Hello February!

One month of 2016 down already - can you believe it!? It seems like this is going to be another year which just flies by. I'm carrying on my goal-setting and sharing this year, you can have a peek at the goals I set for January here. Today, I'm sharing how I got on with those goals, as well as setting some new ones for the month ahead.
• Read four books: Well we're not off to a good start, I didn't even manage to finish one book! Poor effort Jess. I have been trying to read on my breaks at work rather than mindlessly scrolling through Facebook, but as I'm working less shifts at the moment (due to my second job elsewhere), this hasn't translated to as much reading time as I'd hoped. Ah well.
• Clear out desk: Well, sort of. I did throw some things away and had a good sort out of what was left so things are a bit more organised and less precariously-heaped. I think I need to have another go at this at some point but it'll do for now.
• See friends at least twice: I did a pub lunch in Keswick with two friends, a couple of pub quiz / pub board game nights with another group of friends (I promise not all my social interactions occur in pubs!), a night-time walk with a different friend, and a pre-work walk with a friend from work. I feel like I did good on this one!
• Work on my fitness: I'm quite pleased with how I got on with this; I wanted to continue to swim three times a week, hopefully upping from 30 to 40 minutes per swim, and include a run per week as well. I started by coming up with an actual swim "program" (using the term very loosely!) rather than just getting in and swimming, and then increasing it until I was swimming for 40 minutes - so I'm pleased with that. I've also been using the weights in the gym and have been really enjoying that - I'd forgotten how much I used to love leg day! It's not as  much fun on my own but still. My gym has had reduced opening hours for maintenance over the last couple of weeks which has been annoying, but they're due to be done by the end of this week so I should be able to pick things up a little more. As for the running - I'm asthmatic and my lungs really struggle with cold air, so I didn't manage one run per week as I'd hoped, but I did get out a couple of times which is a good start. I'll be building on this one for sure!
• Bake something. I like baking. I don't bake enough anymore, mainly due to living with my parents and just not having the space. So while I'm not working stupid amounts of hours, I'd like to do a bit of baking - maybe try something new, maybe just go with an old favourite like chocolate brownies. Because you can't go wrong with brownies, can you!?
• Walk somewhere new. I have a car. I can go pretty much anywhere I choose. And yet I always seem to go for the same couple of walks, both within five miles of where I live. I'm within half an hour of the gorgeous Lake District so I really want to get out and explore a little more, and discover a walk somewhere new. (The photos in this post are actually from a new walk a friend introduced me to, but that doesn't count as it was in January!)
• See friends at least twice. I'll really have no excuse for not achieving this, with all my time off! It's always nice to spend some time with the people I love, so I'm aiming to meet up at least twice with friends, whether it's for a full-on pub night or just a cup of tea.
• Neaten up my blog. This will include working on my About page so it's a bit more interesting and up-to-date, thanks to a really helpful worksheet from the lovely Hayley. (Seriously, if you haven't signed up to her newsletter, do it! It's full of useful tips & exclusive bloggy worksheets, I'm finding it so interesting and informative.) If you have any suggestions for improvements and tweaks I could do to make, please let me know!!

Are you setting any goals for February? How did you get on with any goals you set in January? I'd love to hear what you're hoping to achieve in the coming weeks!

xo