 4 family functions. I've officially got one down. I plan on taking about a million pictures when my little brother graduates in a couple weeks, so that'll get me halfway there!
1. Family Ski Vacation - Colorado
5. Hang pictures of family/friends on the walls (this sounds simple, but our home has had nearly bare walls...for almost 2 years). Completed! 
   
6. Send a birthday card in the mail to 3 6 friends/family members. 2 sent and 4 to go. Still waiting on some friend's birthdays/events to happen. 
7. Do an act of kindness. Stuck on this one....anyone have any ideas?
8. Visit 3 places I've never been before. Completed! I'm counting my work trip, which is kind of cheating, but kind of not (right?). North Carolina is next month, so I still have that one to add to my list!
1. Trinidad
2. Barbados
3. Puerto Rico
9. Follow a clean eating or whole 30 plan for a week (hopefully longer, but baby steps, right?)Ugh, a big fat nope on this one. I just can't motivate myself enough to give up carbs for 7 days (I know, horrible). Maybe this month? 
10. Work back up to running a 5k again, straight through. I ran about 2.5 miles straight through last week on the treadmill at the gym. I haven't been consistently training, but I think the other workouts I'm doing throughout the week are definitely helping me get back into shape. N and I signed up for a 5k June 5th so I've got a month to get myself to 3.1!
11. Blog at least 24 times. Definitely on track to get this one done! I don't remember the exact count I'm at now, but I've been posting at least 3-4 times a month. 
12. Clean out/organize all of the closets in our house. We FINALLY cleaned the office and office closet this month! Oh happy day! It's the one room in the house that is strictly N's since he works from home/on the road and I couldn't stand the way it was always so unorganized. We still had moving boxes with stuff in it - 2 years after we bought our house. I think my frustration finally hit the tipping point and he got the hint that we needed to tackle it. Now I think we have 2-3 more closets to go!
13. Surprise my husband in some way. Still stuck on this.....ideas?
14. Do a house project. Haven't done anything yet! We've been stashing all our extra funds towards student loans and mine are officially paid off! Now we just have to tackle N's :-/
15. Go visit a friend that lives in another state. Oh gosh, still need to do this one. NYC is at the top of my list, but one of my really good friends is moving to Atlanta this summer so there's another option. What to do...

-A