Month: January 2020

My 2020 Intentions — A Check In!

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Only three days left in the first month of the new decade! It’s been a weird first month, and I’m eager to see how February goes.

Here’s a status update on each of my 2020 “Intentions”:

1. Read 52 books. On my way! I’ve read three books this month, and I would like to read two between now and the end of this week. I’m thinking a monthly book club post can be expected soon regardless.

2. Do pull ups. I’m able to hang a bit, and pull myself up slightly. Aaron provided some truly excellent feedback about the targeted muscles of the pull-up, which really made a difference this past week. To that point, Aaron thinks that my goal isn’t all that lofty, since he previously went from doing zero to seventy pull ups in three months. I think compounding with a hand-stand goal balances me out, though!

3. Spend LESS. TIME. SCROLLING. In general, I think I’m doing slightly better. I scroll less when I’m with other people, but I still find myself refreshing my Twitter and Instagram feed way too frequently for my liking.

4. Write 104 blog posts. This will be my eighth post in the new year. Making progress!

5. Romantic trip with Aaron from Dec. 26 2020 – Jan. 2 2021. The Gods (or rather, my mother) have smiled upon me– mission accomplished! A special offer inspired my mom to book a cruise for the end of the year. It’s not in the exact time-frame enumerated above, but I’m okay with that! It’ll still feel like a good way to celebrate being together for the holidays on a romantic adventure.

6. Stop engaging in schadenfreude. This resolution had several very specific targets. I haven’t indulged in one of them, but I’ve grazed two and full-on consumed another. One of my “grazes” made me feel uncomfortable, so I think I’m halfway there. If I can stop with the full-on consumption of that “another” in February, I will feel much better.

7. Take better care of my skin. I’ve been better about washing my face! I also discovered that I should be using my face wash on my shoulders. Hopefully that will help expedite my progress for clean skin all over, and not just what my coworkers will see!

8. Go stargazing. I haven’t set a date for this yet, but I did slow down on my morning walk to the gym this morning because the sky was just that breathtaking. Stars really are something. I might wait for a good stargazing night, like an eclipse or a meteor shower. Then again, maybe not!

9. Get a new job. I’ve been working with a coworker from a different department to get her accustomed to the website platform. It’s been great! The more she learns, the better the transition will be when I leave. I have a meeting with my supervisor for next week where we can hopefully discuss opportunities further. Meanwhile… customers have made me feel hostile, depressed, and hopeless. That only motivates me to leave even faster.

theofficedesperate
Image from Tenor. “Chair Model.” The Office. NBC. 17 April 2008.

10. Do a handstand. I’ve practiced a few times at the gym against a wall, but I definitely feel unnerved by the process. I feel like people are staring (and by that I mean a single person. Because it’s the gym. At five in the morning. And some weirdo is leaning her potato body against a wall while kicking upside down and trying to stay upright). I need to work on my confidence!

11. Go see two of my favorite performers. Boy oh boy, did this go downhill. Of the performers I mentioned last time (John Mulaney, Bo Burnham, Ali Wong, Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, and Panic! at the Disco), only two of them are doing tours this year. Billie’s concert tickets are way too expensive, and Ali’s tour dates do not include Florida.

Image from GIPHY. “In Care Of.” Mad Men . 23 June 2013.

I may reevaluate this resolution, and try to (on one of my trips to New York this year) see “Hamilton” and “Dear Evan Hansen,” both of which are Broadway shows I’ve been wanting to see for years.

12. Lose weight. I lost a few, gained some, and now I think I’ve found something that may work long-term (for REAL this time). I hope it does!

13. Give Aaron a great 26th birthday. I still have time to plan this, but I keep a list of presents to get him in my phone to add to whenever he says he wants something. Hopefully in two months we’ll have an idea of what he wants for his birthday. I’d like to surprise him with something special!

14. Be a better friend, wife, sister, daughter, and granddaughter. I’ve talked more in depth with my friends and siblings this year. I talk to my parents way less than I should, and I haven’t spoken to my grandparents once this month (I may have left a single voicemail). That is positively embarrassing. I’m ashamed.

15. Be happy. Well, after reading that last item, I’m not very happy! I guess it’s a good thing, because if I have nothing to show for the end of next month I’ll feel even worse, and I don’t want that. But in general I’ve enjoyed this month a lot more than I enjoyed the previous month. Having the kittens around has made a world of a difference.

And that’s January! There’s still time for me to read and speak to my grandparents. I really don’t have an excuse, do I? Onward and upward!

Stitches in Time

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Sundays and Wednesdays are my laundry days each week. Today while folding my clothes, I decided to put together all my gym outfits for the week to save me some time in the morning! Thus, next to me right now are five pairs of workout pants, sports bras, tank-tops, and socks… color coordinated, I might add!

With that, I thought I’d share a few of my other favorite time-savers. Take a look to see what helps me get things done quicker to keep me on task and on time!

  1. Five Minute Makeup Routine: If I’m trying to get to work a tad early, I only apply the following makeup products: foundation, eyebrow pencil, and mascara. While it’s not the most glamorous look I could pull off, it gives me polished skin and sharp eyes. I have started prepping my face with a swipe of Vaseline to my lips daily to keep them hydrated as well. I look alert and prepared (or, as a person who shouldn’t share their negative opinions would say, not “tired” or “sick”).
  2. Pick up a prepped meal at the grocery store. During the week, I tend to go food shopping one time to get all my meal ingredients for the week. That said, I’ll typically pick up sushi for Aaron and I to enjoy dinner that night (or, if they’re on sale, a Floridian delicacy: the “Pub Sub”). Less time cooking AND a healthier meal to enjoy? Win-win!
  3. Saving solutions for future problems. This one comes in handy at work! Sometimes we’ll be given a problem that needs solving that neither I, nor my coworkers, have ever seen. My tenacity tends to kick in during these situations and I’ll work tirelessly to find a solution. When I’m able to figure it out, I’ll save every step of my solution in my computer. In case the problem isn’t a wacky one-off, or comes back later, I won’t spend an extra twenty minutes racking my brain trying to remember what/how I solved it the last time!
  4. Chunking my “self-care.” Hair styling, exfoliating, face masks… I’m in for every kind of special treatment I can treat myself to on a regular basis. However, if I were to do these every night, or even all on the same night, I’m in trouble! I tend to dedicate my evening routine to one or two “self-care” treatments. I space out the occasions evenly through the week, so I can treat myself accordingly twice (exfoliate Monday/Friday, style my hair Sundays and Wednesdays, you get the idea). I feel clean and taken care of every day for just that half an hour each night.
  5. Scrolling curfew. I know, this isn’t technically a time-saver, but it’s a time rearrange concept, and that’s just as effective! If I go to bed with my phone in hand, I guarantee you I’ll spend another half hour browsing Twitter Instagram, Pinterest… random Google searches are pretty frequent, too! I put my phone in its charger around 9:30 each night, ensuring I’m asleep by ten at the latest. Turns out, with the screens away, I’m pretty sleepy!

Time management, time saving techniques, whatever you call it, I think everyone can agree, when you’re using your time effectively, you’re better equipped to do your best! How do you save time during the week?

Style: A 2019 Check In

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It’s cold outside the past few days, and that means cold weather style! After buying cute sweaters for the honeymoon, I have a decently sized closet to keep warm and look polished. That said, last year around this time I decided I wanted to seriously update my wardrobe with more choices. I figured I’d take inventory of the items that I have now compared to the literal laundry list of items I wanted to add to my closet. Let’s take a look!

  • Grey Skinny Jeans – Check! They still bunch a little bit when I wear jeans, but I attribute that to me being petite and most pants go all the way to the arch of my foot.
  • Blue Rinse High Rise Jeans – Check! I have two now, one light rinse and one dark rinse.
  • White loose-flowing button down or casual blouse – No dice here. I ended up putting the one I already had in the donate pile, so I’m definitely going to need to cash this one out this year.
  • 2 Longer cardigans (I have four cute jackets now, I don’t need to buy another) – Done and done! I have a black, grey, and pink long cardigan. They’ve been staples this winter!
  • White Sneakers (Sooner Rather than Later) – Better late than never: bought new Adidas right before the honeymoon and they are great!
  • Black Sneakers (A luxury at this point) – I have a pair of Black Vans, but they’ve seen better days! I would like to replace these this year.
  • Pair of well-fitted joggers – I own three pairs of joggers now. They’re both a bit too big, but it’s a step!
  • 2 A-Line Skirts – Did NOT get these. On the docket for this year!
  • 1 Pair of Culottes – Not even close. I don’t know if I still want these in my wardrobe, but I’m anticipating another closet overhaul later this year. I’ll address it then.
  • 1 Loose White Tee Shirt – Yes!
  • 1 Loose Black Tee Shirt – Yes!
  • 1 Loose Grey Tee Shirt – No. Dangit!
  • 1 Loose Light Blue Shirt – I have a light blue sweater blouse. Does that qualify?
  • 1 Loose Pale Pink Shirt – Nope.
  • 1 Fitted White Tee Shirt – Yes!
  • 1 Fitted Black Tee Shirt – Yes!
  • 1 Fitted Grey Tee Shirt – Maybe? I feel like I own a lot of grey. I don’t remember buying one, but I’m 99 percent sure I have this.
  • 1 Fitted Light Blue Shirt – Nope.
  • 1 Fitted Pale Pink Shirt – Ish? I got a pale pink long sleeve shirt. It’s quite fitted.
  • 1 Black Blouse – Nada.
  • 1 Pink Blouse – Nope.
  • 1 Light Blue Blouse – This stings.

I’m a little bummed! I thought I did a bit better than I really did on this goal. I’m not one to spend money just to spend money, so I don’t want to go buy these items just to say I did this. I really do want to update my closet later this year (I think a good cleansing twice a year is good for the soul); hopefully at the same time I can get this list completed. Maybe a try on of each item in a future post? I love that idea! See you, let’s say… in July.

Adventures in Parenting… a Prequel

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As I write this, I have an orange little kitten sitting on my chest, while his equally small calico sister looks at my typing fingers from behind the back of my computer.

That’s right– we’ve adopted cats.

Aaron has wanted us to get cats for a while now, but between the wedding and the honeymoon and the holidays we wanted to wait until after the new year. Sure enough, not even two weeks into 2020, we had an appointment with a foster family.

At a work associate’s football party (to celebrate the holidays AFTER the holidays), Aaron struck up a conversation about adopting cats with a coworker who had recently adopted. She introduced him to the foster mom who had adopted out a cat to another coworker of ours. Aaron discovered she was fostering a family of newborn cats, three of them calico (which had especially piqued Aaron’s interest, after raising a calico on his own). He filled out an adoption application at the table right then and there, and scheduled a meet and greet three days later.

I was nervous, to say the least. Obviously, I wanted to provide the best life for the cats, and I was scared I wouldn’t be that person. Aaron was reassuring, promising that if things didn’t feel right at our Meet and Greet, we wouldn’t take them home.

That Saturday, we drove to the other side of town and met the foster mom, who led us into her nursery of the “Reindeer family” (being that it was the holiday season, each of the seven cats and their birth mother were named after Santa’s reindeer). I was overwhelmed by how little they all were. As the foster explained that her goal was to adopt out each cat in pairs, or at least into a family with a cat, Aaron found himself being swarmed by small kittens (roughly two months old at the time). I sat down near him, not wanting to crowd him or overwhelm the kittens in the room. Several of them immediately took to Aaron, but it was taking longer for them to warm to me.

Eventually, one of the girls made her way over to me. She circled a few times, then eventually jumped into my lap and crawled up to snuggle by my feet. My heart swelled. This was my girl.

Not long after, her brother came over to me after snuggling with Aaron to see what the fuss about me was. Aaron looked over at me, with a lap full of cats, and said, “Okay. that answers our question. Where do we sign?”

I sat in the back with the two in a carrier as we made our way home. That weekend was filled with smiles, photos, and a few really nice cat naps.

That was a week ago. We’ve since changed their “Reindeer Names” of Comet and Prancer to Jake and Rosa, and they have since learned our master bathroom is their bedroom and that the closet is a treasure trove that MUST NOT BE DISCOVERED NO MATTER HOW INTRIGUING IT LOOKS. They like listening to music, watching Youtube, and they love playing with their catnip flavored mouse plushies and a crinkly slice of pizza (enjoying pizza by themselves in a corner. They are truly family).

And yes, their names were chosen based on the characters of Jake Peralta and Rosa Diaz from “Brooklyn Nine Nine.” I got a video clip of the two snuggling on my Peacock pillow watching “The Office.” They are being taught early that we’re an NBC family.

My life has been filled with new responsibilities, challenges, and adventures in raising and taking care of a living being. It has been tiring, calming, and truly loving at times. We’ve started this ritual of me turning on quiet music while I wash my face at the end of the night to signal to them that it’s bedtime. They are so smart and so aware, and I was not prepared for how curious and troublesome they can be (they just want to experience and chew on… everything).

I am so happy and so in love, even if they like to step on my keyboard while I write (and gnaw on my fingers at any opportunity. I’ve learned to wear my slippers at all times so they don’t nibble my feet). Soon they’ll be mature enough to walk around the house without supervision! Until then, I am happy to keep them close to my heart. Literally. Did I mention Jake is on my chest right now?

Both cats have fallen asleep nestled against me while typing tonight, but they have since stirred and decided on one last bout of playtime before bed. That means it’s time for the skin routine and soft music.

Goodnight, world. Goodnight, Jake and Rosa. Welcome to our little family.

 

5 Ways to Set Yourself Up For Failure

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We are in week 3 of the new decade, and everywhere I look, the promise and hope of my friends and loved ones have vanquished into disparity. I’ve seen this tweet shared more than once:

Not great, Bob! I myself have fudged on a few resolutions. But that’s okay! “The Office” had a great episode about New Year’s Resolutions (more sitcoms/TV series should have a New Years Resolution plotline. That’s a whole other story!) with this line: “It’s not about being perfect, it’s about trying.” To me, trying is the best way to succeed! It’s when you DON’T try that you fail.

Which leads me into my main thesis:

5 WAYS TO SET YOURSELF UP FOR FAILURE

Don’t feel attacked by this list! Everyone, especially me, struggles with this at some point. If any of these apply to you, know I have a solution!

  1. Lie to yourself. When you start letting yourself off the hook at the slightest inconvenience, phoning it in instead of giving your all, and you need a grappling hook to climb that mountain of excuses, you slowly begin that descent into “Meh.” There will always be tough days– you’re sick, you’re exhausted, there’s traffic that throws off your whole schedule. Plan for that to happen, and let “life” be the only thing standing in the way.
  2. Set unrealistic expectations. If your goal is to lose weight, with the plan being to skip meals like it’s a crack on the sidewalk until you’re a size two, you are in for a painful ride. Here’s the good news: that ride is temporary, because you will snap and eat an entire pack of Oreos and be back at square one, filled with regret and shame. If you want to achieve your goals, you can! But start small. Getting back to the weight loss goal: say no to dessert every other night. Go to the gym once a week. Baby steps will get you running marathons!
  3. Procrastinating. This feels like a no-brainer! When you put off completing a task until later, “later” gets further and further away until you’ve put yourself in crunch time. And hey, there’s a difference between being lazy and “thriving under a deadline.” I’m all for the theatre of the latter, but always remember the end of my first point: life will happen. Computers die. Office birthday cake gets served. If you put it off once, you will put it off again… and again… and again!

    procrastination
    “Kim Possible.” Disney.
  4. Running on an empty tank. It feels good to succeed and make progress! You’ll want to feed that feeling as much as possible. That’s great, but proceed with caution! Taking time to breathe is just as important as the work you accomplish. You can enjoy a day off, a Netflix binge, or a monthly happy hour with your friends. Cabin fever murders aside, all work and no play DOES make Jack a dull boy. You can certainly stop and smell the roses on the journey! Maybe you’ll even want to plant a few yourself. Take a moment, a day, to express gratitude towards yourself. Breathe in, breathe out, then keep going.
  5. Giving up too early. The only failure is failing to try. If you attempt to complete your tough goals but quit after two days, you’ve wasted your time and energy for literally nothing. What you are doing isn’t supposed to be comfortable! You should be challenged by your resolutions/tasks. Settle outside your comfort zone and do the work. Remember why you’re here. Motivation will come and go, but that doesn’t mean your goals should be just as flimsy. Work hard, and stick with it! The results WILL come.

There you have it! Five ways to set out on a short, fruitless journey towards fulfilling your dreams. To make it past these issues, I have but one suggestion: try. I believe in you! You can do it!

 

It Rubs the Lotion on Its Skin… Or Something.

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One of my New Year’s Resolutions for this year is to take better care of my skin. I have a well established skin routine for both the daytime and nighttime! My problem is consistency, washing daily and treating regularly (some nights I just take off my makeup, without properly washing my face; I try to exfoliate and put on a face mask twice a week but don’t do so enough). That said, this year I’ve been keeping up with washing twice a day and my skin has broken out a bit and feels slightly greasy (too much washing CAN lead to an overproduction of oils) so maybe I only need to wash once a day? Or taper off once a day, twice a day? Trial and error until we hit perfection!

Here are the products currently in my daily routine:

Daily Face Wash: Trader Joe’s Spa Face wash with tea tree oil. It says to use twice daily, with warm water, for one minute. I don’t scrub for one minute each time, but I do tend to use warm water!
Toner: Mario Badescu Facial Spray with Aloe Herbs and Rosewater. Just a quick spritz to the face! It feels clean, and smells pretty!
Serum: Andalou Naturals Turmeric + C Enlighten Serum. My goal is to be fresh faced and glowing, like the girls I see who live on Hawaii who spend ninety percent of their day at the beach or in a jungle NEAR the beach. The Vitamin C in this serum is what makes my skin get brighter. I have noticed a difference; when I don’t use it for a few days my skin looks a bit dull.
Eye Cream(s): During the day, I use Kiehl’s Powerful-Strength Line-Reducing Eye-Brightening Concentrate. At night, I use Olay Deep Hydrating Eye Gel.
Moisturizer/Sunscreen: Tarteguard 30 SPF Sunscreen Lotion. I keep hearing about the importance of sunscreen, how moisturizer and sunscreen should be put on before you ever leave the house, even if it’s cloudy outside. This is the base before I start on my make-up every day!

I still haven’t fully set on a facial scrub; I was using Neutrogena’s daily scrub, and then when that ran out I switched to one that was cruelty free but smells bad. Since then, I’ve started using a kumquat and olive oil scrub that feels great and smells beautiful. I hope that I can replace it when I run out, but if not, I’ll have to find another.

I tend to go back and forth with the facial masks I use. There’s a bulk order of sheet masks you can get from Amazon, and Sephora makes great face masks, too. I also like YesTo charcoal masks! It really depends on the night. If it’s a weekend or a day that I work from home, I’ll apply the mask in the morning! They work best when I’m shower fresh, when my pores are open and the bathroom is still warm/wet from the shower mist.

That’s my regular routine! I’m hoping to add facials into my routine twice a month (but will settle for once a month– they’re expensive!), and with that, EVENTUALLY get microdermabrasion to get rid of my bigger acne scars. All in good time! For now, it’s just good products, less dairy, and when all else fails, Sephora color corrector.

What Matters Most: Gratitude in 2020

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One week into the new year! I’m off to a good start with a few of my goals. I am noticing that I need to make a more concerted effort to get to bed earlier than I have been, because waking up at 5AM for the gym has been tough. That said, I’ve done it each weekday!

January is the beginning of the year, and with it, the beginning of positive changes. New year, new you! My company is jumping on board with a new “zen” initiative to boost health and wellness within their employees. How great is that? They’re hosting wellness panels and offering learning opportunities, and even provided a calendar full of ideas to be well during the work week. With that, they’ve created a page of journaling ideas within the wellness webpage for those looking to channel their ideas and goals!

I decided to take a look at that page and choose one of their prompts to reflect upon and consider. I went to the site, closed my eyes, wiggled my finger and stuck to whatever prompt my finger landed on when I opened my eyes. The result:

The most important things in my life are…

I think it was fate to have my finger land on this one. This week I was going through my desk drawers at work, cleaning out old work notes and re-organizing what went where (office supplies drawer, first aid drawer, extra snacks and napkins drawer). In the process, I found birthday cards from my team, post-it appreciation from my closest work friend, and old cards from flower arrangements from my mom and Aaron.

Some part of that just touched my heart, it felt like a rose petal falling. It was like a little message from the universe reminding me of what I have in my life and how much it means to me. Truthfully, I feel like being happy is what is most important to me, at the “what’s” core, but my happiness is informed by my surroundings.

My family is the most important thing to me. That includes my mom, my dad, my brother and sister, and yes, Aaron (and by extension, his family). My friends are second. A friend recently reached out to ask how I found the friends I have, how I found such smart, sweet, friendly women to call my soul sisters. I don’t know how I got so lucky to have them as my friends. I would do anything for them, no questions asked.

My future is a super close third. I want a fulfilling career, two happy kids, and the chance to travel the world with my loved ones. Ten years from now, I want to have seen a Pacific sunrise with my wanderlust friends (Australia? Bali? Hawaii? I have no TRUE preference), had two kids, corresponding cats, and a decent sized home outside of my work city to put it all in together. Life happens, but if I’m blessed enough and work hard enough, maybe pulling that off won’t be as terrifying to accomplish as it sounds.

The most important things in my life are the people around me. I love them and am so happy to have them. 2020 is when I let them know every chance I can.

If you’re reading this, go tell someone you love them.

My 2020 Intentions

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Happy New Year, world! Welcome to the roaring twenties. I’m going to KEEP SAYING IT, because as I’ve stated before, I love the glitz and glamour and Gatsby of it all… minus the massive Depression that followed. If we could hold off on that this time around that’d be great, because I don’t think I can handle that.

This time last year, I provided my biggest resolutions for 2019. Like most people, I really did NOT do a great job on them. I decided to include some of them in this year’s resolutions, though. The only failure is failure to try, right?

In 2019, these were my goals:
1. Do an unassisted pull-up.
2. Do a handstand.
3. Make mindfulness a regular practice.
4. Make style changes.
5. Do something new.
6. Take a Career Step.
7. Go stargazing.

So, how did I do?
1. Do an unassisted pull-up – did not happen, but I did get close! I have included this in my 2020 resolutions. This is the YEAR OF THE PULL-UP.
2. Do a handstand – did not happen. I still want to accomplish this, but my focus is pull-ups.
3. Make mindfulness a regular practice – I accomplished this to a degree, but not as much as I’d like. I found myself taking moments to ground myself and enjoy silence when I needed it, but I wasn’t meditating for five minutes every day.
4. Make style changes – Mission accomplished, mostly? I changed up my style a bit in the past year, but not dramatically so. In a later entry I’m going to compare my style post from last year to my current closet. I think this is ongoing, as my body and tastes change, and I didn’t include this in my 2020 resolutions. I definitely did a lot less “phoning it in” in how I dressed!
5. Do something new – Ate gator, pistachio gelato, and multiple different kinds of ultra hot sauce. Held a lizard and a snake, posed with an albino gator. Traveled to Italy, France, and Greece. Got this done, fo’ sho.
6. Take a Career Step – I took bebe steps to this. My workload was massive in the first half of the year, but it gave me a great opportunity to learn more, and do more, within my position. The second half of the year, things calmed down, but at the same time, my life was consumed with the wedding, honeymoon, and family gatherings. Between ALL of it, though, I sat down with my supervisor and discussed my goals for this upcoming year. I have loved the position I have now but I’m ready for something new, go after the real career I want. Thankfully, my boss is supportive and has helped me with this process, but again, it’s been baby steps. I’ve made this a top resolution for the new year.
7. Go stargazing – Mission KIND OF accomplished. On our honeymoon, Aaron and I walked the ship at night and he pointed out different constellations. Turns out he’s really into astronomy! We were only outside for a few minutes though, because it was freezing and I needed to go inside. I’d love to take a night to do that with him, just us, a picnic blanket, and the stars. I see a starry date night in our future… just maybe when it’s warmer!

So, where does that leave us for this year?

Behold, my 2020 Resolutions!

  1. Read 52 books – Last year, I pointedly did not make book-reading a goal, and with that, I actually think I read more this past year than I did in a while! I want to set a target goal of reading one new book a week. I’m going to monitor this goal by doing a “book review” at the end of the month to discuss each book I read that month. And yes, week 1 is already complete 😉
  2. Do pull ups – I really want to do it! I’m hoping that my ability to pull myself up will inform my ability to push myself up into a handstand, but if not, that’s okay. Apparently if you can do one pull-up, you can do more than one pull-up. Let’s see how that goes!
  3. Spend LESS. TIME. SCROLLING – Holy heckin’ bob, I spend so much time on my phone! Everyone and their mother has an opinion on how much I’m on my phone. I’ve honestly watched so much time fly while mindlessly liking photos on Instagram. I need to get out of other people’s lives/digital media footprint.
  4. Write 104 blog posts – Two entries a week seems reasonable, right? I’ve started mentally planning an entry for each week this month. Very excited to be consistent and track my year’s worth of thoughts, ideas, and goals!
  5. Romantic trip with Aaron from Dec. 26 2020 – Jan. 2 2021 – Those dates may vary, but I want to take the last “week” of the year off of work. I want to leave work before Christmas Eve and not come back until the new year! At the top of my list is a trip to Vermont to have a snow-covered Christmas, and then go skiing for the rest of the year. My mom has also been contemplating taking my siblings, Aaron and I on a cruise in the tropics at the end of the year. If my mom wants to treat us to an end-of-the year Bahamas trip, whomst am I to refuse? That said, I saw photos of Amsterdam all lit up for Christmas and it looked very romantic, and I also considered the idea of going back to London with Aaron, and doing a few days in Scotland before ringing in the new year by Big Ben. How special would that be? So, ideas! Intention! Execute!
  6. Stop engaging in schadenfreude – This feeds into item 3, but a part of me secretly loves when people on social media I don’t like get their comeuppance or get called out for being terrible. It’s just bad karma. I like “tea” as much as the next person, but I don’t think it needs to dominate my brain as much as I let it now!
  7. Take better care of my skin – Maybe it’s end of the year holiday food, maybe it’s just not showering RIGHT after a workout, but dang, I have serious acne on my shoulders right now! Boo! Didn’t ask for that! Thankfully I don’t have terrible facial acne, but I have scars that are just… unconcealable. I want to spend more of my hard-earned money on self-care, in the form of facials and massages. Calmer muscles = calmer skin. Also water.
  8. Go stargazing – I’m honestly embarrassed I didn’t do this last year. I went to a holiday party during which a friend and I discussed bioluminescence kayaking, which is when you go out kayaking at night in a place where the water looks like this:
    bioluminescent_plankton-click link for sourceI think sparkly seas and sparkly skies is an ideal date night. Except Aaron isn’t a big fan of open water. I’ll figure this out, somehow!
  9. Get a new job – This is a MUST for this year. I love my coworkers and enjoy designing/revising websites, but I’m ready for something more. It’s time to move forward in a new position, and I will have one by the end of the year.
  10. Do a handstand – PULL UPS FIRST, then handstand! I think once I have the upper body strength I’ll be in good shape, the handstand true difficulty comes with the mental part of it. Balancing my whole body weight on my lil’ hands? Mind over matter!
  11. Go see two of my favorite performers – Stand up? Music? Either or works! Depending on who is touring (and where), I want to see John Mulaney, Bo Burnham, Ali Wong, Ariana Grande, Panic! at the Disco, or Billie Eilish. I’ll go on my own if that’s what it takes, but if John Mulaney is coming to Boston and I am FORCED to go see my best friends in Boston and go with them, I will do what is needed.
  12. Lose weight – I have a specific number in mind, a goal weight that I want to achieve. You don’t need to know that, though! They’re my numbers and no one needs to match my standards. I think weight loss is a common goal for people in the new year; that said, in today’s increasingly body-positive world, wanting to lose weight has negative connotations. I am all for celebrating yourself and loving the skin you’re in, but I definitely feel uncomfortable in my body lately. By scientific standards, I am obese right now (yikes). I’ll share when I’ve accomplished getting down to a healthy weight, and when I’ve reached my number, in reference to keeping up with my goals. I won’t share any numbers, but know that I’m doing this for me and not because society is making me.

    TheOfficeIDontEvenConsiderMyselfPartOfSociety
    Image from Pinterest. “Women’s Appreciation”. The Office. NBC. 3 May 2007.
  13. Give Aaron a great 26th birthday – Last year, his birthday fell by the wayside between family events and being sick. He had his birthday dinner and got great presents, but we had planned on going to Universal and that didn’t happen! I want to make sure that for his 26th birthday, I go all out and give him the works. He deserves it.
  14. Be a better friend, wife, sister, daughter, and granddaughter – I feel like this past year I was so absent, like I let things happen to me and didn’t really take actions for myself. With that, I heard my friends, but I didn’t always listen. I let Aaron vent but didn’t soak up what he said. I felt drained, so I didn’t spend a lot of time with my siblings nor my parents in a meaningful way. They did so much for me this past year, but I don’t know how my mom is doing. I don’t know what my brother wants to do with his life. Apparently my dad has taken up medicinal marijuana? What dimension is this? On top of that, I should call my grandparents more. I just should. It wasn’t consistent acts of selfishness, I just recognized that I could be better. I want to take better care of myself this year, but also take better care of my relationships with the people I love. This year, and every year, I will do better. I think if I accomplish all of these things, I will complete my biggest 2020 resolution:
  15. Be happy – In 2020 I will accomplish my goals, both personally and professionally. I will live a life of love and chose love every time.

 

At the end of each month, I will post my status/progress on each of these goals! I feel good about all of them, and I think this will be a good year for me. My brain keeps saying “Don’t jinx it!” To my brain I say “Stop second guessing yourself! Embrace the good! Go fold your laundry, it’s been in the dryer for three days!”

Happy New Year. Let’s make it a good one 🙂