Goals for May

You may recall that last month I made four little goals for the month of April. Nothing too big, but I wrote them down and blogged about them, touting my organizational skills and the success of my numerous to-do lists as a reason why I will accomplish my goals with success. Well, my to-do lists live on in glory - these past few days have been a constant stream of cleaning, organizing, applying to jobs, and completing other little tasks - all thanks to my to-do lists! So what's my point in defending my to-do lists? This: I didn't complete my goals for April. They were always in the back of my head, nagging and reminding me. But I rarely ever acted on them. If my Aprils goals were things like, "Re-watch the entire Gilmore Girls series" or "Assemble Ikea bed frame in one afternoon" then I would have nothing but success stories to tell you. But that's not the case, so let's review, with a little explanation of why they were unsuccessful. (Okay - one was successful!)

1. Finish two sewing projects. This is all my laziness. I went out and bought some beautiful fabric, but denied myself starting a new project until I finished the one I was working on. I'm going to work on that dress tonight, but it is such a pain in the butt. I made the pattern myself and have had to tweak it constantly along the way. Plus it's fully lined (headache!) and both of my machines have been having major tension issues. We'll see, maybe I'll finish it tonight, but I'm doubtful. I did finish one sewing project though! I hemmed a pair of jeans. I'm considering that a sewing project completion.

2. Read (and finish) three books. I made some headway into The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, but quit bringing books with me to lunch at work, which put a damper on my progress. I want to be more social & get to know the people I work with better, but I didn't bother finding a time slot to substitute for my lunchtime reading hour. I did technically finish two books though. The other night I picked up a Nancy Drew book (I've been collecting them because they're classics, duhhhh) and read it. And then I picked up another one from the series (Nancy's Mysterious Letter) and just finished that too. I love a good mystery and Nancy is so cool. I've always admired her poise and how take charge she is. Finding my feminist inspirations in strange places!

3. Work out at least three times a week. Fail. Fail so badly. I've been crippled with allergies for the entire month of April (I've been fighting a constant headache for 3 weeks now!). Allergies drain my energy and make me extremely dizzy, not to mention the general not being able to breath clearly thing, making the very thought of exercising rather uncomfortable. I'll get back into it once when the worst bout of the allergy season is over.

4. Reconnect with old friends - complete! This is really the only goal I accomplished in April. I've gotten to see a number of old friends this month (and make some new ones!). I had a little dinner party at my house in early April and invited a bunch of folks I haven't seen much lately and would like to see more of. It was a great success and I woke up the next morning to an inbox of text messages pressuring me into hosting more often because it's such fun. I was up till 4am cleaning, so it definitely won't be a regular thing, but I love entertaining and I love bringing people together.

So now that we've covered my complete failure of an April goals month, here are four new ones for the month of May:

1. Finish THREE sewing projects. I know what you're thinking - "Chloe! You crazy crazy girl! Why do you think you can finish three sewing projects after having barely completed one for last month????" I'm not actually sure why I think I can do this. But I will. I just bought a bunch of new patterns to try. I have so much fabric and know what I want to do with it, I've just never had the patterns to match. As soon as I get these new patterns in the mail, it'll be sewing city in my bedroom!

2. Do not buy a single article of (new or vintage) clothing. To help ensure the achievement of my sewing goal (and because I'm flat broke and have to start repaying student loans in June), I will not be buying a single article of clothing in the month of May. I am allowing myself to purchase thrift shop clothes, but considering I only thrift once in a blue moon, I don't think I'll even end up with a thrift shop purchase in May.

3. Try a new recipe. I want to try some new recipes. I cooked up a storm in April and want to continue that into May. I'm already eyeing a few salad recipes and a muffin recipe.

4. Take a road trip. A friend and I have been talking about heading up to Duluth to visit another friend of ours, but we haven't gotten around to it. It'll be going on a year now that we've been discussing it, so it would be nice to see it done! I've also been discussing a trip to Red Wing, Stillwater, or Taylor's Falls with some friends. Either way, for the month of May, I want to spend a day or two outside of the Cities.