Weekly Goals #35

(source)

Happy Monday! Now that it's summer, Mondays are actually happy because they're my one day off! Seriously, I never understood how much I would love Mondays until I started working this job. Even though it's my day off, I still have some errands to run to pick up some stuff for the shop--it seems like there are always errands to run. I tend to put them off as long as possible because the nearest restaurant wholesaler is like an hour away and who has time for that? But then I ran out of napkins on Saturday so I kinda need to go...napkins are actually kind of important in ice cream shops, as it turns out.

Anyways, that's my day! This week should be more of the same old stuff. I'm working every night and beaching it every afternoon (I really do have a pretty sweet deal). One exciting thing: our town-wide barbecue and square dance is on Saturday! My town is super teeny but everyone gathers in the field in the park and we all have a big pork barbecue dinner together. It's really so much fun! I love living in a small town.

Last Week's Goals:

+ spend time being intentional with H when he comes to visit. I think we aced this! After he left, I realized a bunch of things I forgot to show him, but he still saw a lot of my life in those five all-too-short days. We had such a nice time and I miss having him here already! He would stay up for me to come home after work and we recapped our days before going to bed. Now it feels weird to come home to a house of sleeping people!

+ write all my thank you cards! Well I was totally up to date on this, but then I got two more gifts (not that I mind! ;). So I've still got a few to do, but I'm definitely considering this a success.

This Week's Goals:

+ Finish my tattoo calligraphy project. As I mentioned the other day, I was hired to calligraph a tattoo for someone and I'm struggling with it a little. As it happens, the one capital letter it includes is 'C' and my 'C' is so boring. I'm driving myself crazy trying to make it pretty. But I'm working on it.

+ Finish my print designs and order them! This is a big step for me since I only have a few designs done. I'm really sort of scared about this for some reason because it's the first real monetary investment I've put into this project! If anyone has any thoughts or suggestions for preparing my prints for this fair, let me know!

+ Exercise. I've been SO bad about exercising since I don't belong to a gym here and I just get distracted whenever I try to work out. Or I get overwhelmed at the thought of an hour of exercise since I'm so out of shape. I've started doing the 7-minute workout to help combat this. This week, I aim to do 14 sets of the 7-minute workout--so only about 15 minutes a day.

That's all for today! I think I may go back to doing these every week since I'm posting more frequently these days. So for once, these might actually be weekly goals! What are your goals + plans this week?

Weekly Goals #34

(photo by me, San Francisco)

Hey y'all! Happy Monday! I just want to give a big thank you to everyone who has left comments on my post the other day about why I'm choosing not to schedule my blog posts anymore (for the most part). I know scheduling posts is super convenient at times + it's certainly a good idea for some bloggers! But I decided that it's not the best thing for me or my blog right now.

I've got a fun but pretty relaxed day today. Earlier today, H and I went out for lunch at one of my fave Italian places in town. They're famous for their Nutella Pie! Yummmmm. This afternoon, my mom and I are getting our nails done--they need sooo much repair after two weeks of hiking and rock climbing and whatnot. So that really needs to happen. And then tonight I'm flying to Florida for my orientation! I'm super excited about seeing my future school again and meeting future classmates but I'm also a little anxious about it so we'll see how it goes.

Then as soon as I get home, I have to pack for Michigan (for the whoooole summer), which naturally takes forever. So I'm kind of really dreading that. Anyways: weekly goals.

LAST WEEK'S GOALS:

+ Have fun in California! Duh, I did. I'll post a recap...someday. No clue when. Life's crazy right now.

+ Take pictures! I did pretty well at this! The first week or so I was a bit shutter-happy and took sooo many pictures. But towards the end of our trip I got lazy and just told myself that someone else would take the pictures and I'd get them later. But I still have lots! I'm thinking about picking the best and offering them as a free stock photo pack. I know I'm not an expert photographer or anything but I thought I'd put them out there! The post photo from this post and the post before are both from my trip. 

THIS WEEK'S GOALS:

+ Give my room a thorough cleaning before leaving for the summer. If there's one thing I hate, it's coming home to a mess. It's gonna be tricky finding time before I leave, since I'm home for, oh, approximately 24 hours in the next week. But it needs to be done.

+ Write thank you notes. I feel like I'm drowning in thank you notes...but kind of in a good way, if there is a good way to drown. I received soo many lovely gifts + checks for my graduation and need to, ya know, thank people for giving me their hard-earned money. I've written like 25 but still have 15+ to do...so yeah. There's that.

+ Practice hand lettering at least twice. I absolutely love practicing my lettering, whether it's with a pen + ink or a brush (even though I struggle so hard at brush lettering). I'm hoping to start making some projects out of my lettering + I need to keep practicing even though life is kind of crazy right now. Even in 45-60 minute chunks, I can feel myself improving and that's exciting!

+ Respond to comments! Okay so my cardinal rule of goal-setting is to make sure I don't make too many goals...but I just have so many things to get done this week! I haven't responded to any comments since I left for my hiking trip (sorry everyone!) and I feel so bad! I've been reading them all but I want to get back to all of you ASAP!

What are your goals for the week? How do you stay sane when traveling a lot?

Weekly Goals #32

Hello all! I hope you had a lovely Easter if you celebrate it or just a lovely weekend! I had Friday and Monday off and my weekend was oh-so-relaxing...I'm not looking forward to putting that nose back on the grindstone tomorrow. 

On Friday, H and I went out for lunch at a local Cajun place and tried to go golfing, only to find that the driving range was closed. After a quick google, we found out that the owners of the range just up and left a few weeks ago. So no golfing (I was not-so-secretly relieved)! On Saturday, I did lots of exam review + visited my long-neglected lover (aka, the library). Sunday was for church with my family and lunch with kids. Then yesterday, H and I went out again to get us some Genghis Grill (which is delish, by the way). It was just a very laid-back, happy weekend. Also, it should be noted that I watched approximately six episodes of Breaking Bad this weekend...

But even with all of that awesome quality time with Netflix, I still managed to kick butt on my weekly goal! Which, if we recall from last Monday, was to exercise for at least 45 minutes three times + my two soccer practices. Check, check! Well sort of. My first two workouts were about 35 and 40 minutes each because I procrastinated and had to get home for dinner. But yesterday, I got a solid hour and a half in, so that felt good! So I'm considering this week a success!

I have two goals this week: stay on track with my exam prep + finish my book! I've made a daily schedule of which sections to review for each course and I'm already behind! :/ I just need to focus on putting in the time so I'm not super stressed out the night before! Secondly, I'm reading Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore and unfortunately, I'm not liking it as much as I hoped. But I've heard great things so I just need to keep working through it. As soon as I finish it, I'll post a recap with The Memory Keeper's Daughter and Reconstructing Amelia.

What are your weekly goals?

Weekly Goals #31

For the record, let it be known that I'm completely aware that these "weekly goals" are more like "every-few-weeks-aka-when-I-feel-like-it goals". But for clarity, let's keep calling them weekly goals. 

This past weekend, I visited my future college for the bajillionth time. I'm getting so excited to move myself into my apartment/suite in August! Yay college! But now it's back to my last few weeks of school before I graduate. And let me tell you guys....senioritis: so real. It's so, so real. 

Let's review last week's (aka the goals I made like a month ago...on my birthday, no less) goals! I made a goal about exercising. Like I've mentioned, H and I have a big event coming up in less than two weeks. Personally, I hate everything about the idea of a "big event" because that means a late night, lots of people, lots of socializing, and lots of anxiety. The last time we went to an event like this one (and it was much, much smaller), I had a panic attack, got sick, and had to leave after only half an hour. Even thinking about that night, I get a little emotional because I've never felt that nervous and out of control. 

I'm not generally an anxious person. I don't get stressed about work or classes, like ever. Something about feeling like I have to live up to some expectation of how to act and not knowing how makes me feel lost. It's a totally confusing feeling for me. And obviously, a really miserable one too. 

But H really, really wants to go to this event and so we're going. I don't want a repeat of last time so I've been trying to take steps to avoid it. I've been practicing doing 4-7-8 breaths (in for 4 counts, hold for 7, out for 8) whenever I start getting anxious, using my anxiety beads and journaling. It's seemed to help, so far, but I'm not convinced that I'll be feeling this confident about it in two weeks. 

Part of my anti-anxiety plan is making sure I don't have any other sources of anxiety. I made sure to get a dress that I really like, I'm going to practice my hair and makeup ahead of time and most of all, I'm exercising to lose a couple pounds before the event. I figure if I can feel great about how I look, I'll be a little less nervous about how to act and all. 

As part of that goal, I joined the #1800minutechallenge, which you might have heard about on Twitter or other blogs. Basically, the goal is to exercise (in any way!) for 1800 minutes during April and May, which comes out to about 30 minutes a day. I play soccer 2-3 times a week with a recreational team, but I'm supplementing that with running intervals on the treadmill and the occasional elliptical workout. 

This week, my goal is to exercise for at least 45 minutes, three times outside of soccer. I'm also tracking my steps and my water intake and working to cut out desserts while eating solid servings of vegetables (my weakness). 

What are your goals for the week? How do you manage your anxiety? What do you like to do for exercise?

Weekly Goals #30

 Helloooooo ladies! Happy Monday! Last week off from classes was oh-so-lovely! I spent the whole week with my family in Florida, where we biked around, ate so. much. yummy food and just generally hung out. Even though it was rainy a good part of the week, we still got enough beach time in for me to get sunburnt. Where did I get sunburnt, you ask? My armpits. Like that little crook in front of your shoulder. Somehow, that's the only place (other than the tops of my feet, which always get scorched) that got as red as all the traffic lights that I occasionally run. I'm almost cried trying to put on a sports bra the next day (is that TMI? #sorrynotsorry).

Aaaaaanyways, I'm back to school this week and all the excitement that that brings! I've got about a month until exams so while the learning in my classes is winding down, the crazy stress of exams is right around the corner. :/ to add to that stress, I have something almost every weekend in April. Prayers, y'all. Send 'em this way. 

Last week, I talked about trying to find time for all the minutiae that comes with blogging beyond simply writing posts--the comments, the social media, the sponsorships, etc etc etc. I tried to be intentional about spending time doing all these things. I didn't do quite as much interaction as I had hoped as far it's social media (I'm working on it, really!), but I still feel good about my effort. 

I had been frustrated, as others of you are, that there's not a good way to comment from the bloglovin' app or even an iPhone in general. Just so ya know, I have found that the google chrome browser app will remember your login info for websites so it will keep you logged in to disqus. So that makes commenting a little but easier. I still have to bother to open up the post in chrome, but at least I don't have to log in every single time that I want to comment. 

So obviously, it's a process. But I'm on my way. 

Sort of shifting gears (I'm terrible at segues), I want to share my goal for next week--and really the next few weeks. I have a big, formal event with H in about a month. To out it straight, I'm really nervous. I get super anxious (like I cry and have to go home like a three year old who missed her nap) at social events, especially ones that require dressing up and being perfect all evening and socializing and dancing and yucky yuck yuck. But H really, really wants to go and I'm trying to be the fabulous girlfriend that I know I am somewhere inside, so we're going. 

I'm trying to plan ahead and make as many things as stress-free as possible, so that I have as little anxiety as possible. I made sure that I got a dress I like and that I feel good in. But I'm also going to work on getting in shape for the event, because I always feel better when I'm in shape. This week, my goal is to exercise today, Tuesday and Wednesday, since I'll be out of town Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday with no chance to work out. 

I've found this treadmill workout that involves really short intervals (:30 to 1:00) that make up four bigger phases: incline, sprints, endurance and hills. I've never been a huge fan of the treadmill but I've run it a few times and it's not bad! I'll be doing that at least twice this week. 

What are your goals for the week? How do you exercise when you're out of town and without a gym/fitness center?

P.S. Today's my birthday! I'm not big on birthdays, but I just couldn't write this post without sneaking that in. :)

This post is brought to you by Netflix, orange-cranberry scones and Jillian Lorraine!

Start here: Me at 20 / 22 Reasons Why Being Tall is Wonderful

Hang out with Jillian: Bloglovin' / Twitter / Goodreads / Instagram

Getting Involved in the Blog Community

The last few weeks have been weird here on the blog. Can you feel it? I know I can. I've been out of town a good bit and I've had more guest posts than normal. I've scheduled all my posts ahead of time. I've been so busy with school that all the little details that come with blogging have fallen by the wayside. I've hardly been on Twitter, much less have I been sharing my own posts and much much less have I been sharing others posts--something that I love to do. I've been scanning through my blog feed on my phone, only reading the posts with really good titles/pictures. And when I find a good post, I never comment. 

As a result, I've been feeling a little bit sad about this blog. (I'm not going anywhere--exhale!) I've come to the conclusion that I can't put in half the time that I used to into this relationship (because this is sort of like my weird relationship with the people of the internet) and expect all of the same results. I've been spreading myself too thin. 

So this is my one goal for the week: get involved in the blog community again. I'm on vacation for a week, and for me, that means way more blogging. I'm really excited to start my new mission to 'revive my blog lovelife' and I hope it's not too late to build all my relationships back up with my blog and blog-reading friends. So I thought I'd lay out my step-by-step plan to squish myself back into this circle of friends and invite you to come along with me! If you're not feeling fulfilled by blogging lately, try one of these things!

Sponsoring. I used to think it was like paying for friends (which, incidentally, is also how I felt about sororities), but it's really not. It's visually (and financially) supporting the blogs you love. For me, the views and followers I get from sponsoring other blogs are minimal, I'm more interested in making a connection with another blogger. 

Sharing other blogger's posts. I love doing this because it helps me connect with both other bloggers and my followers. Every blogger loves to see someone love on a post that they spent time on and you're helping provide your followers with even more quality content to read!

Comment on the blogs you read. I find it especially inconvenient to comment on other blogs because I read 90% of my Bloglovin' feed from my phone. But I know how disappointed I feel when I spend hours on a post that I think will be a smash hit, only to watch it go without comments. Think about it this way: pretend you had some really great news and had lunch with your best friend to tell her your exciting news. But when you tell her, she just sits and looks at you. How sad would that be?! That's how blogging without comments feels. I know I'm bad at responding to comments, but I read every single one (and even save screenshots on my phone of many!).

Respond to comments left on your own blog (if you have one). This goes hand-in-hand with the last one, but I just have to mention it since I'm kinda-sorta terrible at it. I will respond to 90% of comments left here over time, but it may be 2-3 weeks before I get to it. I want to be better about responding promptly. How can I build a conversation with you lovely people if I wait two weeks to reply?!

Send an email! I've only done this a few times but I'd like to do it more. It seems like a somewhat revolutionary idea, to email a blogger instead of just commenting. But if you read a post that really, really clicks with you or helps you in a new way, I promise that you can make any blogger's day with a two-sentence email that tells them that. 

So all of these collective steps make up my goal for the week. Now I need you to help me. Leave a comment with a favorite blog, a favorite post (yours or someone else's!), an idea on how to get involved in the blog community or just any thoughts on this post. And I promise, I will respond. 

Weekly Goals #29

Hellooooo loves! Happy Monday! Well, I'm finally back from my trip to Colorado. Though lovely, I feel like I've been gone forever. I've hardly opened up my computer in a week and a half and it feels just weird-weird-weird. I'm still getting back into the swing of things so I'm keeping things super short and casual today.

Last week, I made a goal to exercise while on vacation. But I sooorta underestimated how much of an exercise skiing is in itself! Did you know that you can burn upwards of 400 calories an hour skiing? Yeah, for real, you can believe how excited I was to learn that, especially considering that some days I skied from 9 till 4. That's a whole lotta calories to get rid of! Needless to say, I got them all back with some Nutella ;) So I'm totally fine with not exercising officially all week since I walked around town lots + skied. 

But I'm not gonna spoil too much since I have a little recap planned for later this week. Just know that my awesome week included not only skiing, but also tubing, good food, drama and dogsledding. Yes. And if I can convince him, H might share a little bit about when he went snowmobiling!

Until then, let me share my goals for the week. I've got a lot to do to get back in place for the coming weeks. I'm missing classes again today because I'm in Tennessee. I'll need to be super focused to get caught up on classwork. In addition, I didn't write any blog posts for like ten whole days (they were all scheduled! gasp!) so my stock of prewritten posts is down to nil. This week I want to get back to my normal schedule of being at least three or four posts ahead. 

That's all today--what are your goals for the week?

Weekly Goals #27

(Death to the Stock Photo)

What. a. week. Let me tell you, this has been one of those weeks that I'm just ready to be done with + forget about. As someone who occasionally-borderline-obsesses over getting things done, it's hard for me to acknowledge that sometimes there are weeks when things just don't come together. But I'm learning to accept that + it's okay. 

I'm committing myself to making this week the exact opposite. I'm gonna get stuff done + I'm gonna be ready for my trip to Breckenridge, CO (!!) + I'm going to be happy + calm + all sorts of good things.

How did I do last week?

Sucky. I'll just say it. I mean, I could totally get out here and make all sorts of excuses why I basically did nothing all week, but I'm not even going to. I didn't run. Not even once. I think I need to admit to myself that I can choose not to run + still exercise. I have this thing where I don't accept a workout unless it includes running. But I hate running. So I just don't work out at all. But I actually like doing other workout-y things, it's just running that psychs me out. So whatever. I've got that to work on.

BUTTTTTTT I did manage to finish my website for a drunk driving prevention campaign. It's not public but I just needed to tell y'all that I finished it because that's some exciting stuff.

My goals for this week:

Get all ready for my trip to Breckenridge! I think I've all but forgotten to mention my trip but I'm leaving on Saturday for Colorado to get me some mountain air! I'll have posts planned out + I'll be responding to comments + emails (a little more slowly), but I don't plan on writing any posts while I'm there. I've got a few more posts to write and my bag to pack but then I'm ready to go!

Try a few new ways to exercise. Maybe not "new" exactly, but not running. I'm thinking about at-home conditioning, maybe a Jillian Michaels DVD, a bike ride if the ice all melts, and kickboxing if I can get someone to go with me. I'd love your input on this--how do you workout, especially outside of a traditional gym? 

Aaaaand, I've got a science bit for today!! Yay! I don't know how many of you actually read/like this section, but I know I really enjoy sharing the bits with you + hopefully you find yourself learning new things along with me, even if you're not a "science person". This one is totally cool + even you non-science people might find it interesting! 

What does sand look like when you magnify it 250x? This magical picture. 

Isn't that the coolest? Just consider this the next time you're walking on a beach...you're walking on billions of teeny-tiny gems just like these!! Please tell me someone else thinks this is cool. Anyways, if you're interested, you can see the whole collection of images of sand under a microscope. It makes me wonder what other cool things there are in the world that we're totally unaware of!

Alright, that's it. Take care, polar bears!