Hello, friends! It’s that time again–time for another update of my 101 things in 1001 days installment. It’s been about two months since my last update, so I thought I would share a few of the things I have completed and made progress on, as well as those goals I will be focusing on in the upcoming month. Also, can we talk about how is it already March?! I’m not sure where the time went, but I’m fairly confident I wasn’t aware of it passing. You too? Nonetheless, I suppose it’s the perfect time to review the goals we’ve set for ourselves this year and to begin new ones in an effort to ‘spring clean’ anything in our lives that we’d like to improve.
Let me know if you start a list of your own or if you are already in the midst of one. I’d love to keep each other accountable and hear how you are progressing! You can find my last update here and a list of all 101 in 1001 posts here.
Recently completed goals and/or recent progress:
2. Join a blog society. I am beyond excited to share that I applied for and was accepted into The Blog Societies. I cannot wait to see what new opportunities this brings and am looking forward to meeting and forming new friendships with bloggers and brands alike.
6. Attend my first blogging event. I went to by first official blogging event at the Create & Cultivate conference in Dallas. I had such a great time, meeting new bloggers and learning from experienced ones as well. The highlight of the event for me was meeting and talking with Kendi and Julia in person, as well as hearing from the founders of Soul Cycle and Emily on their insight and experiences within their respective businesses. If you’re interested, check out my full recap of the event, plus five of the lessons I learned, here!
28. Finish the Harry Potter, Ender, Maze Runner, Divergent Series (the last books!). Over the break I had the opportunity to finish the Maze Runner series (The Kill Order) and the Divergent series (Four). Next up is the Ender series (Children of the Mind), but it will probably have to wait until the end of the semester with how classes are going.
43. Learn how to do winged eyeliner. I spontaneously decided to book myself an appointment with the MAC consultants at Dillard’s one night over the Christmas break. I figured that New Years Eve was as good a time as any to learn the delicate task of creating a dramatic winged eye. And while I feel fairly comfortable recreating the look, as someone who typically only wears mascara each day, the dramatized eye is a bit too much for my minimalist make-up routine. However, I have been trying variations on the winged eye-liner style to produce more subtle effects with my makeup. The process of experimenting with this trend and making it into something that fits my tastes and personality has been so much fun!
86. Eat donuts and watch cartoons on a Saturday. Done. Twice actually. Lol. What can I say? The Gravity Falls cartoon is super imaginative and the recent finale was epic.
95. Discover fifteen new favorite restaurants. (12/15) If you’ve followed along for very long, you know Allen and I love to try new restaurants! We are slowly finding our favorites in the Boulder/Denver area. Some of our new favorites include: best home-cooked meal: The Huckleberry, best breakfast in Boulder: The Buff, favorite coffee/juice bar: Wonder Press (post here).
Upcoming goals:
8. Move 10,000 steps per day for one month. Still working on this one, friends. This was a major goal of mine for the month of January. And truth be told, I have been moving a lot more throughout the day simply by being more conscious about my steps. However, going a full month where every day I get 10,000 steps is much more difficult than I expected. Turns out there is one day in there where there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get all your work done AND have time for exercise. So while I am still trying to get 10,000 steps each day for a month, I also know that simply moving more and making a conscious effort to get more steps in is an achievement in itself. I’m a practical person, so if I don’t get steps in for one whole month consecutively, I’ll still be happy with the progress I’ve made. Join me on Fitbit if you’ve got one! My account is under cupcakesandthecosmosblog@gmail.com.
12. Drink eight glasses of water per day for at least two weeks. I’ve definitely had this goal on my radar, but haven’t put the energy behind making it a reality. That changes this month I’ve decided. There are so many health benefits from just being hydrated that I can’t deny making it a priority any more.
13. Take REC classes three times per week for three weeks. This was another goal of mine that I had at the beginning of January that hasn’t come to fruition yet. I’d like to blame it on an abnormally busy start to the semester, thanks to one final research grant application I needed to write and submit, but we all know that no matter what we have going on, it all comes down to committment and making it a priority to fit exercise into our busy schedules. So to give myself some extra incentive, I went ahead and invested in a class pass at my local Rec center to encourage me to try new classes out (without the hassle of paying each time I go). I’ll let you guys know which classes turn out to be my favorites!
18. Find a practical daily routine. Still on the search for a good daily routine that is practical for me to follow as a busy graduate student and research assistant. I definitely think adding in time for exercise and healthier eating habits (#12, #13 above) will be a major contributor to this. But I’d also like to take my mental health into consideration as well. Turning my phone off and unplugging from all electronic devices feels like something I should be doing each week (#53). I’d also love to get enough sleep each night. (A grad student can dream, right?)
27. Start homework the day it is assigned for one month. I believe this will really help with the high levels of stress and anxiety I’ve been experiencing lately. I seem to always be working down to the wire the night before things are due and it’s been putting me under a lot of duress. If I can just start working a day or two earlier, I think not only will I feel less time pressure, but it’ll also give my subconscious mind more room to work out the difficult problems that can’t be solved in one sitting.
49. Stick to a budget. Oh my least favorite thing to think about. Money. I really need to start following a more stringent budget and only spending what I have allocated for each month. I have an incredibly bad habit of impulse shopping (I’m looking at you Target) that I want to nip in the bud this spring (#59). I’ll keep ya posted!
What about you? Have any goals you are focusing on in the upcoming month? I’d love to know! Also, don’t hesitate to share with me if you’ve started a list of your own. We can keep each other accountable!
4 Comments
Sara
March 2, 2016 at 9:53 pmI’m new to your blog and I love this! Such an awesome idea. I am inspired but more then anything I totally love your taste in cartoons. lol I spend more free time then I care to admit with Gravity Falls. Mabel is my spirit animal.
Take care!
Kristin
March 3, 2016 at 10:42 amHi Sara! Welcome! I’m so glad you stopped by my blog and love it. And yesss! I’m so glad you share my sentiment when it comes to Gravity Falls. It. Is. So. Good. Right?! I’m so sad that it’s over now. But I completely agree with you on Mabel as my spirit animal. I relate so much to her lol. Have a great day, girlie!
Kim Nichols
March 3, 2016 at 7:36 amLove hearing about your updates… Love You!
Kristin
March 3, 2016 at 10:41 amThank you! Here’s to a successful month of conquering my new goals! 🙂