Ukulele Wednesday | King of the Road
This song has been stuck in my head for DAYS, so I finally gave in to the earworm* and learned to play it for Ukulele Wednesday.
I’m totally into Ukulele Wednesday again. Can you tell? Come back next week for another one!
*the word “earworm” was totally lifted from my mother. Thanks, Mom!
I Can Do Anything Good: January
I’m a very goal-oriented person. Clearly. I set goals all the time in 2011, and it seemed like each month ended with a bulleted list of reasons for not achieving my goals. Lesson learned: I know that in order to achieve the goals I set for myself, I need to have a certain level of accountability…
So, here are the goals I set for 2012 at the beginning of the year.
And here’s how I’m doing so far:
Reach my goal weight by June 1
So far, so good! I realize that it may come off a little vain or brainwashed by magazine culture to have my weight at the top of my list of resolutions for 2012, so I want to clarify. This isn’t about me weighing what the gossip magazine and television industry says I should weigh – I don’t want to be a scary skinny bobblehead who survives on, like, kale and pickles and lemon juice. This is about my health, my willpower, and my need to stop eating so much pizza and drinking so much beer.
All that said, I lost 5 lbs. in January. Success!
12 in 12
Mom and I ran the Greenville News 5k, and my official time clocked in at 41:53 with a pace of 13:31. In February, we’ll be running the Frostbite 5k here in Asheville, and my goal is to finish in under 40:00. Bring it, February!
No More Debt
Josh and I are on this new budget system that I heard about on the Elevation Church Podcast. It seems to be working well so far, and I think we’re off to a good start. The hardest part about a budget is realizing that you don’t get to go out to eat or to a bar every time the mood strikes. We’re learning to bargain with ourselves to see where our “fun” priority falls for the week, which is good—but tough to get used to.
Read at least a book a month
Haven’t you heard about my book club? This month I finished The Weird Sisters, which I’ll be blogging about for the BlogHer book club soon. I’m currently reading The Zookeeper’s Wife for the What Are You Reading? book club, and you’re not too late to join us! Click here to join the discussion on Goodreads.
Build a business
Well, I’m freelancing steadily! I have one major client keeping me in steady work. I’m getting used to setting my own schedule and being my own boss. I work on freelance assignments in the evening throughout t\he week, and each Friday I make myself a cup of tea and shut myself in the office with the dogs to finish up the week’s assignments and invoices.
I’ve been doing a lot of brainstorming for the actual business itself – the name, the website, the services offered, the business plan…it’s overwhelming, but I keep reminding myself that this isn’t the kind of thing you cross off your list in a day. I’m happy with where I am and I’m excited about where I’m going.
Did you set goals for 2012? How are you doing so far?
Join us on Goodreads!
To make this online book club easier for all parties involved, I set up a group on Goodreads. This way, we can check in and discuss what we’re reading as we’re reading. I’ll still be posting end-of-book recpas on this blog, but if you’re interested in being a part of the What Are You Reading? book club discussions, click this link and sign up.
Currently Reading:
The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman
Previously:
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
My Favorite Things
It’s been a while, but I think it’s high time for another edition of My Favorite Things!
Pretty Paper Products
Rifle Paper Company is run by a husband and wife team in Florida, and literally everything they make is adorable. This week, I’ve been drooling over their gorgeous calendars (pictured, available here), but they make more adorable paper than I could begin to list here – including precious custom illustrations for your stationery, invitations, or calling cards.
Nan Lawson
Nan Lawson is an illustrator after my own heart. Her self described “cute quirky and nerdy art” is adorable, and I want to hang it all on the walls of my office. Check her out on etsy for more precious prints like The Piemaker (be still my Pushing Daisies loving heart!), pictured.
Downton Abbey
If you’re not watching this show, drop everything and START WATCHING THIS SHOW. I’m not even going to elaborate. You’ll start watching and then you’ll watch the whole first season on Netflix in one week like I did and then you’ll understand.
Role Models: Katniss Everdeen
First of all, don’t judge. Chances are if you didn’t love The Hunger Games, it’s because you didn’t read The Hunger Games. And if you did read the Hunger Games, then you know what I’m talking about when I say Katniss Everdeen is a BAMF with serious role model potential, and definitely not a girl to be trifled with. Why? I’ll tell you why:
Family, y’all.
Katniss loves her family more than she loves her own freedom. She is a total mama bear when it comes to Prim, going so far as to volunteer to take her place in The Hunger Games – which gives her a 1/24 chance of survival. For Katniss, there was no other option. She couldn’t let her sweet sister go into that terrible arena, so she went instead. Simple as that. And I can’t even talk about sweet Rue without getting a little weepy, so let’s just say that Prim is not the only kid Katniss would do anything for. She’s a killer with a heart of gold.
Survival Skills
Here’s the deal: if Katniss Everdeen and Bear Gryllis had a wilderness survival showdown, my money would be on Katniss every day of the week. Katniss can kill and prepare her own food, climb any tree, outwit her predators, and she gets ruthless when she needs to. Chances are, Katniss would charm Bear into giving her half his food and all the blankets and drinking water before she left him in her dust and scampered into her top secret tree fort to commune with the mockingjays and wait for him to cry uncle.
Great Hair
Katniss understands that the best hairstyles are the simplest, which is why she mastered the side braid early on. Girls, you do not have to tease and spray and curl and straighten and spray some more. Just take a page from the book of Katniss, learn how to French braid (or fishtail braid, if you’re feeling fancy!), and move on to more important things. Like survival skills and archery and Peeta vs. Gale (This blog is firmly Team Peeta, for the record).
Priorities
This is probably my favorite thing about Katniss. Peeta and Gale are cute, sure, and she gets the warm fuzzies from them both…but when it comes down to it, she has bigger fish to fry. Like political upheaval and her generation’s survival. Katniss isn’t heartless – she has crushes and she gets her smooches in where she can. But at the end of the day, she’s not a breathless, fluttery, boy-crazy nitwit. Snuggling is nice, but surviving and protecting the people you care about is more important, and Katniss gets that.
Another Role Model:
Lessons from Jo March
My Handwriting
When I saw this post at eef-etc, I knew I had to jump on board this bandwagon. Handwriting has always been very important to me. I was the girl who “tried on” different styles of writing at the beginning of every school year – the way other girls would try on new shoes or new dresses.
My handwriting has always been a big part of who I am. Now that I’m a grown up and I don’t have time for silly things like throwing away sheets of paper because I didn’t like the way my writing looked, I have settled on what you see below, and I’ll take it.
You like how I automatically added the “u” after “q” in my alphabet? Me, too.
If you feel like it, leave me a link to your handwriting in the comments! It’ll be like we’re all passing one big note around the Internet. I like the sound of that.
12 in 12: January
The morning of January 21 was cold, rainy, and generally gross. The alarm went off way too early, I was way too tired and completely unprepared. Honestly, the only thing that kept me from backing out was the thought of having to write a post admitting to giving up on my FIRST 5k of the year. No way. Not acceptable. Not in 2012.
So I rolled out of bed, pulled my bedhead into a ponytail, tied my running shoes, and headed into downtown Greenville, SC for the Greenville News 5k. I think this was the biggest race I’ve ever run – somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,000 people braved the dreary weather to pound the pavement, and mom and I were right in the middle of the pack.
As I mentioned, I was completely unprepared for this race. No training at all – which is why my hips were aching all the way home, and why I slept for a solid 10 hours on Saturday night. Mom stuck with me (although she could have left me in her dust!), and I probably walked as much as I ran, but I’m happy with how I did. Obviously, I won’t benefit from this resolution at all if I roll out of bed and stumble through each race without any training or work beforehand. I’ve got my starting time and a plan for February, and it’ s only going to get better from here.
January Time: 41:53
*This was the time on the race clock when we finished. It took us about 30 seconds to actually cross the start line after the race started, so this is probably a little inflated, but I’ll count it.
February Goal: Under 40
February Race: Frostbite 5k in Asheville, NC
What Are You Reading? Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children
First of all: Young Adult Lit is really stepping up its game!
What several years ago may have been easy to write off as juvenile or simple has matured into a genre of literature that is just as complex and entertaining as its more “serious” older sibling. It’s a very exciting time to be a Young Adult author or reader, and this book just helps to prove that point.
I picked up Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children because it looked spooky (and the only time I’m guilty of judging a book by its cover is when I’m looking at actual books and judging them by their actual covers) and seemed like it would be a fairly quick read. It was, and it was. And I loved it.
The book’s framework is a collection of uncomfortably weird photographs of children. These photos were really what drew me in to begin with – I love looking through abandoned photo albums in antique stores and flea markets, and I’m a sucker for the strange and creepy, so…perfect match.
Once I started reading the book, the photos combined with the easy tone and gripping story made it tough to stop—much like The Hunger Games series, I finished this book in about three days. And I loved it.
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children felt like an adventure made up of equal parts Magical Realism, Thriller, and Historical Fiction. If you’re into shows like Ghost Hunters (guilty), Ancient Aliens (guilty), or any other show from the “historically spooky” Sunday afternoon lineup on channels like Discovery and History and SyFy, read the book. Chances are you’ll love it, too.
Next Up on What Are You Reading?
My next book is going to be The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman. My friend Megan is going to be reading along with me – if you’re interested in joining us, please do! Just get a copy of the book, start reading, and keep in touch about what you think!
Previously:
100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Go somewhere.
I spent my day thinking warm, snuggly thoughts of blankets and hot tea and Jane Austen movies on Netflix. 
I knew that as soon as I walked in the door, I would be hard pressed to do anything other than snuggle with the dogs, turn on the TV, cover up, cuddle in, and drift in and out of a hazy almost-sleep until Josh got home from class.
So when I got home, I said hi to the pups. I took them outside in the rain. We all ran back inside. And I put on my boots, zipped my coat, and headed right back in to the storm.
It is so easy to call an end to my day when I get home from work. To eat dinner, put on PJs, and snuggle in for the night.
But when you are a person with goals and dreams and plans as big as mine, you really don’t have time for that nonsense. And as I am learning, sometimes that means you have to give up the comfort of a full belly and a warm puppy and a cozy blanket for a hard chair and headphones in your favorite coffee shop. Whatever it takes to make you sit up straight and get things done.
Do you feel my pain? Can you concentrate on your work after a full day at your job? Where do you go to stay on task?
