February Small Goals

Today I'm delighted to be linking up with Nicole from writes like a girl to share my small goals for the month. I'm starting to blog again after a bit of a false start this summer, but I'm trying to do so in a way that makes me feel good (rather than making me nuts by trying to keep up with the Joneses). Not only does Nicole's blog have the best name in all the blogosphere (I myself am a professional writing tutor... and a girl), she is incredibly thoughtful, supportive, and generous. This is precisely the kind of blogging I want to be doing and I'm grateful for this link-up which is getting me on the right track.

1. write & mail valentines | We missed the boat on cards this holiday season, so we decided to do valentines instead. Luckily, tinyprints had a template designed just for slackers like us (see above)! Now we have a stack of seventy valentines. That's a lot of writing, addressing, and mailing... I better get busy. But I'm hoping that writing messages of love to friends and family will bring a little light to this February.
2. run sixty miles | It sounds like a lot when I write it down, but this is totally doable. It's three miles a day, five times a week, for the whole month of February. I've been doing something like this since the semester started in mid-January, so I'm pretty sure I can keep it up. Plus it puts me right at the recommended 150 minutes of aerobic activity a week, and isn't February all about heart health? (and also black history... hmm, should I have a black history goal???).
3. call my friends. and my mom. | Life can be rough here in dreary winterland, especially since I'm currently job hunting. I tend to want to put off calls until I have "good news," but that means I wind up isolating myself at the moment when I most need support from loved ones. This month I'm going to remind myself to reach out to my friends and family... they love me, and while they would love to hear good news, they're there for me for bad news and no news too. My goal is to call at least one friend a week and to talk to my parents once a week, too.
4. ski | My husband has planned  an awesome Utah ski trip for us and a bunch of friends that will take place in March, so I need to get my butt (actually, my thighs) in skiing shape. Skiing in the midwest isn't anywhere near as fun as skiing in New England or out west, but it's the best way to get in skiing shape (and it certainly beats a kick in the pants). I hope we make it out at least once, maybe more, this February.
5. read some contemporary fiction | Yeah, I know. I have my Ph.D. in English with a focus on contemporary fiction, but often a year will go by and I'll realize that I have read nothing that came out that year. I recently checked out an e-book of David Mitchell's Slade House, so that's at the top of my list. It came out in October -- less than a year ago -- so it's contemporary in my book. I'd like to read Mitchell's book and one more contemporary novel by the end of the month. Maybe I'll pick one by an African American writer, thus making it possible that I have a heart health and a black history goal for the month of February!

This is my first time setting a months' worth of goals... it was kind of hard to think of things I wanted to achieve this month, but I'm glad I did. I'm also glad that I blabbed about my goals in a pubic forum because I think it will keep me honest. I'm looking forward to reading others' goals and seeing how we all do!