2018 - Brought To You By The Letter H

A few months back I briefly mentioned I had been reading about the difference between goals and intentions. It's still something I'm thinking about and I want that to reflect any sort of to-do list I make  going forward. I broke things down into four categories where I want to be intentional over the next year, they're purposely broad so that any goals I create will fit into one of the four categories. I'm not sure yet if I'll set monthly or quarterly goals or a mix of both but I do know that these will be the categories:

Home

For the first time since finishing high school I know I'm going to live in one place for the whole year and foreseeable future. Since moving in at the beginning of September I've bought a few pieces of furniture and done a little rearranging to make it feel like home but there's still more to be done. The intention here is to create a place that is warm and inviting and homey. Goals in this area will be specific things like adding more art to the walls and creating a scrapbooking nook. 

Heart

Gratitude was one of my main resolutions for 2017 and while it wasn't perfect most days I did take time to list a minimum of three thankful thoughts. Lately I've been topping 20-30 things each day and it is true that the more you do it the easier it becomes. Along with continuing be thankful I want to be kinder and gentler to myself and others. Be a little less judgemental and a lot more compassionate, even when my Type A-ness just wants to solve the problem and move on with life. Difficult things to measure but might end up including sending more snail mail, planning more coffee dates and less meetings. 

Head

The first year of a new job is always going to be rough but looking back I had a terrible work/life balance. I planned almost everything around work and it left me feeling resentful and generally unhappy. There's absolutely value in working hard and getting things done but there's also a whole lot of value in having interests and life outside the office. Reading more books, decreasing screen time and planning time away from work are all going to fall under this category. 

Habits

One difference between intentions and goals is the idea of forming habits. When you set a goal it's a task that you accomplish and then move on to the next task. Intentions don't necessarily have an end, it's about being mindful about how you're interacting with the world. Mostly all of these goals are about creating new habits and being intentional and less about doing x number of things before a certain date. My morning routine is going to get an overhaul in this area as is my tendency to multi-task. 

How is 2018 shaping up for you? Are you making resolutions? Setting goals? Carrying on with life like usual? Let me know!

Goals, Ambitions & Intentions 2017

In 2017 I will...

Listen to the universe.

Take photos.

Write things down.

Document life.

Embrace & appreciate the ordinary.

Spend more time outside.

Share more Project Life & Planner spreads on the blog.

Commit to a daily devotional and prayer.

Remember that little things make big things. 

Be peaceful, patient and kind. 

So there you have it, nothing particularly ground breaking or exciting but it feels right. I hope the year ahead is full of happy surprises and reassurance that there's more to life than lowering your expectations. 

Linking up with Lauren. 

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Word of the Week (52 in 52 2017)

Last night I was in the middle of creating a 52 in 52 list and I stalled. I had been struggling with the darn thing all week and wasn't getting anywhere. Nothing seemed new or exciting, it was quickly become a list comprised of the same things I did last year and some things that I didn't actually have any interest in doing. In other words I was wasting my time.

And then I had an 'Ah-Ha' moment. 

I'd already decided that the official One Little Word class wasn't for me but was still toying with the idea of picking a word and letting it lead me but there wasn't really one word sticking out to me. So I'm not choosing a word. I'm choosing 52. Conceivably, one for each week of the year. Or maybe I'll choose 4-5 each month. Either way, I'm excited. 

I'm still working on what exactly this will look like but right now I am planning on choosing a word each Sunday and incorporating it into my week. I'm thinking I will either use a Smash book or 8x6 Project Life album from my stash to document my words. Maybe I won't get through all 52 words, maybe there will be a couple that stick around a little longer or I'll revisit them as life dictates. I'm not going to use the words in any particular order, just whatever seems appropriate for the week. 

My words came to me pretty quickly, a few quick thesaurus searches but it took me less than 30 minutes to create this list. And have I mentioned yet I'm really excited about this plan?

1. Abide
2. And
3. Balance
4. Be
5. Bless
6. Begin
7. Clear
8. Do
9. Devote
10. Detail
11. Engage
12. Explore
13. Firm
14. Faith
15. Flow
16. Grace
17. Grow
18. Honour
19. Humble
20. Intention
21. Intrepid
22. Joy
23. Know
24. Kindness
25. Light
26. Little
27. Might/Mighty
28. Peace
29. Prayer
30. Plant
31. Psalm
32. Praise
33. Preserve
34. Produce
35. Play
36. Quiet
37. Reduce
38. Refresh
39. Relax
40. Ripple
41. Remember
42. Renew
43. Still
44. Savour
45. Soften
46. Spark
47. Shine
48. See
49. Selah
50. Thrive
51. Whole
52. Well

What do you think? Am I in over my head? Have you used any of these words as your One Little Word? 

Linking up with Mulling Over My Morning Coffee!

Always Forward

I am happy to report that November was a much better month than the disaster that was October. I participated in NaNoWriMo, but I didn't finish because I didn't want to. I realized that the fun factor had worn off so I let it go. I then spent the time I was spending writing catching up with Project Life and re-kindling my interest in art journalling. I'm finally considering myself caught up with Project Life. October is complete up until Thanksgiving and the first half of November is 'roughed in'. I'm still debating/leaning towards documenting weekly in 2017. 

As for my goal of being a lady with a plan again after Plans A - Z were total fails from August - October I have made a lot of progress but nothing is for certain yet. I have an interview for a full time, year round, permanent position at a camp next week. I'm hopeful, but if I've learned anything over the past few months it's that competition is fierce and possibly out of control...like requesting audition videos out of control. I want a job, not a spot on The Amazing Race (although, if this doesn't work out maybe reality TV is an avenue I should explore). 

My goals for December are a little dependant on how the interview goes, if all goes well then I'm going to spend some time figuring out the logistics of moving across the country. And if it doesn't go well then I will be in pursuit of a Plan B...and maybe also C-Z,  but we'll focus on Plan A for now. 

All of the things I've ordered online have arrived at the house this week, except for Old Navy so I officially have 90% of my Christmas shopping done and in my possession. I need to get a few little things to go along with my mom's and figure out exactly what to get my father, who is near impossible to shop for. I also need to send out Christmas cards, but it's only the start of December so there's plenty of time to make that happen. 

I do want to keep journalling because I fully recognize that when I spend 15-20 minutes before bed doodling and writing not only do I sleep better but I feel a little less overwhelmed. I've been doing a devotional using the YouVersion Bible app which is also helpful. 

Last month if I had to choose one symbol to represent life it would have been a big bold question mark. The end of November feels more like an ellipses, there's no definitive answer or solution but there is a lot of potential and possibility. I'd be lying if I said I'd love an exclamation point or some other definitive answer but I'd also be lying if I said I didn't feel okay with where I am now. 

What's New With You this month? Share your life's happening and linkup with Gretch Runs and See You In A Porridge!

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Show & Tell Tuesday: Lottery Edition

First off, it's important to know that since reading this prompt "If I had $1,000,000" by The Barenaked Ladies has been stuck in my head. If you have no idea what I'm talking about I'll assume that you did not grow up in Canada. Since $1,000,000 doesn't go as far as one might think (and I'd like more than a nice chesterfield or ottoman) I'm going to follow Andrea's  lead and assume the winnings are essentially limitless. 

First off, I wouldn't tell anyone until I met with a financial advisor and made a long term, sustainable plan. There's no chance I would be one of those people shouting it from the rooftops the second I found out! 

Once all that was taken care of I'd get down to business (quite literally). I'd buy a piece of property and then build my dream camp. That would take up a considerable amount of time and money but it would be a labour of love so I really wouldn't mind.

The other thing I would do is go on an epic Girls' Trip to Disney World! 

Simple enough right? Now I just need to start buying lottery tickets! 

November Goals & October Check In

First let's check in with my October goals.
October Goals:

1. Finish Project Life album for camp. 

Album is totally finished!

2. Get caught up with 'everyday' Project Life Album (April - September)

January - April are 100% complete
May is about 75% complete
June - August are 25% complete
September is 50% complete

I'm confident that I will be fully caught up by the end of the year and likely will be caught up by the end of November. I have everything printed and put into pockets it's just a matter of embellishing and journalling which I tend to do in smaller bursts. 

3. Organize & De-Stash Project Life/Scrapbooking/Planner supplies.

It's not perfect but I did cut down some of my 12x12 paper to PL sizes and I made a separate storage box for Happy Planner supplies.

4. Finish 2 books.

I started and finished The Secrets of Midwives and Proof of Forever.

5. Map out NaNoWriMo.

Done. And it was much more of a reflective process than I was anticipating. I don't know when I became scared (for lack of better word) or writing but somewhere along the way it happened. I need to stop worrying about being perfect and just write stuff. It's NaNoWriMo not NaNoWriABestSellerMo. 

6. Take photos during Thanksgiving, Spark Camp & Friendsgiving.

The most positive thing that has come out of my newfound love of Project Life is that I am so much more motivated to take photos, it was a slow process but I have a lot of photos and that makes me super happy. 

7. Publish Blog Posts!

I published 13 posts in October. It could be better but it averages out to about 3 times a week so I think it's a pass.

Overall I completed 6.5/7 goals so it was a pretty successful month!

November Goals

1. Participate in NaNoWriMo.
I (probably) won't write the next Harry Potter book this month but I will write and I will write more than just grocery lists.

2. Become a Lady With A Plan (Again).
This is sort of vague, but in the past two months I have honestly cycled through Plans A-Z without any of them coming into fruition. I'm usually really good at having back up plans for back up plans but right now I'm at a loss. I need to regroup, strategize and figure out what comes next.

I'm a little light on the November goals but it's by design. Those are the things I want to focus on this month and hopefully by only focusing on two things I'll be more likely to accomplish them. 

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#goals

In the words of Mulan, "let's get down to business". 

October Goals:

1. Finish Project Life album for camp. 

In a quest to practice better self-care this year at camp I took more photos during sessions and then between session breaks printed photos and made spreads. It worked really well and it's something I'll almost certainly do again in the future. Inevitably, about half way through the summer I fell behind because I was spending breaks doing things. At this point I have about two weeks left of camp to finish and mostly it's adding journalling and embellishments. 

2. Get caught up with 'everyday' Project Life Album (April - September)

I knew this was going to be a problem when I first came up with the plan to do a separate camp album. In January I started my Project Life album using the monthly format but then did more of a weekly format during the summer in my camp album and didn't do anything in the album I started in January. I sort of have a game plan in mind using leftover photos from each week (I almost always printed too many) adding in a few extras and calling it a day. 

3. Organize & De-Stash Project Life/Scrapbooking/Planner supplies.

I am 100% on the Project Life bandwagon and can't imagine going back to 'traditional' scrapbooking. That means I have a lot of 12x12 papers that are just sitting around. Thanks to PLers on YouTube I got the idea to cut down some of those 12x12 papers into PL pocket sizes. I'll keep some large sheets because they come in handy for other crafty endeavours but for the most part I have no need for those big papers. Since I've enjoyed the Project Life bandwagon so much I've decided that in 2017 I'm also going to jump on the Happy Planner bandwagon! So I'd like to sort through all of my stuff and separate it into Project Life, Planner and General Crafting categories. This might be a bit of a lofty goal but we'll see what happens. 

4. Finish 2 books.

I am 75% through one I started in July about the FLDS but then put it down in favour of something a little lighter. I need to finish that one plus another one that I started and didn't finish because I got distracted re-watching How I Met Your Mother. 

5. Map out NaNoWriMo.

..2016 is the year, friends.

6. Take photos during Thanksgiving, Spark Camp & Friendsgiving.

I have lots of fun stuff planned for October this upcoming weekend is Thanksgiving and then I have a plan free weekend followed by a weekend of Spark Camp and then hopefully the next weekend a Friendsgiving weekend with H. & R.. And circling back to the getting caught up with Project Life I've learned it's much easier to stay caught up when you have photos to use! 

7. Publish Blog Posts!

I searched high and low for a 'Blogtober' link up of some sort since I missed out on Bailey Jean's Blogtember but I didn't find anything so I'm just going to make things happen on my own. It's highly unlikely (and impossible at this point) that I'll blog everyday in October but the plan is to make more of an effort and at least press the publish button a few times a week. 

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Quick Goals Update

You can read about my April Goals back here.

In terms of monthly goals that I accomplished in April...I definitely get full marks for the writing goal I didn't specifically keep track of hours but I had quite a few strings of 7-10 days without missing a day so I'm confident in total it was at least 30 hours, in all reality it could have been more. I'm still working on reading a book, turns out I chose a poorly written book to read and it's taking me three times as long to read it as it would if I was genuinely interested in the plot. I was pretty active on my FitBit, maybe not as active as I would have liked but I hit 10,000 steps at least one day a week and had a few days that were in the 15,000 range. 

May goals are always something I struggle with because it's the time of year when I head off to camp and it's nearly impossible to predict how the summer will play out and what I'll have time to do or want to make time to do. For now I'm going to hold off on the May goals and wait a few weeks to set summer goals that will span the whole season. 

As for my 52 in 52 list, I accomplished quite a bit with that this month!

I am a few hours away from finishing January, February and March of my Project Life album which will essentially bring me up to date since I'm working on it monthly. I am inching closer and closer to filling one of my 3 notebooks for the year. This month I both made eggplant parmesan and tried it for the first time. I need to add everything up but I know I'm close to approaching 10 out of 12 new foods to try, my new recipes are a lagging behind and standing around 6 out of 12 and after last week's trip to visit Holly I am pretty sure I have visited a full 12 out of 12 new restaurants. 

After that trip I can also check off visiting a bunch of museums and of course another province (more on the whole trip tomorrow). 

2016 has been a terrible year for accomplishing monthly goals but I am loving my 52 in 52 approach. It really has helped motivate me to try new things and as the year goes by I'm finding it getting easier and easier to stay motivated because I want to accomplish everything on the list.

March Wrap Up & April Goals

Before we get into what I want to accomplish this month let's do a quick recap on my March Goals and what I accomplished last month...

March Goal: Read one book of the Bible every day in March

Outcome: Nope. I read 5 books, which makes it more of a once a week accomplishment than a once a day accomplishment. I'm not being too hard on myself with this one. I've made progress and I'm going to keep it up for the month of April.

March Goal: Read two books.

Outcome: Seriously, what is my problem with this!? Another month has past and I didn't read a single book. I'm too disgusted by this thought to elaborate any further.

March Goal: Journal/Write Creatively 16 days out of the month.

Outcome: I'm giving myself a check mark next to this one! 

As for my 52 in 52 List...I did try a new food (baked brie with apricot jam) and made two new recipes (icing and pad thai). I'm anticipating April being a more successful month because I already have some things 'in progress' but can't actually call them done until next month. 

April has a few unknowns right now. Basically one of two scenarios is going to play out; either everything will continue according to plan OR I'll check a pretty big item off my life goals list...which is the preferred scenario and it will also come with some big changes. So keeping that in mind I'm keeping my April goals pretty simple. I'm going to go ahead and carry all of my March Goals over to April with a few moderations. I am going to keep up with my Bible reading plan and aim to read 10 books this month. On the literature front I'm going to take a different approach. I'm just going to read one book. One. Surely, I can read one book during next next 30 days. As for the writing, I'm not sure I want to put a number of times on that. I discovered last month that It can be hard to count days, somedays I can easily write for a few pages and others the only writing I do is a quick five minutes to answer the question in my Five Year Journal. So I'm going to try and keep track of how many hours I spend journalling and writing. I'm going to aim to spend 30 hours writing and we'll see how it goes. To make my goals a little more rounded and since the weather is warming up I'm going to aim to have at least one day a week with 15,000 steps on my FitBit. 

There may be some changes to this list depending on how the month unfolds, but for now I'm balancing living in the present while being aware of things on the horizon. What are you planning to accomplish in April? 

March Goals

I'm keeping things simple this month, but I'm also being smart. Last month I totally and completely failed at completing the One Little Word prompt. Even saying I failed to complete it is giving myself too much credit, I hardly started. The good news is I'm cutting myself some slack and tweaking it for March. And, since I also didn't get much accomplished on my 52 in 52 list last month I'm going to go ahead and kill two birds with one stone. 

One of the biggest goals on my list is to read the Bible cover over the course of the year. At first I was going to go the chronological route, but I don't think that's the route for me. I'm not going to follow any particular reading plan, I'm just going to read book by book. I whipped up a simple bookmark shaped checklist to keep track of which books I've read that I'll keep in my Bible and then transfer to my OLW album when I'm finished. How does this fit into OLW you may ask? Well, last month the challenge was to choose a practice and do it everyday. And I really struggled to decide what my task was going to be and then when I decided that I was overthinking things and my practice would be to simple interact with my word each day it was February 10th and the month was half over. I could have started then but I chose not to, I don't want to skip the month all together so my March goal is going to be to read one book of the Bible each day in March.

In addition to all the Bible reading I'm also going to read two books this month. And I'm also going to journal/write creatively 16 days out of the month. 

I'm keeping it simple with goals this month. I have a few things on my to do list that I would really like to accomplish but I'm intentionally not making them a priority this month. Verdict is still out about a contract extension, and it's possible there will be overtime each weekend in March so I'm choosing my goals wisely and reminding myself I can do it all....but I can't do it all at once.

What do you have planned for March? Let me know if you're sharing your March goals today as well! 

52 in 52 January Progress

I started off the year with some lofty goals. Fifty two of them to be exact, one for each week of the year. January is almost over so I thought I'd do an update about what I was able to accomplish this month. 

1. Complete 12 months of Project Life. (0/12) I'm on track with this but I won't get to cross one month off just yet. Since I'm doing Project Life monthly I won't start working on January until the first week of February. 
2. Document my One Little Word for the whole year. Making decent progress on this one as well. I did 75% of the January prompts, I got a little off track when I went away but I'll catch up. 
3. Read 52 Books. (1/52) Not such good progress... 
4. Fill three Notebooks. (0/3) I either need to start writing a whole lot more or adjust my goal. 
5. Try 12 new foods. (2/12) Nothing too exotic but while I was travelling I had my first ever hushpuppy (delicious) and I also tried biscuits with sausage gravy. That was a weird experience, it was good, but it didn't feel like something I should be eating for brunch. 
6. Cook 12 new recipes. (0/12) I bought all the ingredients to make Thai Chicken Soup but I haven't actually made it yet. 
7. Try 12 new restaurants. (0/12) OK, so when I made this I wasn't really thinking about my trip. Technically while travelling I visited at least six new restaurants, that feels a little like cheating though? When I first wrote this challenge I was thinking about trying one new local place each month. So by those rules I'm 1/12 since I went to a local coffee place this month. What are your thoughts? Should I could places I went while travelling or stick to exploring more local places? 
8. Spent 10 nights sleeping in a tent. (0/10) 
9. Visit six museums/National Historic Sites.(0/6) 
10. Participate in a "Photo A Day" Challenge. - I think February is going to be the month for this! It's a short month so I can get it done and then maybe do another one in the summer. 
11. Add a stamp to my passport.  Florida - January 6 - 16
12. Plant a garden.
13. Write a "1000 Gifts" inspired list. 
14. Invest in a custom piece of jewelry. 
15. Mail Valentine's Day Cards.- I made a list of everyone who I want to send a card to, which is the first step. 
16. Mail Christmas Cards. 
17. Mail post cards during a vacation. I totally forgot this was on the list. #oops
18. Publish 152 blog posts. (5/152) January was a slow month. I was travelling for close to two weeks and didn't blog during that whole time. 
19. Take a photography or cooking class.
20. Volunteer for a total of 52 hours. (0/52) This one is tricky too. I need to make up some rules about what I'm going to count as volunteer hours and what I'm not. 
21. Visit another province. *Technically I spent the night in Ottawa, Ontario...but I'm holding off on crossing this one of just yet. Hopefully I'll visit another province and spend time in more than a hotel. 
22. Buy fresh flowers 'just because'.
23. Write the rough draft of a novel.
24. See my blog reach 100 followers.
25. Watch 12 TED talks. (0/12)
26. Read the Bible cover to cover.
27. Complete 12 Pinterest Projects. (0/12)
28. See a play.
29. Complete six jigsaw puzzles. (0/6)
30. Sew all my patches on to my camp blanket. 
31. Save $2 each week and use it to celebrate completing all 52 things.  Technically haven't done this yet...but I have been putting all my change into a piggy bank. 
32.  Attend an NHL game.  Pittsburgh Penguins vs Tampa Bolts, January 15, 2016
33. Have a girls' weekend.
34. Choose a good habit to start during Lent.
35. Build a snowman.
36. Complete two "Day in the Life" posts. (0/2)
37. Invest in an external hard drive and back up my photos.
38. Visit a Farmer's Market 6 times. (0/6)
39. Purposely learn something new everyday for a week.
40. Watch a fireworks display. You would think I would have crossed this off at Disney, except I also forgot this was on the list...
41. Meditate once a day for a week. (0/7)
42. Complete a crossword puzzle without help from Google.
43. Listen to a full album of classical music.
44. Do the Clean Sweep test and improve my score in six months. 
45. Watch the sunrise. 
46. Spend an hour outdoors in silence. 
47. Try three different types of wine. (0/3)
48. Enjoy a guilt free afternoon nap.
49. Join a club.
50. Enjoy a bonfire with friends.
51. Follow through with decluttering and the KonMari method.
52. Make cards using my photos/scrapbooking stash and sell them. 

All this considered I'm satisfied with my progress this month. There are a few things that I totally could have done if I had of remembered they were on this list. I need to print out a copy and keep it somewhere handy!

Joining the Blogging Elite for January's Frosty link up! 

A New Year's Do Over

I spent January 1st in an excited panic. 

My One Little Word prompts had arrived for the month of January.

My blank Five Year Question Journal was sitting on my bedside table ready to start. 

My Project Life Album was full of empty pocket page protectors. 

My 52 Things in 52 Weeks list waited for the first thing to get crossed off.

The year had hardly started and already I felt slightly overwhelmed by my imaginary to do list. (I say imaginary to do list because I did have a real to do list. It involved packing, arranging, Sparks things, meal planning...you know things that would actually impact my daily life.)

And then I messed up and my one month old phone met with water which was enough for my mind to grind to a halt and recognize that I was rushing myself to do all the fun things and ruining the fun in the process. 

I am not going to disappoint Ali Edwards if I don't finish all of my OLW prompts by January 2nd.

It will take me approximately 5 minutes to respond to the prompt in my Five Year Journal. 

It's called Project Life not Project January 1st.

52 Weeks...not 52 minutes on January 1st. 

It was like the calendar changed to 2016 and I went coocoo bananas and lost all sight of reality and logical thinking. 

I spent January 2nd in my yoga pants and hoodie. I helped mom tear down Christmas and return it all to the attic. I communicated by landline and e-mail while my cellphone hung out in a baggie full of rice. I sharpened a tupperware container full of pencil crayons left over from my elementary school days to use in my new colouring books. I hit the reset button. 

I'm declaring a do over on January 1st. 

Reminding myself that there is no need to rush into things. There is no prize for finishing things first and nobody is going to hand me an award for starting the most projects on January 1st. I've secretly rolled my eyes a little every time I've read about a blogger committing to being more intentional over the last few weeks. Now I'm about to join the ranks. I still have every intention of completing Project Life this year, following along with my One Little Word, crossing off items on my 52 Things List and responding to the journal prompts every day. I also have every intention to do one thing at a time and enjoy the process. 

So tonight I'm going to ring in January 3rd and remind myself that Rome wasn't built in a day and the year doesn't revolve around crossing items off on my to do list. 

52 Things in 52 Weeks

Some of you observant folks may have noticed that over the weekend my 25x25 list transformed into a 52 in 52 list. I've been 26 for almost a year now and have thought many times about needing to do something with my 25x25 list but couldn't decide on a plan. For a while I thought about doing a 101 in 1001 list that seem to be popular among bloggers but 101 things is a lot of things and 1001 days feels like a long time! A 30x30 list didn't interest me because it felt cliche and four years is a long time to do 30 things. So after some thought I decided to create a list of 52 things I want to do over the course of the 52 weeks that make up 2016.

1. Complete 12 months of Project Life. (0/12)
2. Document my One Little Word for the whole year. 
3. Read 52 Books. (0/52)
4. Fill three Notebooks. (0/3)
5. Try 12 new foods. (0/12)
6. Cook 12 new recipes. (0/12)
7. Try 12 new restaurants. (0/12)
8. Spent 10 nights sleeping in a tent. (0/10)
9. Visit six museums/National Historic Sites.(0/6)
10. Participate in a "Photo A Day" Challenge.
11. Add a stamp to my passport.
12. Plant a garden.
13. Write a "1000 Gifts" inspired list. 
14. Invest in a custom piece of jewelry. 
15. Mail Valentine's Day Cards.
16. Mail Christmas Cards. 
17. Mail post cards during a vacation.
18. Publish 152 blog posts. (0/152)
19. Take a photography or cooking class.
20. Volunteer for a total of 52 hours. (0/52)
21. Visit another province.
22. Buy fresh flowers 'just because'.
23. Write the rough draft of a novel.
24. See my blog reach 100 followers.
25. Watch 12 TED talks. (0/12)
26. Read the Bible cover to cover.
27. Complete 12 Pinterest Projects. (0/12)
28. See a play.
29. Complete six jigsaw puzzles. (0/6)
30. Sew all my patches on to my camp blanket. 
31. Save $2 each week and use it to celebrate completing all 52 things. 
32.  Attend an NHL game. 
33. Have a girls' weekend.
34. Choose a good habit to start during Lent.
35. Build a snowman.
36. Complete two "Day in the Life" posts. (0/2)
37. Invest in an external hard drive and back up my photos.
38. Visit a Farmer's Market 6 times. (0/6)
39. Purposely learn something new everyday for a week.
40. Watch a fireworks display.
41. Meditate once a day for a week. (0/7)
42. Complete a crossword puzzle without help from Google.
43. Listen to a full album of classical music.
44. Do the Clean Sweep test and improve my score in six months. 
45. Watch the sunrise. 
46. Spend an hour outdoors in silence. 
47. Try three different types of wine. (0/3)
48. Enjoy a guilt free afternoon nap.
49. Join a club.
50. Enjoy a bonfire with friends.
51. Follow through with decluttering and the KonMari method.
52. Make cards using my photos/scrapbooking stash and sell them. 

I plan to blog about all (or at least most) of the things and am pretty optimistic I'll be able to complete the whole list. Have you started thinking about New Year's Resolutions yet or am I way ahead of the game!? 

Goal Time

I wanted to read five books but I only read three books this month. One of them took me two weeks to read which obviously impacted my ability to read more books.

I planned to send snail mail packages and that was a success. I sent little Halloween themed packages to N. & R. and a combination birthday/Halloween package to H.

I thought I would be ambitious and plan every Spark meeting until December. I spent a lot of time on Pinterest and making notes and calendars but didn't write out any actual meeting plans. I'm not super worried about it though, even if I didn't write out every meeting plan I do have a bunch of ideas and themes for meetings it's just a matter of putting things together. 

I wanted to go on two actual dates (not sitting in front of the TV watching home reno shows and hockey games). I'm pretty sure J. and I went on two actual dates this month...I'm calling it a win.

I aimed to publish 15 blog posts in October. Honestly, I forgot that was even a goal this month. I did it though, although it was entirely unintentional.

I thought it would be a good idea to write using pen & paper everyday in October. I did a quick count and wrote in my designated journal notebook 17 times in October. Not bad, but could be better. 

Let's move on to November...

It is November 5th, I have decided I will not be NaNoWriMo-ing so that means I need to come up with some things I'd actually like to accomplish this  month. 

I'm still on the library's waiting list for the The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up but I'm going to go ahead and make a decluttering goal anyway. Since there are 31 days in November my goal is going to be to donate/repurpose/trash 31 things this month. 

I am not ready to blast Christmas carols or deck the halls anytime soon but any Christmas gifts that I'm planning on ordering online need to be ordered this month. I know for sure I have to put together a calendar for my grandparents and probably order a couple of things for J..

Even though I'm not doing NaNoWriMo I'm going to revisit the pen & paper writing goal everyday this month is a little lofty but I can write 20 times this month. 

It's been awhile since I've made a conscious effort to try any of my pins. This month I'll try three pins, ideally a recipe, a craft and a DIY/Organization/Life Hack thing. 

Read 3 books. I haven't read a single word that wasn't written on a blog or BuzzFeed post yet this month so I'm being realistic. 

I'm not feeling particularly motivated this month so I'm stopping at five. There's a few other things I'd like to accomplish this month but I don't necessarily classify them as goals. 

Linking up with My So-Called Chaos  for the monthly goal link up! 

Thursday Thoughts

This week has felt eternally overwhelming. I've been plugging away at my to do list all week and now I've reached a stand still, there are still things to do, but before I do anything I need people to reply to e-mails and return phone calls. Which is pretty much my least favourite thing. In 9 out of 10 situations I'm a patient person, except when it comes to other people inhibiting my productivity. Then I just feel annoyed. I'm trying not to feel that way though. So I'm taking a deep breath, putting down my planner and taking a break from hitting the refresh button on my e-mail. 

I have been having the worst nightmares for almost two weeks now. I've been so focused on getting into a really good bedtime routine and the fact it's not working is the worst. I know I need to keep plugging away with it because eventually it will make a difference. 

The fall weather around here has been beautiful, highs are still in the high teens and nights are averaging a low of five. That is pure magic, I'm not even close to ready for below freezing temperatures. Or winter driving or mountains of snow or anything else that typically happens around here from November - April.

I take a little bit of pride in being a really good gift giver. I enjoy the process of shopping for others and finding things that I know the gift receiver will love. That was before J. came along. His birthday is the beginning of November and I have no idea what to get him. He definitely doesn't need any clothes and although he loves sports he also has a lot of memorabilia. For Christmas I did the whole 12 months of dates thing, so that's out. 

Blue skies and white fluffy clouds are kind of amazing. We all know I love a good sunset but I've been missing out on blue skies and cotton candy clouds. 

I've been thinking lately about how I need to do something with my 25x25 list. I'm not sure I want to go with the obvious 30x30 and 101 in 1001 seem like too much of a challenge. I know I want to do the Project Life Project 52 next year (basically just committing to doing a spread each week for the entire year) so I'm thinking maybe coming up with a 52 in 52 list. My SMART Goal loving self loves the idea of knowing that in order to complete the challenge I need to do one thing a week. And doing one thing a week seems totally attainable. 

This week is Thanksgiving here in Canada and I'm mostly excited for stuffing. I don't really like turkey all that much but I am all about the stuffing. And mashed potatoes with gravy. And probably dessert. 

I'm linking up with Stuff & Things  today!