90 Days to a Better Me

Where to begin? Well, 90 days is the general estimate of November 28-February 28 although my goal (which I will get to) is Spring Break. I decided to start the 28th because this week, I work at 11 on Thanksgiving through til 7-9:30pm on Black Friday--yes, I work retail--and I know that if I try to start some kinda get up in the morning and workout and clean and do all these fun, creative things, that I will just totally crash and burn.

Since I've started going to USF, I've totally done just that. I think going from living at home with one room to take care of, by myself, at an 8-4 Monday thru Thursday job with my bff, and no college - to living with Marc in a house/apartment all by ourselves, taking roughly 15 credit hours a semester while maintaining a 40 hr/week job has completely worn me out-even if it hasn't physically worn me out (which a lot of times it has), it has just completely mentally drained me. How do you combat this? CAN you combat this? I mean 40+15=55...then take into account the commute (2+ hrs each school day) as well as all the homework (which luckily, I am amazing at and don't really exert tooooo much energy into). But really, 40 hours a week alone is stressful and to add school on top of it, I have zero days off a week. I'm go-go-go 24 hours a day.

Luckily, my inner personality is also go-go-go. My managers will tell you this. I like to take on more than I can physically handle myself. I hate delegating tasks. I don't trust people to complete the tasks even if I do (though you can sorta blame hands-on experience for that one). Perfectionist? No. Pretty good at things without trying? Yes. So I don't try. I don't push myself. I do what I need to do and move on to the next 8 million "to do list" items that are in my head. OCD much?

So this is a bunch of background bullshit. This is me trying to figure things out. As much as I brag on the outside, I'm totally questioning myself and trying to be better on the inside. Outcome? Accomplish nothing. I can't accomplish anything when I'm trying to do 375 things in the exact same second.

How to fix this problem? MORE OCD! At least, that is my current strategy..kinda a watered down version of it, though. My goal is to create mini goals. Instead of, you will clean your closet out after class Tuesday, make it my goal for the week. Throughout the week, get that closet clean. When I set stringent goals for myself and don't meet them, instead of just moving past it and figuring out how to do it later, I feel totally overwhelmed and don't do it at all. Clean out your closet after school on Tuesday becomes clean out your closet some time in the next 5 years while you spend all 1,824 days feeling pretty shitty about yourself because you hate all your clothes and can't find anything to wear. This needs to end.

How to further fix this problem: Mini prizes! Finish cleaning out the closet? Go pick out a new outfit! Motivation with giant payoff (clean closet + feeling better + new clothes). Woohoo!!

So my *however many* step plan is:

1) Get house organized. I think this is the most important because when I come home from work/school and the house is clean, I feel energized and ready to take on something else before the day is over. Come home and the house is dirty? Let's go to sleep and forget this mess exists.

-declutter

-yardsale/donation

-squeaky clean

-the "have i used this in the past six months and will i use it in the next month?" strategy

-upcycling? can I use this for something else?

2) Get self organized.

-meal plans

-workout schedule

-time management!

3) Creativity!! After initially getting the house decluttered and cleaned up, I'd really like to put some effort into personalizing things. Knobs or trim on my dresser, new curtains, little things that don't effect the over all clean feeling of the house but will help me feel more at home (and maybe girly...*coughcough)

4) Me time. Seriously. I'm happy if I find time to shower let alone do my nails, my hair, my makeup, etc. Not to mention I totally need a new contact prescription/appt. Mine expired :(

I think the thing I need to do to accomplish this is get into some kind of routine-make it feel second nature. I started doing smoothies for breakfast a few days ago and already it is so much easier to get out of bed and make one-I really have been looking forward to breakfast! Plus it totally keeps me full 'til lunch when I used to be absolutely starving at work.

So, this week's goals:

1) Go jogging again.

2) Clean out my closet!

3) Survive working during Black Friday and get plenty of sleep/rest on Sunday.

Goal's to continue from last week:

1) Smoothies for breakfast-going strong.

2) Keep Bathroom/Kitchen/Living Room ('public spaces') clean: struggling but I think I can come back and do this!

Kristi(E)

Oh, PS! Spring Break goal---beach, shopping, time off from school stresses (which means I'll have two real days off that week!!!), and feeling/looking totally awesome? Yes, please.

Giveaway @ The Dainty Squid!

I am so excited about this giveaway! *drum roll . . ... . . . .. . . .. . ..

All you have to do is visit http://www.etsy.com/shop/tumbleweedsoddities, then click the picture to go to The Dainty Squid's blog and leave a comment with your favorite pair and a way to contact you!

You can also earn extra entries:

1) tweeting about the giveaway, use this -
win a pair of sunglasses from @tumbleweedsshop on @thedaintysquid blog http://tinyurl.com/3qhrrs5
2) share the giveaway on facebook, tumblr or your own blog!
3) follow their blog, Tales of a Tumbleweed.

Four ways to enter, make sure to leave a separate comment for each. Giveaway ends Wednesday, August 10th.

Good luck! (Wish me luck too, I was just drooling over these glasses yesterday!)

Kristi(E)

National IceCream Sandwich day!!

Happy National IceCream Sandwich day!! and yes, vegan icecream sandwiches do exist! I wanted to share with you my favorites by Tofutti!!

This is vanilla and chocolate wave but I've also had them in Neopolitan.

Perhaps the best thing I have ever eaten icecream-wise is also by Tofutti:

If you are a fan of sugar cones (of which I am a HUGE fan), you've got to try these.

Warning: I could eat the whole box in one sitting. Don't dare me!

Some other really great products are:

Tofutti Cream Cheese

Tofutti SourCreme

and Tofutti Pan Pizzas which are absolutely delicious!

All in all I've really gotta hand it to this brand. I know that they have cheese slices but I have not tried them yet. Everything else I can tell you is top notch. The pizzas I have had before from veganessentials.com because my grocery stores don't carry them but it's different wherever you live. (I live in a PRETTY non-vegan friendly city.) Tampa has all of the other stuff, though.

The Tofutti website even gives recipes!! Here's one for jalapeno poppers! Let me know if you try any of the recipes, I can't wait!

Kristi(E)

P.S. be sure to visit The Dainty Squid and wish her a Happy Birthday! And don't forget to enter her Giveaway! I'll post it on here.

Gifts in a jar!

I was looking up some DIY gifts this morning (my goal is to do all DIY for the holidays) and I found some really cute gifts in a jar!

This is a lemon hand scrub great for crafty relatives or friends! It's really inexpensive and easy to make. You can even use a jar from an empty jelly container or salsa, etc.

I also LOVE baking and think a jar like this is super cute!! I think I would make a sheet cake then cut it into circles and layer with frosting, different colors would be really cute!

And not COMPLETELY "in a jar" but close enough, I think terrariums are really cute! I think my grandma would really like one (plus she loves gnomes!)

I also just realized how many times I said "cute"---!

You can click-through each of the photos for directions. :)

I'm compiling a list of ideas like recipe cards, photo frames, etc. I think it'd be really fun to put together some gift baskets with fun diy-friendly gifts--some things useful and then some just really nice and pampering (like the hand scrub). Last year a simple gift I made was a whole bunch of lady bug magnets for my grandma's fridge. You can find magnets at your local craft store for really cheap. The possibilities are endless!

Have you made any DIY gifts?

Kristi(E)

24 before 24

My cousing over at The Weaving Cat (go check it out I love her blog!) just did a "20 before 20" list. I really liked her list. I hardly ever set very accomplishable goals so I am going to set a list of goals for the next year that I CAN accomplish.


1. Exercise every day
I think this is a good goal to start out with this year. I am just too poor right now to afford the gym every month (it's pricey!) and I think if I just put my mind to it, I can come up with some really good and inexpensive workouts in the home. Also, on the days I'm at school I can use the gym there to do the ellipticals (LOVE THOSE). Also, by saying "exercise" and not a certain routine I don't feel overwhelmed and can try different things to see what I like (running, biking, pilates, yoga, etc.)

2. Go on an Adventure Trip @ USF
Okay so my college has these AWESOME "adventure trips" like backpacking and kayaking. I've never gone but I am planning on trying to fit at least one if not two or three into my schedule this next year. There's one that goes backpacking in the Smoky Mountains for a week and it's only $210 for students!

3. Go rock climbing!
So these (so far) have all been some sort of physical activity but really-I used to be SO active and between my busy schedule and lack of money, I have let myself be lazy and I have stopped doing things outside of my comfort zone. This last thing is a big one--totally now scared of things outside of my comfort zone and I used to be so fearless! Gotta get that spunk back!

4. Reread the Harry Potter series!
Totally stole this from Sarah (that'y my cousin :D). I purposely didn't reread them so the movies would at least be a bit surprising as I remembered bits and pieces of what happened...now the only way to feel like the journey hasn't ended for the 2nd time is to reread the books!

5. Figure out my style
Okay really, this is annoying. Most days I hate all my clothes or just don't know what to do. I've got this wanna dress nice/look nice but also don't really care and kinda just wanna be all jeans and a tee and I have trouble mixing and matching that together. I read a post before about a girl who made a folder of stuff she liked on the internet and how it really helped her pinpoint things she really liked about outfits and to make her closet more "her." I think I will try to do this, a daily process. I think this one is more like get a tattoo..no, I'll add that.

6. STICK WITH FRENCH!
Okay people, so far I have successfully not completed the following languages: Spanish, German, and Chinese. Yes, I took a semester of Chinese. It was AWESOME but I just couldn't keep up with commuting to USF four times a week. German and Spanish I took in high school. I tested into Spanish II in college but can only take it at night and I KNOW I will skip--all the time. Therefore, I am taking French online. If I do French this semester AND next, I can then double major and graduate two springs from now. Voila! Is that French? (haha)

7. Finish sewing the pile of shirts in my living room.
Okay, I go to a lot of shows and not many of them have girly sizes. Sometimes I just get whatever size they have cause "I'll sew that!" but it's all sitting in a hamper in my living room right now. Really. I spent one day sewing and ripping and resewing and finished about 6 things but there are probably literally like 40 more items of clothing in that basket!! (it's a big basket)

8. Have a yardsale & donate the rest.
We have boxes of yardsale stuff in our 2nd "storage" bedroom that would be just awesome to get rid of. Then we can actually have a 2nd bedroom!!!! for all of our messy craft projects so the rest of the house stays clean :)

9. Fruit breakfasts!
I've been doing this the past few days. It's really awesome. Either actual fruit or a smoothie for breakfast. Great way to start the day! and better than not eating anything before work and then starving and eating everything I can reach by lunchtime.

10. Let my hair grow out.
I'm trying to go for a trim either this week or next just to even things out but I have been and am then trying to let it grow out! I've been doing mohawks and short hair on and off for a few years but I really want long hair again...long, orange hair but we'll get to that at another time ;) This really is a goal because I am SO SCISSOR HAPPY!!!!

11. Visit Portland!
Does it count that I'm already definitely doing this? Yes, it does because it's something I've wanted to do for quite some time and I'm going to dive in and do it! Thanks, student loans. Ugh.

12. Embroider something!
Remember when I did that at an ETSY party? I had sew (hehe) much fun!

13. Soup/Salad lunches
I think these are really healthy lunches and I'd love to stick to it at least 5/7 days a week. I need to find some salad "recipes" that I really like and then get the stuff to make them. That plus a pot of soup every week is pretty inexpensive yet filling.

14. Redo my blog layout
I've been wanting to do this since, uh, day one. Somebody get me photoshop on this thing! I think I will like updating more if I find my blog prettier. Crazy, right? like an inspirational room inside my computer.

15. Finish rewatching all the episodes of MacGyver on Netflix
I think I secretly want to be MacGyver... I love that show! I used to watch it EVERY WEEK when I was a kid plus all of the reruns. Thanks, Grandpa :) p.s. I also really wanna watch Dexter--Marc doesn't like it but I think he just needs to watch the rest of the season 'til I get him hooked.

16. Learn how to schedule neatly
Okay, I love making lists and planning and all these things but sometimes I do it so sloppily and then I can hardly even use the schedule cause there's just -crap- all over it. I really can't wait until I get a new planner for this school year and I swear I will make it the best lifeline ever. I really wanna plan meals and exercises and all sorts of things in there (oh yeah and homework). Plus I have really pretty pens (aka super colorful) that I plan to use to colorcode it. I am a planner/list freak but it makes me feel more at ease that I won't forget something since I always have so many things going at once.

17. Relearn Excel
My Mom was talking about this the other day..I used to know how to do all these awesome things in Excel but now I forget some of them. I think it'd also be a really good tool for me to track spending (eeeek) plus a great tool for on-the-job things. I'm sure I can google a bunch of tutorials and get this done!

18. Play tennis!
I really miss tennis. Marc and I played with a couple of friends a few months ago but haven't gone back since. I'd love to play at least once a week and get back into it. It is SUCH a good workout and really so much fun. I already have the rackets so it's essentially free, too.

19. Get a tattoo
Yea I talk the tattoo talk big time but I've yet to bite the bullet and go get one. I think I'll get something small at first just to see what it's like and so my wallet thanks me and then go from there.

20. See a hockey game!
I've always wanted to do this and live an hour away from the Tampa Bay Lightning so I think we should go one time!

21. See a roller derby game!
Kinda like the above. Always talk about wanting to do this, haven't done it.

22. Go to Powershift!
It's an action/sustainability convention that tons of colleges and other like-minded people attend.

23. Go floating down the rainbow river!
There's this cool river (again about 45 min- an hour away) and you just relax and float down it..maybe not that exciting but it does sound like fun!!

24. Work hard at work even when I don't have to.
I really hate my job but try to make the best of it. I get the days off I want and like my bosses but other than that, uhck! We kinda work lots of jobs all in one. Cashier/customer service/crazy phone answerers/merchandising/stocking/cleaning/manager stuff, blahblahblah...but kinda get paid like just cashiers. Why do I work there again? Days off-nice bosses-*sigh

Okay well, I'm 23 in two months so this is my list of 24 before 24. Sorry for no pretty pictures but link in a comment if you make one! I'd love to read it.