Summer Bucket List // 2017

I'm a little late on this one... but here's my summer bucket list! I think it has been a few years since I've made one, so I am excited to give it another go! :)

Summer Bucket List 2017

make pound cake for strawberries

have a picnic
watch BBC (Colin Firth) P&P - I've never seen it!!
start 2017 PL album

try Korean BBQ

see new Pirates of the Caribbean movie

see new gallery at The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art
sort through some boxes in the basement (at least 5)

go to Shakespeare in the park
see wonder woman

go to KC's grandparent's farm

visit the Spencer Museum of Art - after the renovation! 

do something fun on my birthday

try 3 new restaurants
apply for Kelly Purkey's Creative Team

try making mochas at home again

visit as many Free Little Libraries as I can in LFK
get "painkillers" at Bon, Bon!
go to a concert

have a game night!

complete the library summer reading challenge - done!

start Erin's 7.0 Reading Challenge

make videos for 2016 PL album
try 5 new recipes
have a sno cone at Tad's Tropical Sno
find a dress for my SIL's wedding
take a road trip
get outside at night
try a new coffee place

What are you hoping to accomplish this summer?

What are your favorite summer traditions?

XO,

Alexandra

Summer Bucket List 2014!

This summer is kind of an odd one for us. We have both resigned from our teaching (subbing for me) jobs and are moving on to new things this summer. However, we have the month of June off before we begin working in July. Sadly, because of this change in income, we will have delayed checks for our summer work. This means, no June getaways, or July getaways, or August getaways. We also have some very dear friends moving across the country. They will be sorely missed. Because of all of this I'm kind of bummed about our summer. 

Sure a lot of great things are happening; new jobs with both higher pay and lower stress, a month at home to relax after a hard school year..., our cat has been spayed, we've decided not to move apartments... all of these things are very, very good. 

But I'm still feeling a little underwhelmed with the lack of fun plans and trips right now. So I am making this bucket list this summer in the hopes that it helps me focus on doing exciting and new things... even when we are staying close to home.

So here you have it, the ultimate bucket list for making the most of our summer at home! 

No really guys, I am going to be optimistic on this one... !

1) Try Russian Food (part of a 2014 goal)

2) Travel (even if that just means in Kansas City)

3) Do lots of Yoga, Dancing etc. 

4) Organize Photos on My Computer (it's a mess...)

5) Watch Roman Holiday

6) Get some hot curlers

7) Get some plants for inside & on balcony

8) Try Tortas Jaliscos 

9) Organize Pinterest boards into sub groups

10) Try Caribbean food

11) Open & Put Items in my Etsy store

12) Read! Participate in summer reading program?

13) Paint tiny canvasses (Also a 2014 goal)

14) Major organization and cleaning of bedroom & closet (already started! whoop!)

15) Get furniture onto our balcony, make it a place we want to spend time!

16) Go to the Basil Leaf Cafe

17) Find a red lip color that I like

18) Go to the original Arthur Bryant's in KC

19) Try Alchemy Coffee

20) Shampoo carpets (practically a party animal you guys..)

21) Watch the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

22) Go to Juice Stop

23) Go bowling

24) Go to free/cheap Buzz concerts

25) Eat at Terrebonne

26) Watch Space Jam with Kyle

27) Get sno cones at Tad's Tropical Sno

28) Try Limestone Pizza

29) Enjoy my birthday

30) Try out our complex's pool

31) Go thrifting (a lot) 

32) Try a new board game

33) Make two new pies 

34) Do something unexpected

35) Plan trip for the fall

36) Make lots of Pimm's Cups! (already making good headway on this... ;) ) 

37) Use that darn sewing machine! (Finally!?) 

38) Go to one bigger flea market in Kansas (KC, Lawrence, Troy...) 

39) Work on Travel Scrapbook

40) Go to the drive in

41) Make & drink Sangria

42) Host a super-fab bachelorette party for my sister

43) Make & Eat S'mores! (as much as possible!)

44) Go to a Sporting KC game, or at least buy tickets for a fall game

45) Go to Westport Food Truck Festival

46) Finish Veronica Mars series & movie

47) Upcycle some of my thrifted finds that I have good intentions for.. :) 

48) write at least 15 blog posts!

49) Have people over (more than 3 people), at least twice

50) Have fun.

See lists from 2012 & 2013, here & here!

The reviews and other goal posts can be found here.

What do you all have planned for the summer?!

What do you hope to accomplish?

I hope that whether you are spending the whole few months backpacking across Europe or enjoying your hometown you are able to make the most of it! 

Happy Summer! 

Alexandra 

Summer Bucket List 2013

Finally....

1) watch Funny Face

2) open a safety deposit box

3) take a road trip, short or long

4) make a s'mores recipe from my s'mores pinterest board

5) order a rivet and sway try on kit

6) read 5 books, 2 must be classics

7) see the Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera exhibit at the Nelson (I won tickets!)

8) buy new potted herbs and plant them

9) play in the rain

10) try a new margarita recipe

11) start my travel scrapbook

12) go to a flea market ( a big one! )

13) Host 3 gatherings

14) have a sleepover with my sisters

15) make a recipe from Rustic Fruit Desserts

16) sketch

17) find an apartment

18) finish reading Curly Girl

19) make plans for global movie nights

20) make inspirational wall art

21) experience somewhere completely new

22) try a new lemonade recipe

23) have a picnic

24) sew something

25) see 5 new places in Kansas

26) watch BBC's Persuasion

27) see Celtic Woman

28) publish 15 blog posts (on this blog)

29) make fresh angel food or pound cake to eat with strawberries and homemade whipped topping

30) do something I would never normally do

31) participate in the Lawrence Public Library's summer reading program

32) see a fireworks show

33) go swimming

34) see the ocean

35) make kebabs! (or just eat them..)

36) go to Schlitterbahn

37) go to birdies

38) try gelato

39) send mail 

40) meet 3 new people and get to know them!

Check out last years list, here.

What is on your summer bucket list?

All for now,

Alexandra

See how I did! Check out my end-of-the-summer review here.

2012 Goal Review

A good way to keep track of your goals and progress is to revisit them at the end of the indicated time and evaluate your progress. So I have decided to revisit my 2012 resolutions to track my progress in goal setting! 

When you do this, remember that it is often just as important to celebrate the small steps toward a goal & goals you don't want to complete as it is to check things off of your list.

Here we go!

1) Try 100 new recipes

This goal was my BHAG {big hairy audacious goal} and I was really motivated/scared by it! I was SO happy that I was able to complete it, just before midnight on New Year's Eve! I have so far posted all but 6 of the recipes to this blog. I should have them up fairly soon! I will also post my top 12 recipes of the year and my cookbook reviews coming up soon! Through the process I found some really good and really bad recipes! I am happy to say that most were pretty darn good. I definitely found some new favorites, which was the goal. Through this process I feel like a fairly accomplished home cook! :) I've got new skills! I hope you are enjoying the recipes that I have shared so far, and enjoy the last few that have yet to be added! {there are some GREAT ones left! :)}

2) obtain and sustain the life of 3 new plants

Completed/failed: Depends on how you look at it. Kyle bought me an ivy topiary in February and then at the end of March we bought 7 herbs and planted them. The ivy is still alive and the herbs lasted through most of the summer. It was a dreadfully hot summer here, so that was not ideal for growing anything. So because herbs aren't meant to live year-round, {at least most} this is sort of a pass. This year I made a goal to buy 3 house plants. Which is a better goal I think.

3) read 20 books {one more than I finished in 2011}

I realized around Christmas time that I needed to read 2 more books. Luckily I picked The Giver and my sister-in-law Kelsey had the companion Gathering Blue. I was able to read each of those very quickly! I was proud that I knocked 2 more classics off of my list and one being the massive Anna Karenina. Favorites among the 20 were: The Host By: Stephene Meyer, Persuasion By: Jane Austen, Elixir By: Hilary Duff, Water for Elephants By: Sara Gruen, Anna Karenina By: Leo Tolstoy and The Giver books By: Lois Lowery.

4) make a miller scrapbook

I was severely behind on this goal until the last week of March when I went into a scrapbooking frenzy! I have HUNDREDS of pictures from my 2 1/2 years at Miller and its proving to be quite the project! So far I have filled up the pages the scrapbook came with and made one page beyond that! Still more to go, but I think I am about halfway done! I loved this goal, it was a wonderful creative outlet! I am excited to finish it and start more for other subjects :)

5) go to 5 new places

Completed! Our honeymoon in January took us to Quebec, Canada, It put me on a plane, Our spring break road trip then took us to 5 cities in Texas! Then we went to Tulsa in April and Minneapolis/St. Paul in August! We were busy travelers! :)

6) find eco-friendly hair products that I like

I have been trying out shampoos and conditioners.. but haven't found any great ones for my hair yet. Looking into doing simple vinegar rinses.. but I am not a huge fan of vinegar! :) I found a wonderful hair cream to use after I wash my hair that works great and smells like a tropical paradise, without the chemical fragrance! I will post about it at some point. So this was a small success! :)

7) compost! 

Completed/Failed: Depends on how you look at this, we realized that there really isn't a good way for us to compost in our tiny apartment with no yard. So we started and then had to quit. There wasn't anywhere to put our food scraps. We are looking forward to having our own home someday where we can compost, or joining a community that has its own compost area.

8) become a merc member

We did not do this. We couldn't decide if it was the best move. Even though it isn't in our 2013 list.. we might continue to weigh our options. :)

9) use daily feats consistently

In the beginning I did pretty well on this goal. I was interviewed by daily feats and did a lot of phone interviews for improving their website. It was fun to help them out :) I downloaded the app when I got my iphone but I have so many feats saved that it takes FOREVER to load. So I need to really do that on the computer instead. So this is a fail, but I still managed to donate quite a bit of money to Companions to Heroes. :)

10) blog at least 3 times per month

I managed to blog at least 3 times every month except for August. Which makes sense. August is busy with the start of school. I made this goal more for the overall number of posts than the monthly ones so it worked out the way I wanted it to. I posted over the number of times expected this year even though I didn't post 3 times in August. Thank you for reading!!! :)

11) shop at the farmer's market regularly

We visited the farmer's market 3 times this season (April-October) this is by no means regularly, but much more than we would have gone otherwise. So I consider this a small success.

12) explore local parks and nature trails

Kyle and I visited the McGrew nature trail off of 15th street in Lawrence. It was nice for the neighborhood, but not really very outdoorsy. Many more to see though! I didn't get very far on this goal, but I still consider it a pass because I would have seen zero had this not been on my list. :)

13) get into a yoga routine with kyle

We had a few weeks or so where we did really well, but it was on and off so not at all completed. The problem was that I didn't specifically lay out a goal for our routine. So it wasn't set up to be completed. This year's goal is much better. But through trying to complete this goal we did accomplish important things like getting 2 air conditioner units and re-arrange our living room countless times. Now we finally have a decent set up where there is room to do yoga on the floor! This is a pretty darn great thing, even if I didn't accomplish what I wanted to initially.

So I felt like I "completed" or made significant progress on 9 out of 12 goals! Really not bad!

Other Accomplishments in 2012:

Interviewed by Daily Feats!

Graduated from KU!!

Got an A++ in my internship hours!

Gained over 30,000 blog views on this blog! {thanks for reading!}

Finished Anna Karenina!! :)

BEAT my travel goal!

Celebrated 1 year of amazing marriage with Kyle!

Checked a few things off of my 10 year list! {also coming soon!}

 How did you do with your goals in 2012? 

Still looking to set goals for 2013? Check out my goals for 2013 & my tips for goal success for ideas and strategies!

All for now,

Alexandra

7 Tips for Goal Setting Success!

Happy 2013! Here is a little guide of tips on goal setting that I put together. 

These are tips that I use personally that help me achieve the goals that I set. Many I have read, others I have just determined work for me as I set more goals. 

I hope that these help you set fun and challenging goals for 2013!

Tips for Success in Goal Setting:

1) Make fun goals! - Don't think that because it is the beginning of January that your goals have to be all about saving money, losing weight and de-cluttering! If those are some of your goals, great! If not, that's great too! The best way I have found to set goals myself is to mix the fun in with the more tedious ones. That way I get a good mix and feel accomplished in multiple ways at the end of the year. You aren't going to want to accomplish your goals if you aren't excited about them. 

2) Make your goals specific & measurable - Making a goal like, "exercise more," "save money," or "read more books," is setting you up to fail. When setting a goal, think about where you are now for the goal and where you want to end up. Be as specific as possible. For example: "read more books" - how many books did you read last year? how many books would you like to read this year? Is it a feasible number? Is it ambitious enough to be motivating? What types of books do you want to read? When do you want to complete the goal by? How will I know if I completed my goal? 

Your new improved goal might look something like this: "By January 2014, read 7 books, 2 of which are biographies and 2 of which are travel books."

3) Write goals as if you know you can complete them- This gives you the confidence of feeling like there is no question of your capabilities each time you read it. For example, the improved goal above about reading becomes even better when it is specific & measurable as well as written with confidence. The new goal would look something like: "By January 2014 I have read 7 books. 2 of which are biographies and 2 are travel books."

4) Be Ambitious!- Lululemon Athletica, a encourages their employees, blog readers & customers to set what they call BHAGs. Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals. We are competitive and we like to improve ourselves. Giving yourself a little bit of a challenge is very motivating and exciting. Last year, I could have very easily set a goal to make 50 new recipes in a year. That could have been a challenge, but 100 was truly exciting! I'm so glad I pushed myself to do it! I was very motivated to finish it because it sounded so impressive. 

5) Set a Mixture of end-point and on-going goals- I find that I do best with goal setting and achievement when I set some goals that have a definite end-point like, "see coldplay live in concert" and others that are on-going like, "floss 3 X's per week" If your entire list is on-going goals, you will probably wear yourself out and get stressed by trying to keep up with too many on-going habits at the same time. If you set only end-point goals then you might not feel very challenged. Picking a good mixture really helps me stay motivated and achieve more things in a period of time.

6) Start Small- Start with about 5 goals, especially if you are new to goal setting. I have started setting more and more as I have learned to identify what types of things I want to achieve and how I work best. You should be able to set a list that feels reasonable, but a little challenging to you. Don't overwhelm yourself with 50 big goals for a year the first time around.

7) Reflect on Your Goals, OFTEN- When you make your goals, make sure you revisit them monthly. Looking back at your goals helps keep you on track and excited about possibilities throughout the year/season etc. And at the end of the year make sure you see how you did. Did you set too many goals? Did you set too few? Were they all too similar? Evaluating your progress is a learning process. Don't be hard on yourself! Trying is half the battle! The courage to try something is often times much more important than achieving it. It is kind of like that quote "the journey is greater than the end destination." Post reviewing my 2012 goals, coming tomorrow! :)

Below I have added links to my goals for 2011, 2012 & 2013. Check them out for inspiration and examples of how it is hard to start out. My 2011 list is really unspecific and contains WAY too many things with not enough on-going/end-point variety. It might be helpful to get ideas, but it is a good example of how NOT to set goals, especially starting out!

For more goal setting posts, check out my achieve tab. 

To see my 2013 goals, click here.

To see my 2012 goals, click here. 

To see my 2011 goals, click here.

I hope that you found this post helpful! :)

What are your favorite goal setting strategies?

All for now,

Alexandra