Remember, remember!

Hello friends!

I've been productive!

The Halloween Gala went super awesome, I was very please with the attendance and the festivities. It was a very nice way to start my Halloween weekend! We made some money for the museum, too!!!

I applied for my dream job at Shilshole, and interviewed yesterday. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, even though my competition was super fierce, we shall see. I'm not feeling very optimistic about my interview itself, I was certainly rattled by the questions that I felt were unrelated to the awesome job position.

I love the house and everything in it- it's come together pretty nicely. There is one small thing. I'm a closet-hoarder.

I've joined getfitgamer.com's Upgrade challenge, and I encourage you to try to do the same! It should be fun!

1. Fix my shin splints

2. drink water

3. clean up my devastation

Yes Man

I admire my friend Melissa for all of the wonderful memories she's been making this year. Her secret is, if there's time in the day for it, say yes!
She's pretty much always doing something, sports, parties, camping, rocking out, etc... because she gets invited and says sure.

I love spontaneity, but recently I've sort of closed down and done the relationship crutch thing. I know everyone does it in relationships, but I need to seperate myself and maybe it would calm down the anxiety I feel so often.
If someone invited me to something, I immediately find the quickest route in my head to justify a no. When I was single, I would have jumped at every opportunity to go out and be with people.
That's kind of a strange paradox, isn't it? You won't meet someone if you board yourself up at home, and then when you do meet someone, you shut the rest of the world out. i didn't mean to, it just happens that way. That's why I wanted to do Ultimate, to break that bizarre dependency.

From now on, just say yes.

The beginning of a new decade

Happy New Year!

January, I hope, will not be an accurate indication of how 2010 will pan out. I have been sick with a cold/sinus infection/chest congestion for about 3 weeks. The week before all this happened I pinched my C6, which is the base of my neck. I had pain spasms in my left shoulder for days, and I had limited turning capability as well.  I could even feel the pain in my index finger! Three emergency chiropractic appointments and one deep massage, and $100 in copays later, I was feeling better only to come down with the cold progression I mentioned previously. This also interfered with one of my new(unreleased) goals for this year concerning the gym. I only got in twice before this whole health debacle.

THAT aside (inhale) I have some results for you:
In 2009 I bought my first car. I went to Europe. I created my first dreamboard. got strep, found out I have hyper thyroidism- which fixed my insomnia and anxiety woes. I joined dodgeball. I moved out of my 3 year relationship. I made some poor judgement at work. I met my current relationship. I contracted swine flu. I got motivated to subscribe to 24 hour fitness. I submitted my interest with a local historical society. I can fit into size smalls again! I got broke. Really broke.
(exhale) Up down up down. Wheeeee.

Here are my much anticipated(and more specific) goals for 2010:

• Health. 
• I have a terrible track record with my health. Here I am as it stands, my hyper thyroidism seems to be under control. I missed my last appointment, and when  I have a spare $25 I need to keep up with my maintenance. You have to keep your thyroid hormone levels monitored, but I think I'm doing ok. I skip my medication frequently, so I don't have to worry about over consuming the hormones, but I should be more diligent about taking them. I don't have issues with insomnia, but anxiety comes about after a couple of weeks of not taking it. Then I start thinking crazy thoughts and get really claustrophobic. No good.

1. Eat less sugar. Develop healthy alternatives- suggestions?
2. Clock in at least 150 minutes of cardio every week(also a goal on work's health assessment)
3. Work up to being capable of lifting 15 lbs each arm, currently at 8 safely for reps)
4. Focus on building strength in arms, back, shoulders, stomach, and upper legs)
5. Record food intake
1. Increase fiber, protein, and water intake awareness

Notice no focus on weight gain or loss.

• Outreach. 
• My chosen community outreach is through the South West Seattle Historical Society which owns and curates the Log House Museum on Alki Beach(the birthplace of Seattle). I have volunteered to be on the board, which involves participating on several committees.

1. Public Relations committee
1. Manage social networking portals
2. summon interest in the Scouting networks to involve with docent/volunteer/service projects
2. Facilities Committee
1. Gain an appreciation for the effort being involved with the log house structure
3. Gala fundraiser committee
1. Create invitations, envelopes, etc for Gala. Finish by the end of February.
2. Public outreach, ticket sales, participate

• Work. 
• I've had an interesting past year. Please note that my year at work is September to September. I've become very complacent, and you should know that there is nothing that drives me more to anxiety than complacency. My boss recognized this, especially when in the middle of last year I began to quietly act out. He's deligated some more challenging tasks to me, which in itself is a challenge because my work requires me to drop anything I'm working on at any given moment, repetitiously. It's a distraction in itself. I already have my ADD mind distracting myself, but then outside forces as well??? Sometimes I feel almost schizo!

1. Earn an Outstanding on my next review (September)
2. Create and finish an inventory spreadsheet, any suggestions? 
3. Develop deeper knowledge of SharePoint for my newest delegation as the dept. Records Manager
1. Classes will be offered, have already been certified for one training. I feel it's not sufficient.
4. Develop a habit for creating and maintaining to-do lists. This has proven to keep me the most motivated to see a project/assignment through
5. Gain knowledge of the proprietary software used at Shilshole Bay Marina for potential(desired) relocation.

• Money. 
• Yuck. I don't have much left over after paying for bills/debt/gas. I'm lucky if I even have enough to cover gas. Jamie suggested seeing a financial advisor he has recommended to his brothers and friends. I might just consider it. Currently I owe $800, $1800, $500(different credits), and 21k(car)

1. Refinance my car loan- If it's even possible. Right now I pay $495 a month. I saw a Mercedes car lease for 435/month. That's CRAZY. I pay waaaayyy too much.
2. Car insurance decrease- I'll be 25, isn't that when it happens? 
3. Pay off at least 500 in credit. Currently I owe 3,100. Again. Ugh.

• Personal life. 
• Create and maintain friendships with women. For some reason this is super difficult for me. I was never a gaggle of girl friends kind of girl. I get along with guys so much easier. It helps that I like video games, skateboarding, and being active. I confess this difficulty to other ladies, and they have the same issue. I think it's a primal thing, everyone is seen as a potential threat to your man. But then where does the village come from? I find myself feeling super cut off from everyone, especially because I can't drive to the East Side like I used to all the time.

1. Continue craft nights. We've kind of dropped them recently, maybe because of dodgeball picking up again. But I miss those ladies, a lot. It's like a breath of fresh air to see and chill with them. Plus we make cute things!
2. Nikki and Lauren are my two gemini friends, and I think potentially I could be friends with them for a long time! I'd like to work with them on photoshoots more
3. Speaking of which. I miss photography and modeling. I want to come up with some concepts and work with different photographers/make up artists and stylists. Which also means networking!
4. Increase my wardrobe with more versatile outfits. 
1. Need stylish and simple pumps
2. Timeless and flattering dresses, skirts, and blouses
5. Maintain a healthy and productive relationship with Jamie :)

Please support me and I will support you. Good luck to you! Thanks for reading or subscribing. I might add vlogs!

Slackin!

• Money issues: so remember how I wanted to withdraw my money to kind of hold so as to not spend it all? Well apparently i can't even have the chance because I don't have much money left over after attending to bills. That's cool.
  This paycheck is my car payment check, and so I have more room to pay for other things. So I caught up on Swedish Hospital bills, BofA(sorta), groceries, and gas. Turns out, I didn't have as much luxury as I thought I would. I'm sick and tired of these furloughs ruining every paycheck.
• Health issues: I am over swine flu, finally, and I can be closer than 3 feet to a person. I'm having some difficulty keeping my allergies at bay. For my hyper thyroid I got a lower dose of methimazole, the 10mg was too strong for me, making me sluggish and depressive. Something I'm a little concerned about is the pill, which I haven't taken since high school.
• Yesterday I applied at the Seattle Art Museum to be a docent or visitor information.

Today my friend Adrian told me that my skin has looked really awesome the last several times we've hung out. That made me proud of myself.

Here's an updated to-do/goal list I've been mulling over.

1. join 24 hour fitness (they have hip hop and yoga classes in the evening!)

2. look into night school more intently

3. find some more volunteer opportunities

Have you ever felt so goddamned strong?
How come its takes some people so damn long?
He turned to squeeze the lemon juice to rain
The citrus drawing out the scene in stains

Dream Board

Amazing how fast this year has gone by so far. Better make the most of the rest of 2009. 9 is my favorite number!

I made a dream board with my friend Lisa in the early days of 2009. You can write down your goals, or you can make awesome visual displays of it, and I am a visual person...so I was pretty excited to create my dream board.

In the winter I tend to feel a bit SAD, so most of my goals were intended to make me feel better about me, life, my future, my dreams. It's a board full of happy images, basically. I mentioned my sleep habits a bit, becuase I was in desperate need of more satisfying sleep, which I've accomplished due to my new medications for my hyper thyroidism.

I have nice stomachs featured pretty prominantly on my board due to my insecurity of my pudgy tummy. I wanted a visual motivation for what I think is attractive and where I want to get to, or even a little closer to.

Anyways, here's some close ups, and then the full board:

If you try the best you can
If you try the best you can
Dinosaurs roaming the earth

Goals

It's suggested that if you write out your goals, you have a higher chance of succeeding at them. So here's to that idea.

1. Life goals- things I want gravitate towards

• I want to live in another country
• I want to go to school, specialize in communications/public speaking/history/business
• I dream of owning my own lounge, emphasizing on chill, music, and hot chocolate
• I want to get involved in the community that I live in

2. Health- Habits to form now for a healthier lifestyle in the future

• I'm comfortable with my weight, but not the lack of muscle definiton. I want to burn the fat, and replace with muscle. this would be beneficial when I get older.
• I want to be happy with the skin I'm in. I am going to take better care of it, including preventative aging measures, to secure healthy looking skin as I age.
• I need to be physically active. I am going to join more sports, dodgeball was definitely a gateway sport for me.

3. Materialistic- things that aren't really important to attaining happiness; but actually are

• Money, I need more of it. Budgeting, discipline, saving all need to happen
• Fashion. It's kind of funny that I'm putting this as a goal, but I'm never satisfied with my attire, and how you appear to the world definitely shapes it's responses to you. I would like to have a more classic put together look. The more timeless it is, the longer it will last in my closet, making it worth the initial cost.

I have more to add, and I will when I remember them. I am counting this post as an action towards my goals.

Naturally, I'm worried if I do it alone Who really cares, cause it's your life You never know, it could be great- Take a chance cause you might grow