This isn’t actually cool, but it is something that is useless and was done incredibly by accident. It is also funny so I think that will suffice for the cool.
So fun fact: I pace. A lot. I make sure to get in my steps in everyday and sometimes that means that I pace around my room or my kitchen or around the whole house for random intervals of time throughout the whole day.
Any one see where this is leading?
My dog, Lois, has picked up on this habit of pacing so she follows the same routes as I do when ever she is bored or is stressed about something.
*Video footage to come*
On a completely not useless skill note. I’ve also taught her bedtime is at 9pm and so she gets antsy when people are in the house at that time and this probably isn’t the best thing, but she barks people out of my (her) room. So if there are people in the room after 9pm she is not about it and starts terrorizing them so she can get to bed. Which allows me to get to bed too. So, it works in my favor as well.
Blog Update: Sorry not a super long post, sadly I’m just not accomplishing too much as of late. Working on plans for a lot of goals, but kind of hard to do things with stay at home order. Hopefully I’ll be crossing more off my list soon!
Y’all it has been a hot minute since I’ve made a post. This year has already been so chaotic with work and now with covid19 I have absolutely no idea what’s going on anymore. But what I do know my challenges and goals are super important to me, so I want to take some time and refocus and try to get some things accomplished. 2020 has been a year of work and stress so far and I feel like I haven’t moved forward and right now I need this list to motivate me to go forward and to do things.
Now onto the actual post!
I don’t wanna bombard you with the full thing, but here are some of my favorite things I’ve done in my Journal.
First Here is my Art Journal:
Cue collage!
A lot of this isn’t my original work or anything, it’s stuff I’ve followed along off tutorials, or stuff I saw on pinterest and tried my best to copy. I am not good with calling images to my mind, so I always need a reference to do any sort of art, but this wasn’t for me to show off my art. This art journal became a place to distract me from stress or boredom and it was just something fun to play around with. There was no pressure for it to be good and it’s not like when I was in grade school where it would be graded on based on assignments. It was just whatever I felt like doing and that was so freeing.
I decided to go for a full day of saying yes for this challenge and though I have completed my day of Yes I do think I have to redo it.
Not saying I didn’t say yes all day or anything, but it honestly just wasn’t the chaos I was expecting. It was just oddly calm and when I initially thought of this challenge I thought it would get me out of my comfort zone, but instead it just created a very chill vibe throughout the whole day.
Doing this challenge I did set limitations to the things I would say yes to, since I didn’t want any one make me do something that would be against my morals, but none of that came up.
The day started and I met up with Ashley and from there the challenge begun. Beginning with us asking if we were hungry and ending up at yes and then driving 40ish minutes away to this tiny Asian fusion brunch place that I’m not entirely sure how we found it.
After spending a slightly confused time at this brunch place we ended up wandering and found our way to a book store. We challenged ourselves to find the oddest book titles and though we came across a few, none of them really sparked the “this is the weirdest title I’ve ever seen” feeling. Ended up in the travel section and tried to decide where we should go in the world. If we had the money my guess is if one of us asked to go somewhere we would have bought tickets that moment and driven to the airport. Sadly we aren’t financially there yet in our lives to buy a spontaneous trip at the moment.
Ended up in a record store after leaving the book store and bought Princess Mononoke DVD because we have been talking about this particular Studio Ghibli movie for months and we have yet to watch it.
We said yes to go hunt down some cool street art and ended up in a slightly sketchy area which was then that we decided that this yes wasn’t the right place to be. So we pivoted to driving around for an hour until we found a coffee shop. Talked for an hour about life and such and plans cause I actually haven’t seen Ashley in a few months so we were catching up.
This is when we reached the evening portion of our day and so far the day had been relatively chill. Nothing crazy, nothing intense, nothing really bad about saying yes. In fact our last yes of the day turned out to be eating apple pie while watching Princess Mononoke (side note: why is this movie so popular? What am I missing? I wasn’t really a fan of it….).
I don’t know this Say Yes challenge didn’t really go where I thought it should go mostly cause I think the opportunities and the choices we had that day did not lead to the most exciting Day of Yes. I wanted more. I thought more chaos would ensue. Maybe my personal life is too much in flux and my subconscious wanted the chill and though it was a great day, it was not the day I was hoping it would turn out to be.
Not that it was a bad day, but it’s almost so uninteresting that it just sounds like any other day off. Yes we tried to different places we don’t normally go to and explore different areas, but when you put in perspective the other things we’ve done this challenge falls short at the moment, as I don’t think I fully pushed myself out of my comfort zone.
As for now it is technically completed, but I am not opposed to redoing this one in the future. Perhaps somewhere else where the choices of yes are more upped and where I will be completely out of my comfort zone.
Savings and Budget go hand and hand for me, so obviously this was going to be the next post. The budget properly happened when I finally started focusing on my savings more because the only way for me to do anything with out touching that savings money was to budget.
If you saw my last post I mentioned I was being aggressive with saving money and because of that I’ve had to be really careful with what I spend money on and really thinking over every aspect of what I can and can’t afford. When I first started my budget it was difficult just cause I was used to just paying it off whenever, but now that I didn’t have the full safety of my full income it made me refocus and go through all my payments.
I started by going through every single subscription and monthly payments that I had. I ended up cancelling a few and going to cheaper subscriptions and it ended up that I was paying around $100 in things I didn’t even care about or use that much. I then stopped eating out every week and now I think I only go out once or twice a month.
The hardest thing for my budget has been when I want cool things. So I usually take a few weeks to decide if I really want something and if it’s just not in the moment. For the most part my thinking has led me to buying the stuff, but I’m glad I thought about it for a few weeks to prepare the money for it and make room in my budget. That way I can still have fun, but also have enough money to live.
Whether I will always stick to the budget plan I have now I don’t know, but it’s been working for me for a while now and I think I’ve developed good habits that I intend to use for the rest of my life.
I’ve always been good at saving money and not spending it on items I don’t necessarily need. I do buy things for fun and I make sure to spend my money on experiences that will be worth it, but I also always try to find the right deal for me.
With that said. I’ve never actually had a savings account. So last year I opened one up and I did a quick google search of how much I should have in savings by the time I’m 30. I found a few random numbers that people thought you should have by 30 and I saw some percentages for savings based off income.
In the end of that little research I decided to focus on my savings using the 50 / 30 / 20 rule, which is also what I am currently setting up my budget to be. 50% in necessities, 30% in wants, and 20% in savings. Since I didn’t really start my savings til this year I’ve been a bit more aggressive than 20% of my income every month. I’ve been making sure to divert any extra cash that way to build it and I’ve made sure to have my paycheck split into two bank accounts. That way I don’t even see that 20% ever in my bank account. Makes it way easier to save when it just happening. Bless direct deposits.
My plan right now is to use a portion of my savings to invest once I get to a more comfortable amount in my savings and have it grow that way. As for now I’ve made it a solid year of straight habit to put money in my savings and I feel like that’s a goal worthy accomplishment!
Immediately I knew I wanted to make it. Luckily for me it also consisted on some leather work and therefore lines up with my goals list. Which gave me the perfect excuse to make this tome of a book.
Now mine is nowhere near as incredible as this girl’s, but mine is something I’m proud of for it’s simplicity and the fact that I sat down and just made a book by hand! That right there has got to give me some bragging rights.
There were a few things I did differently (read: wrong), but I think mine turned out alright.
Pic montage!
Though mine is simple and isn’t quite right I’m proud of it’s quirkiness and even though I don’t know when I will ever use this I’m happy I made it! The leather work on mine isn’t nearly complex as what I was hoping for, but to be honest I’m not that artsy or crafty so when it came down to trying to design something with the leather I came up blank as to what I should do. I could have copied the video, but even that was kind of complex for me and just finding leather and getting it on the book and staining it was a bit harder than I was expecting. It kind of felt like I was struggling more than I should have, but I didn’t know what I was doing and by the time I finally got near a finished product I was already super happy with it from where I started.
So there is my book! I’m still trying to decide what to do with it, or if I should just leave it on my mantle as decorations of something. Perfect timing for me to finish this up since spooky season is upon us!
Ladies and Gentlemen the girl who does not drink is now a bartender.
Yes you have read that right. Me and alcohol are a no go. All of it smells and tastes the same to me. Which kind of makes being a bartender a smidge difficult, as far as trying to give recommendations and such. I’ve been getting by surprisingly well off just with cleverly named beers (such as Spaceman and Jetman Jimmy) and interesting bottle names (such as Hoover’s Revenge).
This goal wasn’t initially on the list, but I decided to change one of the items to Bartending because an opportunity came (more like thrown at me like a curve ball) for me to learn how to bartend.
Let’s rewind 2 weeks ago when my brother had sprung it on me that he would need me to cover his bar shift for a weekend so that he could go on his anniversary. Okay can’t really argue with him for missing work cause that stuff is important, but why leave me with a bar! I didn’t know how to make cocktails, couldn’t tell the difference between vodka and gin, not to mention I could not for the life of me pour a beer, oh and the most obvious being that I don’t even drink!
So with all that panic happening in my head I changed one of my skill goals to Bartending to motivate me into getting serious about being a bartender.
The Bar
Que a training montage everyday that week with my brother at the bar where he showed me that I just wasn’t pulling the beer tap handle far enough, so it was just coming out foamy. So thank goodness I figured out that one, cause I was getting a lot of flack for not being able to pour a beer. Any way once we figured out my beer problem we decided to practice my 4 count for pouring liquor. Had that down no problem and then he focused on teaching me some cocktails specific to the menu. Which I did not feel super confident in, but he said all I had to do was look at the menu if I needed help and it wouldn’t be a problem.
After that he focused my attentions on the wine list. The wine list consists of over 50 wines and I had to figure out where each one was stored and which ones were already open. Had to study up on a lot of wines very quickly and the problem even more so with wine is that wine has a whole culture with it, there is more descriptions, more everything when it comes to wine. Did I remember any of these things? No.
By the weekend I still had absolutely no idea what I was doing and then it hit me that we had practiced cocktails on the menu, not basic cocktails that any regular person would know ie. margaritas, martinis, manhattans (for some reason I can only remember drinks that star with m). So about an hour and a half in I had a mini panic attack once I got an order that was different than mimosas or bloody mary’s (thank you brunch people for easy drinks!). After stumbling through a cocktail that I am not really sure was correct I started to realize that it was just a drink.
I know this sounds dumb, but it hit me that if it was really bad they would complain to the server and I’d just remake it. Sure it wouldn’t be great to waste alcohol, but I was learning and I didn’t know what I was doing. I just gotta make the drinks the way the customers like them and no harm in asking if they want me to remake it or try something new. That was when I learned that a lot of bar customers really do enjoy teaching a new bartender their favorite drinks and their favorite bar tricks.
I spent that weekend learning the ins and outs of certain cocktails and generally learning the area of the bar (plus I had one guy stay at the bar for a few hours teaching me bar magic tricks!). I had spent a full 5 days freaking out trying to learn everything without just jumping in and that was dumb. You learn how to make drinks, just by doing it and if you screw up you just fix it and move on to the next drink.
Do I know every drink of all time? No not one bit. But with my new found bar knowledge and knowing the basics I feel confident in being able to figure out how to make any drink.
This one was important to me as far as health and fitness because back in 2016 I signed myself, my brother, and my dad up for a Tough Mudder and I remember it being brutal, but every time I recall the experience I remember having an absolute blast.
So I convinced 2 friends of mine to do an obstacle course race with me. I told them we shouldn’t go for a Tough Mudder as that is a commitment, but I wanted to do a smaller one and just something we could do for fun. Which led us to find a 5k Terrain Race with around 15-20 obstacles. Which was perfect for us and price wise much more affordable than other races.
These kinds of races are the best because there is no pressure and it’s just the perfect excuse to play in mud and be a kid. It’s like adult field day or just playing on a bigger version of a playground and it just makes me so genuinely happy.
Today we did the Terrain Race and we got muddy, climbed, jumped, crawled, and fell off quite a few obstacles and every bit of it was perfect. I encourage everyone to at least do an obstacle course race once in their life because it’s not a competitive atmosphere and even if you aren’t in great shape it’s still worth it to go and try your best. Plus it gives you a perfect excuse/opportunity to go play in some mud!
Which speaking of mud… After our 5k we were an absolute disaster and instead of waiting in line for the 1 hose to clean off we went on an adventure to a car wash and used the power sprayer. That in itself should be considered an obstacle cause that spray stings! Yet surprisingly does not get the mud off as easily as you would think. Also yes there was a line for the car wash and yes as we were spraying ourselves down with the power sprayer we were getting judgement from this guy behind us. No we don’t regret our decision, the car wash was the right move to get a proper body wash.
I was never born with a green thumb. Killing things has been more my area of expertise…. And wow that’s the start of a terrible young adult novel. My bad.
Anyway! I took upon me the challenge of learning how to garden. Courtesy of my dear friend Ashley whom bought me herbs to start off my gardening (and became my go to gardening guru). Cause I believe if it’s an herb that I will be using for cooking and such that I will be less likely to kill it. Hopefully.
Here is Ashley being my gardening guru and teaching me how to pot my herbs and such. Giving me the full basic breakdown cause lord knows I need any and all the help I can get.
Oh and my brother’s dog Diesel is sniffing the soil hoping that it’s a snack. (Spoiler: It is not.)
Anyway it’s been 2 months now and I just wanna say they all were alive! They really were and I was so proud of myself.
Look at em all alive!
See y’all look how content and proud I am of my herbs!
Let me tell you the story of my herbs. I have Spearmint, Rosemary, Thyme, Cilantro, Basil, and some Marigold to keep the bugs away. Perfect simple set up for me! All things I would care about and I did!
But tragedy struck.
THE CILANTRO AND BASIL WERE MURDERED!
And I loved them the most.
You see a bear resides near my house and he (or she I don’t really know, but from here on out I’m referencing the bear as Mr. Bear) climbed onto my deck at around 9pm and stole my basil that was in the center of the cilantro. Mr. Bear did not care for the cilantro, but he went after the basil and the cilantro became a causality because of it.
Am I getting a bit to over dramatic about this?
No! NEVER!
Y’all I am saddened by my loss, but I still have successfully taken care of plants and even thought it’s only been 2 months I am counting that as a win because I fear for the next plant Mr. Bear goes after. Also I did acquire some gardening skills, which was the main point of this (not emotional attachments to herbs).
Decided to make this goal about checking off venues because I realized I had mostly been going to concerts at the same venues and realized I should mix it up!
Challenge was to go to a 10 venues. I also found out I do not take any photos at concerts as they always suck, so makes for a boring post, but it’s here. It’s real. It happened.
Venues:
Bellco Theater – Cheetah Girls (first concert ever and if any one was curious Hannah Montana opened for them) (I’ve actually seen others at this venue, but I just really wanted to get that Cheetah Girls concert out into the open)
Pepsi Center – Cher (VIP tix and met the hottest Argentinian man and yes he was gay)
Red Rocks Ampitheatre – Bastille (Last one I saw, grew up next to red rocks so have seen plenty of bands here)
Soiled Dove Underground – Trace Bundy and Sungha Jung (Also seen Trace Bundy in Fort Collins at Everyday Joes Coffee Shop)
Fillmore Auditorium – Milky Chance (First time being there)
Washington’s – Devotchka (Third wheel on valentine’s day with my brother and his wife)
Ogden Theatre – Murder by Death (Bonding time with the sister-in-law)
Grizzly Rose – Scotty McCreery (Though I am not sure I should count the Rose, as I’m there almost weekly for dancing, but eh I’m adding it here anyway)
Boettcher Hall – Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra Tribute (Not all concerts are head banging events! Sometimes you need to get your symphony on)
Bluebird Theater – Spencer Crandall (This guy right here is basically male me)
Gothic – Aly & AJ (Was going to just go alone since no one wanted to go experience the awesomeness of this duo with me (y’all are lame btw!), but really didn’t want to go by myself so I begged my sister in law to come with me)
And that’s 11 venues. Which when I was talking to people about the concerts they’ve been too it sounded like most people had easily attended concerts at over 20 venues. So I apparently just really suck at going to different concert venues. Either way I did it!
Commit and Venture 