Months 10 & 11 Roundup

The Dailies:

#9 – Take my vitamins every day for 45 days. Still working on this one, if you can believe it. It takes a lot to start this habit it seems.

The Weeklies:

#44 – Turn off the TV at least one evening a week. I’ve been doing this, but not consciously. I’m going to try to be more conscious about it in December.

Monthly Things:

#12 – Do my self-breast exam every month. Done.

#62 – Save monthly in a long-term savings account. Done.

#63 – Pay off my car. Still working on this one diligently.

#65 – Pay off my credit card every month. Done. I have to admit I love being able to say I have a zero credit card balance every month.

#76 – Plan a “me” day at least once a month. In October I didn’t purposefully plan a day for myself, although I’m sure I got a few hours to myself if nothing else. This one was difficult in November, though, because it was a pretty busy month. I did attend a writing conference that was a “me” day of sorts. I enjoyed wallowing in all things writerly for 8 hours.

#80 – Send 33 cards or letters. I sent a few cards over the last two months.

#87 – Buy myself a gift or flowers on the 5th of every month. I bought a new bud vase in October and an album on iTunes in November.

#90 – Compliment a stranger 33 times. I can’t stop doing this one!

#100 – Track my 101 progress monthly. I’m keeping track…that’s what matters, right?

Other Things:

#11 – Pick 10 slow-cooker recipes and try them all. I tried a delicious sweet potato chili recipe, and I’ve made it twice. Now to try a few more of the recipes in that book I bought.

#18 – Attend 3 writing conferences or retreats. I’ve gotten in two this year. I’m tempted to increase my goal here considering I have 22 months left, but I’ll leave it for now.

#19 – Review and update my website at least once every three months. I’ve picked out a few templates to work with for my new business site. My current site will be for creative pursuits while my business site will focus on freelance writing and client needs.

#30 – Finish and submit C8ANY book proposal. I’ve finished a full final draft that is being reviewed by the client.

#34 – Read 50 books. I read Still Life with Husband, I’m Not the New Me, and Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet over the last two months. That’s 19 read so far for the year, on top of at least 2 dozen books on CD I’ve listened to during my daily commute.

Month 9 Round-up

A quick update for my September progress.

The Dailies:

#9 – Take my vitamins every day for 45 days. I do well at this during the week, but I’m having trouble remembering on the weekends.

#11 – Pick 10 slow-cooker recipes and try them all. I bought a vegetarian slow-cooker cookbook and can’t wait to use it to make some great meals this fall.

The Weeklies:

#44 – Turn off the TV at least one evening a week. TV-free nights are really good for the writing.

#78 – Take a weekly self-portrait. I’m starting this up again with Project 365. We’ll see how it goes. If at first you don’t succeed, right?

Monthly Things:

#12 – Do my self-breast exam every month. Done.

#62 – Save monthly in a long-term savings account. Done.

#63 – Pay off my car. Still working on this one diligently.

#65 – Pay off my credit card every month. Done, even though it meant cutting back big time. A trip to NYC and a bit of a clothing splurge had my balance a bit higher than usual.

#76 – Plan a “me” day at least once a month. I took a day trip to NYC with a girl friend and I’m counting that as my “me” day. It was so much fun and I even took the day off to go.

#80 – Send 33 cards or letters. I sent a note to a friend.

#87 – Buy myself a gift or flowers on the 5th of every month. I think I may have missed this one in September…I honestly don’t remember.

#90 – Compliment a stranger 33 times. Stranger complimenting is just part of what I do these days.

#100 – Track my 101 progress monthly. Done.

Yearly Things:

#14 – Participate in One Local Summer. I didn’t get many blog posts up, but I enjoyed at least one local meal a week through the end of August and am continuing to eat mostly local using the fruits and vegetables I still find at the farmers market and get from my CSA. The season’s almost over so I’m taking advantage of it while I can.

Other Things:

#19 – Review and update my website at least once every three months. I’m working on a new website specifically for my freelance business. I’ll be keeping my current one to promote my creative writing projects in the future.

#30 – Finish and submit C8ANY book proposal. The goal is to have this finished by December 31st. We have a meeting set up for this month and will be working through the final writing and revisions over the next few weeks.

#34 – Read 50 books. I read The House on First Street and finished Six-Figure Freelancing this month. I didn’t get through as many this month as I wanted to, but I’m still reading a quite a good clip this year. I’m at 16 books.

Months 7 & 8 Roundup

Apparently I’ve created a new month. We’ll call it Julgust. At some point this year, the boundaries between days, weeks and months have become blurred and I’m unable to recognize where one ends and the next begins. That being said, I can’t even be sure that my roundup here will be accurate. A lot has been going on, and I haven’t been very good about recognizing or keeping track of my 101 Things.

The Dailies:

#9 – Take my vitamins every day for 45 days. I’m setting my phone alarm as my reminder to do this every day, since my dear memory isn’t serving me here. Let’s see how well that works.

#10 – Eat a vegetarian diet for 30 days. I’ve officially finished this goal, but I haven’t started eating meat again. My new goal where my vegetarian diet is concerned is making sure I’m getting enough protein.

The Weeklies:

#44 – Turn off the TV at least one evening a week. I’m still doing quite well with this, and enjoy the quiet time of evenings without TV.

#78 – Take a weekly self-portrait. This one is a big F.A.I.L. I’m not going to beat myself up about it.

Monthly Things:

#12 – Do my self-breast exam every month. Done.

#62 – Save monthly in a long-term savings account. Done.

#63 – Pay off my car. Still working on this one diligently.

#65 – Pay off my credit card every month. Done, even though it meant cutting back big time. A trip to NYC and a bit of a clothing splurge had my balance a bit higher than usual.

#76 – Plan a “me” day at least once a month. I got myself a mani/pedi and took an entire me weekend in August. I can’t remember what I did in July, but I’m sure I had a day to myself somewhere in there.

#80 – Send 33 cards or letters. I sent my dad’s birthday card in July and a thank-you note in August.

#87 – Buy myself a gift or flowers on the 5th of every month. It wasn’t on the 5th, as I keep forgetting on that date, but I bought myself a couple more books as a treat each month.

#90 – Compliment a stranger 33 times. This is becoming second nature to me and I’m really glad. I don’t know how many times I’ve complimented someone only to have them tell me they weren’t feeling compliment worthy on that day.

#100 – Track my 101 progress monthly. I clearly missed this one in July, but I think I deserve a few missed months out of 33. Don’t you?

Yearly Things:

#14 – Participate in One Local Summer. With my travels over the last month, I’ve missed blogging about them, but I’m still cooking up plenty of local goodies.

Other Things:

#19 – Review and update my website at least once every three months. I’m currently working with a life coach and part of that process has been reviewing and updating my website content.

#27  – Write and submit 10 separate queries for health and fitness articles. I have written two more queries and am in the process of submitting them, although for some reason the email addresses I’ve found online for submissions don’t seem to be working very reliably.

#30 – Finish and submit C8ANY book proposal. Having a bit of trouble finishing this up due to scheduling conflicts with the client.

#34 – Read 50 books. I read Nourising Wisdom, A Whole New Mind, The Time Traveler’s Wife, and When You Are Engulfed in Flames over the last two months. That puts me at 14 and counting. I’ve got three in the works right now, not to mention all the ones I’ve been listening to during my commute but don’t count toward my reading quota.

#91 – Create 15 scrapbook pages. I went to a scrapbooking night at a friend’s house and managed to complete four pages for Germany. I love scrapbooking!

#95 – Create 5 New Playlists

I’ve been working on two: Summer Fun (to get me in the mood for the summer that has almost passed me by); and Road Trippin’ (to keep me awake the next time I hit the road to visit my family). Once they’re totally finished, I’ll post the lists in case you’re interested.

#34 – Read 50 books.

I plowed through The Time Traveler’s Wife without stopping for breath. I don’t know what took me so long to pick it up. I think I was afraid the time jumping would be confusing, but I only needed to flip backwards a couple of times, and considering time shifts take place every couple of pages, I think the author did an excellent job making the transition pretty seemless.

The characters were deep and wonderfully imperfect. And the story–oh! the story. Heart wrenching and beautiful just the same. I found myself wondering how my life would be different if I could time travel (or if My Love could). I definitely recommend this one.

(Twelve books down, 38 to go.)

#34 – Read 50 books.

I finished my 11th book last week: When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris. I love Sedaris’s sense of humor and I often find myself laughing out loud when I read his essays. Everything collection I’ve read has left me feeling a little lighter…and a little less neurotic.

#10 – Eat a vegetarian diet for 30 days.

It’s official. I’ve been meatless for 6 weeks and counting. Turns out it’s not so hard to let it go as I thought it would be.

I don’t know that I’ll never eat meat again, but I haven’t really missed it at this point. If I’m really craving meat in the future, I’ll certainly allow myself to eat it. My main goal here is to be more conscious about where my meat is coming from if and when I do choose to have it.

Month 6 Roundup

This month was all about baby-steps. I’m making progress…it just might not seem like much to the naked eye. Here are the details.

The Dailies:

#9 – Take my vitamins every day for 45 days. If I’m completely honest here, I haven’t been taking my vitamins daily. It is, however, becoming a bit of a routine and I would say that over the last 21 days I’ve remembered about 18 of them. I know I said I’d start again if I missed a day, but I’m not going to be that hard-core.  They’re my 101 Things after all.

#10 – Eat a vegetarian diet for 30 days. This one couldn’t be going better. It hasn’t been nearly as difficult as I expected and I’m planning to continue a mostly vegetarian (let’s call it “flexitarian”) diet once my 30 days is up on July 7th. The goal will be to pay closer attention to where my meat is coming from and be more deliberate in my meat choices, rather than make it my standard fare.

The Weeklies:

#5 – Practice yoga 3 times per week for 8 weeks. I have been doing well with this one. My nightly yoga stretches before bed are getting me into the routine of yoga. Now I want to take the time to deepen my practice a bit more.

#44 – Turn off the TV at least one evening a week. Even after having cable installed this month, I’m managing to make one night a week TV-free.

#78 – Take a weekly self-portrait. I should let this one go…I really should. I keep forgetting about it and I’m behind by about 8 weeks now. Ugh! Maybe July will be better.

Monthly Things:

#12 – Do my self-breast exam every month. Done.

#63 – Save monthly in a long-term savings account. Done.

#64 – Pay off my car. Made that extra payment again this month.

#65 – Pay off my credit card every month. Done.

#76 – Plan a “me” day at least once a month. I took a “mental health day” off from work and did several things to make my life a little less stressful. Bliss!

#80 – Send 33 cards or letters. I sent several Father’s Day cards.

#87 – Buy myself a gift or flowers on the 5th of every month. Bought myself a book this month.

#90 – Compliment a stranger 33 times. When all else fails, complement a woman’s shoes.

#100 – Track my 101 progress monthly.

Yearly Things:

#14 – Participate in One Local Summer. I’m cooking up one local meal a week. Check out what I’m creating at Writing: My Life.

Other Things:

#19 – Review and update my website at least once every three months. I participated in a blog improvement group and I’m counting the changes I made to my writing blog as my website update for this quarter.

#30 – Finish and submit C8ANY book proposal. Made some minor edits this month and will be digging in and heading for the finish line in July.

#34 – Read 50 books. I read Half-Assed this month and am still working through a few no my nightstand. That puts me at 10 so far.

#5 – Practice yoga 3 times per week for 8 weeks.

I keep trying to make this one a priority. I really love practicing yoga, but fitting regular practice into my schedule just hasn’t been at the top of my to-do list. I think that’s because I tend to consider “practice” to be at least 30 minutes.

To make it a bit more manageable, I’m going to count practice as 10 minutes or more starting this week. That way I can get in the habit of practicing without feeling pressure to do a full 30-60 minute class. I can count my pre-bed or early morning yoga stretches as my practice for the day and once I get into that habit again, I can start building up to something more significant.

#9 – Take my vitamins every day for 45 days.

With the vegetarian diet going strong, and my creaky knees getting worse, I’ve decided to take taking my vitamins and supplements seriously. I’m taking a multivitamin to make sure I’m getting my necessary vitamins and minerals and glucosamine/chondroitin for my joints.

I started this goal in earnest on June 10. I’m not sure the glucosamine will work, but my sister swears by it and she has worse knee problems than I do. I figure it can’t hurt to give it a try.