Welcome! I'm still a newbie too but have found loads of great info here. Some things that come to mind off the top of my head:

You might find the Starwood Preferred Guest AMEX to be useful. Points can be transferred into miles with various airlines, many at a 1:1 ration (incl AA). Up to a 25K signup bonus if you meet the spend threshold. I'm planning to apply https://www143.americanexpress.com/a...landingCode=44 I guess if you're 45K miles short that doesn't quite get you all the way there in the near term.

You could try doing a mileage run to accrue some cheap miles. Scrub through all the various partner offers on AA to make sure you're earning miles on everything possible.

May or may not be able to cancel & reapply on the CIti card and earn another bonus (and/or add a business card)... do a quick search and youll find threads discussing this (I'm not real familiar but have seen the info out there).

Good luck!