Fitness Goals

Let me be honest with you: in the years since high school I've gained some weight. I danced for a long time (12 years) and I stopped in my junior year of high school. I also ran cross country for three years during the fall sports season. I'm naturally thin and was exercising hard for about five hours every week, minimum, for most years of my life. I could pretty much eat whatever I wanted without worrying about my weight.

Fast forward to now. I'm still "thin" but not like I used to be. I don't exercise regularly and I still basically eat whatever I want. Do you see the problem? I'm not overweight for my size but I'm fast approaching it and face it, who doesn't want their jeans to fit better? So I'm attempting to eat healthier (and less) and exercise most days a week, running every other day. 

I'm not going to make this blog all about fitness but as I'm trying to make it a part of my life, expect to see exercise updates and healthy recipes. If you're also trying to get healthy or are much further along on your fitness goals, leave me a comment and tell me what you do!

20 Before Twenty-One {Progress vol. 1}

A few months ago, I posted a list of twenty things I want to accomplish before I turn twenty-one. I've made progress on some of my goals and instead of doing what would be a (hopefully) massive post, I'm going to post little updates on my progress. View the whole list here.

8. Be more active as a feminist.
This is a goal that is extremely important to me. Depending on who you speak to or what your beliefs are feminism can be a dirty word. However, it's true meaning is that people should be treated equally and given the same rights, privileged and opportunities, regardless of gender. Lately, I have been doing my part in advancing awareness on my school's campus. As I've mentioned briefly in a few posts, I stage managed a production of Mrs. Packard for a friend who directed the play as a theatre graduation requirement. The play speaks about the unjust imprisonment of women during the 1800s. In that time it was legal for a man to place his wife in an insane asylum for disagreeing with him. Mrs. Elizabeth Packard was a remarkable women who worked to change the law in order to protect others from this fate. It was an incredible show to work on and I highly recommend researching the play and the remarkable woman who inspired it.

Also later this month, I was invited to speak at a panel hosted at my school about gender in the classroom. I'm super nervous about speaking in front of professors, administrators and fellow students! I'm currently working on what to say for my part of the panel and am so excited to share a cause I am passionate about with my academic community.

12. Learn to drive a car.
I'm learning. I can (almost) drive in a straight line and make turns. 

14. Dye my hair a crazy color again.
I wouldn't say it's crazy... but I used the Loreal "Wild Ombre" kit on my hair. It's just sort of blonde at the ends with some pink in the back from previous colorings but I'm thinking about dying it blue over that.

20 Before Twenty-One!

Here is a list of twenty goals I would like to achieve and things I'd like to do before my 21st birthday:
1. go to a concert
2. visit Canada
3. blog more
4. start journaling regularly
5. exercise regularly
6. start a Cursive-inspired tattoo
7. take care of me
8. be more active as a feminist
9. be happier
10. quit my retail job
11. sell something on society6
12. learn to drive a car
13. make a design tutorial
14. dye my hair a crazy color again
15. take more photos
16. keep printmaking
17. document design process better
18. take a photography e-course
19. keep a 3.5 GPA for the next two semesters
20. make a portfolio website

Five Ways to Keep Your New Years Resolutions

This is how I plan to stay on track through the year to keep my New Years Resolutions:

1. Do some research. 
Before you set your goal, learn more about it. For example if you want to become better at photography, read your camera's manual or search for tutorials on different techniques. Find out whatever you can about the topic. Giving yourself the resources to succeed will make achieving your goal that much easier. Research can also be on a personal level. Don't commit yourself to the #mileaday if you hate running! Make sure your goal is something you enjoy and something you want to do in order to get the most out of your resolutions for the new year. 

2. Join!
There are plenty of apps and websites to join that can help you track your goals. If there is a free service that will track your progress, why not take advantage of it? Having a way to see the progress you're making or what you're doing to stay on target will help you stay focused on what you want to achieve. 

3. Find friends.
Having a friend that wants to achieve the same things you do will help motivate you. It will make your goals even more fun and easier to achieve. If you have a friend that also wants to save money, you wont feel bad about renting something out of RedBox instead of going to the movie theater. If you don't have any friends that share your goals, find some! There are tons of personal blogs and forums about everything from fitness to crocheting that can provide you with a friendly message of encouragement.

4. Document.
Show yourself that you're making progress is one of the best motivators. If you can see a visible improvement you will be more likely to stay on task than if you think your hard work is for nothing. It can be as open as submitting your writing to a literary magazine or as private as keeping track of your weight on a hidden word document.

5. Reward yourself.
Give yourself a pat on the back for all the hard work you do. Not only is it great to enjoy the reward but knowing that you will get to eat pizza after a month of only salad will help keep you eating right so you can really enjoy that reward. Another reward method is purchasing something that will help you on your way to reaching your goal. Buy new sneakers or a cute pair of sweatpants that will make you excited to get to the gym!


 

Looking Back on My Goals

Let's take a look back on the goals I've made for myself recently.

Fall Goals
1. Read all of the required material for class (before class). - This mostly happened. Occasionally, I fell behind but for the most part I got my reading done.
2. Blog at least three times a week. - With 41 posts over 17 weeks, I come in just shy at 2.4 posts a week.
3. Start selling things to Society6 and/or etsy. - I did post my first piece at Society 6 last week and will talk about my work here once I get a few more things going.
4. Keep my room clean. - I tried, I swear.
5. Get at least a 3.5 GPA. 3.7!!!!!!!!!!!
6. Ask for help when I need it. I did finally admit that it would be best to see a counselor weekly and am on my way to finding someone in Boston. 
7. Save up enough money for a tattoo. I've gotten two tattoos since then. 

In my Ten Goals Before 20 post, I wasn't as successful. They are all still things I want to do so I'll keep at them even though I'm the big two-zero now. 

Have you been making goals for yourself. How are they going?

Goals for Winter Break

I'm currently on winter break and although sitting at home and doing absolutely nothing sounds appealing; I need to keep busy. So here are a list of goals I'm setting for myself to accomplish over these next four weeks. 

1. Save money! 
2. Finish reading House of Leaves. 
3. Post at least five days a week. 
4. Cook and bake as much as possible. 
5. Catch up with old friends.

[photo source]

It's weird but I'm...

We are often our own worst critics and I am no exception to that. Usually, no matter what I do I feel as though it's not good enough or that I could have done more, spent more time and thought on a project. However, right now I'm feeling good. 

I just got a paper back today which I got an A on. It's for an upper level literature class and my professor is a notoriously tough grader. Last week, I gave a presentation for another upper level English class which was described as "excellent." All of my art projects, except one, have received A's. It's out of character for me to brag about my accomplishments, at all, but I feel as though I deserve a small pat on the back for doing this well. Sometimes I wonder if my double major in Graphic Design and Communication/Media Studies is worth all the work and stress I put myself through. Today I feel like it is and it's nice to feel like I'm good at it.

Hopefully you're feeling a sense of accomplishment in your own life. Share it with me in the comments!




(stock image source)

Ten Goals Before Turning 20

On December 4th, I will be turning 20 years old. Twenty. No longer a teenager, two decades old. It's pretty crazy that I'm actually an adult. Someone should be concerned or something... Anyways, I've made a list of ten things i'd like to accomplish before I turn 20. I have two months. I can do this. Once I complete something, I'll change the color to something else and link it to a post where I do said things. 

Here's the list:

1. Watch Gone with the Wind. This is a classic film that I haven't seen yet but I'm guaranteed to love it so I should probably just set aside three hours at some point so I can watch it.

2. Draw something not for class. I love to draw and pretty much the only time I still do it is when I'm assigned to. This needs to change.

3. Visit somewhere in Boston I haven't been to. I live in an awesome city and there's a lot I haven't seen yet, so I need to get on it.

4. Open an etsy shop. I want to sell cute paper goods on etsy and I should do it soon.

5. Get two tattoos while I'm 19. I like tattoos a lot. And I need to keep with my pattern. I got one while I was 18 so I will get two while I am 19 and so on. I never said I wasn't crazy. 
[one] [two]

6. Eat as much sushi as possible. I love sushi. With a burning passion. I need to eat more raw fish. It's good for me. [so much sushi]

7. Use my fancy camera for something other than photo class. I haven't used my beautiful DSLR for anything but my photography assignments. I need to get out there and take pictures with that bad boy.

8. Go somewhere on a whim using public transportation. You can pretty much go anywhere on public transportion (not completely true). I need to take advantage of living near bus and train stations.

9. Buy a designer piece of clothing. I love fashion. So this is a necessity (false). It's just something I want to do.


10. Write an A paper. That is do a good job on a paper and not procrastinate doing it so that way I can get an A. Also, I want all A's in my English classes. [go Kristen!]

Do you have anything plans before your next birthday? Leave me a comment!

Fall Goals

Happy September! It's hard to believe that we're already in September. This summer flew by! I made some goals for myself in July. And I had varied success. I put a lot on my plate. Some things I accomplished and others I didn't. Whenever I plan to accomplish something, it always seems like there's a hundred other things I also want to do and well, I'm just one person. I felt kind of bad for not achieving all I had in mind for July and therefore avoided making August goals for myself. However, Now that I'm two days shy of beginning my junior year of college, I think it's time I set some realistic goals for myself for the upcoming season/semester.

Fall Goals
1. Read all of the required material for class (before class).
2. Blog at least three times a week.
3. Start selling things to Society6 and/or etsy.
4. Keep my room clean.
5. Get at least a 3.5 GPA.
6. Ask for help when I need it. 
7. Save up enough money for a tattoo.

Do you have any goals for the upcoming school year or month? Let me know in the comments.

photo source

July Goals

Blog at least five days a week.
Receive an "A" in my summer science class.
Be the best puppy care taker for Penny as possible.
Keeping the freak outs over my tuition bill to a minimum.
Enjoy time with friends that I don't see often.
Design a website for my internship that I'm proud of.
Read as much as I can of the books assigned for my classes in the fall.



Do you have any goals for the upcoming month?
Happy July!

xo, Kristen