October Month in Review

Before I get into my goals, I have to be honest. I haven't been taking photos every day. And I kind of hate the idea of doing things just to mark them off a list. It makes everything less fun! I'm smart enough to realize I need to take advantage of all my opportunities, and I've been doing that. I don't need to sit there and record everything to "prove it" here, or to mark off a massive, stressful To Do list.

So I'm kind of stopping this idea. It was a good idea to start when I moved to a new place, to kind of give me that push to get myself out there. But I'm doing that now, so I won't really be keeping this up. Sometimes I'll still make notes of things, just so I can remember what I did/what I bought/where I went, etc. And I'm going to keep up the more practical goals, like putting away money each month. So this isn't the death of the blog, just a formal announcement that updates won't be as constant as they were/should be.

#12 - Write a short story every month.
#20 - Wear a skirt or dress once a week.
#26 - Design and create my own Halloween costume (kind of...)
#40 - Live off my teaching salary.
#42 - Put $50/month in my savings account.
#45 - See five concerts:
         Fulton Lights & Title Tracks at the Black Cat 10/6/09
#49 - Listen to five new albums every year:
         Have Guitar, Will Travel - Joe Perry
         Fulton Lights - Fulton Lights
         The Way We Ride - Fulton Lights
         Healing Waters - Fulton Lights
         Chunk of Change - Passion Pit
         Not Only...But Also - the 88
#52 - See one "new-to-me" movie every month - Adventureland
#64 - Bake something sweet for someone once a semester - cupcakes for Liz's birthday!
#73 - Learn the Metro - again, in progress.
#83 - Take a spontaneous road trip to somewhere I've never been - baby road trip
         to Winchester, VA (museums and Dinosaur Land!)
#90 - Buy someone a drink - I owed a few, and when I'm having a good time I like to
         buy everyone drinks!
#93 - Send someone a card just because I was thinking of them.

Month in Review - September

Goals Met:
#12 - Write a short story every month
#18 - Take a photo every day
#20 - Wear a skirt or dress once a week
#25 - Host a party at my place
#40 - Live off my teaching salary
#42 - Put $50/month in my savings account - $200 this month! Just because I could.
#49 - Listen to five new albums every year - overloaded in this month, already
          + Kingdom of Rust - Doves
          + Feed the Animals - Girl Talk
          + Party - Nick Swardson
          + Fix Your Face - TRV$DJAM
          + Coachella - TRV$DJAM
          + Demon Days - Gorillaz
          + Grand - Matt & Kim
          + Backspacer - Pearl Jam
          + The Sound of the Smiths - the Smiths
#52 - See one "new-to-me" movie every month:
          + The Time Traveler's Wife
          + The Informant!
#56 - Review every new book I read
          A stretch, because I didn't read anything NOT for school this month.
          Technically, goal met...
#58 - Visit every museum in the DC area
          + the International Spy Museum
          + the National Portrait Gallery
#74 - Learn the Metro
          In Progress - I rode it, at least! I had guides, but it definitely helped me
          learn how it all works.

Goal #18 - Week Four

9/24: Homemade Flash Fiction Upon Request nametags!
9/25: Watched two seasons of Weeds in one day. Well, not really.
9/26: Simpsons Shots!
9/27: Printing out my story.
9/28: Traffic was back up four blocks away from school.
9/29: Not the best shirt to wear to the doctor's office...
9/30: I should be reading.

Both my pictures and my presentation of the pictures has gotten lackluster. You can tell I'm doing this out of obligation, not passion. I hope to remedy that starting NOW.

Goal #18 - Week Three

Belated...



9/17: A tutor drew a picture of a guy who works at the Writing Center, and it reminded me of the homemade FotC poster. So I added a little of my own handiwork to this one.
9/18: Wearing my favorite literati shirt - at least once a week, it seems.
9/19: Trying to be arty while obsessing over my iPod.
9/20: In the photo booth at Rock & Roll Hotel.
9/21: The Capitol after the PEN/Faulkner awards.
9/22: An example of our collaborative Flash Fiction Upon Request
9/23: Kickass moustache keychain with mirror - to check your 'stache on the go.

Goal #18 - Week Two

9/10: Yay, parking ticket!
9/11: (Blurrily) Representin' TN at the WWII memorial
9/12: Yay, Spy Museum ticket!
9/13: Quite possibly the ugliest tank top ever. No, definitely.
9/14: Nurse: Awesome tattoos! Are you afraid of needles?
9/15: Sometimes I only have the energy to take a pic on my drive home. Cheap.
9/16: My Wednesday workstation. That blank document is my paper. Is still my paper.

Goal #18 - Week One

I'm not sure how I'm going to format my entries on some of these ongoing goals... I think I'll post my "take a picture every day" goals as a weekly batch. This one is just a little late.


9/3 birthday flowers
9/4 our vacuum is more powerful than a riding lawnmower
9/5 aftermath of the moustache party
9/6 nothin' but studyin'
9/7 pretending to read for school
9/8 ben&jerry's "imagine whirled peace" chocolate peace sign
9/9 sometimes driving home from school is the highlight of my day

Goal #25

Host a party at my place

(Well, our place.)

It was a moustache party, originally meant to be my birthday party, but changed to a "house party" when I was forced to make the event on Facebook. You can't make an event page for your own birthday party.

Still, there was cake:


And games.


Everyone had really innovative moustaches. Glitter moustache, milk moustache, Surprise 'Stache (made of ribbon), this-is-my-real-'stache moustache, Civil War 'stache, the Deluxe Walrus. I don't want to be posting people's faces around, but luckily I can show you one of my favorites - the Swiss Army 'Stache.


My own 'stache:

It matched my hair color exactly, and looked alarmingly acceptable.

Liz and I both made CDs to play on a loop, and several songs appeared on both mixes without any consultation between the two of us. Which just proves that some songs are, hands-down, Moustache Music.