Can You Believe It's Already November?

Nov 012010

On December 31st, I declared my New Years Resolution:  Make monthly resolutions.

I was on my hiatus when October rolled around, so I never did make any goals for the month.  I do, however, have some good ones for November!

  • Read 1 book – I know, my track record sucks for this one, but I have honestly been doing great with reading. In the last 2 months, I have completed 3 books! I’m currently working on “The Girl who Played with Fire” and am really enjoying it. I honestly think I’m going to finish this one!
  • Drink More Water – Last week, I discovered that drinking lots of water during the day isn’t so hard.  I have my water bottle, and I can fill it as many times as I want at a nearby drinking fountain.  Sure, I have to get up approximately four hundred times during the day to go to the bathroom, but I suppose the health benefit makes the bathroom breaks worth it.  Plus, getting up so much helps keep me alert throughout the day!
  • Apply, apply, apply – Leading up to now, I have been updating my resume and my profiles on various job websites.  Jobs are opening up, so I’d better take advantage of it!
  • Decide on my bedroom setup – Almost all of my apartment is decorated now (pictures will come soon).  Well, all except the bedroom. It consists of nothing but my bedframe.  I don’t have the cash to furnish it now, but I wouldn’t dare start furnishing it until I had a game plan. The game plan is what I want to figure out.
  • Track all expenses – I’ve avoided doing this for years, but this is the month I will finally do it.  Le sigh.
  • Don’t use my credit card – I need to let go of my dependence on this thing.  I know that Black Friday is this month and it’s going to be tough, but I think I will be better for it.
  • Paint my bedframe – Like I said, I’ll be deciding on a bedroom setup this month.  I think I will want to stick with white furniture since I like the “light” and “airy” feeling bedrooms.  My bedframe is currently black, so I plan on painting it white… or any other color I deem appropriate at the end of the month.
  • Go on a date – I KNOW, RIGHT?! I think I’m ready for this.  Now, by date, I certainly don’t mean a relationship.  I’m finally learning to do things on my own, and I like the idea of being comfortable doing things solo.  However, things are getting a little bland, and I wouldn’t mind going out to dinner on a Saturday night.  Of course, this totally implies that someone will want to go out on a date with me soooooo this goal will either result in a happy Heather… or a very depressed “Agh no one likes me, I am such a loser” Heather.
  • Complete NaBloPoMo (again) – November is a big month in the blogosphere (what a silly term). Don’t ask me why… but with NaBloPoMo and NaNoWriMo going on, you’ll find a lot of people stressed out because they’re not meeting their word quotas. I’m going to do NaBloPoMo, but I’m going to complete the Thirty Days of Truth challenge… so it shouldn’t be too bad since I have 30 days of prompts. More on that tomorrow.

I’m looking forward to the end of the year and the beginning of a new one!

Additionally, for those of you participating in NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) and/or NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), I wish you the best of luck!

I'm Ready for the Best Jetlag of my Life

Sep 092010

In approximately 36 hours, I will embark on my trip to the Philippines. I apologize for the late notice in this: I have only known about it for about a month now. I have also had only about 1400 chances to write about it.

I was excited about it a few days ago, but now that the day is here and it’s finally “go time”, I am more stressed than anything. I get fun travel perks because I work for an airline, but at the same time I have to remember that I can only get onto flights that have some open seats available. I hate the possibility of getting bumped from a flight. I hate knowing that we might have to end up doing some fancy, last-minute maneuvering to get to where we want to go (or to sleep in an airport for a few nights). While I know I need to stop whining about it… ugh… until I am on the plane and it is taking off into the sky (or I drink approximately 3 margaritas), the little knot in my stomach is going to hang out with me and make me worry about everything.

ANYWHOOZLE~

My Mom and my friend Brad (otherwise known as Don Keylips) will be going with me! My Mom’s side of the family is in the Philippines so I get to have a fun meet & greet with all of them. My Mom is, of course, excited to see all of her family and old friends. Brad loves to travel, so he’s pretty amped about a local experience.

I wish I had more exciting/awesome to say. Like I’m going to climb coconut trees or step on sea urchins or something (I did that when I was a kid). Buuutttt I’m just gonna take some deep breaths, chill the F out, and get ready for a fun vacation.

I plan on doing as many video blogs as I can, so get ready to see some AWESOME VIDEOS of me having nothing to say in a public area where everyone thinks I’m weird for talking to a camera :-D

Catch ya’ll on the other side of the world!

September's Goals

Sep 022010

On December 31st, I declared my New Years Resolution:  Make monthly resolutions.

I went to bed last night thinking there was something I was forgetting to do.  My resolutions!  DUH!!

Soooo August’s goal was deceiptively simple.  Figure stuff out.

Unfortunately, I’m not able to say whether or not I succeeded.  And admittedly, this goal was probably really stupid because there was no way I could come out of the month saying I accomplished it.  At the time, I was having this huge internal struggle regarding what to do with my relationship with Dan.  I made my decision, and while I suppose that means I technically “figured stuff out”, I don’t really have a game plan.  Nothing is really figured out.  I am sitting in an apartment lobby with a few strangers eating oreos and writing in my blog.  Not so exciting.  And to say I achieved this goal implies (to me) that it’s all set in stone and life may commence.  To fail at this goal implies I made no progress toward getting what I want (whatever that is) and am sitting stagnant.  And so, dear readers, I will not be claiming victory or defeat.  But things are good with me and I am happy :)

Regarding September’s goals, here is what I have planned

1) Read 2 books – I am totally stupid for making this goal, but whatever.  I am going to the Philippines this month (have I mentioned that yet?) and that means LOTS of plane time.  If I can’t finish at least one book, I give up on life.

2) Make at least 1 video blog – I enjoyed making my video blog when I was in Peru earlier this month.  Ideally, I think it would be cool to make 1 video blog a day while on vacation to show you a little of the country I am in, but I think that’s a pretty hefty goal.  ESPECIALLY when I have no way of knowing how reliable my internet connection will be.  So at least 1 would be perfect :)

3) Stop multitasking so much – I watched a movie tonight.  Not “surfed the web and watched a movie”.  Not “wrote up a blog post and watched a movie”.  Not “cooked and watched a movie”.  I just watched a movie.  It was glorious.  It was also probably the first time I have done that in years.

4) Wash my face every night before bed – I am awful at this, and I really need to get better at it.  So a goal it shall be.

5) Write a blog post more than once a week – I enjoy my attempt at trying to make things interesting that really aren’t interesting at all.  Like when I went to the self-serve gas station.  Or stupid things that happen at work.  More uninteresting blog posts, here I come!

6) Have a great birthday – I might be spending my birthday this year alone.  I tried to arrange a trip to Wicked with some girlfriends, but that didn’t really work out.  I am accepting that this year maybe my birthday won’t be the special day it typically is where I am showered in gifts and love… and instead I have to just kind of chill by myself with a positive attitude… and that’s okay.  23, I’m ready for you.

And that, my friends, is all I have.  Happy September!

July Goals & August Resolutions

Aug 022010

On December 31st, I declared my New Years Resolution:  Make monthly resolutions.

I was supposed to post something on the last day of July as well as the first day of August, but the bloggerstock took precedence.  So… how did I do…

  • Begin learning a new calligraphy alphabet -I didn’t have the time.  I rediscovered the game Harvest Moon (that game is AMAZING), soooooo…. yeeaahhh……
  • Finish my book – Just a few pages left, but I can’t say I finished it :(
  • Get to know my new Little Sister – The girl is a sweetheart.  She is also extremely chatty, so I guess I didn’t really need to worry about how to talk to her.  She likes talking enough for the both of us.
  • Call my old little sister – She is in New Mexico right now at Philmont, so it’s hard to get a hold of her… but I did talk to her and we have been writing letters back and forth. I miss her <3
  • Continue teaching Prandtl to roll over – I have been trying SO HARD!! She gets so hyper… I think I’ve just resigned myself to the fact that she is not a rolling over dog.  SIGH.
  • Participate in Bloggerstock - I did it!! Read what I wrote here.  Or read my guest bloggers post here.
  • Save $700 - And unexpected $300 electricity bill got in the way… so unfortunately I did not meet this goal :(
  • Get more sleep – When I made this goal, I was hitting the hay at about midnight every night. I’ve it worked down to 10pm… or if I go to bed later, I sleep later.. but I have been good at getting 8 hours!

So that means 5/8 this month.

And I hope it’s okay, but I’m just going to throw my August goal here as well.  And I say “goal” because I have only one right now.

  • Figure stuff out

And while I would love to further break down what “stuff” entails.. I can’t.  It’s funny it works out this way since I got a blog because writing about my problems helps me deal with them, but then I decided to tell people I know about this blog and I’m not so sure I want everyone all… up in my business.  But this “stuff” involves some huge decisions by me, soooo I am sure you will catch wind of them sooner or later (should I decide to follow through).

Happy August everyone.  Hopefully mine is happy as well.


Bloggerstock: Potential Postcards

Jul 312010

This month, I joined a little something called Bloggerstock.

My guest author is Ray J from Point Me To The Sky Above.  I have actually been following her blog for awhile now.  Her posts have the ability to make me really nostalgic from her weekly Flashback Friday theme, and while I’m still not into the World of Warcraft thing (WoW), I admit I have learned more than I ever wanted to know from her :)  But anyway, after you read this, check her blog out.  I definitely recommend her (PLUS she is newly pregnant – at least stop over and tell her congratulations!!!)

Hi everyone!

I had heard of Bloggerstock a few months back, but missed the deadline and thought it was a once a year kind of thing. When I learned that it’s actually monthly thing, I decided to go ahead and give it a shot! This is my first time doing anything like a Blog Swap or a Guest Post or anything, so please bear with me!

This month for Bloggerstock, they asked:
“If you could write ONE postcard to any person (living or dead), who would you write to, what would you say, and where would the postcard be from?”

In college, I finished as an art major and took lots of art classes, including several art history ones. I figured a lot of people might write to the obvious people – Jesus, a lost loved one, an ex, some famous historic person… I decided to stray from the obvious and go with one of my favorite artists – Vincent van Gogh.

Like quite a bit of now well-known artists, Van Gogh wasn’t very famous until he died. Around the last year of his life, he started to gain some attention, but it wasn’t until after his premature death (he was only 37) that his work really became famous – by the mid 20th century Van Gogh was seen as one of the most recognizable and one of the greatest painters in history.

“Van Gogh,
How does it feel, in the afterlife, to be called “one of the greatest painters in history”? Wouldn’t you agree, it’s a bit ironic that you didn’t become a household name until after your tragic death? Your paintings and other art are now worth millions – people even try to sell forgeries of your work just to get a cut of the profit, as your work is now worth so much! There are whole exhibits in famous museums all around the world devoted just to you and your work. Quite shocking, isn’t it? What a shame that it took your death for your work to gain the attention and appreciation it so deserves!”

I’m not really sure where I would send it from, as really, you could probably send it from anywhere, but just for laughs (and to show how commercialized some of his works have become) I would make sure the postcard featured one of his paintings on the front (such as my favorite -”Starry Night”), which I’ve seen sold on racks in the gift shops of art museums!

As another part of this Bloggerstock deal, I wrote a post for EmDottie.  Since she posted what I wrote via her phone, all of the formatting seems to be lost… so hopefully you guys can stand reading a giant paragraph for now (hopefully she fixes it).  To summarize, I chose to write my postcard to a missionary I remember from when I was about 7 years old.  My Mom was a single parent at that time, my Dad wanted nothing to do with me and my sister, and this guy spent time with us and basically made sure we knew we weren’t worthless children.  It’s probably one of the most personal things I’ve written (for a bunch of strangers no doubt), and if you want to read it head over to EmDottie’s blog.

Who would you write your postcard to?

July Goals

Jul 032010

On December 31st, I declared my New Years Resolution:  Make monthly resolutions.

Okay… July… this one is going to be good.

  • Begin learning a new calligraphy alphabet – I’ve done very well with the formal italic, so it’s time I start something new.  I haven’t decided what yet… we’ll see.  Katharine left a few comments on my blog, and she has a calligraphy website (calligraphy-skills.com) that I plan on learning from!
  • Finish my book – I am such a disgrace to literate people everywhere.
  • Get to know my new Little Sister – I joined Big Brothers Big Sisters, and I met my new Little yesterday!! She seems really sweet, so I’m excited to get to know her.  I hope she likes me too :)
  • Call my old little sister – By old, I mean… you know… related by blood.  I love her to death, but we don’t talk much. We should catch up!
  • Continue teaching Prandtl to roll over – I’ve been working on this for a few weeks now, but she is S-L-O-W… if I push her over, she gets the idea, but she still won’t do it on her own. I would say “teach Prandtl to roll over”, but I don’t really have a lot of faith in her learning (or my teaching) abilities.
  • Participate in Bloggerstock – It is basically a big blog-swap that I’ve been wanting to do for a few months.
  • Save $700 – $1000 just seemed unrealistic with my student loan bills.. and $500 didn’t seem like enough.
  • Get more sleep – I have been tired nonstop for the last 2 weeks… so I really need to do something to get my sleeping schedule back on track.

Admittedly, I didn’t make this too tough on myself.  I don’t really have too much going on right now, and in August I’ll be moving and this list will be full of fun home improvement projects.

Maybe I should take  bets on whether I will finally read one complete  book (… 7 months into the year)

3 out of 8? This Is Getting Worse & Worse

Jun 302010

On December 31st, I declared my New Years Resolution:  Make monthly resolutions.

How did I do for June?

  • Read 1 Book – I’m 50% through… I have been reading “Eating Animals”… but I didn’t finish this one :(
  • Run 3 miles 3 times -  and I didn’t run 3 miles once.. so I failed. But the point of this goal was to get myself to exercise regularly. I have been through tennis walking etc, but I just didn’t run. So while I achieved the point of this goal, I didn’t achieve the goal exactly.
  • Do/See 5 touristy things in the twin cities - Done! There are so many great things here!!
  • Post pictures of my trip to Peru – Done!!
  • Re-de-credit card debt myself – I don’t even know why I kept this one… I had no shot at this. Not even close.
  • Paint my end table – Uhh… no… I could think of excuses, but I won’t.
  • Apply to 5 jobs – I looked a lot, but only ended up applying to 2 or 3 since I wanted to stay in the Twin Cities. So… Nope.
  • Organize the closet by the bedroom – I did it! And let me just say… it looks damn good in there.

3 out of 8? This is getting really bad…

June Resolutions

Jun 022010

On December 31st, I declared my New Years Resolution:  Make monthly resolutions.

When I made my May resolutions, I forgot to factor in that I would be leaving on vacation for two weeks.  I also didn’t forsee that I would be sick approximately 1 week before leaving and a few days after my return.  That vacation/illness pretty much trashed nearly all of my resolutions.

Due to the special circumstances, I didn’t think it was necessary to make two posts regarding the resolutions.  I also didn’t consider it necessary to think up a whole new list of resolutions.  Instead, I’m going to repeat the month of May like it never happened (at least as far as my resolutions are concerned).

I’m kind of beating around the bush here.  What I’m really trying to say is that I’m going to be repeating my May resolutions for June.

  • Read 1 Book - Oh yes – the resolution that will never die
  • Run 3 miles 3 times - I ran 3 miles last month, but I waited until the last day and FORCED myself to do it (despite running only twice prior… 3 weeks earlier). I figure that doing it three times will require more of a regular workout regimine.
  • Do/See 5 touristy things in the twin cities - I’m still new here, and the weather is getting nice enough for me to be outdoors. It’s time I embrace my new home and see what there is to see! I’m not sure exactly where I’ll go yet though.. (suggestions gladly welcomed)
  • Post pictures of myself without makeup on the internets - Admittedly, this one is kind of a freebie for myself… but this is going to take me some guts anyway. I have a blog post in mind that will require this goal to be completed… look out for it soon! Post pictures of my trip to Peru
  • Re-de-credit card debt myself  - You can thank my loyal commentor Don Keylips for the wording on that one. Bye bye debt (again)!
  • Paint my end table - I’ve been meaning to do this for awhile now, and now that the weather is warmer I can finally go outside to do it.
  • Apply to 5 jobs - It’s no secret I don’t want to hang out at this job forever, so my goal is to apply to at least 5 this month. And I don’t mean ANY jobs… I’m talking about inserting myself into a career I really want to be in.
  • Organize the closet by the bedroom - That place is a wreck. PLUS I totally love The Container Store.

Sure, maybe this is cheating, but I honestly had no hope for doing any of these last month.  Well, aside from read the book – believe it or not, I really did read!

May Resolutions

May 032010

On December 31st, I declared my New Years Resolution:  Make monthly resolutions.

OOPS! I didn’t forget to post for this month, but time just kept slipping by and before I knew it the 3rd crept up on me. For May I’d like to:

  • Read 1 Book - Oh yes – the resolution that will never die
  • Run 3 miles 3 times - I ran 3 miles last month, but I waited until the last day and FORCED myself to do it (despite running only twice prior… 3 weeks earlier). I figure that doing it three times will require more of a regular workout regimine.
  • Do/See 5 touristy things in the twin cities - I’m still new here, and the weather is getting nice enough for me to be outdoors. It’s time I embrace my new home and see what there is to see! I’m not sure exactly where I’ll go yet though.. (suggestions gladly welcomed)
  • post pictures of myself without makeup on the internets - Admittedly, this one is kind of a freebie for myself… but this is going to take me some guts anyway. I have a blog post in mind that will require this goal to be completed… look out for it soon!
  • Re-de-credit card debt myself  – You can thank my loyal commentor Don Keylips for the wording on that one. Bye bye debt (again)!
  • Paint my end table - I’ve been meaning to do this for awhile now, and now that the weather is warmer I can finally go outside to do it.
  • Apply to 5 jobs - It’s no secret I don’t want to hang out at this job forever, so my goal is to apply to at least 5 this month. And I don’t mean ANY jobs… I’m talking about inserting myself into a career I really want to be in.
  • Organize the closet by the bedroom – That place is a wreck. PLUS I totally love The Container Store.

This is going to be the month I finally get all of these things accomplished. I can feel it!!

Has anybody else made resolutions for themselves this month?

April Resolutions... Le Sigh

May 012010

On December 31st, I declared my New Years Resolution:  Make monthly resolutions.

I think that most of you know the drill by now. This April, I made myself some goals. Lets see how I did!

  • Run 3 miles by the end of the month - DONE! I will be completely honest, though. I ran a total of 3 times this month. The first time I went a little over a mile. The second time I went two miles. The third time? Well that occurred about an hour ago just so I could say I did this. I am going to regret it tomorrow when I can’t even get out of bed tomorrow because the pain is so intense.
  • Post more often – Uhh.. NO. It’s tied. After this post, I will have posted 13 times this month. In the month of March, I posted 13 times. The goal was to post MORE (not the same)… so this is a fail.
  • Eat 1 fruit a day - ABSOLUTELY! And everybody told me this goal was kind of lame. But whatever. This goal was the only thing that got me to eat fruit on some days.
  • Continue to stay credit card debt free – I forgot I made this a goal……. and I totally FAILED :(
  • Build savings – COMPLETED. Please don’t rob me.
  • Read 1 book – … If I said FAIL would anybody really be surprised?
  • Keep my google calendar up to date – COMPLETED. And it definitely saved me once in awhile, too.

4 out of 7 accomplished. One of these days, I will be able to say I completed all of them.

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