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April Goals/Dreams

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Be sure to enter my Shabby Apple dress giveaway here!

I am beyond words excited about the month of April. Why? I have no idea. It’s not March? We are one more month closer to actual Spring weather?? One more month closer to vacation??? The possibilities are endless!

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April Dreams/Goals:

1. Get my passport. This one will be easy, considering, it’s in-process. But I want to actually have it in my possession. šŸ™‚Ā 

2. Continue working out a lot. Five days a week, here I come!Ā 

3. Make sure that at least one of those 5 workouts a week is a yoga class.

4. Keep up with cleaning and organizing during the weekdays so I can spend my weekends relaxing.

5. Save money! Spend nothing but money on food and gasoline, if at all possible.

6. Continue taking vitamins.Ā 

7. Keep setting daily/weekly intentions.

8. Finish 3 new books! I’m on a roll lately.

9. Back up my phone and my laptop. This should be a regular occurrence. But it isn’t.Ā 

10. Book plane tickets for our upcoming vacation.Ā 

11. Clean out my kitchen and reorganize.

March Dreams/Goals Wrap-Up:

1. Workout a LOT. This is a must for so many reasons. My goal is at least 5 days a week. I didn’t quite make it 5 days a week every week. But I religiously worked out at least 4 days a week. There were two weeks where it was 5 days.
2. Attend at least one yoga class a week.Success! I made it to at least 1, usually two, classes a week.
3. Eat healthy! I pretty much did this. With the occasional lapse in good-eating judgment.
4. Drink only water. Major fail. I drank diet rootbeer, wine and decaf coffee in March. Oops.
5. Finish at least 2 new books. Done! I finished The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and All We Ever Wanted Was Everything. They were both fantastic books!
6. Seriously this time back up my iPhone. Oops again. I seriously need to do this. I’m a slacker.
7. Spend even less than last month. Ehh. Didn’t quite spend less than February, but didn’t exactly spend much.
8. Really back up my computer this time. I have the external hard drive. All I have to do is hook it up. Sigh. Annnnd still didn’t do this. To be honest, it felt like I hardly opened up my computer at all in March. I literally just came home from work and read my book. Nothing else.
9. Continue to set intentions. If not daily, weekly. I was very good about this. And yoga helps. šŸ™‚
10. Be a regular blogger in the month of March! Success!
11. Apply for a passport! Done!
12. Stay healthy in every way possible! This means taking vitamins, keeping junk (food) out of my body, and staying calm in stressful situations. I did pretty well at this. Of course, there were exceptions {as usual}.

What are your goals for this lovely new month??

1.21.11

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Friday thoughts:
– Today is my last day of work at my current job.
Monday I’ll ‘start fresh’ at my ‘new’ job in Akron.
– 20 years ago today, my grandfather was killed.
I can’t believe it’s been so long!
A lot has happened in these twenty years.
And this day, twenty years ago,
forever changed my outlook on life.
But I am OK.
– I am really excited to have a nice, relaxing weekend.
I am making a promise to myself to have fun,
relax, and get whatever I can get done around the house done.
But I’m not over extending myself this weekend.
– I still haven’t had any caffeine since October.
This week was the first week where I woke up numerous days and thought,
Ā “Oh.my.gosh. I need want coffee.”
And not that fake decaf stuff.
The real stuff.
– I’m currently obsessed with pinterest.com.
Obsessed.
– Another obsession?
amazing.
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January 2011 Dreams/Goals.

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Hello, January! I’m excited to see what awaits me this month. I don’t mean to sound cryptic, but I’m hoping big things happen soon!Ā 
I’ve got a new set of dreams/goals for this month. They are less concrete than last months. And I’ll get to Decembers eval in a moment.
First, onward!
January Dreams/Goals:
1. Keep a daily food journal to see how the food I eat impacts my health.Ā 
2. Read 3 new books with my new Kindle.
3. Drink nothing but water and tea throughout the month.
4. Find time to do things that make me feel good, whether it’s taking a bubble bath or going for a run or to yoga.
5. Really figure out how to fit an at-home yoga practice into my life.Ā 
6. Spend quality time with the people who matter most.
7. Find new ways to organize at home.
8. Keep things simple.
9. Plan less. Just enjoy the beginning of a new year.
10. Spend money on nothing but food and gasoline.Ā 
11. Continue to stay on top of cleaning the house during the week so I can relax on the weekend more.
12. Clean out our pantry and get rid of anything old or expired.
13. Set an intention every morning for that day.
14. Back up my computer.
15. Update my iPhone once a week.
Decmeber Dreams/Goals Review:Ā 
I did OK. I didn’t do awesome. But that’s what happens with the holidays, I suppose.
1. Blog on a daily basis from today through the end of December. I missed one day. I really couldn’t do it. I was exhausted from the holidays and stressed and crying. I just couldn’t. But I came close!
2. Read at least 3 new books. 2 out of 3! I still consider this a semi-success considering the amount of events we had going on during December.
3. Spend Christmas Eve with BFs amazing family and have a fantastic time. Done.
4. Attend my family holiday party and soak up as much family time as possible. Done.
5. Spend one hour a week reflecting, writing and/or meditating. Not really done. I’m being honest. And it would’ve been easy to lie.Ā 
6. Finally figure out my 2011 budget. Yes, but only half-hearted. I’ll explain later.
7. Find a way to fit in more daily exercise, even if that means running during my lunch break. Thanks to the weather, December has been my least active month in a very long time. We got hammered with snow and I felt like I was either a) digging to get out, or b) trying to get some place. And when I wasn’t doing that, I was just happy to be safe and at home.

8. Organize my photos on my computer and back them up. Not done. Sad.
9. Finish my holiday cards and send them out. Done.
10. Bake at least 4 new cookie recipes and blog about them. Done. I made oatmeal cookies, rugelach cookies, cut-out cookies, and sugar cookies.
11. Continue to sleep earlier, rise earlier and sleep more! I think I did OK at this.Ā 
12. Continue to stay on top of house duties during the week to make my weekends more enjoyable. Done. But I want to continue this for sure!Ā 
13. Go to at least 1 yoga class a week and create an at-home practice. I went to as many yoga classes as I could. Again, the weather made it difficult. But I definitely did not do well at creating an at-home practice.
14. Start the second part of our detox program. I didn’t do this at all. I was eating yucky food all month and I just didn’t see the point in continuing the detox of it at that point.
15. Bring lunch to work every day. Do not eat takeout at lunch at all. Looking back, this was rather unrealistic. So it didn’t happen.
16. Continue without any caffeine through the month of December. Done!
17. Keep a food diary from now until the 31st. Make note of not only what I eat, but how I feel afterward as to better help my stomach issues. Not done.
18. Take vitamins every day from now through the end of December. Not done.
What dreams and goals have you set for this month?

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Day Zero Project – Update.

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I’ve been meaning to update my Day Zero Project list for some time now. But I’ve been putting it off. Probably because I’m no where near where I should be with my list of accomplishments.

Sadly, my last posted update was January 5th, 2010 — almost an entire year ago! Well, I’ve scratched some things off my list since then, luckily!

About the project: On Monday, July 13th, 2009, I created a list of 101 things to accomplish in 1001 days. The idea came from DayZeroProject.com. I have until April 19th, 2012 to complete my list!

The full list can be found here, but to sum it up, here’s what I’ve been busy getting accomplished these last 11 months:

Travel:
3. Go whitewater rafting. – Done. Our River Expeditions trip on 8/20-8/22 2010

10. Go camping. – Done. West Virginia, 8/20/10-8/22/10
13. Visit Denver. – Done. Thanksgiving week, 2010
16. Go to a Buffalo bills game. –Ā Done. October 11, 2009
21. Go to Dinosaur BBQ with BF. –Ā Done. Kind of. We went, but didn’t eat. Turns out I don’t like their food anymore. So I decided not to waste the trip with BF. However, I added number 21.5 to my list!
24. Go to Boston. – Only partially done. We went to a suburb of Boston briefly in April.
21 and a half. Participate in a polar bear plunge. – Done. January 2010.

Personal/Social:
30. Get a mani/pedi. –Ā Done. April 2010 before our Maine trip. And July 3, 2010
34. Go an entire year without swearing. – Began 12/15/10
36. Send at least one hand-written note/card each month. – Been going strong with this one from the start!
40. Paint a new piece of pottery. – Done. 11/12/10

Financial:
64. Pay off half of my debts. – Will be a work in progress for some time.
65. Buy a new car. – Done. November 2010 I bought my first ever brand new car! see picture!
66. Pay off my credit cards. – This will be one of those ongoing things.
67. Re-evaluate and re-do my current budget. Then, sixty days after, reevaluate to determine if it works for me. – My budget has been reevaluated and still isn’t working. So, I’ll try again this month!
68. Sell unused electronics on Craigslist or Ebay. – Done. April 2010
71. Donate $150 to a non-profit. – I was donating to WCPN, our Cleveland NPR station, monthly.

Work/Education:
72. Start an online Etsy business. – I’ve begun the process. But nothing is online as of yet. Soon!
73. Find a new job. – Done. Umm Iā€™ve done this a couple times
80. Read at least 25 new books. – Have read 4/25: ā€œI Was Told Thereā€™d Be Cakeā€, Sloane Crosley; ā€œHer Fearful Symmetry,ā€ by Audrey Niffenegger; “The Help,” by Kathryn Stockett; “The Overnight Socialite,” by Bridie Clark;

Health/Wellness:
85. Go on a 30 day detox. – Done. October-November 2010
87. Get a massage. – Done. We got a couples massage in Maine, April 2010.Ā 

90. Go on a 30-day caffeine detox. – Done. October-November 2010.
93. Get my eyebrows waxed at least 3 times (this may seem really lame to some, but really I never NEED to have it done. I just thought it would be a nice thing to do for myself). – 1 of 3 times completed thus far!
94. Drink nothing but water for 30 days. – Done. October-November 2010.
97. Take a spinning class. – Done. 1/8/10.
100. Go without alcohol for 30 days. – Done. October-November 2010.

Items completed: 16.5
Items in progress: 10

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all i want for christmas is…

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a pair of Tory Burch Revas.
a pair of Hunter Wellies.
a subscription to Yoga Journal.Ā 

a garage loft shelf.


Ā ikea ps laptop workstation.

Ā a manduka yoga mat.


a Starbucks gift card to enable my habit!

a beautiful Kindle.

a new Lululemon Scuba Hoodie.



a huge outdoor shed to store all of our stuff.


Clearly I’m dreaming big with some of these.Ā 
But what would a Christmas list be without dreams? Ha. šŸ™‚

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December Dreams/Goals.

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Can anyone believe that it’s already December 5th?! This month flew by! I’m both exhausted and excited thinking about December.

…but I’m already getting ahead of myself. Because I have not yet reviewed my November Goals/Dreams.

November Dreams/Goals:

1. Finish this cleanse. Done! Week four was completed November 14th.
2. Read at least 3 new books, from start to finish! 2/3 of the way complete. Still, I think I did pretty well considering how crazy busy the month of November was. I read The Overnight Socialite by Birdie Clark {which was unusually good, by the way} and The Help by Kathryn Stockett {which I’m going to have to review and dedicate a whole post to}.
3. Have at least one date night a week. Done!
4. Run at least 10 miles a week. Mostly a major fail. It was hard to get my butt moving after work because it was getting so dark out. I ran zero miles this week; 2 last week; 5 the week before; and 12 the first week of November. I really need a treadmill. Sigh.
5. Learn 2 new dinner recipes. 1 out of 2. Only technically learned one new dinner recipe. The second one was cookies. Do cookies count as dinner? I think yes.
6. Continue without caffeine through the month of November. Done! Proud to say I am still going strong without it.
7. Travel to Denver the week of Thanksgiving. Done! It was a rough plane ride and I’m pretty sure BF never wants to fly with me again, but I can check this off my list!
8. Plan my budget for 2011. Fail. Didn’t even begin. And had to do some restructuring of my existing budget.
9. Create a meal and chore plan for the last three weeks of the month to make my work weeks less stressful and my weekends more enjoyable. Done. Made life so much easier!
10. Figure out a way to clear the stress from my life. This is ongoing. But I’ve learned a lot this past month.
11. Help cook our Thanksgiving dinner in Ohio the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We really didn’t do any cooking. So… fail.
12. Spend lots of quality time with BF and my family. Done. It was lovely.
13. Sleep earlier, rise earlier, but sleep more. Done. With the exception of most of this week. Getting back in the swing of real life these past few days has been rough. Other than that, I did really well with making sure I was in bed at a reasonable hour and waking up at an early hour.
14. Reflect and meditate more. Whether that be in complete silence, in yoga, or with a journal. Not at all done. Didn’t even start. Bummer.

Regardless of my November progress, a new month means a new focus and a clean start! I’ve got a lot on my mind for this month.

December Dreams/Goals:

1. Blog on a daily basis from today through the end of December.
2. Read at least 3 new books.
3. Spend Christmas Eve with BFs amazing family and have a fantastic time.
4. Attend my family holiday party and soak up as much family time as possible.
5. Send one hour a week reflecting, writing and/or meditating.Ā 
6. Finally figure out my 2011 budget.
7. Find a way to fit in more daily exercise, even if that means running during my lunch break.
8. Organize my photos on my computer and back them up.
9. Finish my holiday cards and send them out.
10. Bake at least 4 new cookie recipes and blog about them!
11. Continue to sleep earlier, rise earlier and sleep more!Ā 
12. Continue to stay on top of house duties during the week to make my weekends more enjoyable.Ā 
13. Go to at least 1 yoga class a week and create an at-home practice.
14. Start the second part of our detox program.
15. Bring lunch to work every day. Do not eat takeout at lunch at all.
16. Continue without any caffeine through the month of December.
17. Keep a food diary from now until the 31st. Make note of not only what I eat, but how I feel afterward as to better help my stomach issues.
18. Take vitamins every day from now through the end of December.

My list has certainly grown since last month, but I’m confident that I can tackle all of these items! Please hold me accountable!


And now I challenge you… set one dream or goal you would like to set for yourself for the month of December! What is it?Ā 

PS. Have you entered my Mr. Beams LED light giveaway? You should.