The Starting Line

I’ve been restless lately and you know that I love the idea of a big project, even if I rarely see one through to an end point.  So I’m going to be less harsh with myself and try, try again.

With one crazy year more than halfway over, I’m ready to see what’s “next”. There have been so many great ideas that I’ve entertained over the years but never started, so many things I’ve wanted to create or learn.  Now that I’ve been spending more time alone, I’ve done some considerable reflection on what it is that fulfills me - asking big, scary questions.  To offset some of this Monty Python-esque absurdity, I’m endeavoring to complete 52 new, self-helpful, and creative projects from August 1 of this year until July 31 of 2015.

These tasks need to be easy enough to complete without much fuss since I have a long commute and longer work days.   Some projects are pretty low-excitement and will only need one day to be done.  Others may need the full 168 hours.  They don’t need to be finished immediately.  Also, I’m lazy!   I accept that, after leaving the house before 7 and getting home roughly 12 hours later, I’m not going to want to make a three-course meal every night.  Being in a new apartment come January is also going to monkey-wrench plans a bit, but I’ll roll with it.

As for my self-imposed rules…

1) The first day of the “week” is a designated blog-it day where I’ll reflect on the previous week and/or introduce the current project.

2) I can pick the projects as I go but can’t repeat any.  I’ve worked in two weeks of vacation in case I actually do go on vacation, as well as a week to “unpack a future apartment”, but I can opt out of them if I find something else I’d rather do or - more fun - someone suggests a project.  The TBD projects and the two unspecified DIY projects are up for suggestion.

3) Guest bloggers and co-participants are welcome.  I’m going to need a lot of support to finish this all up.

So here it is, in no particular order, with off-the-cuff titles.

The List

• Finish reading 3 books
• Go vegan for the week
• Clean your room
• Write 5 poems
• Cook 1 thing from 5 cookbooks
• Work up to completing at least two 7-minute circuits (exercise)
• Make 3 kinds of ravioli for Thanksgiving
• Instagram 1 beautiful thing each day
• Smile at 10 people
• Meditate for 15 minutes outside (daily)
• Write one letter each day (and send them!)
• Juice and smoothie week
• “Yes” week – say yes to everything within reason
• Makeup week – try 5 new styles
• Hair week – try 5 new styles
• Go Media Quiet (work is okay, being messaged is okay)
• Design a 20-piece fashion collection
• Make a “Top 10” list every day
• BYF:  Buy Yourself Flowers
• Pickle and Jelly Thangs
• Bake Better Bread
• Tis the Season: Make edible Christmas gifts
• Learn 5 new dance styles
• Make it to 100 squats in a row
• Pick 5 recipes off of your Pinterest board and make them
• Strut Everywhere: Reflect on what it’s like to be fabulous
• Unpack the New Apartment (one week)
• No cursing
• Write daily diary/blog entries this week
• Consumerist Habits: buy something for yourself everyday
• Learn 50 Korean words: see ELL project
• Duolingo every day
• Spa Week:  mani, pedi, exfoliate, hair mask, etc
• Get 8 hours of sleep every night.  In bed by 9, lights out by 9:30.
• DIY Project 1: Magazine bowls
• DIY Project 2: TBD
• DIY Project 3: TBD
• Bake It: Pie Oh My
• “No picking” - nails, scabs, pimples, etc. (Yuck, anxiety)
• Art journaling - found art posts count
• Photog Blog:  Spend at least 30 minutes a day taking pictures.
• Farmer’s Market Hunt
• Make something kind and creative for someone just because
• Teach yo’ self:  Music Theory
• Teach yo’ self:  Sewing
• Teach yo’ self:  Coding basics
• Volunteer (soup kitchen, pulling weeds, shelter, etc)
• VACATION!
• VACATION!
• TBD
• TBD

Next week: Daily Blogs. (Thanks for the suggestion, Joyce!) Let's face it: if I can't hack this, I can't hack the project. Period.

Until tomorrow, stay fancy!