Work Towards Goal #18

I didn't expect to make any progress towards goal #18 (wearing makeup for a month) since I've been really tired and busy.


But a friend on a forum introduced me to Laura Geller makeup and linked to a sale on a new set. It came with all the basics to get started, so I couldn't resist.

Ever since, I've been playing around with different makeup combinations. It's really versatile makeup, and I feel pretty when I'm wearing it.

So far it's been perhaps 9 days. 9/30!

Slight Progress on Goal #48

I ended up clearing off the dining table after I took my shower because it was just ridiculously cluttered. I also gave it a nice polish and cleaned off the runner that my mom gave me for it. It looks cute-ish now.

Please ignore the study in the background -- that room is a temporary storage area at the moment until we can finish moving things around in here.

The next step towards making our dining table appealing to use is getting placemats so we don't wreck the wood by eating on it. I absolutely love the runner, and we have pillows in the living room part (we have a small one-bedroom apartment, so the living room and dining room are one big room) to tie the parts of the room together. I want placemats that don't clash with the runner, and they also need to be somewhat small (it's a very small table, if that's not obvious from the picture) and washable.

For the time being, I present: progress!

October Goals

I'm a little late on these, but without further ado: the October goals!

Jay and I just got ourselves a new camera, so we're going to get some nice pictures of us (#8), hopefully. His mom really wants some pictures of us, since she never sees us, and I feel like I'd want to have them, too.

I really want to get my new desk (#47). The old one is too small and also I worry about breaking it if I have too many heavy things on it. It's a "secretary desk" (like the one to the right of this paragraph) and the part that folds down is the part that I have to put my laptop, books, and everything on. I don't think it's strong enough to hold the pressure, and I really like the desk so I don't want it to break. If I do get my new desk, I'm going to move the current one out next to the front door to use it as an organizer / storage desk.

While I'm rearranging, I might as well fix the dining table (#48). Right now, we literally never eat on it. We use it as a catch-all for everything when we first get into the apartment. But when I move the desk out, I'll have a new, better-organized place for mail and such, so we won't be tempted to use the table that way. I'm also going to move the chairs around so we can face out the window, and get some place mats so we don't damage the table.

I'm going to retry #76, not missing work. I could use the stability of income for making a budget (#55). I also don't want to be in trouble for missing shifts and all that.

September

So September didn't actually go well.

I imagine that the problem was mainly stress-related. I had way too much on my plate. I knew that going into it, but I had thought that I could handle it. I guess not particularly.

I am now very behind in most of the "every day" or "every week" goals. This is ok, given my rule definitions, but it will be hard to catch up on the ones like the daily WiiFit (#19). I guess on my days off I'll be doing literally hours of WiiFit!

I did manage to have lengthy, meaningful conversations with a few new people (#7), thanks to my night job as a security monitor. The two people that I counted were Alicia, a new RHS employee who I worked with a few nights in a row, and Meghan, another new employee. Good stuff. This also made me realize that this goal is a little awkward in that it makes me have some criteria for what is a worthwhile conversation, since I'm literally forced to have lengthy conversations with some people, but it doesn't mean I'm being social or getting to know them. So on that goal, I'm only counting personal conversations that were not forced by work.

A "daily" goal that I did manage to keep up on was my "walking" goal (#34). This is because I literally have to walk at least that much to get to even one of my jobs. Adding in classes, going shopping or out to eat somewhere, or even just having to catch the slightly-further-away bus means that I usually triple this at least.

#26, finding a primary care doctor, was accomplished on September 2. I found a lovely woman who is just a short bus trip away and takes my insurance! Couldn't be happier about that. Now if only I had time to go make an appointment and start getting everything else moving, that would be wonderful.

My other monthly goals for September, however, didn't go as well. My kitchen is still as messy as before, and I didn't attempt #44 or 45 (re-organizing kitchen cabinets and cleaning the fridge, respectively). I also blew off work a few times, messing up goal #76. It wasn't even the way I expected myself to mess up the goal -- I skipped my day job, which I considered highly unlikely. I also never got to the bank to merge our accounts (#56).

I completed a goal that wasn't even on my monthly goal thing -- I got a new vacuum! I got a refurbished Dyson which will be arriving at the end of October. I'm very excited to finally have a vacuum that I don't have to go over and over and over the same spot with to get the rug clean. I bought it through Amazon on September 25.

So all in all, as stated, it wasn't a very good month. I'll be doing my October goals tonight.

September Goals

So, this is my first "monthly goals" post. Since it's the first month, I can't tell if I'm setting enough / too many / the wrong kinds of goals for the month. I guess time will tell.

Obviously, I have to get a good start on the ongoing goals (#3, #4, #7, #8, #17, #19, #20, #22, #24, #34, #57, #64, #65, & #77) so I don't start failing right at the beginning.

I'll be checking out some foreign book and movie titles for #64 & #65. Movies will be easy enough to come by, I think, if I use Netflix. This also will accomplish two goals at once (since it works with #17, too). For the books, I need to start looking at the local libraries. I really hope that they'll carry some that I could read for pleasure, because buying them would get expensive quickly.

This month is going to be really hard for me schedule-wise since it will be the busiest schedule I've ever had between classes and jobs. Partially for that reason, I'm going to try and make it one of my goals this month to not skip any work shifts (this means no calling in, trying to find someone to cover, etc). That's goal #76. I feel like making an active goal out of not missing shifts will help me get into the schedule.

I actually already bought a filing cabinet (#50) (I know, cheater cheater) because I got a great deal on it during a sale at Staples. I'm choosing to count that as done, but to make it a goal this month to start filing things as I get them to make the filing cabinet useful.

This month should be a good one for fixing our bank accounts (#56) since we really want Jay's paychecks direct deposited to help with the eventual budgeting goal (#55). We also want to get new checks with both our names on them and our new address, and the accounts need to be sorted out first.

I finally got my health insurance, so this month will probably involve meeting and choosing a doctor and possibly an OB/GYN (#26 & #27). I don't have much time for appointments this month, but it should be a good start.

I feel like September is also a good month to work on the "meeting people" goal (#7). I'll have new classes, new people at night!job, and activities that were created so people could meet each other at college. I have a semi-idea of joining a club if I see one that really interests me, and that would help.

I'll also be tackling the kitchen as a task. I'll pick this month to clean out the fridge (#45), which is a very hated task. I'll also re-organize all the cabinets (#44), because they're in really rough shape. I can't easily reach most of the things I need to cook and serve food, and it makes me not want to cook.

Wish me luck for my first month of 101 in 1001!

Rules!

I've made a few decisions with regards to my goals. One is that if I said something was to happen x times a week or month, I can double up during the previous or next week or month if I miss one. This makes it easier, I know, but is important to me because otherwise I know that there are goals I will fail for things out of my control (extended visits to family and such).

Another is that if I undo a goal (say I organize my bathroom cabinets, #43, but they get all messy again the next month), I have to either redo them or remove the goal from my "done" list. That should balance out what I made easier by making another part harder!

My General Introduction

I was originally going to just use my Livejournal to track this, and then I wrote a pretty paper journal, and I thought I may as well dive in and give myself an entire separate space online to update. I doubt everyone on my Livejournal friendslist is interested in reading weekly updates without big achievements in them, so I'll save that for here.

I started the 101 in 1001 project at the suggestion of an online friend. Due to the coincidence of the start and end dates, the list also doubles as "101 things to finish before college is over". I will also be married during the time that the list is in progress. Hopefully having completed the list will leave me in a better place to start my "not in school" life. I also hope that I'll start a new list when the first one is done, though I can't promise I'll do that.

I tried to mix up my goals. There are frivolous ones and important ones, short-term, long-term, and medium-term ones, and a bunch of different categories for them. Some have obvious time-frames that they have to be completed in (eg #1, voting, and #86, honeymooning in Arles), but most don't.

I intend to update every week with progress, as well as making a monthly "goals" post, to outline goals that I hope to complete or make special progress on during that month. This may change, mostly dependant on how busy my life gets.

Wish me luck!