Half way there. This is my year, for sure.

This year I'll try to only listen to myself. (Start this going as your blog-reading soundtrack, ok? Ok, good talk.)




So suddenly it's July, and 2013 which has only recently become habit is halfway over (you know, writing down '13 on things instead of '12). I started this year off with some sort of ambitious game plan to be a bit more purposeful in my moments. I put together a list which turned in to a spreadsheet of goals or resolutions, and I was inputting updates to that chart for the first three months of the year. I took April off from a lot of things that were becoming time sucks for me, and I guess one casualty was updating this blog, as well as updating that list/chart. It's still there. I did take a look the other week and update where I'd gotten with some things. The real goal wasn't to do everything 100% of the time, but to do pieces when they made sense and not get let down by breaking a streak and then knowing I'd never be at 100%. I have formed some habits, and made some real progress in some places. Some things are laughable. You can do anything but you can't do everything. I certainly can't do everything.

Back in Orientation Assistant training (2004? 2005?), we had one big session that was focused on our strengths, the thinking being that if everyone played up what they were awesome at, we wouldn't need to worry about where we might fall short and how to make up for that. I'm usually intrigued and amused by any sort of personality test, and this one seemed somewhat more legit than most, or at least appeared that way. It spit back my five main strengths, which I'd agree make sense for me for sure (perhaps some change in almost ten years?).

My five themes were as follows: Includer, Strategic, Input, Woo (Winning Others Over), & Connectedness. I've got the write-ups & descriptions of these all handy if anyone wants to read further. The perhaps more interesting part of this training, however, was when we discussed these themes, about ourselves and the interplay of these themes. How, me with a big Strategic badge could approach a situation incredibly different than one of the others in the room, though we both were championing strategy. It was eye opening in little ways, I found myself getting thoroughly upset (about how others would approach situations I guess?), and then realizing that that's what this was about, really digging in and feeling out the different approaches and seeing that there's no one best way.

Back to goals. Some have gone well. Like these.

• cook 3+ dinners/week [Well, maybe not three every week but certainly not going out three nights per week for dinner. Sometimes it's cooking and remixing, or just lots of planning.]
• run semi-regularly [been going 4x per week since February, that totally counts]
• run a 5k [I've ran 2! April 28 at 31:23 & June 8 at 28:54. Longer races coming up soon soon too. I'm hooked.]
• lose about 15 more pounds [I'm at about 10 less than January now, works for me]
• KEEP OFF the above 15 lbs and the 20 lbs lost in 2012. [Doin' it.]
• stay more hydrated [Totally have been. Strategy!]
• Gauge my ears bigger (0?) [I'm at a 4 now, I might just stick here but it's a step up from the 6!]
• Open a ‘hidden’ emergency account that I really do not touch [Yup, did it.]
• explore! try new stores, new routes, etc. [All over the place. Less ruts, more explore.]
• install CS6 (what have I been waiting for? :I ) [Did it. Love it.]
• learn more about letters (general) [This has been more practicing and observing rather than traditional study, but I think it counts since I've been thinking about letters a lot]
• organize my twitter in to lists to be more useful (friends/design/ROC/etc.) [Yeah I made some lists! Those of you who I bother most often are probably on one of them. Still in progress sorting further though]
• be more social (at least 1 purely social encounter per week, whether over beer/coffee, or phone/skype/hangouts) [Maybe not every week, but I've had some great ones lately]
• Visit Nashville - and sister&bro-in-law&pups [Did it!]
• Cleveland visit [Did it very slightly on the way back from Nashville, so that counts a bit. Planning to be back for WMC fest in August]
• paint my dining room [Done in February, much thanks to my folks for coming up for a couple days to help get that done!]
• SAVE things less -- use as soon as makes sense to, and replenish when needed [Yes, totally. Been especially better at working through my cabinets eating weird things that I bought once, or just kind of making dinner happen out of whatever is there]

And then there's all those others that maybe I'm doing ok with, or maybe I'm not doing anything at all with. It's ok. I've got the above to show for the first half of 2013, and I can't wait to see what's next. Focusing on the strengths, you know?








I feel like I used a lot of qualifying language in this post. Yup.

Taking April Off... Week 1 Recap

One week in, this is how I'm doing on my Taking April Off... #spendingdiet and better allotment of my time as all outlined previously. I'm thinking that maybe I should have started with a month of just tracking every dollar to see where it went before jumping in to this. Too late now! I did not do amazing this past week, but not too horrible I guess either. Come on Laura, get it together!
(I'm taking applications for budget cheerleaders & accountability buddies... comment below?)

Monday

• $5 — beer out with an old friend that was visiting
• $50 donation for my Pinups for Pitbulls calendar model application. I'd had this in my queue to do for weeks, and with the deadline approaching, I had to get my application in. Hey, at least it's going toward a good cause. (This is not counting toward that running total since the only reason it happened this week was because of lots of procrastination on my part.) 
• Stayed up late. 1AM? No good. 

Tuesday

• ~$9 for a chicken soulvaki (food+tip) at a diner when my groupon dinner plans got squashed by not finding the place after supposedly driving by twice, and not feeling comfortable enough in that area at that time of night to park and wander. 
• Consequence of staying up late was not running before work, which left my homework run til after work. After the run, showering, and then being so starved for dinner led to the above haste and plan fail. Yep.
• Skipped going to either of two shows I was interested in, one in Buffalo, one in Syracuse. Never committed to either, wanted to go to both, and realizing that no matter what I'd be disappointed from missing one, why not miss both and be disappointed anyway? I hate my logic sometimes, but at least I didn't spend a couple hours in the car on a weeknight. 

Wednesday

• Planned dinner ahead of time went well. Though, pretty exhausted after my run & shower. I guess I can't do as much on run days now as I was doing before. Perhaps hitting the 3 mile mark is my ceiling for being functional afterward. 

Thursday

• Somehow dinner tv programming still happened, and that was bad for my time budget. Though dinner of leftover Easter ham went well.
  And then of course after that I start feeling like I'm having an allergic reaction and start popping allegra, taking puffs of albuterol and feeling like crap. I spent the rest of the night on the couch until bedtime. These allergy effects need to stop. Glad I'm seeing my allergist soon.

Friday

• $2.25 for a coffee. Running early and trying to start the day off with treating my self a bit. Plus, no need to be the one person doing the dishes/making the coffee at the office EVERY day this week. 

Saturday

• Bagel breakfast sandwich & a coffee at Balsam Bagels. Too good, I could eat there every day. ~$7
• Genesee Brewhouse tasting flight: $2. Decided to walk across the bridge at High Falls before the game, and the flight was kind of a no-brainer.
• Red Wings Baseball game — The season opener, I'd planned on going to this for months. I bought a special pack of tickets that give me a discount on the price by buying a bunch together. So, I didn't buy the ticket that day, it happened a couple weeks ago. Got a fried dough & a turkey crepe and a hot chocolate, ~ $ 17 ? Kept it under $20!
• Poster show at 1975. One night only. Old friend in town with this poster tour. Another friend in town that I don't see too often either. Or two. Really hard to skip seeing folks I see maybe once a year because of the spending diet & time diet. And I maybe bought a Tara McPherson poster. $60. Which now looking at her site, this ish isn't available until May! Winning? EDIT: Probably meant last May.
  Current room below, and new poster on right. They're going to be on opposite walls, staring at each other while I sleep. Creepy? It was too good of a fit to pass up. 
• Dinner with same friends from the poster show at Pomodoro. $17 including tip. I feel like I'm back in college, getting just a water with dinner.
• Everything Saturday took longer than it could/should have. Totally wiped me out, and I didn't even get to everything I was supposed to. Bleh.

Art for my room... the Gaslight zombie girl is getting a friend!

Sunday

• ~$4 for a  Belgian Waffle Latte at Equal Grounds. Needed that after training with the foster and before I plunged in to a huge day of getting stuff done. 
• $8 for 2 drinks at Lux... went for a meeting, stayed for a hot cider and chat with a few seldom-seen friends.
• ~$5.50 for a burger at Five Guys. Did a quick grocery run and hadn't had dinner so...

Week 1 Total $ spent on non-essentials: $136.75 (+$50 donation for P4P)

Eeek. If you don't include the TM poster, $76.75... which is ok! But, the TM poster happened. I also need to de-grossify my french press so I don't blow so much on coffee this week. So, for the next three weeks, I've got what's in my wallet + $40 left to take from the ATM to keep on track.

Can I do it? 

Operation Hydration : A mini-case study

If you've been following along with me this year, you may have noticed that I've been working toward getting/being healthier all around. One big thing I knew I wanted to work on that was probably pretty attainable was to stay hydrated/drink more water.

As a designer, I often find myself approaching seemingly small things as full-blown problems to solve. I found that as much as I knew I should be drinking water throughout the day, sometimes the only thing I'd have before dinner was my morning coffee. No good.

So, I took a closer look at what small things may have been impeding my thirst quenching, or what alterations might increase my hydration.

Access.
During the workweek, I find myself sitting at a desk, mindlessly reaching for whatever is easily accessible—candy, gum, coffee, whatever I've left on my desk. If I could put a glass of water there, I'd probably drink it. The second part of access has to do with where I'd be getting water. I tried in the fall to bring in a pack of bottled waters, so I could easily grab one whenever I felt like it. This somewhat worked, but then there was dealing with the empties that I of course wanted to collect the deposit on, and the weird feeling of bothering to open a new bottle, or just hold out if I was a little thirsty but it was nearing the end of the day. Plus, the small action of unscrewing the cap made a tiny barrier to drinking, versus just grabbing the coffee mug. 

Vehicle.
So, the bottled water was kind of out. My previous job had one of those water cooler things that I could fill up with crisp, cold, filtered water whenever I'd like. It was in the break room, so a small walk from my desk, but totally doable. We've got an assortment of various mugs and cups in our breakroom, so I've given the rather large teal ones a go. They're plasticky, sort of like what you'd expect to be marketed for summer entertaining on your deck. Maybe I'll bring in a pint glass of my own at some point. I also got a water bottle that has a space on the bottom for *infusing* a piece of fruit or whatever in to it. This is good, if I remember it, and if I feel like washing out all the different pieces...

The water itself.
My current job has no such water cooler, at least in my building, so I'm stuck with our break room sink. Which, the water is ... okay. It's not the best I've had but certainly not the worst (sorry Florida, not a fan of your tap water). How could I be more enticed to fill up on a large glass of this stuff? Ice cubes? Maybe, we have some in the freezer in the break room. Citrus? Ooh! I do quite like a lemon or lime in my water, but man, leaving a partial piece of fruit in the fridge for more than a couple days can leave the fruit not so great, and I hate wasting something. 

Ease.
So ok, even if I do keep a lemon in the fridge wrapped in plastic wrap or a baggie, and then just hack off a piece whenever I'm filling up? Do I feel like washing a knife & plate/cutting board every time I get a glass of water? No, not really. Maybe I can just cut the whole thing up at once... but, would that get kind of gross still if I'm only using one piece or so per day?

Waste prevention.
I don't want to be throwing out half a piece of fruit, nor having to replace my stock of limes/lemons constantly. What is a way to prevent this?

When life gives you lemons...

Making my way through all of that, I figured I needed a way to have portion-sized pieces of lemon ready to go whenever, easily accessible, and that wouldn't spoil or have to be thrown away. Pair that with a good-sized cup or glass to hold it all. Enter my friend, the freezer... With the help of a quart-size freezer bag, and a tiny bit of forethought, I realized I could slice up an entire lemon or two in to the size pieces I'd like, throw those all in that freezer bag, and into the freezer to give myself what I've been looking for. I'd have pre-cut slices of lemon, and they'd double as ice cubes. Win! 

After cutting up a few lemons and freezing the pieces this way, I started exploring methods of cutting the lemon to get the most out of it. I tried quartering it, but that was too big of a piece at a time, and half-ing those didn't seem to leave much of a citrus-y impression. I tried rings, which seemed to work better but were harder to cut because the lemon would roll around a bit. Then I got to the half-rings! These have the advantages of the full ring, but easier to cut, and you can get more separate pieces out of one lemon. 

The illustrations bordering this post chronicle how I am, and recommend, cutting a lemon for these freezing purposes.  Start by halving your lemon through its bellybutton, or in technical terms *hot dog* way. Then, place your lemon halves flat-side down, and proceed to make slices going the opposite direction, technical term *hamburger* way.  This leaves you with a bunch of small half-circle lemon pieces that are perfect to throw in to a freezer bag to freeze. When you do freeze them, try to lay the bag flat if possible and avoid having the pieces stack up on each other, so you won't have to work on prying them apart at a later time. 

So, there you have it—a fairly lengthy blog post about putting a lemon in your water. I hope you enjoyed it, and perhaps have gained some insight in to the inner workings of my mind. 

All illustrations in this post are my own and may not be reproduced without written consent.

I'm taking April off.

(pssst... hi! I know it's April 1st, but this is not an April Fools Day joke...just wanted to get that out of the way. Also, hello & welcome to my new followers from the Coach bag giveaway! I hope you enjoy things here, and stick around. Please say hi in the comments section so I can get to know you, too!)

I'm taking April off.
Not from work. Not from commitments.
But from too much.

Sticking with a budget, a schedule, and listing all the things that I'm holding back that have been holding me back:

• TV/Netflix/Hulu. Great for background noise, but also great for making small tasks take much longer because of the distraction. Mailing out etsy orders? Eating dinner? These do not take 30-60 minutes.
• Eating on the couch. This leads to/stems from the above.  And also makes the dogs super jealous of what's on my plate. How about that dining room table, yeah?
• Going out for meals. Yep. Unless there's a groupon, dining card, gift card or similar involved, it's not happening in April.  
• Staying up too late to finish things. Face it, I'm never going to finish everything I *could* do. Might as well get myself in bed and give tomorrow a fighting chance. In deadline situations, I'll give myself one late night per week. 
• Falling asleep on the couch. Direct result of a few of the above—*watching* something while I'm getting tired (staying up too late?!) and then falling asleep on the couch, waking up at 4AM and then going to bed for another hour or two... yeah let's not do that. 
• Shopping. Not sure I need to even explain this one but shopping costs money and takes time, and gives me more things. I could use more money and time, and less things. Groceries & household supplies will be on a *list only* basis, as well as dog food/treats/etc. 
• Work distractions. Because when I let myself get distracted at work, I guilt myself in to staying later to *make up* for my distracted time. I'd rather just get my work done and go get distracted at home or at least out in the sunshine.  
• Cara Box. Yes these are fun, but I end up stressing about them at the last minute, and this falls under acquiring more things and having less money. So I'll be sitting out this month for the Cara Box exchange, no matter how amazing the theme idea is. 
• Being Overwhelmed. So this is more of the goal rather than a specific action item, but I'd like to be less overwhelmed.
• Being Social. Sorry, I'm not sorry. I love you all and everything but this is one thing that's going to have to take a back seat this month. Unless, of course, you want to join in on any of the MORE list items below (cooking, dog walking). 
• Keeping chocolate/candy in reach at my desk. Unnecessary, but so good. So, that can hide across the room or in a cabinet or nowhere. Don't need it. 

Those things are getting cut out or cut back.

And here's the things I will be doing more of in April. 

• Dog Time. More walks, more training & practice, more fun. Guilty of expecting that the puppy will just want to snuggle up on the couch with me when I'm tired even though she's had quiet time the entire time I've been at work. And the more practice/training I do with the foster, the more adoptable he is! (not that he isn't already super-adoptable, but better manners and more training are only going to make him even more irresistable.)
• Cooking/Meal Prep/Planning. I'm hit or miss on this sometimes, and if I miss the planning/shopping over the weekend, the whole week ends up a big mess of last minute solutions. I did some good pre-planning this week and I've been eating healthier & cheaper for the most part because of it. 
• In bed by 11, up and out of bed by 6. Because the sun is getting up earlier, and so should I. 7 hours is plenty of sleep.  
• Cooking from the cabinets. I could probably live a month off the stuff in my cabinets. So maybe I will. Aiming to empty out much of these, enough so that I don't have any straggler items that live permanently on the countertop.
• Read books. I don't even know how many books I own that I have yet to read. I was aiming for at least one book per month, which I've hit in January, but not since then this year. Maybe I can read two in April.
• Getting rid of stuff. I have a lot of stuff. I'd rather have a lot of space, but when the space is taken up by the stuff, both are useless. The plan is to go through boxes, totes, random piles and fill my garbage container that goes to the curb every week. Also a box for selling, and donating items. 
• Baking. Muffins, bread, whatever. I have a lot of the ingredients on hand, and me making my own is pretty cost-efficient.
• Setting aside specific time for specific things AND downtime.  Like working on etsy orders. Or grocery shopping. Or meal prep. My google calendar is going to be crazy this month. I've already added Office Hours to my calendar bi-weekly to take care of bills, paperwork, emails, whatever.
• Make bigger payments on things. I like to keep a cushion in my checking account just *in case* but I don't really need it there, especially when I have savings for *in case*, so taking that cushion lower and making bigger payments on things. Would LOVE to get my car paid off sooner.
• Keeping flat surfaces clear. Counters, tables, dresses. Clearing these off and not just putting something down because I can. I don't need my life to be a game of Jenga.
• Pomodoro Method. Using My Tomatoes to work in 25 minute intervals. I've tried it a little and excited to utilize this method going forward. 

As March progressed, I realized I didn't go nearly as cold-turkey on my #nospend as much as I probably should have and wanted to.

On the other side of things, I've also realized that there were lots of likeminded thinkers on board with this idea, I came across Betsy's post Spend Less for March.

and leading me to... The Spending Fast.  Or, The Spending Diet. Both from Anna at And then We Saved, who paid off ~$24,000 in FIFTEEN MONTHS. Holy Cow.

I don't have $24k to pay off (well, not including a mortgage but that's a different story) but could certainly use to catch up on payments, bills, savings, whatever.

I'll go with the spending diet, and giving myself $200 cash for the month for incidentals and *wants*. Credit/debit cards are for needs—gas, groceries, pet supplies, household goods. I know I've already got a few things on the calendar that will be demanding my time, talent, and treasure so it'll be best to work with that budget.

So here goes...

No Spend March!

It's that time again... the time where I look at my checking account(s) and go "...oh."

In keeping with some of my #100resolutions from earlier this year, I've decided to join up on this No Spend March... presented by Mallory (From California to Kansas) and Jess (Tooth N Nails) .

My rules are as follows:

• Credit Card is for Gas, Groceries, and other essentials
• No online shopping (time to ignore all of the 'daily deal' emails I get)
• Groceries are strictly by list (with planned meals), with one <$5 "treat" item
• Regulated cash allowance weekly for incidentals (convenience items, beers, door cover for dances or shows, etc.)
• Use the giftcards! But don't go more than 25% over their value
• Two meals out per week tops (this will probably be a weekend brunch & a dinner)
• NO clothing or makeup (unless something is broken/ran out and needs replacement)
• <$20 of chews/treats for puppy on pet store visits, and hold off on new toys until April (she chews a lot, and I'd rather her be chomping on an elk antler or bully stick rather than the coffee table, so there needs to be some allowance here)
• Sleep on it for at least one night for any larger purchases that might need to happen
• Redirect my impulses (OMG let's order pizza >>> at home pasta night. and so on.) 

This is my birthday month, so it might be a bit tough in some regards to not #treatyoself , but hopefully any of that treating I can take care of with giftcards and groupons that I already have. Obviously there might be an exception or two in there

Want to join in? Or just offer some support for this? Head on over to Mallory & Jess's blogs and chime in in the comments!

I'm thinking of posting updates of #Nospend/#badspend incidents throughout the month. Large list update? Spend-shaming photos? Love to hear your thoughts and have you join in on this #NoSpendMarch!

Exciting news for Battle of the Dresses, and Battle No. 3 results...

weekly dress battle to cure workplace attire monotony & incite creative spirit by means of friendly competition

                                                                                                                                                                       

Sorry for keeping you all waiting -- we're putting the Battle of the Dresses on hold for a bit, and working on revising the structure and schedule. Which is EXCITING! We're opening the battle to more  friends, and if you'd like to battle it up in a future BOTD, leave a comment, send a message, tweet at one of us and we'll talk.

Battle No. 3 results....

What you were saying about No.3:

Emily:

"Texture. Yeah. The sweater, and boots and skirt are fantastic constrast of texture. And the greys aren't quite gray, they're actually a little warm in color and so the blue pop in the skirt seems to balance it admirably well."

"Love the sweater. Love the color of the skirt. Love them paired together w/ the boots. Love the boots. Yeah, much love. Full of win. "
"Emily's boots are everything that should ever happen to feet. "

Laura:

"Red+birds = win.
Also, bonus points for the Built to Spill accessory poster?"
"Love the red and the bird pattern, cute winged mascara, and LOVE the necklace! 413 represent!"
"I love the pop of color, use of a skinny belt, and that she sourced Etsy for her jewelry. I WILL say that I really like Emily's Fergalicious boots too though. "

Read more about the Battle of the Dresses.

Resolution Check-in #1

It's been a few weeks...ok, it's halfway through February now...  and traditionally this is the time of year that most resolutions are actually kept, before the bulk of the population loses steam and retreats to their comfortable habits.

I, however, am taking it a little bit at a time... I think so far it's an okay start, but there's definitely room for improvement. I'm hoping that some of the small things being repeated just become good NEW habits so I can move on to bigger and better things. I've skipped some of the items that I haven't really started with anything on yet... so here we are! The colors are for the different sorts of categories I split my resolutions in to ...

.	Goal	Status Summary so far...
.		Through Feb. 18, 2013
.	dance at least 1x/wk	Total failsauce - not danced once yet this year! Ugh. Soon. I swear.
.	cook 3+ dinners/week	Pretty decent at this so far, though not exactly 100% -- the last week or two has been lacking on the mealplanning bit, I pretty much lost some steam leading up to/right after the ATE dinner
.	better bedtimes/sleep (11p on worknights, flexible on wknds—oh hey, there’s an app for that!)	Kind of ok, but not even 50%. I've noticed significant improvement on this since starting my NoBo 5k training though, here's to that!
.	be ready the night before (work lunches and outfits set before bed)	Not exactly, but thinking a little bit ahead.
.	run semi-regularly	Game on. I signed up for a 5k training through a local running store, I'm in my second week of that now, and it's going well. This whole having a schedule and working out as a group is pretty great for actually getting off my butt.
.	run a 5k	Signed up for the Flower City Challenge Wegmans Family 5k at the end of April, which is what this training is leading up to!
.	Walk 500 miles	5k training comes with walking, so this helps. Puppy also comes with walking, though I've somehow lost track of the miles for the walking. Let's say it's over 15 miles but under 50 so far. I've got work to do.
.	lose about 15 more pounds	Good grief this is going poorly -- I'm at about 156 right now, having been about 152 at New Years. Not a huge jump, but still that's an increase rather than decrease or even constant. Bad Laur.
.	play some basketball — find a league or something casual	Discussed the possibility on two separate occasions with two separate people/groups, but nothing yet to come of it. Might be hard to fit in another athletic endeavor now that I'm at 4 days a week of running/training anyway.
.	2 hits at most of the snooze button allowed daily	Probably 1/3- 1/2 of the time, hard one to keep exact stats of.
.	Wear more dresses (1x/week?)	Yes! Usually on Thursdays, and to top it off, I've started also started a weekly Battle of the Dresses with my friend Emily P! Wearing our dresses in the eye of the public definitely helps remind me to keep to the once per week. Oh, and sweater tights. Those are the best.
.	get less distracted	Huge fail.
.	stuart email rule - 10 mins on the hour	WORKS GREAT when I don't make any exceptions. Need to work on this more.
.	wear my nightguard so i don’t grind my teeth down to nothing	Did great the first two weeks of the year, and haven't really since. Let's shoot for that to be better by the next check-in.
.	Get my birdie tattoos finished	Nope, not yet. Megan is out of state and I haven't exactly decided on the location for the last few birds yet...
.	get my rowhouse tattoo	Linework done as of 2/11/13! Color to be completed in a couple weeks.
.	get a new OB/GYN in my health system	Looked up a practice that's in my health system and not scary, just have to actually call for an appointment now. GETTING ON THAT BY THE NEXT CHECK-IN!
.	stay more hydrated	Definitely improved! Seltzer, green tea, and the wonderful citrus infuser waterbottle I got in late January is a total win. I drink SO MUCH more water if citrus is involved.
.	paint my nails and maintain (not a week of chipped)	Did good for a few weeks in January, but have been bare since then. Hard to set aside time to do these and hide in the bathroom, because the birdies can't be around the fumes while I'm paining them. I do have good colors picked out for next time though!
.	get a manicure (suggestions for where to in/near Roc?!)	Bought a groupon on 2/17 for a mani/pedi! Now, to actually go use it.
.	get a pedicure (omg never have. suggestions where to in/near Roc, & someone to join?)	Bought a groupon on 2/17 for a mani/pedi! Now, to actually go use it.
.	Gauge my ears bigger (0?)	Gauged up to a 4g as of beginning of February. Can't get the double-flared plugs in yet though.
.	bake bread & things	I've baked brownies. Once.
.	Open a ‘hidden’ emergency account that I really do not touch	Done it! Account open.
.	Have two months of funds in said account by end of the year	Auto-depositing a bit each check, magically.
.	make a budget and stick to it COLD TURKEY	THIS. Working on it, but the cold turkey part is hard. Goal for next update, only using my cash allowance for non-needs.
.	be AWESOME at my job	Added this after the inital list. Not that I'm bad at my job, but can't we all be better at most things? I'd really like to impress and hold on to this one, as my last job became pretty painful for me until I was able to accept this current gig. Here's to betterness!
.	write a song journal (playlist already set)	I've got a playlist, and the stories running through my head. Maybe I need to sit down twice a month and put a song to paper each time.
.	read 1 book/month	Finished reading: Happier at Home; and I've started Designing for Emotion. On track so far, just need to finish the second book within this month!
.	take more photos on purpose (try a 365 again? maybe.)	Yes! Been taking outfit/dress photos, and also did a photo-an-hour in January which I'd like to keep up each month. Just work days are kinda boring for that, note to self. Oh, and always photos of the pup.
.	go to more shows (1x/month?)	Yes! So far: Miracle of 86 reunion show in January, Staten Island; and the Acoustic Basement tour in Syracuse for February
.	See Lord of the Rings (1st one) ALL THE WAY THROUGH, NO NAPPING	Ian picked up the DVDs of all three of these, just a matter of having a movie night now!
.	See Lord of the Rings (2nd one) ALL THE WAY THROUGH, NO NAPPING	"
.	See Lord of the Rings (3rd one) ALL THE WAY THROUGH, NO NAPPING	"
.	Listen to more podcasts (1/work day)	Sure. Off and on, not going to list what podcasts I listened to each week though.
.	explore! try new stores, new routes, etc.	Took Amtrak to NYC, took LIRR to JFK. Took some new roads randomly, been trying to mix up paths for walks with Remi as well!
.	install CS6 (what have I been waiting for? :I )	INSTALLED, after mess-up/scare in early February.
.	take calligraphy class	Can't find one! Been looking online for classes in ROC.
.	get a laptop ($$$$$$$$$$$)	Visited the Apple store, found out that regular MacBooks no longer exist, there's only the Air or a Pro... base model 13" Pro's are ~$1199. Maybe near the end of the year...
.	expand my etsy shop & build on the success ( http://www.etsy.com/shop/lauriebreaker )	Added a new stamp design in January (the Elliot), joined some teams, working on SEO, Titles, images, treasuries. Brainstormed new designs/products, and just recently made a monthly schedule of new designs and products to add, as well as advertising opportunities and blog features.
.	learn more about letters (general)	Always an observer.
.	schedule out etsy promotion (blog features, giveaways etc.)	Had reviews, features, giveaways from: SometimesSweet, Short Girl, Long Island, Erica D House, SRSLYLIZ, and more to come!
.	get my etsy sales to average 6 per day, up from the current of 2 per day	Sales have been very down since post-holiday, but I think that's how that goes. Got plans in order for adding new items moving forward, and promotion.
.	reply to messages & emails right away	Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Definitely need to get on this more.
.	Scour pinterest weekly (inspiration, organization, recipes)	Usually take a look once a week or so, would love to have time set aside for it.
.	Do my postcard project	nope
.	Inbox: zero	Newly added: I'm really not an inbox-zero person, but I think I can go through and get rid of a lot of the message that I do have. Sersiously.
.	be more social (at least 1 purely social encounter per week, whether over beer/coffee, or phone/skype/hangouts)	Roc Nerd Night, SPARK mentorship meetings, Brunch with friends in NYC, Hummus Tasting at Reagan's, Hosting an ATE, went to BOYS vs GIRLS opening, so far, not bad!
.	get ATEs rolling (http://ate-rochester.tumblr.com/)	Had one! Scheduling #2 right now. Weather was a bit menacing with storm #Nemo, but we still got 6 out of 8 there regardless!
.	send nice things in the mail	Participated in a Cara Box, sent my sister a housewarming & birthday package, and another Cara Box coming up SOON!
.	spend more time in coffee shops	SPARK with Kim is a few hours in a Starbucks, so that counts a bit!
.	purge “stuff” (at least 1 trash bag/month of things that can go—trash, donated, traded, whatever).	I've got one small box of donatables!
.	paint my dining room	In progress as we speak, should be done soon.
.	organize & maintain: kitchen	Got a pot/pan lid organizer rack from IKEA, and also got different garbage can & recycle bins for the kitchen, which have been keeping that much more organized.
.	organize & maintain: dining room	Big clean-up initiated, much things displaced because of ATE and painting. Also, coatrack acquired!
.	organize & maintain: book nook	Ordered a desk from Zulily, it's the wrong one, and currently in process of resolving this with the vendor.
.	organize & maintain: living room	Got a small storage ottoman for Remi's toys and chews, works fantastically!
.	go through all my mail & keep up on it	This needs to happen by the next update, especially because of taxes!
.	SAVE things less -- use as soon as makes sense to, and replenish when needed	YES! I think about this everytime I think to 'save' something and just go for it.
.	get a chore/household duty system in place	Got the system in place, working on getting it going--some big things disrupt a system.

Resolution Roll Call 2013

To start a new year with 100 resolutions or goals is perhaps a bit bold. I figured that presented with a buffet of things I could work on throughout the year, I'd be able to knock things off the list, and hopefully make some good habits along the way, without the worry of breaking a streak or missing on perfection. 100 action items, and heck, if I can make a dent on 10 of them each month, that puts me in a good place number-wise.

Without futher ado, my list of 100* (*note, I haven't yet put 100 things on here--currently 84ish. Like anything, when I'm racking my brain to think of things, I blank; but when I'm in the middle of something totally irrelevant, I think of more).

I'm attempting to organize these in to categories or themes (most were jotted down quickly in random places), so bear with me and the inconsistent grammar.

Bettering Me (Health, self-image, stress)

1. dance at least 1x/wk
2. cook 3+ dinners/week
3. better bedtimes/sleep (11p on worknights, flexible on wknds—oh hey, there’s an app for that!)
4. be ready the night before (work lunches and outfits set before bed)
5. be on time (ugh, this is a huge one for me. hardest part is I don’t care about being _precisely_ on time for things, but the rest of the world does…)
6. run semi-regularly
7. run a 5k
8. Walk 500 miles
9. Walk 500 more… (thinking of getting a fitbit or similar, or just using an app to track?  Suggestions taken… I expect the puppy to help me out with this especially as the weather improves.)
10. lose about 15 more pounds
11. KEEP OFF the above 15 lbs and the 20 lbs lost in 2012.
12. Break out of loops!
13. play some basketball — find a league or something casual
14. 2 hits at most of the snooze button allowed daily
15. Wear more dresses (1x/week?)
16. get less distracted
17. relax more
18. wear my nightguard so i don’t grind my teeth down to nothing
19. Get my birdie tattoos finished
20. get my rowhouse tattoo
21. get a new non-primary Doctors in my health system (Switching jobs/insurance makes for tons of phone calls, ugh)
22. figure out some personality stuff
23. bake bread
24. stay more hydrated
25. paint my nails and maintain (not a week of chipped)
26. get a manicure (suggestions for where to in/near Roc?!)
27. get a pedicure (omg never have. suggestions where to in/near Roc, & someone to join?)

Financial (Being a grown-up with my $)

1. Pay down credit cards…
2. Pay off more of my car (extra $30-100/mo. for the year)
3. Open a ‘hidden’ emergency account that I really do not touch
4. Have two months of funds in said account by end of the year
5. make a budget and stick to it COLD TURKEY

Enlightenment (Media, Music, Reading, and enrichment)

1. write a song journal (playlist already set)
2. read 1 book/month
3. take more photos on purpose (try a 365 again? maybe.)
4. go to more shows (1x/month?)
5. See Lord of the Rings (1st one) ALL THE WAY THROUGH, NO NAPPING
6. See Lord of the Rings (2nd one) ALL THE WAY THROUGH, NO NAPPING
7. See Lord of the Rings (3rd one) ALL THE WAY THROUGH, NO NAPPING
8. Listen to more podcasts (1/work day)

Career/Creative 

1. install CS6 (what have I been waiting for? :I )
2. print some
3. bind some
4. dig in to more web/ux/ui/wordpress/webwhatever design stuff… 3 hrs/month
5. get a laptop ($$$$$$$$$$$)
6. expand my etsy shop & build on the success ( http://www.etsy.com/shop/lauriebreaker )
7. learn more about letters (general)
8. take calligraphy class
9. make a typeface
10. organize my twitter in to lists to be more useful (friends/design/ROC/etc.)
11. schedule out etsy promotion (blog features, giveaways etc.)
12. get my etsy sales to average 6 per day, up from the current of 2 per day
13. reply to messages & emails right away
14. Scour pinterest weekly (inspiration, organization, recipes)
15. Do my postcard project

Social (less being a hermit)

1. be more social (at least 1 purely social encounter per week, whether over beer/coffee, or phone/skype/hangouts)
2. reconnect with distant friends (1/month?)
3. get ATEs rolling (http://ate-rochester.tumblr.com/)
4. send nice things in the mail

Out & About (Travel, going places, doing things)

1. volunteer
2. go bowling (use up L&M card!)
3. go to more baseball games than 2012
4. Pay Philadelphia a visit
5. go to more hockey games than 2012 
6. Visit Nashville - and sister&bro-in-law&pups
7. Cleveland visit
8. spend more time in coffee shops

Home, Place, and Possessions 

1. purge “stuff” (at least 1 trash bag/month of things that can go—trash, donated, traded, whatever).
2. paint my dining room
3. paint the drying rack in my laundry room
4. paint the laundry room
5. get a better floor for the laundry room
6. organize & maintain: kitchen
7. organize & maintain: dining room
8. organize & maintain: book nook
9. organize & maintain: bedroom&closet
10. organize & maintain: living room
11. organize & maintain: backroom/office
12. organize & maintain: porch
13. enjoy my porch
14. 24 hr rule on dirty dishes in the sink
15. go through all my mail
16. SAVE things less -- use as soon as makes sense to, and replenish when needed
17. get a chore/household duty system in place 

I plan to make updates as to how these are going throughout the year, perhaps a few times per month. I am currently accepting any and all forms of encouragement, and of course suggestions are welcome too! Want to join me for any of these things? Leave a note in the comments or shoot me a tweet!