New year pt.2

Welcome back! I told you this would be all ready for your reading pleasure. Returning back to the remainder of my 23 by 24 goal list. Here is my progress on goals 12-23:

12. Find a home church to attend - This one brought me a lot of anxiety but I also felt it was very important. We attended one church a few times but it was much too big and I'm not a huge fan of the "write-a-check" kind of churches. Thankfully, my amazing friend B suggested we visit another Quaker church near by together one Sunday. J and I loved it right away! Now that the business of the holidays is over, we were able to attend last week and plan on making it a weekly outing.

13. Travel somewhere I've never been - This was another one that I wasn't sure we would be successful with but, my goodness, we were. If you click here, you will see that we finally visited Crater Lake. Not only that but this winter we decided to drive to my parents' house in Arkansas so it was our first time visiting Texas and Oklahoma as well (and J's first time in Arizona/Grand Canyon and New Mexico)

14. Say something positive everyday - I'll admit that I haven't been successful doing this everyday and this goal has somewhat transformed to be writing down something I'm grateful for everyday. Though there have definitely been those difficult days, I am able to look back and remember the happy things in my life.

15. Learn to accept the things I can't change and strength to change the things I can - 
16. Photo-a-day - Well, if you follow me on instagram you'll know that I haven't been so great at this one either. However, I do take at least one photo everyday, some just don't fit the photo-a-day prompt or aren't fit for public eyes. I feel good about the progress I've made on this one.

17. Transfer all pictures and music to external hard drive - Progress has been made on this one, though I don't own an external hard drive yet. Also, I'm considering turning this goal into putting all those lovely photos into photo books (at least one for our college years, one for my month abroad, and one started with photos of the last year) so we can actually enjoy them.

18. Donate 5x - I knew when I wrote this one down that I wouldn't be able to donate blood 5x, which was my original plan. Turns out I can't donate this year at all because my iron was crazy low - like the iron stores value was 5 when it should be 50-200 and the iron level was at 21 when it should be 30-160 (it takes 3-6 months to raise the iron stores). I'm hoping to do some major spring cleaning and donate a car load to goodwill but I'm afraid this goal may not be met.

19. Finish an entire puzzle book - A silly goal, I know, but its going quite well. I actually have this nifty puzzle app called CrossMe that has 764 nonogram puzzles. I have done a bunch but if I complete all of them, I would be so stoked. If you're looking for a good puzzle to tackle, check out nonograms!

20. Write a letter to myself to read when I turn 30 - ...0 progress has been made on this. I don't know what else to say... Does it count if I at least skimmed over pinterest for ideas?

Testing out a tattoo idea with some henna

21. Get tattoos touch up and/or redone - With money tight, I  don't know if this goal will be met but I have made some progress in what I want done. I may also have another tattoo lined up. I'm thinking of making a collage of images that each represent a family member, in the shape of a heart, to cover up my shoulder one (I love the tattoo but it was poorly done). For the one on my ankle, I just need the spelling corrected. And the new one will be an assembly of geeky things that have brought joy and encouragement to my life. I really want to include the quote: "But in the end it's only a passing thing this shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines it'll shine out the clearer... there's some good in the world and it's worth fighting for" (Sam, The Twin Towers). I'm thinking I would also want a silhouette of either Enterprise or Voyager (though I am leaning more towards Voyager), a sketch of the light post from Narnia, and the words "Not Today" (Arya, A Song of Ice and Fire). Yes, its a lot, that's why I'm struggling with how to make it into one cohesive piece.



22. Be seen on tv - I wrote this one knowing that we would be going to WWE RAW in Portland. If you watch the episode, there is the quickest flash of us which was just enough for me to say success! It was a great time to together and J was so excited.

We celebrated Hulk Hogan's birthday with the WWE Universe

Curled up on a sunny with book #1

23. Read 10 books -  I honestly thought this one would be really hard to accomplish but riding the max almost everyday, reading is the best way to pass the time. Now with 8 books complete, I'm feeling pretty good about this goal. Those books, in order of completion, are:
#1 The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
#2 The Horse and His Boy (one of my favorites)
#3 Prince Caspian
#4 Voyage of the Dawn Treader
#5 A Game of Thrones (read out loud between J and I)
#6 The Hobbit (completed before the final movie)
#7 Bossypants (audiobook)
#8 Silver Chair
and no doubt #9 and #10 will be The Last Battle and Clash of Kings

I'm happy with how much progress I've made on my goals and I have plans set to get the majority of them completely finished. Thanks again for stopping by. Join me again on tutorial Tuesday for a short tutorial on how I assmbled my Home network QR code cross stitch. Until then, live long and prosper!