January Hiatus

Posted on January 11, 2013 by mygoalcalledlife

Well, hey there! Hard to believe that my last post was right around Thanksgiving and now it’s 2013. I’ve been thinking about this little blog of mine, but just haven’t had too many interesting things to blog about!

But here we are – 2013 is all shiny and fresh and new and, of course, I’ve set a bunch of new goals for the year! Which inspires me to update this little blog again, yay!

One of my goals, at least for the short term, is a little “hiatus.”

My hubby and I completely overindulged in everything during the holidays: spending, eating, drinking, partying, you name it. I don’t regret it one bit, but we both felt like we needed a little “reset” after all the holiday madness. We decided to chill out for the month of January. No booze, no crazy unhealthy foods, and a full month of laying low on the social scene. We’re a couple of weeks into the month, and so far, so good! My waistline is loving it, too (bonus!).

For me personally, I’ve also imposed a spending hiatus for the month of January. I thought this was a really novel idea until I googled it and it seems that a lot of people decide to do this as a resolution in January. Well, whatever – I’m on board!

I’ve been thinking a lot about how much I really “need” in my life. Do I really “need” that gorgeous shade of lip gloss to survive? Have I worn holes in the bottom of my shoes and I “need” a cute new pair of boots? Am I so dehydrated that I “need” that Starbucks grande no-whip skinny vanilla latte, or I will just perish? I think not, friends.

So for this month, any time I think of spending money on a non-essential item, I write the item down on a wishlist. At the end of the month, I’ll review the wishlist and decide if anything on there is really worth purchasing. If so, I may buy it in February. If not, I’ll probably forget about it because I didn’t really need it anyway.

Have you ever gone on a personal spending hiatus? How did it work for you? What tips do you have for me?

…oh, and Happy New Year!

Status Check on Goals: November

Posted on November 7, 2012 by mygoalcalledlife

(Also known as the longest blog post everrr)
OK, I realize it’s been forever since I’ve checked in on my goals – well, at least officially checked in on the blogosphere.

However…I really have been diligently working towards achieving each of the goals that I listed back in January on this blog! Aaaand, I’ve even put some thought into my goals for 2013

It’s hard to believe there are less than 2 months in 2012. Crazy, right? Since we’re getting so close to the end of the year, I thought it would be good to do a little recap of where I am to date:

{ Health }

Goal: Partipate in a fitness competition
I really wish I had given myself more than one fitness goal to achieve in 2012. Particularly because I really felt lost after I completed my fitness competition back in April. I’m still a little lost, to be completely honest! But, I’ve been getting my booty to the gym and have basically just been in maintenance mode for the last several months.
Health Goal: COMPLETE, baby

{ Habitat }

Goal: Organize my house
The goal of organizing my house has probably been the most time-consuming out of all the goals I listed. Every weekend, I’ve spent a little time organizing areas of my home, and in all honesty, it’s about 90% complete! Yaaaay!

There are a few embarrassing spaces left to be organized. Namely, our garage and our basement. They are not small projects to complete so I’ve been putting them off until the end, which of course has delayed their completion. Now that we are getting into the colder months (I’m looking at snow falling outside my window as I type this!), the garage project may be delayed until next spring. However, I hope to finish the basement before the end of 2012.

Side note: Would anyone be interested in seeing an “organized house tour” series for the spaces I haven’t shown yet on the blog? Maybe I’m a voyeur, but I love seeing how other people organize their homes. LMK!
Habitat Goal: In Progress, Nearly Completed

{ Happiness }

Goal #1: Train Pickles (my doggie)
Pickles is definitely a work in progress, but her behavior has improved tremendously in recent months. I have been taking her on loooooong walks and listening to Cesar Milan’s audio books on my iPod while we walk. I really believe in his approach of “exercise, discipline, and affection, in that order.” I think this has really helped improve our little canine maniac’s disposition. I also discovered that our little dog is the BEST running partner! She just runs and runs and runs and never tires out. I plan to continue running with her!
Happiness Goal #1: Complete!

Goal #2: Go on vacation with my husband
We had such a nice vacation to Riviera Maya earlier this year. It was exactly what I needed at the time, as I was transitioning away from my former job and really needed some mental relaxation. I’d love to travel more in 2013, even if it’s a short weekend getaway.
Happiness Goal #2: Complete!

Goal #3: Make 5 new friends
This may sound like a silly goal to most people. I’ve struggled with meeting new friends since moving to PA years ago…let’s face it, the older you get, the harder it is to meet new people, particularly when you don’t have kids (that seems to be how most people I know expand their social circle). That being said, I feel blessed to have met so many great people this year and to have strengthened relationships with people I know. And I consider anyone reading this post a friend, so you can add yourself to the list
Happiness Goal #3: Complete

Goal #4: Make more money
This is such a point of frustration for me. I used to make pretty decent money, then I made a career change a couple of years ago and have been playing catch-up ever since. I’m not sure if I’ll ever get back to the salary level where I used to be, which is just so annoying. Money isn’t everything, but I work hard and dammit, I want more money! I will say, I am making more money now than I was at the beginning of 2012, so for now I’ll consider this one…
Happiness Goal #4: Complete

{ Hobbies }

Goal: #1 Take better care of my skin
I really think this one deserves its own blog post. In recent months, I have been suffering from annoying skin issues, and I’m not sure if they are product, environment, or hormone related. Who knows. I did just start a new skin care regime which I will try to post about later this week, if anyone’s interested. I’ve also decided to go have my skin checked for any possible skin cancer issues. Overall, I’ve taken much better care of my skin this year but this could definitely be improved.
Hobbies Goal #1: Work in progress

Goal #2: Pursue my hobbies
I didn’t clearly define what my hobbies are when I set this goal, which I guess is why I didn’t make too much progress with this one. I did start taking ballet, which has been an adventure I’ll be re-evaluating this goal for 2013.
Hobbies Goal #2: Work in progress

Goal #3: Become more involved in social media
It’s pretty pathetic that I work in marketing and create clients’ social media campaigns, but I can’t even bother to keep up with my own Twitter account, right? I have definitely become more involved in social media this year, but there is room for improvement in 2013. (By the way, connect with me! The buttons for my social media pages are right over there to your right –>)
Hobbies Goal #3: Complete

…and finally, the “Push Goal,” to start my own business.
This is still hands down absolutely something I want to do. The stars just need to align for things to work out for me. I haven’t forgotten about my push goal, and I still feel like it will push me towards achieving all of my goals and more!
Push Goal: INCOMPLETE (for now)

I’d love to hear about goals you have achieved in 2012 so far, and if you’re already thinking about 2013 the way I am. I’m a big believer in making your goals public – so ‘fess up!!

Housekeeping #FAILS

Posted on October 24, 2012 by mygoalcalledlife

Have you ever spent a day on autopilot? Have you ever had the kind of day where you pull into your driveway after a long day at work but you don’t even remember the drive home? Have you ever had a day where you just can’t seem to get your ish together?

Yeah, I have those days too. In fact, last weekend was one of those days.

The first awesome thing I did on autopilot was turn all of my hubby’s white shirts a lovely shade of lavender in the laundry. Laundry #FAIL.

Yay, me!

The second thing I did was turn over an entire melted candle onto our carpet in our basement. Woohooo! I was on a roll! Candle #FAIL.

Unfortunately, nothing could be done to rescue the lavender shirts. I tried soaking, bleaching, washing, bleaching, soaking, etc. They just turned a bit of a lighter shade of purple.

On the bright side, I was able to clean up all the candle wax! And I thought it would be helpful to share how I did it, in case you ever have an autopilot day of your own.

HOW TO REMOVE CANDLE WAX FROM CARPET:

1. Try to scrape up as much candle wax as possible from the carpet. I used an old butter knife for this:

2. Next, gather your supplies. You will need some newspaper and an iron. (By the way, this picture really doesn’t do the wax situation justice – it was splattered across the entire carpet! 24 ounces or so of melted wax, haha)

3. With your iron on medium heat, start ironing over the waxy areas on top of a piece of newspaper. The wax will start melting and will be absorbed into the newspaper:

4. Keep ironing over the wax, changing out the newspaper for fresh sheets along the way. Eventually, the wax will be gone…voila!

What are your home remedies for other housekeeping fails? Please share – I’m sure I’ll need to reference your tips in the future

Fall and Halloween Decor Tour

Posted on October 6, 2012 by mygoalcalledlife

Happy Saturday! We were supposed to go on a camping trip this weekend, but cancelled at the last minute due to the forecasts for poor weather.

I’ve been keeping myself busy today anyway by doing some fall decorating. I still have to do the outside, but thought it would be fun to show what I’ve done so far inside the house!