Monthly Goals

Helloooo! Happy June! Today's our double day: weekly and monthly wishes! Man, it has been a heck of a week!

I've only talked about it a little bit but I had something big happen this week...I graduated! Yay! Side note: can I just say that graduation caps are officially the ugliest hats ever. Like serioiusly, America, is that the best tradition we can come up with? Other countries have gorgeous tribal or ethnic clothing and meaningful traditions (my family's half-Swedish and I've always loved St. Lucia Day). And while I know the US has other beautiful traditions, wearing flat caps on your head for graduations is pretty embarrassing. 

But aaaaanyways, all the family-and-friends socializing sort of overshadowed my goals this week. But I still didn't do half bad!

Last Week's Goals:

+ Make a to-do list every morning and actually get things done. So I started off great, but come Friday (when graduation festivities started) it was just not happening. My room's a bit of a mess and I've got approximately four thousand and seven thank you notes to write, but whatever. I graduated, homeskillet.

+ Read at least 15 minutes a day. I did great on this...until approximately Wednesday when I forgot I made this goal. Uh, oops. But then I remembered it on Friday and did pretty well the rest of the week so it's all good, guys. Plus, my genetics book = super interesting. I'm a nerd.

This Week's Goals:

+ Have fun in California! I haven't mentioned it in awhile, but my trip to California is this week! I leave tomorrow. As a reminder, in case you've lost your binder full of the details of my life, my family and I are celebrating my graduation by going to CA (I live on the East Coast) and visiting all the National Parks/beaches/aquariums we can fit in 12 days. I'm gonna see big trees. Anyways, this isn't a goal, but more an excuse to talk about my trip. #sorrynotsorry

+ Practice taking pictures! So I officially break the cardinal rule of bloggers: I don't take pictures. I don't even own a camera. Except my phone and a (largely unused) digital camera from approximately 2004. But I'm telling myself that it'll take a lot of skill to screw up pictures of such a gorgeous area. So even if it's on my iPhone, I want to actually take pictures of things for once! Maybe I'll get bold + take out that digital camera ;)

This Month's Goals:

+ Well let's look ahead to what June includes for me. First part of the month, I'll be in California, chilling out with the trees. Then, I'll be in Florida for a few days on some school business. Then (with literally less than 24 hours in between on either end of Florida), I'll head to Michigan for the summer where I work at an ice cream shop and listen to way too much indie pop music on my walks to the beach every afternoon. So it's gonna be crazy in that I have too much vacation planned! Jokes, jokes.

+ Form an actual morning routine. During summer (aka when I don't have 8am classes), I'm terrible at actually forming a good sleep/morning routine. Most days I get up between 8-9, but some days it's 7am and others it's not till 10 (which is actually embarrassing). This month, I'll form a morning routine that will involve a consistent but reasonable waking up time (with an alarm as back up!), exercise at least a few days a week, stretching, being productive, designing, etc. 

+ Work on my super secret project! How annoying is it to you guys when bloggers announce a project, but title is something like 'the super secret project'? Like why am I telling you about it if it's a secret? Mostly because it's not a sure thing + it's my way of knocking on wood. I hope to share more about it with you soon...if I can get enough of it prepared first!

What are your goals for the week + month?!

February in Favorites

I was so not a fan of February. At least, I wasn't a fan of myself in February. I've been disconnected to just about everything (as I mentioned on Wednesday) + I've just been feeling out of it. I haven't let any comments on blogs in ages + it's all I can do to send out a tweet about new posts. But I did however, do pretty well on my February goals, even if I wish I had done better.

I made an effort to focus on health + journaling this month. I ended up journaling about 6-7 times over the month, which wasn't too bad considering I was out of town (and just not journaling) for about 10 days in February. I'm really enjoying cultivating this habit + I can't wait to tell you all some of the things that I've learned + things that I love about journaling!

As far as health, I had some really great weeks and some really not-so-great weeks. I tried getting up before school (5:20!!) and doing Jillian Michaels before class. I managed it for a week, but I'm not sure it's a practical option for me in the long run. I also went skiing for a week and though I didn't "work out," I promise you, I got exercise. Other than that, nothing. No runs.

In March, my focus is organization, in schoolwork, in blogging and mentally. Due to some back-to-back travel in March, I'm just super out of things. I need to get back on a posting schedule + get my life back in shape! And speaking of things being in shape, I do need to focus on health again this month because I just wasn't satisfied with my effort in February. To put it concretely, I'm going to log all of my workouts + keep looking to find an exercise that I enjoy (hello, I still haven't gone kickboxing).

Anyways, on to my favorites of February!

This month, I finally calmed down from my Elvis kick (though only slightly) and am really digging a lot of acoustic folk stuff. Totally random: did you know you can have your phone on during takeoff/landing in planes now? On one of my flights this month, coming home from Nashville, I put on my Urbanear headphones (from H, which I love) and some Arlo Guthrie. Somehow, I totally fell asleep + didn't even wake up until we landed! And then I kept my headphones on through the airport + felt so very zen just making my way through the airport. Here are a couple songs I was listening to:

City of New Orleans // Arlo Guthrie
No Bad News // Patty Griffin
Society // Eddie Vedder
Fall At Your Feet // Boy & Bear
The Wrote and the Writ // Johnny Flynn
(Nothing But) Flowers // Talking Heads (not folk, but it's a fun song!)

Again, I read nothing, except 1984 and Othello for my literature class. Seriously, my teacher has a serious thing for dystopian literature and I've got it up to here with it. Other than that, I read the free Nook sample for a biography on Ted Bundy, but I'm too embarrassed to actually buy it. I feel like a terrible person admitting it, but I'm actually fascinated by true crime. Is that weird?

But as for non-book reading, I've done quite a bit (as in blog-reading). Again, I'm so so bad about commenting since I always read from the Bloglovin' app which for real needs a commenting feature. It's so not cool. But anyways, I loved Every Day Cheer's post on How to Write the Perfect Thank You Note. I pride myself in writing good thank yous, but the reminder is always worthwhile! Oh Happy Day's DIY Dot Wall is just beyond adorable. Lastly, A Cup of Jo's post on Feminist Stock Photos, featuring women in leadership positions and scene that may not conform to typical gender roles just make my heart happy! Nothing like a stock photo with a daddy braiding his daughter's hair.

First off, I hope you got to read every guest post that I had here last week while I was vacationing in Breckenridge. I had three ladies send me some phenomenal content + I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Big shout-out to Kenzie, Amber and Victoria for literally being the coolest babes I know.

This month, I was particularly proud of my post on My Favorite Productivity Apps, in which I share my two biggest secrets to surviving life. Since I've started a quasi-habit of gratitude journaling, I loved that I could share with you 10 of my Prompts for Gratitude Journaling. Lastly, it seemed like everyone's favorite post around these parts lately has been my guide to Easy Peasy SEO for Blogger!

Oh man, do I love a good (preferably online) shopping day. If I had more money, this blog would be alll about fashion, makeup + good ol' home decor. But alas, I don't. But just for fun, I thought I'd share just a couple things on my wishlist lately.

Clockwise from top-left: Ombre Wreath / Pom-pom Garland / Wonderful World Print / Triceratops Succulent Planter

If you have a month recap post, please share the link! I love reading a good recap! 

Monthly Goals: February

(source)

This month, I have so. much. going on. Over Valentine's Day weekend (I know, I know, I'm missing my date night with H, but we've got a concert planned for the 8th), I'll be in Michigan, probably eating snow. I know they tell you not too, but it's just so much fun. And if you get it from the very top of an untouched part, it's clean, right? Maybe? 

And then the next week, I'll be in Breckenridge with friends, pretending I know how to ski. Being from Minnesota, one of my friends is convinced I'm a master skier. But you skied to school, she says. Stop being humble! she says. But really, I haven't skied since I was maybe eleven...so that could be interesting.

So even though January is by far my favorite month of the year (snow! New Year's Resolutions! Leftover Christmas food that no one else wants!), I'm ready to have a great month in February. 

In February, I have two things I want to focus on, but they're rather substantial. I want to focus on both my physical  and emotional health. And really, those things go hand in hand. Like just about every human, I ate a couple holiday cookies and somehow (somehow!) there's just a little too much of me to love right now. I've been running for the last two weeks or so but it's hard to get back in the habit. This month, I'm going to continue running. 

I've also heard about a place called 9Rounds that's like a kickboxing/martial arts studio. For some reason, kickboxing has always really appealed to me. In soccer, which I've played forever, I've always been a tad aggressive + maybe a year ago, someone recommended kickboxing to me and I've been wanting to try ever since! However, since I'm not a gym member and I'm totally broke, I just haven't gotten around to finding a good place to try. BUT, I'm determined to try 9Rounds--I just have to find a friend to rope into it with me.

As for emotional health, I just want to make one goal for that--journaling. Now let's be straight, I hate journaling. God, I really really hate journaling. It frustrates me and makes me impatient and I just get all weird reading back over what I wrote. But as I'm in a huge period of transition of my life as I mentally get ready to move away from everyone I know, by myself, I think journaling is a powerful tool that I can use to sort through my emotions and control my anxiety. 

What are your goals for February? How do you like to exercise? If you journal, do you have any journal prompts for me?