The Ghost of Planners Past

I dug through my chest of photos, baby blankets, high school love notes, and other keepsakes to bring you the ghost of planners past. I originally thought past, present, and future would all be in one post but there's a lot of photos so I'm actually going to break it down into two posts.

First up July 2010 - June 2011:

My system mainly consisted this monthly/weekly Blue Sky planner (which I decorated with magazine pages), 1 or 2 types of sticky notes, and penciling in all my classes, squishing what was due that day into the space next to it. 

I kept most things in pencil in case plans or due dates changed. The busier things got, the most sticky notes filled a page. For the most part, when I completed a full sticky note, I threw it away which worked as a great motivator. This system worked well for the time so a lot didn't change a lot moving into my next planner.

Next up July 2011 - June 2012:

I felt awkward having such an eye catching cover so I kept this one plain (read boring). Again, I mainly stuck to my planner (again, a monthly/weekly Blue Sky), a few sticky notes, and a pencil.

A few things I did differently with this system was I folded completed weeks in half, making it easier to flip to the current week. I also started using a few stickers to point to important date (bills, anniversaries, birthdays, etc.). Again, this system worked well while I was in college because it allowed me to write out all my due dates, inconsistent work schedule, and plan for social oThings I looked for when searching for my next planner was for it to be hard covered, less pre-decorating, and maybe a little bit more space to write in due dates. It took me some time so I kept my schedule on my phone and random sticky notes for several months

January 2013 - December 2013:

This system consisted of the Greenroom monthly/weekly planner, more sticky notes, even more stickers, a broken mechanical pencil, and running out of space more often.

Towards the end of the year I started looking for an alternative planner online since I didn't like anything I was finding in store. That's when I found the Moleskine planners which had way more space and allowed more room for colorful creativity. I transferred into a new planner before I was even completely finished with the one before.

July 2013 - December 2014:

I started with a few new sticky notes, a new set of pens, and started adding washi tape. Halfway through I switched to a different type of colored pen since the ones I was using were already starting to run out of ink/ didn't write dark enough for my liking. Here are a few of my favorite pages:

As you can see, I started color coordinating certain items (ex. purple = positive thought, orange = meals, etc.) and added weather and a various habit trackers (water, meds, etc.) not to mention stickers and doodles. I also moved my homework and other tasks to the lined portion of each weekly spread, lining up with the days that they were due. It wasn't an entirely consistent system and I moved things around a lot which kept me from staying on track (though it sure did look pretty and I hope to reintegrate the creativity back into my current bujo).

Since I was in a post-baccalaureate program at the time I thought I should stick with the same system so I bought another weekly Moleskine as time neared the new year.

January 2015 - December 2015:

Yup, that's a third set of pens that I switched to. They had a finer tip, got better reviews on Amazon, and they're pretty. Also, I think that cup stain on the front just speaks to how this planner was realistically used most of the time. Here are a few of my favorite pages from the last year including that time I tried to draw out what I was packing for a trip visiting family:

A lot of the same, right? What you don't see (because they would be boring) is a bunch of blank pages that I didn't have enough of anything to fill it up. The first half of the year I was still in school so it worked out just fine but ever since March-ish, I don't have a constant flow of homework to keep track of. Additionally, now with a more flexible due date of tasks, I hate that once a week is over, no matter how busy I was or was not, I have to move forward since its pre dated. I never expected to look for a system that allowed complete flexibility but that brings me to my current system.

But since this post is more than long enough for one day of reading, I'm saving all my tidbits of my current experimenting with a BuJo until next Wednesday. Also, join me Friday for an exciting announcement. If you have any questions or what a better look at any of the pages here, just let me know!

Hope your hump day was more pleasant than mine - I'm spending my first day off since Thanksgiving, stuck on the couch with the sicky... on the same day that I was supposed to be getting my flu shot. So much for that.

As always you can follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Goodreads, Flikr, and Tumblr. Also, I'm working on finally releasing that quilt pattern so stay tuned for that through my etsy shop. Until next time my planner loving readers, live long, stay organized, and prosper!

November catchup

Hello!! So, going from unemployed/ working in my pajamas from home to standing for 8 hours 5 days in a row is exhausting. I absolutely love my new job, being around fabric all day and hear about all these fun and crafty projects. I'm sure customers get tired of us asking "So, what are you making with this?" but, at least for me, I honestly want to know. My feet are getting used to being used everyday and my hip is getting tough against me using it to balance as I reach across the cutting counter to make the final snips to some fabric (it was hand sized at the worst).

Besides work, though, what craftiness have I been up to? First up, I learned how to make a latte! Okay, so that's not really crafty but I'm pretty proud of it. You want real craftiness, oh okay. If you insist - I finished my Tolkien swap package:

Map of Middle Earth coffee mug with routes from each of the books

Lembas bread leaf wrap as a coffee cozy to hold some red dragon tea and some chai tea mix

Arwen quote cross stitch and a hobbit hole necklace

I made myself an incredibly unflattering sweater but, my goodness, it feels like wearing a blanket and that is totally okay with me. Please excuse my funky face, I was feeling uncertain with my work but honestly, it was a yard of fabric that I sewed up the sides and cut out a neck hole. Then, since it was longer than I would've liked, I chopped off a few inches at the bottom and turned them into kimono style sleeves and sewed them on. 30ish minutes of work and I have my favorite day-off outfit:

Let's see, I also bought a crazy amount of fabric for Christmas gifts. Well, the fabric isn't the gift, what I'm going to make it all into will be. I'm super excited to get started on it but I have 2 more swaps to finish off. I probably won't be able to show too many progress photos of the christmas gift stuff since I'm pretty sure the majority of you readers are those that the presents are going to.

Oh! And yesterday, though technically not crafty, I finally got a chance to go on a real grocery shopping trip, completely cleaned the entire apartment, tried out a new dinner recipe, and prepped 4 overnight oatmeals for each J and I (because we are definitely not morning people). Here's a few photos from yesterday:

Our bathroom really isn't this crooked, its just because I had to shoot this photo in panorama so it added a curve to it. I added another Mermaid to the wall from the Mermaid swap (switched out the frame she came in for a shadow box and put a layer of shells in the bottom) and hung fresh new towels. Also, look at how nicely the plants are thriving since this is the only room the cats aren't allowed into.





Our coffee cart is one of my favorite parts of our home. It used to be split with the top shelf devoted to coffee and tea and the bottom shelf devoted to alcohol. We were running out of room for our coffee cups and we had finally decided to bring J's college years espresso machine home so I moved to the alcohol to a cupboard and made this cart coffee and tea only. The cart is from Ikea way back when I first got an apartment and I stained it a darker color to better match both my tastes and the rest of my furniture. The wine cork board was an old window from the house I grew up in filled with wine corks collected from McMenamins Edgefield (don't worry, I did not drink all that wine). I'd eventually like to add a few more wall hangings (Like a Janeway quote about "coffee in that nebula" and a chart about different ways to prepare your coffee).









And, as I mentioned earlier, we ended the night with prepping some overnight oatmeal. We each chose 4 we wanted to try out, you can find lots of fun recipes on Pinterest (or google, obviously). J went with pumpkin pie (pictured), peanut butter and jelly, latte, and . I went for cocoa butter nut, butter nut bread, latte, and cinnamon apple. I ate the cocoa butter nut one this morning and it was pretty tasty:


 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats, 1/2 cup milk, 1/4 cup greek yogurt, 1tsp cocoa powder, 1/2 banana, and 1/2tbsp chopped walnuts. Mix it all together and put it in the fridge. Bam! It really doesn't take that long and you could make it hot in the morning but I hate mornings so being able to roll out of bed and just grab some breakfast is pretty fantastic for me. Plus, making lattes takes up my usual breakfast making time and I really like me some fancy coffee in the morning.




In non-crafty news, I'm caught up on Supernatural (actually watching the most recent episode right now). I had to return a few books to the library due to not being able to renew them. I made it through about 1/3 of Armada (and loved it!) so I'm hoping to find it today during our library visit (when a book is recently released or a bestseller, they can't be reserved ahead of time or renewed). I also started reading Felicia Day's book last night and I'm loving it too. Its pretty hilarious that her writing is so similar to her acting/ speaking that I can read it in her voice. If you don't know who she is, you need to look her up, watch a few episodes of The Guild, and fall in love with her as I have.

 I'm working on a schedule for myself so I can stay on track with all my goals while also managing an inconsistent work schedule. I know I fell behind after the first but I'm back on the horse and excited to move forward. That's all from me for now. As always, you can follow me on Instagram @trekkiechick29 or Pinterest @TrekkerChick29 or Twitter @AimeXAime and check out my etsy shop. Until next time my most wonderful readers, live long, get crafty, and prosper!

November 2015 plans

Well hello! Did you remember to set your clock back? Me neither. Probably for the better since we're all nursing some sort of hangover (serious sugar hangover for me since I baked all day). This month is going to be so exciting since I finally get to start in my new job but that also means that my previously written out list of books, movies, and crafts isn't going to be nearly as finished by the end as I had hoped. I'll give you the full list anyway and we'll just see how it goes. Without further ado:

November theme = geeky:

• Armada by Ernest Cline - Already started reading this book this morning and I already love it. All the geeky references make my heart happy, I'm really enjoying the writing style, and it takes place in the same city that I currently live.
• I am Spock by Leonard Nimoy
• Ready Player One by Ernst Cline
• Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
• Fangirl's Guide to the Galaxy by Sam Maggs
• Star Wars: A Long Time Ago vol.2-5
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic vol. 2-3
• You're Never Weird on the Internet by Felicia Day
• Magonia  by Maria Dahvana Headley (for #TheReadingRebels Goodreads book club)
• Illuminae by Amie Kaufman (for #WeTheBookDragons Goodreads book club)
• Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
• Just a Geek: Unflichingly Honest Tales of the Search for Life, Love, and FulFillment Beyond the Starship Enterprise by Wil Wheaton
• Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
• Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
• Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd

To watch:

• Bridget Jones Diary (okay mom, I'm officially going to watch it... tomorrow)
• Finish watching The Guild
• Finish watching X-Files
• Catch up on Supernatural
• Catch up on Once Upon A Time

To craft:

• Finish Christmas quilt
• Finish final swaps (Tolkien, Star Wars, and Mermaid)
• Turkey placemats
• Christmas presents!!
• Sweater for me
• Zelda 3DS case for J
• Start T-shirt quilt
• 3/4 finish of crochet storm trooper blanket
• cut pieces for norway quilt

Wedding to do:

• Complete boxes and officially ask Maid of Honor & Bridesmaids
• Book photographer and engagement shoot
• Make final payment on Engagement ring. Here's a picture from when we gave the final okay to the carving (we had it completely custom made). Don't worry, the red is just the carving wax (its super fragile so I couldn't place the ring past my knuckle; my finger isn't that short) but those stones are all mine and the final ring will be in rose gold. 
• Complete Wedding website
• Research Florists/ alternative flower ideas
• Research videographers (any friends out there really good with shooting simple video so we can relive our happy day?)
• Research caterer's/ alternative ideas (maybe potluck? maybe make it ourselves?)
• Check out my wedding pinterest board if you're curious about what we're planning

Misc. to do:

• Research
• Weekend (3 day period) unplugged
• Hike
• Thanksgiving tradition
• Schedule dr appointment
• Get first paycheck!!
• Book rental car and hotel stops for Holiday road trip (check out how last year's went here)!
• Find someone to cat-sit our furry family members

Lots to do but I'm looking forward to it all. I'll let you know how successful I am with everything :) Remember Monday = crafty update, Wednesday = book update, and Friday = everything/anything else. It's going to be a great month and I can't wait to share it with you all.

As always, you can follow me on Instagram @trekkiechick29 or Pinterest @TrekkerChick29 or Twitter @AimeXAime and check out my newly opened etsy shop. Until next time my lovely readers, live long, work off your candy hangover with some carrots and celery, and prosper!

Changes

I truly am terrible at keeping up on this but I think that has a lot to do with my lack of confidence in what this all is. Over the last year (maybe a bit more) I've come to know this great community of crafty people (primarily through Instagram) and just this last weekend I went to my first Quilt Show in Sisters, Oregon.



**If you see your quilt or know who the quilter and/or title of the quilt, please let me know and I will give them credit. I'm still fairly new at all this and didn't even think to write that information down**

I was so inspired by the art and hard work I saw in each quilt. Over the past few years, I have also gotten to know myself better and the things that I truly enjoy. It seems silly to have just figured this out at 23/recently 24 but what I know about myself is that I love my family and friends. One of the ways I have shown that love in the past was taking on their hobbies. I don't mean I didn't enjoy playing FPS (first-person shooter) video games or sporting till I couldn't sport no more, but they simply weren't my passions. What I know about myself now is that I love crafting quilting, sewing, cross stitching, and, occasionally, crocheting. I love comic books - some well known like Walking Dead and others maybe not known like Trekker and Lady Killer - and the world of Sci-Fi and Fantasy (Star Trek and Game of Thrones). I go to sleep thinking about my next quilt and how to piece everything together and I wake up hoping I'll find time in the day to sit down with one of my comics or my kindle containing somewhere around (No joke!) 152 books, most of which I haven't read (in all fairness, most of them were non-illegally free).

So, whats the point in me telling you all this? Well, I've once again revamped this blog into something that I think will work. Its also that time of year that I assess my last year's goals and make a new list to accomplish by my next birthday. If you want to check out my past goals, I've created a separate page that you can find at the top, labeled "Past Goals". There you can get an idea for yourself what kind of goals to set (if you're into that sort of thing) or just see how I've done in the past. To give you a summary, the first year of doing it (22 goals by my 23rd birthday) I accomplished 15 out of 22 (a solid 68% - but I feel about as much success as a C+). This last year (23 goals by my 24th birthday) the grading was a bit more involved but it came out to a 68% again but it feels closer to a B+. I feel better about the 2nd list, though, and how I progressed, simply because not every goal has the same personal meaning. For example, I worked really hard at letting past frustrations and anger go and I feel I was successful at that. On the other hand, I was not successful at taking a photo and posting it to instagram everyday (oh well, right?). After writing out what I was successful with and what I could have done to be more successful with the ones I failed at, I sat down and created my new list.

24 goals to accomplish by the time I turn 25

I've also made a page for this (top of the page or click here) that I will update at the end of each week. I won't go into much detail about each goal right now, mainly because I've already written so much I'll be surprised if you read even this far. You may notice, however, that one of those goals (#19) is to blog twice a month. Yup, it made it to the list. So here I am, first post of my new year. My posts will cover my progress through my goals such as finally finishing one of my many unfinished objects (UFOs). In fact, I have made a page just for all my crafty finishes (I've already posted a few from the last year or so). A few posts may also be my crafty adventures through craft swaps, which  (you guessed it) I made a page for so you can see pictures of what I sent and received from these swaps (scroll to the top or click here for that). Oh, and I promise to work harder on having less words and more pictures. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

I hope you'll join me in this adventure and I challenge you to write out a list of things you want to accomplish by your next birthday. It doesn't have to be 24 by 25 or 39 by 40 or however old you're turning. Start with 5:

• 1 for you mental health (eg. journaling or stepping away from the internet for 24 hours)
• 1 for your physical health (eg. going on a hike or even just making sure you step outside once a day)
• 1 for your spiritual health (eg. daily devotions, meditation)
• 1 for your family (eg. family dinners once a week or schedule a family game night)
• 1 just for you (eg. read that book you keep looking at longingly or sit down and do that craft)

This is how I try and write out my list is by these categories, as well as an even balance of things to be done daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly/ just once. Write them so that there is only 1 way to interpret them (eg don't write "exercise 4x/month", instead write "jog 1 mile every Friday") and don't be afraid to fail. Really, its not about getting 100%, its about improving your health and living a happier life. If by your next birthday you feel accomplished in the goals you set, then it was a success. Feel free to share those goals with me in the comment section below. I've found that when you tell someone your goals, even if its not someone I know personally, I'm more motivated to work on those goals.

Until next time, live long and prosper!

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!

Kicking off the new year pt.1

I'm kicking off the new year by updating my 23 by 24 goals. If this is your first time here, my 23by24 are simply goals I want to accomplish by my next birthday - very similar to setting New Year's resolutions. I haven't done such a great job keeping everything updated here partly because I got busy with school again and partly because my craftiness became a lot of Christmas presents that I didn't want to reveal. Since New Years just happened marking the new calendar year and the half way point to my birthday, I thought it was the perfect time to bring you some updates so here goes part one (goals 1-11):

1. Unplug & turn off for 24 hours each month:
     July - What better way to unplug than go camping!

     August - Spent a friday evening playing board games then drove out to spend saturday at the beach (making this the 3rd year - an official tradition; ending the summer by watching the sunset)

Aren't they the cutest! - September's unplugged

     September - Again, going camping makes unplugging super easy and relaxing!

     October - First month of school made this month a fail. Oops!

Out and about in Portland - November's unplugged

     November - I was sick over Thanksgiving break so I spent almost all of Friday in bed. Not the relaxing unplugging I was hoping for but it works. We also went out that Saturday and spent half the day in Portland checking out the Christmas bazaar, grabbed some brunch, and stopped by our favorite comic book store. The remainder of the evening was spent curled up with our new graphic novels (Deadpool for J and Walking Dead for me).
     December - This may be cheating but since it took 3 days to drive out to my parents' house in Arkansas, we were somewhat forced to be unplugged (with the exception of our gps). It was a fantastic trip (more on that in Tuesday's travel post)
     January - It hasn't happened yet but the plan has been set to unplug next weekend. After my Saturday post goes up I will be unplugging and enjoying some quiet time with J and my little four legged family.

2. Pick my own berries and make them into jam: I had hoped to do this during the fall but obviously that didn't happen so its on the list for the spring/ summer berries.

3. Go camping 5 times: 2 down! For my birthday we went camping at Fort Stevens near Astoria and in September we tried out a new spot along the beach. Cape Lookout became an instant favorite and we will definitely be camping there again as soon as the weather warms up a bit.

My parent's gave me this awesome tent for my birthday. There's plenty of room so get comfy, and a screened in area for cooking at night.

4. Make a new friend: I am blown away by the number of acquaintances I've made. Starting at a new university, I thought I would meet a bunch of people but the atmosphere is very different from George Fox. At Fox a big class meant 30-40 people but my average class size is in the 70s, which overwhelms me so much I tend to sit in the front and focus intently on the lecture, then book it home. That said, I've found so many wonderful, crafty people on instagram that I am getting to know better as time goes by. I've also become a part of a small group of girls that, though we were friends before, have become much closer by meeting every other week to check in with one another. Though its only for a few hours, it is so life giving and heart warming to meet with these sweet ladies.

Walking on a rainy day & trying out my new glasses

5. Lose (at least) 50lbs: Now this goal was written with the main goal truly being to have a healthier lifestyle. Admittedly I've only lost 10lbs over the last 5 months but I have made some positive, healthy changes. We found ourselves a PCP (Primary Care Physician) that has me on a few supplements that I was missing, severely impacting my sleeping. Plus, I had been having headaches almost daily, so we are currently working on fixing that as well. Now 3 months in, I'm sleeping better and my headaches are down to a few times a week. This improvement has allowed me to have more energy to actually workout and get outside with the pup. Just the other day I worked out for an hour and it felt so wonderful! I've also tried to up my water intake - I've averaged 100oz of water everyday for the last week! Another thing adding to my level of energy. Going to school in Portland requires that I ride the max and add in extra walking to my life. I probably walk at least a mile just going to and from class everyday, in addition to hiking up several flights of stairs (instead of taking the elevator). Oh yeah, and to cut down on headaches my doc suggested an eye check. Apparently my left eye is more than droopy - got some low prescription reading glasses. Finally, we found a dentist that is so wonderful which has helped in motivated me take better care of my terrible teeth. Overall, I'd say that this goal is going fabulously!

6. Create something once a week: Its been 26 weeks since my birthday and there was only one week that I didn't work on anything. Some weeks I made progress on several different projects without completing anything and other weeks I started and finished an entire project.

 week 1 - Patriotic doggie bowtie

week 2 - wine cork cork board

week 3 - friendship bracelets

week 4 - finally hemmed all the curtains

week 5 - WWE Golddust robe

week 6 - Kimono style summer cardigan (I am super proud of this one)

week 7 - all new recipes

week 8 - Crochet infinity scarf (Simply double crocheted in rounds)

week 9 - "Home is where the Hearthstone is"

week 10 - Altoid tin first aide kits (bandaids, pain meds, emergency hair tie, cotton swabs, and makeup remover pads - only the essentials)

week 11 - reorganized the guest room/ office/ sewing room (pic is of my desk/ sewing area)

week 12 - hung my US map surrounded by postcards from all over

week 13 - Lego creation (Sauron's tower - Tower of Orthanc)

week 14 - A&P drawing assignment (I spent all day on it so it counts!)

week 15 - Finally finished my QR home network cross stitch

week 16 - tried out 5 new recipes including making my own noodles

week 17 - Crocheted Amigurumi Link (Such a great pattern!)

week 18 - Crocheted R2D2 cup cozy

week 19 - FAIL!

week 20 - 1/2 finished on my xmas quilt

week 21 - Sister's Christmas present (pictured - duvet cover)

week 22 - A little bit of everything (pictured - Batman quilting "nanananan")

week 23 - Bionic bag (for myself)

week 24 - Littlest brother's (okay, he's a freshman in HS) Christmas present (Batman quilt; first ever fully completed quilt!)

week 25 - Other brother's (senior in HS) Christmas present (yes, finished after Christmas; flannel shirts)

This week (26) - super simple infinity scarf with fabric from Arizona

7. Get on Deans list every quarter: One quarter down and, I think, 2 more to go. I got all A's last term but since one was an A- (ugh) it set my GPA at 3.91. I feel super awesome about that and am hoping to get a solid 4.0 this term. So far (first week just finished) so good!

8. Get into grad school or get a job utilizing my degrees: Well, this is the official announcement that I will not be going to grad school next year. J and I talked a lot about it and we decided it would be best to take a year off (for a number of reasons). So, we're saving the little money we have by not applying to schools and, instead, I will be applying for jobs (starting yesterday). Best case scenerio is I get a job in either a school or hospital working close enough to an SLP (Speech Language Pathologist) to observe. If you are reading this and know of anyone, please please please let me know!

9. Go on a long walk with Worf once a week: Though I have tried to get out a least once a week, I don't feel I can truly say I've been successful with this every week. Visiting my family and seeing Word finally make friends with their dog Linc, however, brought me so much joy I am motivated to get out and play!

Who can resist this cute face?

Cider and parade

10. Start a new holiday tradition and cook a full meal: Oh yeah, this one is complete! Since I was sick, J did have to help but we cooked our Thanksgiving meal together. The new tradition for Thanksgiving being sipping hot apple cider and watching the Macy's day parade together. We were so successful on this goal, in fact we started a second tradition: Cutting down our own Christmas tree and listening to Christmas music as we decorate. We sort of did some advent related activities throughout the month but that wasn't as successful (goal for next year?). Since our family is still fairly new (living together and just recently engaged), there is so much we can still do and look forward to all the fun traditions we can have together.

Happy family decorating our first Christmas tree

 11. Finish reading through the entire bible: Its certainly a work in progress. I read quite a bit during the summer but once school started, I got a bit behind. Once I get acclimated to being back at school this term, I will pick it up again. This one is definitely destined to success by July!

Thanks for joining me. Stop on over next Saturday to read part two of how I'm doing on my goals (its already written up so I promise it will be here). Or, if you're just super eager to keep up on my life, I'm going to once more try my best to update more regularly. To help in this process, I have a long list of crafty things to do, I signed up for my first IG swap (#NerdsCraftItBetter), and I think I've finally got into a regular workout plan. So, until next time (whenever that may be): Live long and prosper!