May Report Card

This month was great, but also really busy.  So much so that most of my resolutions slipped my mind. 

Work On My Novel Once a Week

I managed to remember to do this about twice, which means that nothing much was accomplished.  Better luck next time, I suppose.  

Grade: D

Yoga 4 Times a Week

Ten times in the entire month.  Oops.  

Grade: C

Read 4 Books

This one I managed.  I read True Devotion by Dee Henderson, By Darkness Hid and To Darkness Fled by Jill Williamson and The Stolen Throne by David Gaider.  I've even started on From Darkness Won by Jill Williamson, the last in the Blood of Kings trilogy.  

Grade: A+

Come Up With a Summer Bucket List

This turned out well, also.  You can see what's on my list here.  If you come up with your own, let me know in the comments.  

Grade: A+

Watch My Spending

Not too bad here.  I didn't spend extravagantly, but I paid for what I needed (and some things I didn't necessarily need, such as hardcover copies of Star Wars books that I already own), making this goal an overall success.  

Grade: A

 

Overall Grade: B

Here's one of the reasons I've been so busy this month.  Meet our new goldendoodle puppy, Kirby.

 This post inspired by Kelli at She Learns As She Goes.

Kaylin's Summer Bucket List

Aerial Yoga- This looks like so much fun!  I can't wait to try it.

Finish My Novel- This might be a little ambitious, but we'll give it a go.

Date With Dad- It's been a while since I've gone out and gotten to spend time with my dad, so this is a must.  

Read Outside- Because I should really take advantage of the nice weather.

Go Hiking- I'm dying to try some of the trails in Spokane.

Homemade Popsicles- The ones with fruit in them look like fun to make.

Snap 50 Unique Photos- My poor camera needs some exercise this summer.

Iced Tea With A Friend- At least once.

Bubble Tea- Because it's delicious.  I get some almost every time I go to the mall.

Geocaching- This was so much fun last summer.

S'mores- What's summer without them?

Stargaze- Again, I should take advantage of the clear skies and do this at least once.

I Love Lucy Marathon- I still have half of season 7, season 8 and season 9 to watch before I'll have watched every one.  

Record Myself Playing Piano- I've been meaning to do this for some time, now.  

White Box Pies- This is a great restaurant/bakery in town that focuses on gluten-free menu items.  I'd love to go have lunch or dinner there again.

Flower Hair Clips- I think they're really cute and would like to see how they look on me.

Pedicure- I don't like painting my own toenails.  Plus, it makes me feel pampered.

Read A Jules Verne Novel- Probably Journey to the Center of the Earth. 

Visit The Buggy Barn- This is a quilt shop/museum nearby that I've never been to.  It looks interesting.

Phish Food- No, not "Fish Food".  This Ben & Jerry's flavor is my absolute favorite, but usually really expensive.  I'd like to treat myself to a pint sometime this summer.

Evening Walk- One of my favorite parts of summer is how lovely the temperatures are, even after the sun has set.  

Pirates of Penzance- One of my favorite movies that I want to watch again sometime.

Drive With the Windows Down- I'm still learning how to drive, but I'm starting to enjoy it more.  I always enjoy being able to do this during the summer.

Hair Trim- Already completed this one.  I'm such a cheater.

Be Thankful Every Day- Something different every day.  This could be challenging.

Sky High- A trampoline place in town that looks like a lot of fun.  

Portal 2 Co-op- It's been a while since I've played Portal, but I'm pretty excited to get back into it. 


What's on your summer to-do list?

May Resolutions

 

Taken on my trip through Oregon.

May is here, and I'm pretty darn excited for it.  I'm going to one of my friends' wedding next weekend, this is my favorite kind of weather, I'm going to start teaching a friend of mine piano once a week, I have a bridal shower to help plan, and my brother's wedding is only a month away.  Basically, May is going to be busy, so I'm going to try and not overload myself with goals.  

Work On My Novel Once A Week

This goal was a complete failure last month, but I'm going to give it another try.  I would put a specific word-count goal, but I'm really not sure how many more I'll need to finish, so this will have to do.

Yoga 4 Times A Week

Even as my life gets busier, I'd like to keep this up.  For those of you looking for a yoga routine to do, here's some links to my favorite videos.  Element: Hatha and Flow Yoga for Beginners,  Rodney Yee's Yoga for Beginners, Element: Yoga for Stress Relief and Flexibility, and Crunch: Candlelight Yoga.

Read 4 Books

Once again, I'd like to stay on track with my goal of 50 books for the year.  As a side note, my long-term goal is to have read 500 books by the time I turn 21.  

Come Up With A Summer Bucket List

Kelli at She Learns As She Goes made one of these last year, inspiring me to make my own.  It was nice to remind myself to enjoy the warm weather and still get some things done, so I think I'll do the same for this summer.  

Watch My Spending

I recently got my first credit card, and since I was already a big online shopper, I realize how dangerous this can be.  The freedom of being able to buy things online without having to worry about owing my parents is nice, but I'd like to make sure that I don't go snatching up everything on my Amazon wish list.  

What's on your agenda for the month?  Any plans to make your own summer bucket list?  If so, what's going to be on it?

April Report Card

Multnomah Falls.

 

     

This month was a pretty busy one for me, but very enjoyable.  Not only is the weather getting nicer and nicer, but I got to do a lot of fun stuff this month, including going on a trip to Vancouver with my youth group.  Student Conference was great this year, and though it was the last time I'll be able to attend as a student, it was still a lot of fun.  Now, I'm eagerly anticipating May, but let's first see how I did on this month's resolutions, shall we?

Organize Recipes

I put it off for a while, but I finally got this done.  Now our stack of loose recipes has diminished considerably and our favorites are all typed up, printed out, and added to my ever-growing binder of goodness. 

Grade: A

Read At Least 4 Books

Surprisingly, this was kind of tough for me this month, but I managed.  I read An Uncertain Dream by Judith Miller, Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen, A Most Peculiar Circumstance by Jen Turano and to offset all the historical romances, Star Wars: Survivor's Quest by Timothy Zahn.  

Grade: A

Keep Writing/Editing

 

 

Either I've been incredibly distracted by Icewind Dale 2 this month or this was just way too general of a goal to motivate me.  I've been blogging, but I didn't even want to think about my novel at all this month.  Here's hoping this goes better during May.

Grade: F

Watch What I Eat

I didn't do too badly on this goal.  Granted, I had a lot of fast food during my trip, but I tried to pick the healthiest things I could.  I made sure that I was careful when it came to my sugar intake, and I ate as many fresh fruits and veggies as I could.  By the way, Red Robin is now offering all of their burgers on gluten-free buns.

 

Grade: B+

Yoga 4 Times A Week

Not bad at all.  There was one week where I only got three nights of yoga in, but I did well the rest of the time.  I even challenged myself twice this month with the Flow routine from Tamal Dodge, probably the most difficult routine that we own.  

Grade: B+

Overall Grade: B-

 

I did pretty well this month on most of my goals, but completely failed when it came to writing.  I guess now I know what needs to be a priority for May.  How did your resolutions go?

Mid-April Progress Report

Where has the first half of this month gone?  Let me know if you see it anywhere, because it kind of passed me by.  I haven't even thought much about my resolutions for this month, so let's see how I've been doing on them...

Organize Recipes

I've tried a few new recipes this month so far, which means more loose recipes have been added to the pile.  Unfortunately, the organizing bit hasn't even started yet.  Speaking of new recipes, I've made this one for gluten-free soft sugar cookies twice already, and they're a hit.  Check it out!

Read At Least 4 Books

I'm working through book number two, which is Northanger Abbey, so I'm a bit behind.  Hopefully I can catch up.

Keep Writing/Editing

Oh yeah...  I was going to do this, wasn't I?  I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't even looked at a single word of my writing this month.  I've meant to, but there's always been some other chore or activity that has sounded more interesting.  Any tips for getting myself motivated to do this?

Watch What I Eat

This has been going  pretty well so far.  I've been making sure to get lots of veggies in my diet, and Greek yogurt (Chobani all the way) is my favorite breakfast food.  

Yoga 4 Times A Week

I've been keeping up with this pretty well, I think.  As long as I continue for the rest of the month, this should be a success. 

April Resolutions

The weather here today is incredibly nice for this time of year.  It makes me so excited for spring.  I don't plan on making any super ambitious resolutions for this month, however, as life has been pretty busy lately.  Here's hoping that I can be lenient with myself and still get some things done. 

Funny enough, this picture was taken last September.

 

Organize Recipes

We have a corner of our kitchen where those loose printed recipes just get tossed.  Some of them are great and we're saving the sheet so that we can make them again, others we have yet to make, but it's quite the mess.  I'd like to sort through these and find a better place for them to be or a better way to store them.  

Pinterest might not help this problem much, but there are so many great recipes!

Read At Least 4 Books

I plan to read 50 books during the course of this year, so I'd like to stay on track for that.  Knowing me, four books shouldn't be too tough.  Plus, the weather's nice enough that I can sit outside and read!

 

Keep Writing/Editing

I'm not going to make myself crazy and carry over my goal of finishing my first draft, but I'd like to at least keep going, no matter how slow the pace.  If I stop and put my novel down for a month, I know that I may never get my momentum back.  

Watch What I Eat

I know this is a very general goal, but I'd just like to remind myself to be aware of what I'm eating.  I'm not going to be too hard on myself, just smart. 

 

Yoga 4 Times a Week

This worked out pretty well last month, so I think I'll try it again.  I like the freedom to skip a day or two if I want to get to bed earlier, but I want to keep myself accountable and at do it at least some of the time.  

All in all, it looks like April will be a busy and (hopefully) productive month.  What are your resoultions?