February Broad Goals

Well, I guess tomorrow is February...meaning...it's time for Goals List #2 :-)

1. Organize all Education material

2. Go through chest of drawers and dresser

3. Complete Defense Presentation...

4. Music

I figured I'd just go ahead and decide on and confirm the 4 big goals. I'll add the subgoals tomorrow night!

p.s. I'm still out of it :-(

Goal set back and intense pain...but keeping it positive!!!

Well, it looks like I may not finish all of my January Goals after all. But, this will be by no fault of mine...I have shingles!! :-( (Crazy intense debilitating neck pain...) It's hard enough to move around and do normal things, much less take clothes on and off...and drive...,in other words, the last couple of remaining tasks (trying on about 10 items and taking about 3 bags of clothes to Plato's Closet) cannot be completed due to my current physical limitations.

Regardless, I'm still extremely happy about how things have gone this month :-D The closet itself looks fantastic and everything has actually been gone through! I'll post pictures of my newly organized, happiness-inducing closet tomorrow :-P

Now I have to think about what 4 big goals I want to set for February...

Well, it's really hard to concentrate b/c of the pain so I'm gone for now...but with a semblance of a smile on my face :-)

Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project + My January Goals

So in an attempt to increase my happiness level, my mom gave me Gretchen Rubin's "The Happiness Project" for Christmas a month ago. At first I thought the gesture was a sweet but misguided attempt at her trying to understand why I get lonely at times, what with being in grad school and living alone. But once I started this book and could not stop reading it, my life improved...lol.

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin (Book # 6 of 2012):
While this was an autobiography/self-help book focused on ways that the author herself worked to improve her own personal happiness over the course of a year, I found it to have an incredible amount of tips that were extremely useful in making my own days more fulfilling and satisfying. As I've mentioned before in this blog, my idea for the 4 goals per month, each separated into smaller goals, came from this book. And as any readers have seen, this has been an incredibly successful method for myself of getting things done. A few posts back, I also listed "Marie's Commandments," which was a concept inspired by this book. Inevitably, there will be numerous references to this book as I continue blogging. So all in all, while there were some aspects of her happiness journey that I didn't connect with, that was essentially the overall point of the book - that everyone is a unique individual who must find their own ways to reach happiness. And as a side note, this book is not spiritually or theoretically centered at all, but is much more practical and usable in anyone's happiness journey.

READ IT!!! :-)


JANUARY GOALS UPDATE!! - 3 of 4 DOWN!!
1. Go through my Christmas gifts - COMPLETE :-)
a. make a list of who gave me what - CHECK
b. put items where they go/in places where they will be used - CHECK
c. pull out thank you cards - CHECK
d. write thank you notes - CHECK
e. get addresses - CHECK
f. mail thank you notes - CHECK

2. Financials - COMPLETE :-)
a. find all random financial documents laying around - CHECK
b. stack documents in proper piles - CHECK
c. file away - CHECK
d. place tax pertinent documents in manila envelope - CHECK
e. pull out GrottoFae info and place in above manila envelope - CHECK
f. find last remaining receipt for GrottoFae, was it in Dec though? - No, so CHECK
g. call to make tax filing appointment - CHECK
h. update GrottoFae info - CHECK

3. Closet - maybe a couple more days work...
a. pull out all hanging clothes I have not worn in a year - (only a few more items to try on!!)
b. fold these clothes and place in bags with other give-aways - (I've done this for all the hanging clothes I've gone through)
c. go through non-clothes items on closet floor - CHECK
d. put these things away in proper locations - (still need to hang shadow box on the wall...)
e. go through clothing on closet floor - (bags with future t-shirt quilt materials, clothes I want to keep for my future children) - CHECK
f. try on above mentioned clothes and MAKE DECISIONS - CHECK
g. take all give aways to Plato's Closet -
h. put all items back in closet in an orderly fashion -

4. Memory Box - COMPLETE :-)
a. decide on categories for memory box - CHECK
b. decide on separation method (folders for paper memories and Ziplock bags for 3-d items) - CHECK
c. separate into piles (separated by school) - CHECK
d. file these piles into box - CHECK
e. along with b, I need to find a new box to put the post-college stuff in - CHECK

A Useful Budgeting Tool + January Goal Updates

Check this out!
First off, I'd like to provide whoever may be reading this blog with an Excel workbook I created. This tool has been a tremendous help with budgeting. It's separated into 2 sheets. The 1st sheet is a breakdown by day (billing cycles for my credit cards provide the overall breakdown) of how much money I have spent in various categories including, for example, Grocery, Automotive, Medical, and Pets. The 2nd sheet keeps track of how much I have saved each month with 1 column for "Out of Pocket," 1 column for "Amount Saved," and a 3rd column for "% Saved." A totals cell below each billing cycle breakdown provides a total savings count for the entire month. CLICK HERE to download
Hopefully someone will find this useful!

I'm still going strong with my goals...
January Goals : 2/4 completed, 6 days left including today = SO DOABLE

1. Go through my Christmas gifts - COMPLETE :-)
a. make a list of who gave me what - CHECK
b. put items where they go/in places where they will be used - CHECK
c. pull out thank you cards - CHECK
d. write thank you notes - CHECK
e. get addresses - CHECK
f. mail thank you notes - CHECK (the envelopes look like stamp collages since I still had some 32 cent stamps :-P )

2. Financials
a. find all random financial documents laying around - CHECK
b. stack documents in proper piles - CHECK
c. file away - CHECK
d. place tax pertinent documents in manila envelope - CHECK
e. pull out GrottoFae info and place in above manila envelope - CHECK
f. find last remaining receipt for GrottoFae, was it in Dec though? - No, so CHECK
g. call to make tax filing appointment - CHECK
h. update GrottoFae info - (I realized my log doesn't include a number of entries so I'm gonna have to look on Etsy to finalize)

3. Closet
a. pull out all hanging clothes I have not worn in a year - (I think this'll just have to wait until I've gone through all of the other clothes)
b. fold these clothes and place in bags with other give-aways -
c. go through non-clothes items on closet floor - CHECK
d. put these things away in proper locations - (still need to hang shadow box on the wall...)
e. go through clothing on closet floor - (bags with future t-shirt quilt materials, clothes I want to keep for my future children)
f. try on above mentioned clothes and MAKE DECISIONS - I only have a very few more things to try on, so almost there!
g. take all give aways to Plato's Closet -
h. put all items back in closet in an orderly fashion -

4. Memory Box - COMPLETE :-)
a. decide on categories for memory box - CHECK
b. decide on separation method (folders for paper memories and Ziplock bags for 3-d items) - CHECK
c. separate into piles (separated by school) - CHECK
d. file these piles into box - CHECK
e. along with b, I need to find a new box to put the post-college stuff in - CHECK

Time for some reviews...

So I've been holding on to these reviews for a few days now, but here they are...several movies and books.

Revenge of the Nerds (a movie):
So I've always heard that this movie was a classic and just never got the opportunity to see it. Well, it was available on Netflix Instant Play so I decided, "Why not?" While parts of the movie were a little crude for my taste and, I thought, gratuitous, the movie as a whole was definitely funny and ridiculous in a good way. I have to say though, if I was Betty, I'm not sure who I would trust! That poor poor girl :-( My favorite part was the general fact that the nerds ended up being sponsored by an all-black fraternal organization...definitely made for some hysterical moments. And the ending was wonderful, especially for all those of us who are self-proclaimed nerds out there. Definitely a classic :-)

The Sweetest Thing (a movie):
I caught this one on TV one day and the description said romcom so I couldn't help myself. It was in fact quite good and the interplay between the best friend main characters played by Christina Applegate and Cameron Diaz was just plain fun! Every girl wants an awesome friendship like the two of them had. I just enjoyed watching the way they were with each other more than anything...of course the love story was cute too...and super quirky in the end. Totally recommend this one.

Season of the Witch (a movie):
Watch the trailer but NOT the movie. It was stilted, contrived, and just plain awful!!

Blood Will Tell by Samantha Young (Book #4 of 2012):
Fantastic! This was a supernatural young adult novel without an obvious romantic side story which was a surprisingly refreshing change of pace. The story was focused on the difficulties the main character was undergoing in trying to figure out who she really is...and what she really is. It's the first book in a series, so I may run to the library at some point and see if they have the 2nd one (I got this one for free on my KindleFire). I really can't say enough good things about this book. It was a page turner. You're drawn into really caring about the characters. The mythological backdrop was intriguing. And the author just really has a way with putting you in the scenes. Loved it!

(Book #5 of 2012) - I have read 3 different short stories on my KindleFire that I've decided to combine together as book #5...they are:
-
Transfection by David Gaughran:
This short story has a very intriguing plot but, all in all, I thought the characters were vague and the story was told far too broadly. It spanned far too long a time period and the ending was extremely disappointing.
-
From Above by Jeremy Robinson:
I loved this one. It had great characters with very definite personalities and the story was quite imaginative. I liked the creativity and the depth to which the situational history of the story's backdrop was covered. Quite good.
-
Tuned in to Love by Karen Jerabek:
Short and sweet and lovely. This was a great little story about two people who unwittingly fall in love. It was strange how some of the scenes reminded me of a novel I wrote back in the 6th grade, but that's probably because every female wants to have a crazy electric, this is the man for me kind of feeling in their gut.

Where I am in my January Goals - doin' good!

I'm so close to being done...at this rate, I may just finish before the month is over :-) The greatest thing about laying out goals in this way of having 4 big goals broken down into smaller goals is that as you discover new goals that need to be met to fulfill a larger goal, you can just add on to the list under the larger goal and it ultimately makes things look easier and more doable (as opposed to a long list of goals that would start to look unwieldy!!).

1. Go through my Christmas gifts
a. make a list of who gave me what - CHECK
b. put items where they go/in places where they will be used - CHECK
c. pull out thank you cards - CHECK
d. write thank you notes - CHECK
e. get addresses - (I might need to call my Mom to get some of these. My address book is a shambles right now and filled with way outdated info...maybe that's a future goal...)
f. mail thank you notes - (hopefully I can do this tomorrow)

2. Financials
a. find all random financial documents laying around - CHECK
b. stack documents in proper piles - CHECK
c. file away - CHECK
d. place tax pertinent documents in manila envelope - CHECK
e. pull out GrottoFae info and place in above manila envelope - CHECK
f. find last remaining receipt for GrottoFae, was it in Dec though? -
g. call to make tax filing appointment -

3. Closet
a. pull out all hanging clothes I have not worn in a year - (I'll double check this tonight)
b. fold these clothes and place in bags with other give-aways - (yeah, still haven't done this lol)
c. go through non-clothes items on closet floor - CHECK (I know what all's there...now proceed to step d)
d. put these things away in proper locations - (I need to hang one thing on the wall and figure out if I still want to keep the shoes I rediscovered...haha)
e. go through clothing on closet floor - (I've already separated everything into bags containing future t-shirt quilt materials, bags of clothes I want to keep for my future children, and bags of clothes that I need to try on and then decide what to do with)
f. try on above mentioned clothes and MAKE DECISIONS -
g. take all give aways to Plato's Closet -
h. put all items back in closet in an orderly fashion -

4. Memory Box - COMPLETE :-)
a. decide on categories for memory box - CHECK
b. decide on separation method (folders for paper memories and Ziplock bags for 3-d items) - CHECK
c. separate into piles (separated by school) - CHECK
d. file these piles into box - CHECK
e. along with b, I need to find a new box to put the post-college stuff in - CHECK (now where to put the box...)

Marie's 12 Commandments

In Gretchen Rubin's "The Happiness Project," she starts off her journey by coming up with "Gretchen's 12 Commandments," little things that she feels she needs to focus on to improve her outlook on the day and make her as a whole, happier.
Well, after reading over half of the book, my 12 commandments had yet to hit me and then one night several days ago, they all came in a flood. So now that I have "Marie's 12 Commandments," I'd like to share them in hopes that someone else may have a spontaneous mental explosion of little reminders to improve your happiness level :-)

Marie's 12 Commandments::
1. Be Marie
2. Enjoy what I enjoy...without shame!
3. Reply immediately
4. 2-min rule...Just Do It!! (If something will take less than 2 min to do...then go ahead and do it)
5. Communicate with friends and family
6. Be honest with myself / take responsibility
7. I am not defined by others!!
8. Show love
9. Talk to God
10. Shower!! (haha)
11. Use what I have...don't hoard things with expiration dates!
12. It's okay to go to sleep around 9pm :-)

So hopefully this list will inspire someone else to make their own list of things they need to be aware of in their life. Maybe some of these commandments will even ring true for you...