kapachino

Category: goals

  • 101 Goals Update

    It’s been awhile since I’ve updated you on my progress toward my 101 goals. Actually, it’s been awhile since I’ve intentionally worked on these goals, but since I only have about 8 months left until my 1001 days are up I figured it was time to check in!

    Completed so far: 59

    4. Be a vegetarian for a month: I did this for over a month before I got pregnant after reading the book Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. With all the pregnancy changes I couldn’t keep it up, but I do intend to merge back toward a more vegetarian diet once I have the baby.

    30. Become oncology certified: Passed my exam in November 2010!

    59: Take David to visit my aunt and uncle in South Carolina: We went last week and had a great time!

    60: Paint the entire front half of the house: Other than the tiny bathroom off of the laundry room that needs to be completely redone, it’s all painted! We’ve actually done most of the back half of the house too.

    62: Sell/give away/donate all the books I don’t need or want: We took several huge bags to the used bookstore recently and donated. This will be a constant battle as we acquire more books, but we’ve got a good start.

    93. Complete the Biblica New Testament challenge: I did this with my church and wrote about it on my book blog.

    In progress: 9

    18. Transition to all-natural personal care products: This has been a long process of finding out what I like, but I’m almost there! I’m using up what I have before trying new things, so I still need to find a natural conditioner, bar soap, and deodorant.

    20. Pay off my credit card bill: We’re slowly chipping away at all of our debt. The medical bills came first, and this is the next one to work on.

    24. Implement a system for David and I to save our change: We have a designated spot to place our loose change, but I haven’t yet gone through the process of taking it to get rolled and cashed or deposited.

    36. Watch all of the movies that have won Best Picture: I’ve seen 42 out of 83, and I haven’t made much progress in awhile. This is going to be a tough one to complete because I don’t have a whole lot of spare time.

    38. Read 5 Pulitzer Prize winning books that I haven’t read: I’ve read three new ones, and I have one on my shelf.

    39: Read 5 books of David’s recommendation: I’ve read two so far. I need to get him to recommend a few more.

    75: Send 10 ‘just because’ cards: I’ve sent seven! This will be an easy one to finish.

    81. Donate blood once a quarter: Until I got pregnant I donated blood even more often than this, about every two months if I wasn’t too anemic. Obviously I can’t donate now, and with my anemia problem I don’t know if I’ll be able to continue, but if my counts go back to normal once I deliver I want to get back into the habit.

    92. Memorize Philippians 3: This is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, and it’s not too long. I know a decent chunk of it, but I just need to focus to finish up.

    Some of my goals are going to be hard to complete, and they might get relegated to a future list. I’m going to try though!

  • Resolved, 2011

    I’m not exactly sure what this year will be like, expecting a baby in July and all, so instead of making a lot of specific goals like I usually do (which is usually fairly effective for me) I’ve decided to go with two big ones that should affect every area of my life.

    First, actively seek the presence of God.

    I feel like I’ve drifted from this in the past year, spending so much time focused on myself and my struggles. I’ve forgotten what it’s like to pray constantly, to really study the Bible, and to think about spiritual things often. I’ve thought about how I can get back to this, and what I’ve come up with are a few specific things that, in my experience, cause me to feel more connected to my faith.

    • This year, every third book I read will be faith-based. It could be a memoir, a study, or even Christian fiction, but when I read about God I feel closer to Him.
    • I will try to always have some sort of Bible study going. Whether this is with a group or on my own, I need to have some dedicated time to spend learning about God.
    • I will spend more time listening to worship songs. Music gets into my soul, and it can change my thoughts and attitude.

    Second, take on my own Happiness Project.


    Several of my friends have read the book by Gretchen Rubin, and they recommended it so highly that I obtained a copy for myself last year. There is a chapter for each month with a different focus, all eventually to help you be happier with your life. Last year I spent too much time being depressed, and I want this to be the year of happy. So I intend to read a chapter of this book each month and do my best to carry out its intention.

    Then there are the other things I’d like to accomplish…

    Mainly I’d like to have a healthy baby, but that’s out of my control for the most part.

    I’d like to get back to exercising regularly, although that will mean more swimming and yoga and less running and biking.

    I’d REALLY like to get our house fixed up before having a baby, and that will be a huge focus of my time until then, but I know it might not happen completely due to time and money. Still, we’re going to try.

    I’d like to get back to blogging regularly, taking more pictures, and at least attempting to edit them.

    And then there’s my list of 101 goals in 1001 days, which I’d like to continue to make progress on.

    That’s it I think! Here’s to a happy, fulfilling 2011.

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    Images: ♥ ♥ ♥

  • Houston’s Orange Show

    I love Houston, and from time to time I like to do research on it like a tourist to see what new places I can find to explore. One thing that kept coming up was an institution called The Orange Show (<–check out the website, my brother’s company designed it). They call themselves a center for visionary art, and they’re most famous for holding the annual art car parade. But there are a couple other attractions they have stewardship of, the Beer Can House and the Orange Show Monument, that I have always wanted to see.

    I decided that this past weekend was the perfect time for a visit, so I dragged my youngest brother along and we made our mini pilgrimage to pay homage to folk art of Houston.

    This house is covered with 50,000 beer cans, all of which were consumed. There are also 20,000 marbles embedded in the concrete surrounding it. This whole thing was done by the man who owned the house, just for fun. I don’t know how his wife let him get away with it.

    Apparently it did lower their energy bills, so there’s that.

    ***

    And then there’s the monument from which the Orange Show gets its name. This was also built by a man on a whim, simply because he loved oranges and wanted to share his love with others.

    It looks like a small amusement park, but really it’s just in a regular residential neighborhood taking up one plot of land.

    I’m telling you, the guy just really loved oranges. There were sayings like this all over the place.

    His plan for the show was to have an organ playing while a tap dancer sang about health and nutrition. But sadly, his dream was never realized since he died 8 months after the monument was completed.

    I feel like a better Houstonian now that I’ve visited these landmarks! If you live in the area, they’re worth a quick visit. :)

  • Resolution Update

    Half of 2010 is gone, just like that. I suppose I should stop being so surprised at the passing of time. That is, after all, what it does.

    I made some resolutions at the beginning of the year, and this is how they are progressing.

    Complete a triathlon – I haven’t done this yet, obviously. I am not sure that it will happen this year, although I haven’t given up hope. This is something that I really, really want to do, but is proving quite difficult due to the time commitment involved (and my crazy work schedule) and the extremely hot weather. I’ve been reinspired recently, so I’m going to attempt to make this happen in the fall.

    Read 50 books – I’m almost perfectly on pace with this one, with 22. See the list of what I’ve read so far here.

    Redesign my blog – My brother did this for me earlier in the year, and I am completely satisfied with it. There are always features that I’m playing with, but overall I love it.

    Follow the Weight Watchers plan for healthy eating – Okay, so I haven’t gone back to Weight Watchers, but it is still an option. I’ve totally fallen off the healthy eating bandwagon, and need to find a system that will work for both me and my husband. I don’t have weight to lose, but when I don’t eat right I feel gross. I’m not worried as much about calories as I am about eating clean, non-processed foods. I have also realized that for both my husband and I to be successful at this, that we need some kind of rewards system in place. Do any of you do something like that? Maybe not with eating, but with exercising or budgeting or anything else?

    Focus more on my husband – Well, you’ll have to ask him if I’ve achieved this! I have made an effort to turn down invitations in order to spend time with him, and I have tried not to  make as many plans myself unless they involve him. There are some other things I’d like to start doing more of though, like giving him random gifts and writing more love notes. Even though he’s probably going to read this and won’t be surprised, I hope it’ll still make him smile.

    Start working on the house – Okay! We finally have some progress in this area! The front two rooms are painted, curtains are hung, and now I just need some dining room chairs and decorations. Next project is the foyer, followed by a gutting of the half bathroom! Woo!

    How are you New Year’s Resolutions coming along?

  • 101 in 1001: Editing the List

    I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about the state of my life, and how I’m going to become the person I want to be. That’s one of the reason I created my list of 101 goals, to help me achieve that. I’m 397 days into it, and although the list has been a huge motivator I have also realized that some of the goals I originally set down either don’t fit with me anymore or don’t fit in to the next couple of years. They had actually been hanging over my head until I had the epiphany that this is MY list, and I can change it if I want to. It’s not there to make me feel guilty.

    After these 1001 days are up, I’m going to work on my life list, and I’ll probably take on smaller challenges in the future too. In the meantime, here are the changes I’m making to my current list.

    #18. Learn how to style my hair –> Transition to all-natural personal care products. Honestly, I’m not that into hair. I’m so awkward when I try to blow-dry using a round brush that it actually angers me. I decided I don’t care if I never know how to fix my hair in any special way; it’ll look nice enough straightened and left down. But staying in the category of beauty, I am very interested in transitioning to organic products whenever possible.

    #22. Make a habit of paying extra principle on the mortgage each month –> Refinance the house. Paying extra principle on our mortgage was an idea we got from David’s uncle, and is probably a good idea if we were positive we’d be staying in our house until we pay it off. Since we can’t be sure of that, it’s not really the best idea. Instead we need to refinance to get a lower interest rate, which will really help out with our cash flow.

    #42. Learn conversational Spanish –> Take another class from Leisure Learning Unlimited. Learning Spanish is definitely a life list thing. It’s important to me, but I don’t know how long it’ll take. Instead I just want to take another random class (hiking? photography? cooking?), and who knows what’ll turn out to be my next favorite hobby.

    #54. Drive down the California coast –> Take a vacation with only my husband for at least a week. The California coast trip will be going on my life list. It’s just too expensive to try and pull off during this time of our lives when we’re still starting out.

    #60. Get the house painted –> Paint the entire front half of the house. Our house basically has a front half and a back half, and when we bought it the entire thing needed to be repainted: trim, doors, ceilings, everything. Since we’re doing it ourselves, it’s quite a chore and going very slowly. If I can finish the front half for now, I’ll be happy.

    #63. Plant flowers in the backyard –> Plant something. Our backyard is a constant source of shame for me, as our dogs have really messed it up. I try to keep it tidy, but for the foreseeable future my focus is going to be on the inside of the house, and not the outside. Once I get the inside fixed up and can focus some attention on learning how to garden (and deal with the dogs) I’ll plant some flowers or vegetables. Right now I’d like to start slow, maybe an indoor herb garden.

    #67. Build a pretty and well-organized home office –> Set up a fully-functional and decorated dining room. The office project sounds fun, and will need to be done eventually, but what I really need first is a place to have people over for meals. Our tiny breakfast table isn’t cutting it.

    #101. Beat Mario Galaxy on Wii –> Expand my vocabulary by 100 words. When we got a new Wii I lost all the progress I had made on this video game, and I was pretty far. I don’t have it in me to start from scratch, though I will play occasionally because it’s fun. But when it comes down to it, I won’t ever care all that much if I beat the game or not. Learning new words, on the other hand, is fun AND something to be proud of.

    ***

    I’m really happy about my updated list. It’s more reflective of my life right now, much more achievable, and I’m looking forward to completing every single item!