Goodbye 2016, hello new year and new goals!

It's the end of 2016 already and here I am on my last week of work for the year and I'm reflecting on what I've done this year and what I want to do better in 2017... Yes, I should be focusing on work, but all of my co-workers are either on holiday or are home sick. So my focus is very blurred here... Luckily the daydreaming was just a thought of "OH! I should blog to reflect on this year!" and not a full out blog post AT work. Anyhoo...

The big topic surrounding new years is always resolutions and the things we want to change or improve on from the previous year. I feel like in order to make resolutions, I need to look at what I've accomplished what I find valuable. From there, goals/resolutions are made!

I guess my accomplishments could be grouped in two (alright, three) ways:

• Professional
• Personal
• Health

Professionally, I feel like I have made leaps and bounds since last year. Last year, I received the WORST review of my professional (and academic I guess) life that I have ever received. Just so I don't get in trouble here (like my co-workers ACTUALLY care enough to look up my blog), let's just say that it sucked. A LOT. It made me question my intelligence, my ability to be a professional consultant, and just everything in my life. After about a month of sulking and worrying about losing my job, I pulled myself up by my bootstraps and decided not to let that review dictate my career. I wasn't two pages worth of (HARSH) criticism, but I had to prove that to myself and my co-workers. My support system (and of course myself) got me through that rough patch, enough so, where I am now involved in two professional organizations and am in the process of studying for the Fundamentals of Geology exam in April. These are stepping stones for my expected promotion in April and are what lead me to receiving an award at work! I still can't believe that I went from "fear of losing my job" to "major asset" in the matter of a few months... I'm just so excited. 

I've been thinking a lot about this dilemma and whether it's my personal insecurities, or if other women in scientific/engineering fields go through the same thing. Or if it's just people in general. I am constantly second-guessing myself and whether I'm "fit" to do the job that I'm doing... like I didn't get a BA/BS degree in physics, geology, geological engineering, minor in math and environmental science... like I didn't take a crap-ton of coursework on hydrogeology that would allow me to make confident decisions in my field. I guess I just wonder if other young professionals feel the same way the first five or so years out of college. Is it a woman-in-science/engineering thing? Is it a first person in the family to go to college thing? I'm sure it's not uncommon, but it'd be a great thing to discuss over coffee with someone :)

Personal accomplishments were also made in 2016. One thing that I wanted to work on was to let others hear my feelings and listen to others more tentatively. This goes out particularly to my significant other and my closest friends and family. I'm definitely still working on this, but I am conscious about when I'm probably not listening my best and I'm keeping things too bottled up. I think my relationship with my significant other has gotten stronger after trying to listen to each other more, even though we still have issues to work out. What really helped out relationship, was backpacking in the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in the UP of Michigan in October. He had never been backpacking before and it was an experience I desperately wanted to share with him, especially knowing how much he enjoyed car-camping. We had a lot of fun being with each other and my best friend and her husband. The trip gave us time to connect as a couple while creating some very fond memories. It went so well, that BOTH of the boys want to go again! Whew!

I think what really came out of that trip is my yearning to focus on my experiences with people. Weeks can go by and with all of our busy lives, they tend to blend together and it can leave you sitting back thinking, "What the hell did I do this past month?!" I'm hoping to find a balance between having valuable experiences with those I love in my life and also keep my professional life moving forward. 

Now, I know health is also a personal topic, but I feel like it is still so separate from my personal life and deserves a few paragraphs on its own. I learned a lot of new things this year thanks to starting and completing three rounds of Whole30! I did them almost concurrently (with a day or two in between) and I was starting to feel really optimistic about my future health goals. My workout performance was improving, my overall attitude was improving, and as a plus I was losing weight and gaining muscle! My downfall overall was that I wasn't REALLY paying attention to the reintroduction process as much as I should have. I also went straight into "rewarding" myself with a glass of Merlot or some other treat after 30 days...

I'm going to start my fourth Whole30 starting January 2, 2017 and this time I want to pay attention to my body and how my mind craves things. I'm very much a binge eater and eat more when I'm stressed. I want to take more time to learn how my mind connects to my body and hopefully take away more significant information this time around. Who knows, maybe I'll just continue to a Whole60 or 90?!

So, overall these are things that I hope to accomplish and/or work towards in 2017:

• Acceptance of things I can't change and confidence in my decisions I have made
• Communicate with the people I love, whether it's good or bad news. Do this in a considerate and constructive way.
• Confidence, confidence, confidence! I say this three times because it is a constant struggle.
• Read more and watch TV/movies less! Or get out and about in some shape or form.
• This applies to the previous bullet, but just live a healthier life in general... that includes being more active, making dem gainz at the gym, and focusing on healthy foods (less binge-eating).
• Spend less money on things I just don't plain need... maybe purge my closet even more! Create experiences, don't spend it purchasing things.

I'm going to be taking more time to reflect on these things over the next few days, but this is just skimming the surface of things that I'd like to work on this next year and in my life in general. I am truly blessed to have the people (and fuzzy-kids) I have in my life. I can't wait to create more memories, but here is a snippet of things from 2016 I found memorable:

Everglades tour my significant other and I took in January during a vacation with his family to Key Largo.

We adopted our second furry child, Jude, in February. Soon afterward, I decided to start volunteering for the shelter we adopted him from, Dane County Friends of Ferals.

Went to Cave of the Mounds for my 26th birthday in April! It was such a blast from the past and I had a lot of fun celebrating with my closest friends.

The part I love about my job are the opportunities to travel! Right after my birthday, I was sent to Montrose, CO to do some soil and groundwater sampling. This is in Bangs Canyon on the Mica Mine trail.

I started my first Whole30 April 28, 2016! My life was literally changed from this point... I have significantly increased the amount of Whole30 and paleo cookbooks and I have started to really enjoy cooking!

In May, I went to see Lion King The Musical for the first time with my mom. I have wanted to see it since it came out when I was seven years old. I literally cried during the first song I was so happy!

Camping for 4th of July with my significant other's family! It's a spot his family owns on the Wisconsin River. We had lots of fun canoeing the river in the afternoon, watching fireworks at night, and falling asleep to the sound of the river.

I went on my first solo backpacking trip to Blue Mound State Park in mid-July (during my third round of Whole30). I spent the first night alone, but my dad stayed the second night to drop off a new stove since mine decided to die the first day... it ended up being a very beautiful weekend and the hikes were gorgeous!

View of the Wisconsin River right before the beautiful stars came out during our annual camping trip in August. We usually do an overnight on the Wisconsin River with our "camping family". It's usually a pirate-y day of drinking and canoeing followed by some kind of stumbling to the tent through the sand. This year I canoed with my mom and we had a really memorable time together, despite our bickering about steering ;)

My two girl friends and I decided to spend a weekend in Milwaukee in August for a 5K Mud Run (Dirty Girl Mud Run) and the State Fair. I got us a free hotel in Milwaukee for two nights and we had a really sweet girls weekend!

I was pretty diligent about my workout routine in September. Lots of really good sweat sessions! I hope to pick this habit back up in the new year!

My significant other and I went on a week long backpacking trip with my best friend and her husband in October to the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in the UP of Michigan. It was such a beautiful experience to be there literally as the colors were changing. We can't wait to visit again soon! We're thinking of making it a bi-annual trip between the two of us :)

Oh ya, and to round out that October vacation, we went to see the Packers play the Giants! Of course, we beat em!

Halloween costumes this year! A lot of effort was put into both the couple costume (cupcake and baker) and my individual costume I wore to work (Rosie the Riveter)!

Well... I wouldn't call it a GOOD memory, but the USA elected a new president this November. We will see how things change over the next four years, but all we can do is live our life the best we can and try and keep a sense of humor (my shirt says iVoteCat). I also consistently sport a cat phone cover, #CracyCatLady lol.

I completed my most recent 5K race (Run Santa Run) the beginning of December. It was a ton of fun!