Goal setting strategies

I will be the first to admit that I have avoided setting "New Years Resolutions" for a VERY long time now.
I thought they were pointless.
I didn't believe in them.
I always broke them and felt like a failure.

Lately I have been feeling a bit unproductive and "restless".  I feel like life is passing by so fast and I worry that I am not taking advantage of my mind, my health, and my potential talents, not to mention nuturing and cultivating existing skills and ideas.
I miss the challenge of learning new things.
I miss the excited feelings associated with learning.

I read an interesting article on setting realistic goals.  I would like to share some of the keys things in that article:

#1:  Write your goals down
When you just think about a goal, it's not physically real and easier to forget or toss aside.  The physical act of writing the goal down results is greater success of achieving the goal.
Rather than make some big, long intimidating list of goals, I have decided to make goal notecards and place them in strategic locations around my house (weight loss and healthier eating on the fridge, writing in journal on my bedside table, etc).

#2: Start with the short-term that leads to the long term
I am very guilty of focusing on the long term.  But really, the only way to achieve the big, long term goal is by a series of short term goals.  I will keep this in mind as I make my goal notecards.

#3:  Be specific and detailed
How to you want to be more organized?  What steps will you take?  How can you lose weight?  How can you be more service minded?  What specific events can you volunteer for?

#4:  Measure actions instead of progress
This didn't make sense to me at first, but then the author went on to explain that most people set really aggressive goals with specific timelines (such as fit into my bikini by summer). Then, when the deadline isn't met, they quit trying altogether.  So instead of saying, I want to lose "x" amount of lbs, incorporate actions into your goal by saying I want to do "x" amount of cardio every week and eat at least one fruit or vegetable a day.  That way, when you incorporate these actions into your lifestyle, you feel good because you are reaching your goal and not discouraged because the weight insn't falling off as fast, etc.

and perhaps the most valuable point I got from this article was:
Start with just one goal

We all have a million things we'd like to do, things we'd like to change, improve, etc.
Pick one.  Do it.  Then slowly add in more.  Make it a lifestlye change.

As hard as it is for me to pick just one goal, I am going to follow this advice.  I am going to write all my goals on notecards and then start with one.  When I have comfortably implemented it into my life for at least 3 weeks, I will then get out another notecard.

I am not meaning to be chastizing or critical or anything like that.  Different things work for different people.  I just wanted to share my strategy that I am adopting this year and hope that you all take time to think about things you want to do, try, and experience.

Life is so good.  It truly is a gift.

Christmas 2011

Last year Christmas looked like this:

I had just graduated, we had a HUGE winter storm, and life was wide open.
I never imagined in my wildest dreams that the following Christmas would look like this:

We kept things VERY simple this year.  Didn't send out many gifts (sorry family). 
Skott and I both had to work on the day, so we celebrated early on Thursday (our day off).  It was a wonderful day!

Backing up a little:  having lots of time to think while standing on dead games at work allowed me plenty of time to really plan out Skott's christmas.  In years past, I was always stressed with finals around the holidays and was never really able to devote a lot of time to brainstorming Christmas.  Well, this year I got a little bold and after a couple weeks of debating with myself, I decided I was going to try and custom paint a pair of Vans shoes for Skott.  Mind you, I am not a painter, nor an artist.  I did a lot of research, watched a ton of videos, then finally plunged in.


Here we go!



freehand sketching the design



custom mixing the main body color



Ready to start painting design

Compass Rose custom vans complete!

I honestly would encourage anyone mildly interested in this to give it a try.  It was a lot of fun!  And believe me when I say, If I can do it, ANYONE can do it!

Skott put together a really fun stocking for me!  The theme was "All things good.... with one really bad thing"
Guess what that was?

I did a "Forever Young" theme for Skotts stocking

We had a great day together.  Went on a walk and went to see the new Sherlock Holmes movie.
Hope everybody has a great holiday!

Starfish at low tide

On Tuesday, I pretty much had one of the worst days I've ever had in a LONG time.  Without re-living too much detail, it was all due to one miserable, arrogant, self absorbed individual who (unfortunately) was doing my audition for single deck pitch blackjack.  Wow, I have NEVER been so humiliated and discriminated* in my ENTIRE life (*age and *weight)!  I didn't give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry, but boy, the rest of the day I was a mess.  Uggggh!  I REALLY hate it when stupid people like that get under my skin.  No matter how many times you tell yourself that you are better than that, it still hurts.  After talking to my managers, they both agreed that what he did was unacceptable and they encouraged me to talk to the casino general manager, which I did the following morning. 

My loving husband suggested we take a walk on the beach since it was a really low tide that day.  And what a walk it was.

So beautiful! 

It just never gets old

You can see how brilliant the orange starfish are

The starfish are only visible when there are minus tides

I love the bright anenome at the bottom of the photo

I don't know what the orange "globby" thing is on the left,
 but there were several of them.  Any clues?



Sunset that day



What happens when you are too engrossed in taking pictures
when the tide is coming back in!

A neat rock Skott found.
The dark lines are actually water seeping out of the cracks

Skott taking it all in

I feel much better now.

Sisterly love

My little sister Josie came to visit for a few days.  Due to her school and work schedule, and our work schedule, we were only able to take one day off while she was here, but we still managed to have fun!

We picked Josie up in Portland, which is about 2 hours from us.  On our way back from the airport, we ventured to the famous VooDoo doughnut (http://www.voodoodoughnut.com/  -check out their menu, it's amazing!). 

The next day, Friday, we went up to the Tillamook Cheese factory.  Wow, the air up there is very "reminiscent" of my years growing up on the dairy!  Bleh!  We toured the cheese factory, had some tasty samples, then got some Tillamook ice cream and wandered through their gift shops.  Skott and I try to avoid sweets but Tillamook ice cream is an exception.  Skott had two scoops of "Grandmas Cake Batter", I had one scoop of "Pumpkin" and one scoop of "Grandmas Cake Batter", and Josie had one scoop of "Caramel (something)" and one scoop of "Grandmas Cake Batter" (can you tell which flavor is our favorite???). 

On the way home from the cheese factory we stopped at another wine and gift shop called The Blue Heron and had more samples of jellies, sauces, dips, etc.
We also stopped by Pacific City on our way home.  It is a beautiful little spot with waves that are amazing for surfing.

I (Jodi) had to work Friday night so Skott and Josie stayed home and watched movies.  The dogs LOVED their aunt Josie and would fight over her lap (in this picture you can see Fucie won):

Saturday we went to some of the local shops and also the outlet mall.  Josie's "special" bus even came to pick her up!

Sunday we went for a walk on the beach.  It was a little cold and windy but the sun was shining!

Josie also cut and colored my hair -MUCH appreciated!  I am scared to death to try a new stylist here in town.... been spoiled too long with my CareCare doing my hair the past 5 years.

Monday morning it was time to say goodbye :(

I love all my sisters and wish we all lived closer!

Beach Glass

We went down to the Siletz Bay on the south end of town to take a walk the other day.  It was a low tide and we happened upon a newly exposed rockier section of beach that we had never seen before. 
We found some neat pieces of beach glass:

It was pretty cold and windy that afternoon and we weren't dressed warmly enough so we didn't walk long.  We decided to go back yesterday and look for more glass.  We found some amazing pieces again!
It is very exciting to hunt for these "treasures" and I am proud to say, that for the first time since we moved back, I found just as many pieces of glass as Skott! haha 

Reducing your environmental impact this holiday season

photo from:eartheasy.com/give_sustainchristmas.htm

Over the years Skott and I have been slowly trying to integrate more "earth-friendly" practices into our lifestyle.  The Christmas holiday is no different.

It is very overwhelming to me when I read articles about reducing my carbon footprint.  There are so many ideas and suggestions out there that I feel like I don't know where to start! 
My suggestion: 

pick one that you can easily see yourself realistically doing.

Start there.

For example:  many years ago we started recycling christmas cards to use as gift tags the following year.  If the cards had writing on the back side of them, we would use wrapping paper remnants and glue over the writing.

We also re-use gift bags like crazy!

And as much as I hated it when I was little, we save bows too.  If the bows get crushed, we remove the staple in the middle and use them for ribbon the following year.  We haven't bought bows in probably 5 years.  One year we hit an amazing clearance at Costco and bought some wired ribbons and beads.  We use these to decorate packages.  And we re-use them.  Year after year.

Another idea that I love is a tradition my sister Justine has.  It is a wonderful way to cut back on the amount of wrapping paper used each year.  (I tried to find a picture, but couldn't).

She uses giant, homemade "Santa stockings" made out of fabric.  They are velvety with a drawstring top, much like what you would envision Santa himself carrying.  Each child has their own "Santa bag" and on Christmas day, they awaken to find their bag full of (unwrapped) gifts.  This idea could be carried further to incorporate many other sized reusable fabric bags for individual gift "wrapping". 

So tell me, what are some eco-friendly practices you have?

What new lifestyle change are you pledging to make?  For some ideas, try this link http://www.green-christmas.org/ 

Skott and I are doing homemade gifts, many of them made from recycled/repurposed materials.  Pics to come after the holidays :)

Unique gift ideas

 We picked up these two funny cookbooks off Amazon.  (We originally saw them way overpriced in a local gift shop).

With the holidays coming up, I thought I might share some of my favorite websites for unique gifts:

http://www.uncommongoods.com/

Some items are extremely overpriced, others are reasonable.  Very good creative stimulation nonetheless

http://www.thinkgeek.com/

Love this website!

http://www.live-inspired.com/

Geared mostly towards paper products (cards, stationary, etc) with lovely colors, images, quotes, etc.  I'm sure my more talented friends can do many of these themselves.... but alas, I have not the skills

and of course, googling "upcycled" or "recycled" on etsy produces a wealth of awesome ideas!

So tell me, what are some of your favorites?

Seagulls!

There is a particular area on the beach where we walk sometimes that there are literally hundreds of seagulls gathered.  Not exactly sure why, but it makes for beautiful photos:

View from our window

Looking out our kitchen window

We're not crazy about the duplex we are renting right now.  It's got plenty of room, garage, two bathrooms, etc, but it's not really "us".  It is very much in need of an update but it was the best we could do at the time.  One of it's redeeming graces is the location:  very quiet street, back about 4-5 blocks from ocean.  We don't have an ocean view, but we can hear it very clearly. 

Living room windows



Our "yard"

We will just stay in this place for as long as it takes to find the perfect home to rent.  We have decided not to buy a home right now so we can remain mobile, if necessary.
Life is good.  We are very content.

Our disney princess

Sooooo, the "joys" of having an aging senior dog who is also a former puppy mill rescue.... will lead you to drastic solutions when their failing bodies no longer maintain complete bladder control 
(See this link for more info on puppy mills:
http://www.puppymillrescue.com/what_is_a_puppy_mill.htm
or simply google the very censored Oprah special on puppy mills.)

Poor Izzy is having a hard time with her back end.  Her crippled little legs do a shuffle/drag movement now, and when she attempts to run, her back legs work in unison, rather than opposite of eachother.  Quite comical to watch, but sad at the same time.  She has started having more "accidents" and we were tired of shampooing carpets and rugs every day so we came up with this ensemble:

This was our first attempt but the diaper wouldn't stay on

 

Makeshift elastic "suspenders" did the trick!

Ironically, the only diapers we could find that were the correct size were some Disney princess pull-ups.

My little princess

Crack cream anyone?

I must still have a very juvenille sense of humor, but some things like this still make me laugh:

this was a sale tag that printed.  I did not hang it :)

Along the same funny note, I have a couple stories to share

On the first day of the grand opening, I was helping an elderly couple load a TV and their groceries into their car.  The old man was very frail but still pretty spunky.  After I was done, he grabbed my arm and asked me if I would like to go to Dairy Queen with him :)

That same day I was approached by a short little round hispanic lady with limited English.  She was asking me if something said 5/$5 if she could buy just one and get it for $1 or did she have to buy 5?  I told her yes, she could just buy one for $1.  She stomped her foot and got really mad and practically growled "He wrong! Where my husband?!" and stomped off to find him.  I really wanted to follow her and see what happened when this poor guy got it :)