Happy September! (a few days late) Every month I like to give myself some goals to strive towards, sometimes I achieve them, other times not so much. But regardless, it’s nice to have a little sticky note on my desk of things to better myself with.

1. Try new recipes
Since becoming single and moving into my new place I’ve been cooking a lot more, however I’ve been preparing the same familiar meals again and again. It’s getting a bit boring and makes me want to eat out more. But, staying true to one of my older goals, I’ve almost completely done away with eating out and I’ve been grocery shopping weekly. Now, I just need to add a little spice (no pun intended) into my weekly routine with some new meals.

2. Finish Books
I absolutely adore reading, so much that I’m usually in between 2-3 books at a time. A terrible habit I know. And the downfall to this horrible habit, I never get around to finishing any of the books. So bad! I just get so many amazing book recommendations, and want to start them all at the same time. I just can’t contain myself! haha. So I really need to get this in check, start one book at a time and not pickup another until I am finished with the first.

3. Update the [Happy House Vintage] shop regularly
I opened my vintage shop a little under a year ago, and have been attending so many craft shows that I just haven’t updated my stock online. Additionally, with being so busy with moving in and school, I haven’t had many free moments to myself. But now  that I’m settled in, and  the “studio” section of my apt is almost complete, I can start photographing some product for the shop. I’d like to get a bit of a routine going where I do this on a regular basis. I need to do away with procrastination!

4. Go to bed early
This is probably going to be the most difficult task of all. I don’t get much sleep mostly because I’m up by 7am every morning, and I’m such a night owl so my bed time is usually between 2-3am. So bad for me, but it’s always been like this. I just feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day for the things I’d like to accomplish, and often times I find my most creative moments hit me at the oddest of hours. (I’m sure some of you can relate) But, being that I’m approaching 30, my body isn’t able to handle all this lack of sleep as well as it used to. Additionally, I find myself taking cat naps mid-afternoon, and that is just not healthy at all! So, I’m going to try to start getting to bed by midnight, I think shutting down my computer and phone will help quite a bit.

5. Take a Yoga class
I’ve been talking about getting into Yoga for awhile now, I just need to get myself over to the local studio! I’ve done some research and found a ton of great local spots that also offer student discounts for under $20/per class. That sounds pretty great to me. I also think doing this in the evening will help me get to bed earlier.

Well, those are my goals for the month! I hope you enjoyed reading them, and I plan on getting on the ball with achieving them! I hope you all have a wonderful month of September!

I have yet to openly speak about my break up on my blog, mostly because I just haven’t decided if it was something I really wanted to delve into. Additionally, being that it is a breakup, it means that it doesn’t involve only me and I felt I needed to respect his privacy as well. I looked at the breakup as if it was a chapter in my life that closed and I just would continue onto the next. But, a part of my feels like I’m almost being dishonest with you guys by not talking about that aspect of my life. However, after seeing a certain poetry video today, I decided to share a little bit about what happened, how I’ve been feeling during the aftermath, as well as that video that inspired the post.

A few months ago I left my two year relationship, our apartment that we shared, and decided I needed to be on my own for once. For as long as I can remember, I’ve constantly been in relationships, living with a boyfriend, and/or sharing my life with another person. But, as my 27th birthday approached I began looking back on the last year of my life and all the things I’ve been doing with being back in school, as well as looking towards the future and my goals. I needed to focus on me, my life, and my goals without worrying about the toll it might take on a relationship. This may sound selfish to a lot of you, but I felt it was best for the both of us. However, upon leaving my relationship I lost a lot of things: my apartment, my movie buddy, bestfriend, adventure taker partner in crime, (etc) and for the first time I needed to learn how to be alone and enjoy it.

Naturally in the beginning it was difficult, but as time progressed I discovered a new found appreciation for quality quiet time, and the ability to spend my free moments doing things for myself. Don’t get me wrong, there are those moments that I wish someone was laying in my bed with me while I watched a movie or a favorite TV program, but it’s not as bad as I thought. And for the first time in a very long time I feel like being alone is making me a stronger person.

So with all that being said, the video “How To Be Alone” is what inspired me to share a little bit about that chapter in my life and write this (super long) post. The video was created by filmmaker, Andrea Dorfman, and poet/singer/songwriter, Tanya Davis, both whom are very talented women.

My favorite section of the poem is:

“If you are at first lonely, be patient. If you’ve not been alone much, or if when you were, you weren’t okay with it, then just wait. You’ll find it’s fine to be alone once you’re embracing it.”

The day is finally here! September 2, 2010 AKA “90210″. Haha! So super cheesy but so fun at the same time cause duh who doesn’t love (the original) Beverly Hills, 90210. My first love was most definitely Dylan Mckay, man he had such great hair and that raspy voice. SWOON. I can watch reruns of BH 90210 all day any day. But not the new one! I absolutely despise it. I tried to watch it to maybe catch some of the old cast storylines come back to life, but it was always a let down. Ah well. I’ll always have a special place in my heart for 90210.

]]> http://betseyj.com/2010/08/365-project-day-16/feed/ 0 http://betseyj.com/2010/08/365-project-day-11-15/ http://betseyj.com/2010/08/365-project-day-11-15/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:40:27 +0000 BetseyJ http://betseyj.com/?p=4428
Day 11: Lush Emotibomb! My favorite!

Day 12: I actually wore pants instead of leggings!

Day 13: My Saturday night outfit. Channeling the Craft.

Day 14: Biscuit wants to know when I’m going grocery shopping

Day 15: Starting the week in Rodarte. Love.

It’s just another Manic Monday. (sorry I couldn’t resist. . . hehe) Actually, I’m feeling quite motivated this morning, perhaps because yesterday was a total flop. It started raining in the middle of the night and didn’t stop until this morning. I’m surprised I didn’t wake up to a moat surrounding my apartment building. However, it was a lovely treat to step outside and discover the weather was actually tolerable and breezy. Naturally, I took this as an opportunity to wear one of my new Fall jackets and Rodarte tights. (Although I’m sure by noon it’ll be back to 90 degrees)

♥

Last week I started my new Fall semester and I couldn’t be more excited. Well, except for my Oceanography class &  lab, it’s absolutely boring, haha. But, as far as my other classes I’m taking Holocaust history and American Literature, both which are topics I find very interesting. I actually spent some time in Poland in high-school and toured the camps. So it should be a good semester, and then I’ll be ready to transfer schools to finish up my BA in journalism. Exciting!

♥

I’m totally head over heels for these Dee & Ricky limited edition Chanel lego lipsticks. I do wish they were brooches of some sort because I’m not quite sure what I would do with it. I really do want one of their heart lego pins though. Such a great little piece.

I’ve got quite the busy week ahead of me and I really need to get some more blogging time in. Luckily I have a nice break in between classes today, so hopefully I’ll get some things done. I hope everyone has a lovely week!

And I’m totally obsessing over this song from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs right now.

Day 10: My super cute Japanese tea sake set a friend got me.
(thank you D for the correction! hehe)

Day 6: Biscuit’s “pet my belly now” face

Day 7: Smurf hair!

Day 8: Yummy Pad Thai leftovers

I know it’s sort of cheating by putting the last four days up in one post but I don’t really blog on my weekends. So Mondays will be a bulk 365 post.

Day 3: Cherry Slushies All Summer Long