Saturday, March 14, 2009

Uh-huh.

I've been meaning to blog about this for a couple weeks now-- just because I thought it was absolutely hilarious. I'd forgotten, but then Mom reminded me about it...
On my first day of my Sociology class my professor was trying to explain the relationship of one thing to another. She compared it to the story of the rabbit and the turtle. You know-- where the rabbit and the turtle are racing? The rabbit runs really fast and then he gets tired, but the turtle-- even though he's slow just keeps going. Eventually the turtle wins because his pace is steady, just like (insert subject we were talking about).

I just laughed. Um. The Tortise and the Hare?

Sunday, March 8, 2009

101 Goals in 1001 Days!!

The Mission: Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria: Tasks must be specific (i.e. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable, or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (i.e. represent some amount of effort on your part).

http://www.dayzeroproject.com/

Tracy’s Final List
101 Goals in 1001 Days
Beginning March 1, 2009


To be completed by November 27, 2011.
**Items to be completed by November 6, 2009—250 days.
Orange means that the goal is in progress.

Creativity & Projects

1. **Write personal letters or thank you cards (at least 5 a month for 2 months). (0/10)
2. Get caught up on scrapbooking.
3. Paint a piece of artwork that will actually hang on the wall/be displayed in our house.
4. Take a pottery class and make something to actually use.
5. Buy a Cricut Expression for scrapbooking.
6. Make jewelry. (0/5)
7. Participate in NaNoWriMo at least once.
8. **Make a puzzle quilt.
9. **Finish bird quilt.
10. Can fresh fruit once.
11. Blog an average of once a week. (2/143)
12. Make our blog into a book.
13. **Build a dog house for Riley.
14. Obtain Canadian citizenship.
15. Make at least five Amy Butler projects that I’ve been meaning to do. (0/5)
16. Send my Christmas cards by the 10th of December every year.

Education & Learning

17. Learn “girl auto maintenance”.
18. Learn how to cut men's hair well.
19. Finish my bachelor’s degree.
20. Read at least one book (outside of school assignments) every month. (0/33)
21. Purchase and complete the Rosetta Stone levels 1-3 for Spanish. (0/3)
22. Take a refresher course in ASL.
23. **Make pomegranate jelly with Grandma.
24. **Get my insurance licenses.
25. Learn how to arrange flowers.
26. Learn how to install tile well enough to install tile in my own home.
27. Take a cooking class.
28. **Learn how to drive a manual car.
29. **Start using Google Reader.
30. Read several from Mom’s Book List and her Why I Believe book.

Environment & Outdoors

31. Start a compost pile.
32. **Use only reusable bags when shopping for 2 months. (0/2)
33. Plant and maintain a vegetable garden.
34. Replace all light bulbs to energy efficient light bulbs.

Family & Friends

35. Attend a professional game of each main sport with Freddy (soccer, basketball, football, hockey, baseball).
36. Get pregnant and have a baby.
37. Make a one month meal plan and stick to it all month long.
38. Cut coupons to save over $50 on a single grocery shopping trip. (Best- 0/50)
39. Write an “8th letter” to Freddy for 12 consecutive months. (0/12)
40. Learn how to proficiently make 10 Ecuadorian dishes. (0/10)
41. Take professional family pictures at least semi-annually. (0/6)
42. Visit with G&G at least twice a month. (0/66)
43. Send birthday cards to close family members on time for two years. (0/35)
44. Have one craft night a month for at least a year. (0/12)
45. **Identify and write down 100+ things that I love about Freddy.
46. Spend quality time with a brother each month to make him feel special.
47. Spend time with Dad recording favorite memories.
48. Complete all of the ideas in our Date Jar from Jess and Mitch.

Health, Fitness, & Appearance

49. Lose 25 lbs. (0/25)
50. **Hike the Grand Canyon with Mom.
51. **Take my vitamins daily for a whole month. (2/31)
52. Run a mile in 10 minutes or less. (Best- 0:00)
53. Increase earring collection by 15 pairs. (0/15)
54. Go on 15 bike rides. (0/15)
55. Not straighten, curl, or blow dry my hair for a month. (0/31)
56. **Ride bikes at the beach.
57. Take a yoga class.
58. **Get 8 hours of sleep every night for a month. (0/31)
59. **Drink 64 oz of water everyday for a month. (0/31)
60. **Don’t eat out for a month. (0/31)
61. Complete a 5K.
62. Get a professional massage at least twice a year. (0/6)
63. Reduce get ready time to 20 minutes for 15 days out of each month for 2 months. (0/30)
64. Buy three adorable hats that I look great in. (0/3)

House & Home

65. **Fold my clothes right when they get out of the dryer for two whole months.
66. **Enroll Riley in puppy training classes and complete the classes.
67. Own my own washer and dryer.
68. Start an herb garden for my kitchen.
69. Organize (or help organize) a Lyons family cookbook with favorite recipes.
70. Spend a weekend preparing 3 meals to freeze at least 6 times. (0/6)

Money, Finances, & Work

71. Buy a house in Southern California.
72. Build an emergency fund of 2 months take-home pay. (0/100%)
73. **Pay off all debt. (0/100%)
74. Make a budget and stick to it for at least a month to start off. (0/31)
75. **Save all of my change for one month. (0/31)

Responsibility & Good Things

76. Complete my two month food storage and keep it current (ie rotating foods, using items in food storage to make sure that we'll actually eat it, etc.)
77. Write my senator about something important to me.
78. Volunteer at least 20 hours somewhere. (0/20)
79. Donate blood or platelets at least 10 times. (0/10)
80. Purchase a fire safe lock box and store all important documents in it.
81. Do the 12 Days of Christmas for someone.

Spirituality


82. Read all of the standard works at least once. (0/5)
83. Attend the temple at least 60 times. (0/60)
84. **Start a spiritual journal. Write in it at least twice a week for two months. (0/16)
85. Say a prayer in front of Freddy's family in Spanish.
86. Learn how to play two opening, two Sacrament, and two closing hymns on the piano. (0/6)
87. Give someone a Book of Mormon.
88. Read the Ensign cover to cover for 12 consecutive months. (0/12)
89. **Be at least ten minutes early to church for three consecutive months (0/12).
90. Invite the missionaries over for dinner once a month once we have a house.
91. 100% Visiting Teaching. (0/33)
92. Have Family Home Evening every week for 12 consecutive weeks. (0/12)

Travel & Places to Go

93. Travel to Ecuador and Peru.
94. Visit 10 new states. (0/10)
95. Go on a Church History Tour.
96. Visit Emily and Jess, Mitch, and the Kitties.
97. Vacation in Hawaii.
98. Go on a cruise with Mom and the girls.
99. Go camping somewhere beyond the backyard at least twice a year. (0/6)
100. Go to a dinner theater.
101. Visit Chami and Alan.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Valentine's Day and Freddy's Birthday!!!

Ok everyone-- I know, I know... We didn't blog once throughout ALL of February. Don't worry-- things are looking good. I've made it a goal to blog an average of once a week as part of my 101 in 1001 Goals (we'll get to what those are later). Also... we've got some pretty exciting things going on lately... but first we need to catch up!!



1. Valentine's Day. (How did we ever get this behind on blogging??)

Let's see... we started off the day by going and taking professional family pictures for Valentine's Day. After that we drove out to the place that Freddy proposed out in the Hollywood hills. Once it was dark we decided to go Santa Monica Pier and we walked around for awhile.


We saw a guy that was a one man, seventeen instrument band-- that was pretty cool. And he even dedicated the song he sang to us!! It was pretty cute, except that he had such a thick Asian accent that it was hard to understand him.




After we had had our fun there, we stopped by the LA temple-- intending to do a session, but it was too late. Then went out for pizza at this cute little pizzeria around the corner from the temple. It seemed a little shady for some reason... like they didn't know the prices and weren't sure about other things like that, but the pizza was delicious. Freddy got me some potted tulips that were gorgeous, a teddy bear, chocolates, this cool scrapbooking paper organizer, and a jogging suit! I got him some new soccer shorts and I had to give him one of his birthday presents early... LAKER TICKETS!! He loved them-- we'll get to that later. Overall it was the perfect Valentine's Day and we both just had a blast being together all day.

2. Freddy's 24th Birthday (Feb. 18th)!!!
So like I said before, I got Freddy tickets to the Hawks vs. Lakers game on the 17th, the day before his birthday. I ended up giving him the tickets on Valentine's Day so that he would have time to prepare for the game and get excited!! We had such a blast at the game!! It was tons of fun to be there.. Our seats were pretty high up in the stands.. like the top row... but it was STILL FUN!! After being down by more than like 12 pts the Lakers came back and won the game!!

Then on his REAL birthday we went out to dinner with the family and went to his soccer game. Afterwards a few friends and family members came over to have cake and ice cream. I got him some new sunglasses and some Nike pants to match a jacket that he got for his birthday last year. All in all it was tons of fun to celebrate Freddy's birthday down here with our family!



This post is getting a little long, so maybe I'll have to post again tomorrow. Stay tuned for tomorrow's updates!!