Goal Check In: July 2018

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Sunset in Houston, Texas during African Dust Storm - July 2018


DAILY

  • Drink eight glasses of water a day 
  • Journal everyday
    • Keeping up with both of these daily goals.


WEEKLY

  • Workout four days a week
    • Worked out six days a week this month! 
  • Cook a new meal once a week
    • Been cooking a lot but haven't tried any new dishes. 
  • Work from a coffee shop one day a week
    • Haven't made it out yet! 
  • No TV or Social Media one day a week
    • Still failing at this. It's harder than you'd think it would be to disconnect for an entire day. 

MONTHLY

  • Read two books a month
  • Try a new restaurant
    • Houston
      • Hughie's Tavern & Grille: We met up with friends for dinner at this casual spot. The meat in the fried rice had a flavor I wasn't used to so it wasn't my favorite. 
      • Bosscat Kitchen & Libations: Honestly, this place is way too hyped for what it is. We went for Sunday brunch and it felt like a club - the music was way too loud. Everyone felt that the food was just ok, nothing was great. We did have a great waiter who made the experience worth while. 
      • Calle Onze: I met up with my friend for happy hour and was not disappointed. We each had a delicious mojito and shared a couple of appetizers. The queso flameado was my favorite! I chose the enchiladas verdes for dinner and while they were delicious the sides were just ok. To finish off our meal we had the churros filled with chocolate, yum! 
  • Plan a girls night
    • Didn't get to have a girls night this month. 
  • Send birthday cards
    • Got the cards out this month! 

THIS YEAR

  • Run a 10k - Completed on February 24, 2018 
    • Finished my first timed 10k in 59:15.6 mins! 
  • Run a half marathon
    • Finally ran my first half marathon on July 15! I completed 13.2 miles in 2 hours and 20 minutes! 
  • Complete a Whole30 - Completed April 13, 2018 
  • Plan our 30th birthday party
    • Been saving a bunch of ideas to my pinterest board so that's a start! 

Goal Check In: June 2018

Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Goal Check In: June 2018

DAILY

  • Drink eight glasses of water a day 
  • Journal everyday
    • Keeping up with both of these daily goals.


WEEKLY

  • Workout four days a week
    • The only week I missed this goal was when we were in Las Vegas. 
  • Cook a new meal once a week
    • Still not doing good with this! I tried two new dishes this month and one was a salad so it wasn't really cooking. 
  • Work from a coffee shop one day a week
    • Haven't made it out yet! 
  • No TV or Social Media one day a week
    • Still failing at this. It's harder than you'd think it would be to disconnect for an entire day. 

MONTHLY

  • Read two books a month
  • Try a new restaurant
    • Houston
      • North Italia: Took my dad out for a birthday dinner here and the food was good. It is a very lively spot and it was quite loud in the restaurant. I had the prosciutto pizza and it was ok. 
      • The Original Ninfa's on Navigation: We had dinner here before an Astros game since it is close to the stadium and while the food and drinks were good I couldn't really enjoy it because they sat us in a room where the AC was broken. Honestly they should have closed that section since it was so hot that we were all sweating.  
      • Steak48: Steven and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary with an amazing dinner at Steak48. From the moment we walked in to the moment we left we felt so pampered. Everything we tried was delicious and the service was beyond excellent! Honestly I don't think you could go wrong with anything on their menu. We had the crispy shrimp as an appetizer and each had a steak as our main dish. I had the filet mignon "Oscar Style" with a crab cake on top - so so good! We also shared fries, mac and cheese, and had the brioche chocolate chip bread pudding for dessert. Clearly we left dinner very happy and very full! 
      • Samurai Noodle: I'd driven by this place countless times and never noticed it. Our friends moved closer to our neighborhood and suggested it for dinner one night. I had the Spicy Miso Shoyu - so good! 
      • Steel City Pops: Summer calls for lots and lots of cold treats and Steel City Pops is the perfect spot for one! I had their Pop of the Month which was Coconut Key Lime Pie. Wow! The popsicle had graham cracker in it which I wasn't expecting and it was delicious! 
      • Rainbow Lodge: Technically I've been to this restaurant but it was four years ago so I feel like it is new to me. We celebrated father's day here with my in laws and we all had a great time and enjoyed our meals. I had the Lobster and Herb Risotto.   
      • Rita's Italian Ice: My friend and I each had their flight so we could sample a couple of different flavors and we loved all of them except the cherry one since it reminded us of medicine. My favorite ice and gelato flavor was mango! 
      • Sarah Place: China Town is somewhere I would like to explore more. For girls night we had dinner at Sarah Place. We ordered dumplings, fried rice, and a chicken dish and shared it family style. While everything was good nothing was spectacular. Really it was just typical take out style food. My all time favorite China Town restaurant is still Mala Sichuan Bistro
      • Aqua S: After dinner in China Town the girls and I went to Aqua S for dessert. not only is the shop cute and insta worthy, the soft serve is also delicious! I had one of their seasonal flavors, the blueberry milkshake soft serve, so good! I definetly want to go back and try new flavors.
      • Surya: My friend was in town and was craving Indian food. Our go to place closed down a couple of years ago and we have yet to try out some new spots. We decided to try out Surya and were left disappointed. To start off, who doesn't have high chairs in their restaurants? How are parents with babies supposed to sit down and have a meal? Luckily my friends baby was pretty good at sitting on the bench with us but still it seemed like a high chair should have been available. As for the food - the best thing I had was the garlic naan bread. Our chicken tikka masala was lacking flavor. Not going back to this place. 
    • Las Vegas 
      • Eggslut: There was a lot of hype about this place but honestly I found it to be flavor less. I had the Fairfax and it was blah. I am glad I went after the lunch rush because I would have been very disappointed if I'd waited for food here. 
      • Beauty & Essex: I'd been meaning to go to the location in NYC but never made it out there. I am so glad I got to try the Las Vegas location. This was my favorite meal and restaurant of our Las Vegas trip. I loved the speakeasy feel to the restaurant. We had the Thai Style Deep Fried Shrimp, Crispy Onion Rings, Mexican Street Corn Ravioli, and the Tomahawk Ribeye. Everything was delicious! 
      • Lotus of Siam: This restaurant was recommend to us by one of Steven's coworkers and rightfully so! I don't remember exactly everything we ordered because the menu was very extensive but I do remember that the pad thai was good and the green chili fried rice was super spicy. I love spicy food but the spice level was beyond what I could handle. 
      • Hash Hash A Go Go:  This place was so good I went twice! To be fair the first time I went on my own while Steven was working so I had to go back so he could try it to. The portion sizes here could feed multiple people - it was insane! I tried Andy's Sage Fried Chicken and the Lemon Blueberry Pancake. 
      • The Dapper Doughnut: This counter in the Underground of the MGM Grand served up fresh made to order mini donuts and they were delicious! Honestly the mini size provides a good dough to topping ratio. I loved all the flavors I tried but the lemon blueberry was my favorite! 
      • Pink Box Doughnuts: I stopped in for a snack and had the donut that was flavored like Samoas - yum! 
      • Pieology Pizza: We needed a quick dinner before heading out for a show so we grabbed a made to order pizza at the MGM Grand location. Pretty good pizza but nothing special.  
      • Gordon Ramseys Hells Kitchen: I had high hopes for this place and while everything was good nothing was great. My burger was fine and Steven's pizza was ok. My cocktail sounded like it would be good but really was just mediocre. It was over priced for what it was. 
      • Sake Rok: We stopped in for dinner one night and while it was pretty entertaining to have the wait staff dance around the food was just ok. Steven liked his steak but my sushi wasn't great. Over all I would skip this place. 
    • San Antonio 
      • Dough Pizzeria Napoletana: We had dinner here for my friends birthday. They had been before and recommended the Fior Di Latte Burrata - OMG so good! I would eat that every day if I could! Steven and I also shared a Margherita Pizza with Pepperoni. 
      • Jugo Juicery: I'm not going to lie, I went to this place because I saw a cute photo on Instagram. Well it turns out I went to the wrong location because the cute photo was taken at the downtown location not the location I went to, oh well! I had a Acai bowl and it was delicious! 
  • Plan a girls night
    • The girls and I went out for dinner, dessert, and drinks around Houston! 
  • Send birthday cards
    • Got the cards out this month! 

THIS YEAR

  • Run a 10k - Completed on February 24, 2018 
    • Finished my first timed 10k in 59:15.6 mins! 
  • Run a half marathon
    • I am working my way up to a half marathon. I am currently working my way through a 15k to half marathon program! I signed up for the Houston Marathon in January of 2019 so I am training slowly but surely! 
  • Complete a Whole30 - Completed April 13, 2018 
  • Plan our 30th birthday party
    • Haven't made any new progress on this. 

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