My List to Better Myself

So..... can I change the goals I've already faulted on???

I know that goal #64 is...For every task not completed donate $2 to charity....

But I get $3.00 taken out of my check for United Way every pay period so.... that counts

right???

I have new ideas and want new goals...

Thoughts????

I GOT A NEW CAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and with that I can cross off another goal.

79. Get a Car of my own

Its a 2010 Kia Soul- Red. We got a GREAT deal on it. Kevin and I both love it sooooooooooooo much! It has blue tooth and a bad ass stereo. I've never been more excited about a material item in my life! Lol.

Its also very weird to think that I am married and as a married couple Kevin and I made our first big kid purchase and bought a car... WEIRD.




95. Develop collection of Gene Kelly things...

This is another one of those vague goals I made that could probably be considered a cop out but.... whatevs. lol.

Michael Oder actually helped me out with this... for my birthday he bought me a Gene Kelly movie box set.. it had 5 of his movies in it....I also have managed to obtain a couple of Gene Kelly books as well a Singin' In The Rain poster.. so ya I have significantly more Gene Kelly stuff now then when I started.... that counts right?

UPDATE!

I just wanted to give an update on one of the goals I am working on...

9. Lose 30 lbs.

So when I started this list on December 9, 2008 I was the heaviest I have ever been in my life. I weighed in at 165 lbs. :-( Its hard for me to believe that I ever got that big.

Well it is now January 18, 2011 a little over 2 years later and I am happy to say that I have lost 23 lbs! I am almost there!!!

24. Be an angel at christmas (buy a gift for a child from an angel tree)

Kevin and I did the angel tree at Stonebriar mall this year... we got 5-7 year old boy: Spiderman. lol very vague but still fun. We got some really cool spiderman action figures. I hope he liked them.

42. 1 month (30 days) without drinking alcohol [0/30]

Kevin is my witness Ive actually gone about two months without drinking any alcohol. Wasnt as hard and I thought it would be....


Kind of a boring post but needed to cross some stuff off...

Soooooo another one bites the dust!

I have completed goal 11. Baptize Rayah

I recently returned from a very quick trip to Colorado. The main purpose was to be there to see my little Sissy graduate from high school and since I was going to be there anyway everyone decided that it wouldbe the perfect time for me to baptize little Rayah Ruby. Great idea.




Though the trip was fast it went by very smoothly. I got to see Mari graduate which was AWESOME, I wouldn't have missed that for anything. I'm soooooooooooo proud of her. Then the day before I left my brother's best friend Tobias and I baptized my niece Rayah. The ceremony was at St. Cajetan's Catholic Church- The exact same church both my brother and I were baptized at and coincidentally enough Father Tomas, the exact same priest that baptized both me and Tony was the priest who baptized Rayah! It was pretty cool.

She looked beautiful, the day before my sister in law Keziah and I went out and bought her, her Christening dress along with shoes and all the proper baptismal items. It was nice bonding time for us. The ceremony was nice, Rayah of course cried the entire time especially when the water was poured on her head. lol. But all in all it was nice. I am officially her God Mother and Toby is officially her God Father. Its a relief to finally have that done.

She cant say Nina so she calls me Nana. It melts my heart. I wish I could see her everyday.

Oh yaa so as one of the God parents it was my job to come up with a baptismal name for her and after thinking about every name I could and not liking any of them my genius of step mom suggested "Nicole". Perfect, especially because MY middle name is NICOLE! So my precious little God Daughter is named after her Nina!

So my last blog post was October 4th 2009.... REALLY?!

It seems as though I have let things get away from me since graduation. :-( Things have been tough and only seem to be getting tougher.. despite living out of a box for the past 10 months it seems as though Kevin and I are back in the same position of uncertainty we were in before graduation. Kevin's internship is up in July so yet again he is looking for a position *of course all he can find is more internships.* Its almost like things came full circle... completely...

Again his current employer is showing interest in making his stay permanent but again it all depends on a thousand different factors with a thousand different scenarios. We're trying not to get our hopes up.

As for me, I'm just along for the ride. I will go wherever Kevin goes. That is the sacrifice I am making for out relationship and I am completely ok with it... dont really even see it as a sacrifice really.. my father on the other hand.... "You're letting your degree go to waste, you should worry about you now and your relationship later" yaaaaaaaa cuz that worked out so well for you didnt it dad?

Anyway....... So my goals list... even though I havnt been blogging I have been getting some goals out of the way... not as many as I'd like but a few...

10. Grow my hair out to the middle of my back

Its sooooooo long now I love it! Its been forever since I've had long hair. I think Kevin would prefer me to cut it short again but.. NOT GONNA DO IT!!!!!!!! hahaha

26. Own more professional looking clothes

Ok so I'm altering the definition of "professional" a little bit on this one. Since working at Nordstrom I have had a complete wardrobe makeover. I'm wearing things I never would have had the guts to wear a year ago. Since I am in sales and my product is clothing I have to dress the part and sell the goods. I get a lot of it for free and a lot of it I pay for but let me tell you... these clothes have done wonders for my confidence!!!!!!! They are still somewhat casual however they are nicer then anything I ever owned before. This still counts right? ;-)

43. Get a massage

I've been having a lot of back problems lately...*the bed I sleep on hates me* Well after complaining for months about it Kevin's parents bought me a massage at massage envy.. It was wonderfullll and very therapeutic.

66. Go on a real romantic date with Kevin

For our 4 year anniversary Kevin and I went all out. We got dressed up really fancy and went to dinner. We got sushi at Pirhana again and it was phenomenal again, then we walked the shops at the Arlington Highlands and stopped at Houlihans for drinks and french fries haha and ended the night by checking into a hotel room...No details there. :-) It was perfect and much needed.

89. Own a Wii

The parental bought Kevin and I a Wii for Christmas! woooooooo.

99. Get student loans organized so I know who needs to get paid and when

Everything is organized and easy. I have income based repayment and only have to pay about $200 a month for all of them which is nice.. Kevin doesnt have to pay a penny since he doesnt make very much so he got all his loans deferred. Sweet.

I've also let some get away from me... and I'm mad at myself for that..

4. Read a book a month [10/33]

This one really kills me.. I wanted to so bad to keep up with this goal but since my life got turned upside down I couldnt keep up with it. I cant wait to get my own place with my own space and my books out of storage and start reading again.

I want to try and get back into this, I think it will be good for me. So get on me about it! Just scream at me "JESSICA GET YOUR LAZY ASS TO THAT COMPUTER AND BLOGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" hahaha

Its been a stressful month to say the least but I did manage to get my book read for August.

Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris

Its a short read (I read it in 3 hrs) but a funny one. The book is a compilation of short stories surrounding holidays and gives you a glimpse into the lives of other people, and it plays with almost every emotion possible. It made me anxious for the holiday season but at the same time I dread it. Lol. It reminded me a great deal of the movie "The Ten" its a comedy about ten different stories that have to do with the ten commandments. If you havnt seen it you're not missing much but its good for a nice chuckle here and there.

Read this after the holiday season and you will soon realize exactly how effed up the rest of the world is in comparison to your family gatherings. haha

I have still managed to accomplish 2 goals.

I know I am really early on this one but since Im supposed to be moving this month I figured Id better get a head start so I don't have to worry about it later in the month. So this month I read The Virgin Suicides by Jeffery Eugenides

I am a big fan of this book. Its very unique and Weird and I love it. I defintely recommend this book if you're into that sort of thing.

After I read the book I watched the movie.. I had seen the movie a long time ago but couldnt really remember a lot about it. I was extremely pleased with how true to the book the movie was until the end. The movie left out what I believe a crucial part of the ending causing the movie to lack the true emotion the author was looking for.

With my Amazon gift card that I got from Andrew for my birthday I bought a bunch of books and one of them was Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk. It pissed me off because when I ordered it, it said that it was paperback. When I got it not only was it a hardback book but it is also from the Orange County Library... barcode and all... annoying. So I told Boggan if he wanted it he could have it.

Anyway.......

so I read that as my book for June. It was kinda hard to read and made me feel extremely dirty the entire time.. dirty as in rolling in the mud dirty. Chuck is very good at detailing his scenes and this entire book is set in a basement full of half naked men waiting for their chance to screw a porn star... ya, gross.

I haven't fully decided how I feel about the book.. Im not sure that I fully understand what happened in the end. I need to ponder it some more.. It definitely wasn't my favorite Palahniuk but I enjoyed it I guess...

Kevin took me on a picnic today which means I have another goal to cross of the list!

63. Go on a picnic with a real picnic basket and gingham table cloth

It was a spur of the moment kind of thing... we woke up this morning realized we didnt have anything planned and decided to spend the day together. We went to walmart and picked up the red checkered fabric for our blanket and I packed the picnic basket. The menu consisted of..

Pita bread sandwiches
Grapes
String Cheese
Chips
Lemonade
Pudding

After we ate we played another really intense game of chess.. except this time we didn't get to finish it.... after having been at the duck pond for almost two hours the freaking Geese posse decided they didn't want us there and they literally pecked at us and squacked at us until we packed up and left. Ridiculous!!! I hate Geese.

Seeing as how I am a recent college graduate and am unemployed I figured I needed to do something so I didnt feel so worthless so......... Ive been working on my goals and I have THREE more to cross off. I feels GOOD! lol.

First goal;

39. Learn to play chess

Ive been going to work with Kevin at the athletic department the last few weeks (so Im not at home alone with my thoughts). Ive also been getting a few hours in here and there... *Its a long story* anyway... We are archiving the football footage from previous years and that includes converting all of it to DVD so while each game plays and is recorded to the DVD burner we have a lot of down time.. Plenty of time for him to teach me chess!

We've been playing on yahoo games against each other for the past week and then we went and bought a chess set last night. I have a really good understanding of the game and I caught on surprisingly quick! Im very proud. We just finished playing an intense hour long game. It was awesome! I owe it all to my Kevie poo for being such a great teacher! ( Him and the fact that I just finished reading Through The Looking Glass and its one giant chess game. *shhh dont tell him)

Next Goal;

51. Find a way to organize my craft supplies

I am and EXTREMELY crafty and creative person so I had TONS of stuff strewn about here and there and didnt really know where it all was. I was inspired to start organizing it all because my friend Allie started a goal list and one of her goals is to start a scrapbook so I decided I would clean out my stuff and put together a box of scrapbooking stuff for her that I dont need anymore.

It worked out pretty well because she has a giant box of goodies waiting for her and I know where all my stuff is! I organized all of it into 3 different tubs. Mission Accomplished.

Final Goal;

87. Get healthier looking nails and cuticles

It has been 3 MONTHS since I last bit my nails! Nail biting is something I have taken part in since I was about 4 yrs old. I used to be embarassed by my fingers because I barely had any nails at all and my cuticles were disgusting. Now my nails are long and healthy and Ive started keeping them painted and clean. Very exciting. Ive been trying to grow out my nails off and on for the past 3 yrs and Ive finally done it and kept up with it. Yay!!!!

I actually DID read a book for the month of April... AND I blogged about it... WHEW!!!

I read Invisible Monsters! So Im good. lol.

First off I completely skipped my book for the month of April... I dont know how this happened.. I think maybe I was just a bit overwhelmed with graduation and I had myself convinced that I had read one...

So to remedy the situation I will be reading two books this month. Its gonna be tough but Im going to do it. Seriously I dont know how I managed to do this... lol.

anyway.... The goal I completed was...

59. Host a themed party

That party was my 22nd birthday party and it was a FIESTA!!!! The decorations were awesome and I even hand made tissue paper flowers. We had chips, guacamole, salsa, queso margaritas, mexican beer, and Mexican Tres Leches cake. They even sang happy birthday to me in Spanish. It was definitely a success!

96. Read the annotated version of Alice in Wonderland

Finished! This goal also doubles as my book for the month of May.

I have to say that I REALLY enjoyed reading this and I strongly encourage reading annotated version of your favorite books. I learned A LOT and now have a better understanding of Lewis Carroll and his writings. Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass have been my absolute favorite books since the first time I read them and even though I read them like twice a year this time was it was different. My appreciation for his literature has grown tremendously.

Included in this book was a chapter that was cut from the final version of Through the Looking Glass and the original pencil sketches done by John Tenniel. If you have never read these books DO IT! You wont be disappointed! If you are a fan of chess then read Through the Looking Glass for sure!

So I decided that if I was ever going to complete the goal of writing in a blog/journal for 60 consecutive days then I better make it separate from my goal blog so....

I now have 2 blogs. I created another one for my personal blog posts and hopefully I can get some stuff written. Please follow me their too www.jesnu2.blogspot.com

Im gonna try to come up with a new poll each week for you peeps to vote one. This week is: What should I do for my birthday? So go vote and tell me what you think!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another goal complete!

5. Graduate from College

I am now the recipient of a Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice. Graduation was on May 16, 2009 at 10 AM.



This post is incredibly late but I've been kinda busy trying to get my life in order. lol. I am glad to say though, that I am done with school and very proud of myself, Kevin and the rest of our friends that have graduated too. I wish us all the best of luck in the future.

These past couple of days after graduation have been crazy and some what sad. Crazy because since graduation a lot has happened... Kevin sprained his ankle, Charlie and Drew moved away, the Rangers swept the Astros (We went to game 1 and I caught a Josh Hamilton BP ball!), and the Bearkat Baseball team WON the SLC tournament for the THIRD year in a row!!!!!!!!!!!! (And we were there to see it happen!!!) and sad because we are finally letting reality set in.

28. Be a part of Relay for Life

92. Buy a fabulous outfit and shoes for graduation

98. Own a "little black dress"

Done, Done and DONE!

For graduation I got the cutest dress that doubles as my "little black dress" and a cropped turquoise jacket to go with it. The jacket was an awesome find because the jewelery I am wearing is the same jewelery I wore for my high school graduation and it happens to be a turquoise stone necklace with matching earrings. Im very excited about it.

now on to Relay...

I did Relay last year and had a blast so I wanted to do it again this year. Like last time I hung out with the radio kids from 90.5 The Kat. It was A LOT of fun. Collectively the Sam Houston Relay for Life raised over $23,000 for Cancer research that's almost double of what was raised last year. HUGE accomplishment. Aside from the good deeds and Cancer awareness Relay allowed us to spend some time together and have a good time..

Here is what happened in a nutshell...
-Cartwheels, soccer, throwing the F-ball....
-Dirty Scrabble
-Sammy the Bearkat stripped off his pants and danced dirty including grinding on some chicks head...
- The tent blew over, knocking down all the equipment :-/
-Natalie went off on the douche that started throwing away our stuff *HILARIOUS!*
and
-We all managed to stay awake, have fun, and managed not to get belligerent *Excluding Jimmy* haha.

I wish I was going to be around to do it next year. If you haven't done it yet.. you're really missing out.