2015 Resolution Wrap Up

I had so much going on last year, I feel like I kind of forgot that I even made resolutions.  None the less, let's see how I did...

• Read 40 Books: I fell pretty short, only hitting 29.

• Declutter, Part Two: I did make some progress sorting through the junk in my garage, but I haven't actually gotten around to taking the big "donate" pile to Salvation Army.

• 12 Things Uniquely Austin:  I honestly forgot that this was a resolution I made.  I might try it again this year.

• Make Myself A Priority: Well, sort of.  I wanted to go to a doctor, optometrist, dentist, and hairstylist at least once.  I only did the optometrist and the hairstylist, but I did take a lot of steps to put myself and my own happiness first, which I am pretty proud of.

• Blog Better:  Hah.  Um.  Nope.

• 12 New Restaurants:  SUCCESS!  I managed to go to 12 new-to-me local places, and even fell in love with some of them. (*Cough*Bouldin Creek Cafe.)  The only downside is...now the dilemma of where to eat is even harder because I have too MANY choices.

So...I could've done a bit better.

But!

I completed one and made progress on two others so...yay?

2015 Resolutions!

Despite the fact that my New Year's Eve was pretty lame - I was in bed before midnight - I've been fairly busy so far this year.  So busy, in fact, that I sort of forgot to make resolutions.  Better late than never, right?

• Read 40 Books: Okay, sure, I didn't even hit my goal of 35 last year but I'm trying to push myself! 

2015 Reading Challenge

Katrina has read 1 book toward her goal of 40 books.

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1 of 40 (2%)

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• Declutter, Part Two: Last year I got pretty into ebaying things.  I really want to continue that and hopefully will move on to the stuff that's in my garage before the summer makes it unbearably hot.  (I also will continue my Operation Empties efforts.)

• 12 New Restaurants:  I seem to get stuck on going to the same restaurants again and again.  There have been a lot of local places on my "Want to Try" list for ages that we really need to give a go.  So, I'm going to go to at least one new (to me) place every month.

• 12 Things Uniquely Austin:  This is technically J's resolution, but I figure most of his activities will include me so I'm counting it as my own.  We've lived in the Austin area for 4.5 years now and we just don't take advantage of all it has to offer.  Sadly, a lot of the Austin traditions are slowly going away (or morphing into something unrecognizable) so we want to do what we can, while we can.

• Make Myself A Priority: I have a tendency to put my needs on the back burner when there is other stuff happening in my life.  It's unhealthy, so I'm making it a goal to go to the dentist, optometrist, doctor, and hairstylist each at least once this year.  Maybe a counselor if I can work it into my budget.  Yes, it seems silly that I feel like I have to make this a resolution and I'm not entirely proud of it.  I just need to get out of the habit of waiting to go until something is wrong. 

• Blog Better:  My main goal is to inject more of myself into my blog.  In other words, I hope to make at least a few posts a month that *aren't* just about subscription boxes.  On a related note, I'm trying to get into the habit of making a post schedule. Plus, I really need to stop procrastinating on doing a redesign. 

Happy 2015! :)

2014 Resolution Wrap-Up

The time has come to 'fess up on my success (or lack there of) in keeping my 2014 resolutions!  2014 was not a very good year (more on that another day) so I'l confess ahead of time that I didn't do as well as I would've wanted.

You can see my original post of 2014 resolutions here.

• Declutter: This was a big goal of mine for 2014.  I did...sort of okay?  I managed to sell a ton of stuff on ebay and did take a couple of loads of stuff to donate.  However, I also added a lot of stuff to my hoard collection of items.  I think I probably wound up breaking even as far as what came in vs what went out.

• Project Pan: I did pretty well in my goal to use up existing beauty products!  I managed to only let myself buy beauty products that filled an actual void and didn't buy stuff just because "oh my god there's a new flavor of Burts Bees WHYDOINOTOWNITNOW?!"  I didn't exactly keep up with my postings of what I finished off, though.  I think I might just do one big post of all of my 2014 empties.

• Read 35 Books: Yeah, no.  About halfway through the year I realized I wasn't going to hit this so I lowered my Goodreads goal to 30.  I managed to finish my 30th book with two days to spare.

• 12 Acts of Anonymous Kindness: I *did* manage to succeed in doing 12 acts, but I wasn't as creative in them as I had hoped to be.  I tipped a few kind servers 50%.  I wound up buying several strangers' meal/coffee/bar tab/whatever.  Totally not original, but it doesn't matter how creative it is if you're putting good vibes into the world...right?  Here are my three favorite "acts" of the year:

• I bought a few small gift cards to Half Price Books and then tucked them into the covers of my personal favorite books at the public library.  I adore our public library but I think that everyone should have a bookshelf full of books of their own, too.

• There's a group here that takes donations for the pets of homeless and displaced people.  Since Stella could never eat her way through half the treats we'd accumulated for her, we took a sizable pile of goodies (plus a few new things we picked up on the trip there) to donate.

• I made little goody bags of various kinds of candy, an ornament, and candy cane lip balm and then J and I walked around the neighborhood dropping them off at random houses.  We chose who got one somewhat arbitrarily - maybe it was because we liked their decorations...or because we see them working in their garden a lot...or because Stella decided to pee in their yard.  It sort of turned into a game and was a lot of fun even though we were cold and exhausted by the end.

While none of my resolutions were as exciting as my 12 New Things of 2013, I did enjoy working on my 2014 resolutions.  My declutter mission is far from over, but I'm more motivated now than I was a year ago to clear stuff out.  The extra income from ebaying things doesn't exactly hurt either.  The Acts of Kindness goal sort of reminded me just how little it takes to brighten someone's day.  There have been days where something as simple as someone letting me cut ahead of them in line on a Saturday at the grocery store was all it took to completely change my mood.  I just hope that at least one person's day was bettered by something I did this year. <3

Happy New Year!

J and I had an absolutely wild time last night.  We ate a TON of kale chips and put together a 750 piece puzzle of Times Square.

I know, I know.  We're total party animals.

So.  Resolutions.  I tried think of something sort of similar to what I did last year: a measurable, attainable goal.  I've also decided to do a few smaller resolutions as well.

• 12 Acts of Anonymous Kindness - I originally called it "random acts of kindness" but I decided that wasn't completely accurate since I'm actually going to be planning my acts.  If you're confused as to what I mean, one of my ideas is to get a bookstore gift card and leave it with a note inside one of my favorite books.  Maybe "12 Random Surprises for Strangers" would be more accurate.

• Read 35 Books - Last year I read 30.  Goodreads has a book-goal-tracking widget thing that's really cool...except that the average number of books people have resolved to read is 73 so far.  I'd love to say I would read that much but...lets be serious, I like video games too much.  (Oh, by the way - you can see what I've been reading lately over in the side bar.  Or you can add me on Goodreads!)

• Declutter - My garage is literally FULL of stuff.  It's all things from my dad's house when he moved - my mom was a bit of a hoarder when it came to my stuff.  I've also got a ton of stuff hanging around that I've collected from subscription boxes that I'll never use.  I HAVE to have a yard sale this year.  Anyone in the Austin area need a washer or dryer? ;)

• Project Pan - This kind of falls into a subsection of the above resolution.  Beauty bloggers seem to be all over this goal of using up products.  I think it's a great idea, so I'm going to try to use up all the beauty products I have before buying another one of the same type.  (Products I get from sub boxes don't count, obviously.  Yay loopholes!)

I've also got a general goal to actually FINISH some video games, but I'm not going to make that a resolution.  I thought about doing a "Finish what I start" goal but then I realized that that means I'd be forcing myself to finish things that I might not necessarily enjoy as much as something I could move on to.  Life's too short for that mess.

Happy 2014!

2013 Resolution Wrap Up

I've learned through the years that if I make the cliche "eat healthier," "work out more" type of resolutions, they never ever work out.  For 2013 I decided to do something different and do a more general life goal as a resolution -  I resolved to do 12 new things.


1. Took a pole dancing class with three of my girlfriends.  If the studio wasn't so far away - or I had someone to go with me regularly - I'd do this all the time; it's a super good workout.

I'm on the far right in the top photo.

2. J and I both got our first professional massages for Valentine's Day.

3. Volunteered at SXSW.  I actually wound up working Artist Check-in and got to meet Of Mice and Men, Asher Roth, Scout LaRue Willis, and a bunch of other awesome musicians.  One of my fellow volunteers outed me as a Texas Hippie Coalition fan - they were super amazing and had me take a picture with them.

4. Attended SXSW Interactive.  I've gone to the music part before, but I decided to branch out and try the interactive portion.  I enjoyed it way more than I expected to!

5.  Dental work.  Yeah...not the most fun, but in 9 years the only time I saw a dentist was for a referral to get my wisdom teeth out.  I have a massive fear of dentists, but I finally sucked it up and went in and...it wasn't horrible.  I also managed to take a selfie while I was heavily sedated and since I was too drugged to remember it, I didn't find it until a week later.

This is why I don't do drugs.

6. Ate Indian food.  I don't know how I went 25 years without putting such deliciousness into my mouth.

7. Went to a midnight release.  It was for a video game, but it still counts.

8.  Got my hair colored (bleached?) professionally.  I'm no stranger to switching up hair colors, but I've always been more of a DIY type.

9. Went to Hawaii.  One more knocked off of my "Visit every state" life goal. :)

If anyone wants to pay for me to go back, I'm open to it.

10. Rented a Car.  I mean, my parents used to rent cars when we'd go on family vacations but this was the first time I'd ever rented one by myself.  

11. Dove with Sharks.  I have a tremendous fear of deep water, but I was determined to do this.  We did a cage dive and not a scuba dive, obviously.  

[Insert Jaws theme]

12. Became an "early adopter."  I'm usually the type to wait a few months after something shiny and new comes out before finally getting it, but I actually got a Day One Xbox One.  

I also did other little "firsts" like flying without checking a bag, getting my eyebrows waxed, going to (and working) a plastic surgery trade show, and so on.  Some of my firsts were obviously much better than others, but having that extra push to step outside my comfort zone was surprisingly motivating.  Shark diving was easily the highlight of my year and I don't think I ever would have done it otherwise.  J said it was an awesome resolution for me to make since it benefited him too.  I'll definitely have to reuse this resolution a couple years from now.