This idea has been rolling around in my head for a couple months, ever since our crew at work handed out little jars with 50 paperclips and said pick a goal, and as you achieve each item, move a paper clip to the empty jar ... until suddenly the GOAL jar is empty and your ACHIEVED jar is full. Then start over. I soon realized one of the best ways to ACHIEVE is to tell the people around you what you're doing. I think I was about 20 days into my test run last month and one of the girls at work bought coffee - SURPRISE. Starting June 12th I said I was going to stop drinking fancy coffee (only black), no soda, and no energy drinks. Simple. POOF it was gone. Good thing it's July because now I have a true starting point for a new challenge, and creating new habits in my life. So I'm hoping you will help hold me accountable for the beginning of my 30 Day Challenge Journey - a continuous monthly 30/31 (and once a year 28/29) challenge that I plan to change, add, and subtract at my own will. I don't want to go easy on myself because where is the challenge in that. I failed at my test run. I don't want to fail now that I've announced it. So ... for July, here's my goal: I signed up for James Patterson's Master Class - 22 lessons about writing. That with listening to Jeff Goin's podcasts and the desire and pull to start his 500 words a day challenge - I will be writing 500 words a day - somehow - and on something new (I hope). I'll be reading 30 minutes again, because if I don't read at 30 minutes a day, I might shrivel up. To boost that goal, me and my bestie created reading goals for the month: You'll have to come back to find out how we did. I went a little overboard and this doesn't even count the two books I just picked up from the library.
I thought it would be fun to start planking every day ... and maybe next month I'll add the pull up bar, because in reality it would be awesome if in 2016 I hit the Spartan Trifecta. The benefits of drinking a gallon of water a day were awesome! I'm not much of a water drinker - it's kind of boring, flavorless, and I forget. Until I get dehydrated at the Boise Music Festival in 108 and put myself in time out while Rob Thomas is singing. Not cool. And finally back is the no soda and energy drinks. It's not out of control, but it could use some discipline. I don't need that. I have bubbly water and wine. Who needs soda? So ... who's with me? Who's willing to create new habits in their life, challenge themselves to something new, and add a little spice? I'm really looking forward to it.
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UPDATE 4 (4pm) Book 4 completed - The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo Currently Reading - H is for Homicide by Sue Grafton Number of Pages Read - 694 Number of Minutes Read - 460 UPDATE 3 (12pm) Book 3 completed - The Usborne World of Shakespeare by Anna Claybourne & Rebecca Treays Number of Pages Read - 355 Click here for more detail update. UPDATE 2 (9am) Book 2 completed - William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back by Ian Doescher Number of Pages Read - 291 UPDATE 1 (7am) Book 1 completed - Artists and their Cats by Alison Nastasi Started Book 2 - William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back by Ian Doescher ORIGINAL POST (6am) Here's the thing. I like the read. Obviously. And as of late I haven't had time to do as much as I wished, AND the past couple years I have not had as much time to participate in the twice-yearly Read A Thons. So I'm going for it this year. I'm up early. I'm snuggled up on my couch with the fire going, tea boiling, and I'm ready to decide which book is going to kick off the morning. All around the world people are participating and starting all at the same time. Not to bore you with blog post after blog post, on this page, I'm going to post my updates all here on this post.
But come on over to my book blog - Reading Comes From Writing - and see continuous updates, fun and games. You can enjoy this opening meme now: 1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? I'm reading from Boise, Idaho. Quite a fabulous place. 2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? I'm looking forward to all of them, but I have a couple that have been sitting on the shelves since maybe 2009 and it's about time they were enjoyed. 3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? I'm looking forward to blueberry muffins, and whatever else I can chock up. It's a mystery. 4) Tell us a little something about yourself! I'm an avid reader - averaging about 100 books read per year, if not more, sometimes less. I love all genres pretty much. I'm reading with my two kitty cats and hopefully my roomie will join me for a bit. I live in my dream princess castle which makes it very easy to never want to leave and just keep reading. 5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to? I think I just don't want to stress out about the numbers and just focus on having fun. I'll try and be good about my tracking but who knows. You can start placing bets now on how long I might last. Did I mention the goal is 24 hours? See you soon. Ciao. You know those days when you have a laundry list and you will do and say and avoid anything and everyone possible to just put a dent in all the spring cleaning projects, and randomness that you have been putting of for another day, week, month, until after the holidays, birthday, etc? Yeah ... today's that day! I keep crossing things off the list and then I think of something new. Like crossing off "mow the lawn" only to find that the lawn mower doesn't work, so you add "fix law mower" and then using a borrowed mower from your kind parents, you find a broken sprinkler head - thus adding "fix sprinkler head" to the list. So, by crossing off one item on the list, I added two more. I'm not complaining. I'm blessed with an amazing SUNDAY FUNDAY where I said no to everything else except focusing on getting some shit done around my house. I did get my lawn mowed and it is so pretty. I finished reading a great book that has motivated me in my day to throw away the thousands of receipts. that I have been collecting for the moment I really start "Winning with Money" and budgeting. PS the book is Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin. I've vowed to myself to start blogging 5 days a week - photo a day, book a day, quote a day, life a day. I scanned and digitally archived a bunch of old documents to start decluttering my office. I finished a video project for a friend. I emptied the dishwasher. I finally cleaned up and decluttered by garage after the holidays. Started making a list of places I would like to visit during my trip to Italy in ONE MONTH. And it's only 2:39pm. And starting the tradition, you get two "photos a day" today. Ciao. <3
HELLO WORLD!
Who knew that once I actually finished year of 30 I would start blogging more than I did when I was attempting this crazy bucket list? Maybe I've found a new voice, or suddenly I just have so much more to say, or I'm bored. Maybe none of the above. Either way, I figured I really should post the final list and my commentary on the Year of 30 Bucket List - because things changed. And that's okay. Part of what I fell in love with the past year was being okay with change and accepting that the world would not end if I didn't sky dive because it was on my list. PS - I didn't sky dive. Or do the Tough Mudder. Oh well. Instead I did this whole entire list of awesomeness and I wouldn't trade any of these moments for others. Because they made me who I am today. RIGHT NOW. So ... do you want to know how I did this year? 30 Before 31
I love you all. Ciao. It's an adventure to look back on a year of your life in photos. Especially this year. Normal people take a lifetime of photos on their crazy adventures or travel or holidays. When you dedicate to take a photo every day for 365 days, you see a lifetime unfold. In my case, I saw my hair go from brown to blonde, kids grow up, the seasons change, the books I read, the wine I drank, the book I wrote, the places I went, the family and friends I surrounded myself with. I see the way God blessed me the past year, motivated and encouraged me. And now I get to look back and see how grateful I am to have spent the past year full of amazing adventures, new experiences, and love. And to start out this next year, and beyond, knowing that anything I dream up is possible and I can make it happen! So CHEERS to the year of 30, thank you for being so fantastic, and thank you to all those people I was lucky to surround myself with every day. !Year of 30 from Lauren Tyler on Vimeo. Falling in love is hard to do (at least in my experience) ... pretty sure that's not how the song goes, but when I went into this adventure 365 or so days ago, my vision of falling in love was quite different than how it has played out.
Things change and change in this case is really good. Because I have grown to appreciate the little things in life that just add up to a whole lot of better. To take pleasure in simplicity, and creating your own happiness, I really did find that we each probably fall in love with something daily. AND that was justified further when I found this great article that solidified how I wanted to "Fall in Love" this year. Huffington Post published a great article not too long ago called "45 Ways to Fall in Love Every Day" and it inspired me to list just 30 ways I fell in love while I was 30. Keep in mind, I loved a lot more than this but tried to limit the list to new experiences and opportunities never before accomplished or tried. So ... without further ado ... the FINAL piece of the Year of 30 Bucket List.
There are more blog posts to come ... and experiences to share ... but I'm glad I saved the best for last. Ciao. Elle Tea This bucket list item is a perfect example of something I always found fascinating, wanted to participate in, but the opportunity just never presented itself. Until this year! Had I known that a flash mob was in my future, I definitely would have been thinking about it and had it on the original bucket list. Now, it's made its way onto the BONUS LIST and definitely worth it! Years ago, the Black Eyed Peas surprised Oprah with a flash mob. As a HUGE fan of the Peas, and never having witnessed a flash mob, I thought it was the most awesome performance ever! Not lying. Just click here to witness it for yourself. Moving forward ... maybe a couple years later the next introduction - THRILLER! This one has been many times and now flash mobs are popping up all over the place. Even in Boise, ID, my little hometown that's not so little anymore, has it's commemorative Thriller Flash Mob around Halloween. Point is - flash mob's are AWESOME! A few short weeks ago I attended the International Builder Show in Las Vegas and had the best time learning ... and the best time DANCING! Now you can see what all the secrets and hype were about. I'm pretty sure it will be added to the IBS history books. Did I forget to mention it made "Best of IBS" by Builder Magazine. I'll stop talking so you can watch. The great thing about Bucket Lists are that we have the choice to change, cancel, add, or whatever we so please with the list. And the more we thing about Bucket Lists, the more we realize how the world is full of things we want to accomplish, join in, do, etc. So in March, I wasn't thinking about November, until it got closer and I realized it was the perfect opportunity to participate from start to finish in National Novel Writing Month! This past summer I came up with an idea for a new book - a great heroine who is just as real as we are, maybe a little of myself, someone with dreams and goals and values that she is willing to sacrifice anything for just to be happy. With only an idea, I spend pretty much every day writing around 1,600 words to create a book that I plan to submit for publishing in the near future. It was a lot harder than I imagined - who knew typing 215 pages on a typewriter would be such an finger exercise. And made me greatly appreciate this computer I currently type on that will correct all my misspellings. Now it's time to start Draft #2 ... and I'm looking forward to what I might come up with in 2015 for NaNoWriMo! Here's the GOOD news - I met my 2014 reading goal with an hour to spare. Phew! That also means that I crossed of item #17 on the bucket list - read 109 books.
Yes, this goal technically started January 1, 2014 and not March 21, 2014 in the year of 30 ... but I'm making the rules so what I say goes. Here's the fun part - stats, favorites, and the long long list of books. 2014 Reading Stats:
Top Non-Fiction Books in 2014:
Top Fiction Books in 2014:
Time to check out the full list of what I read in 2014? Click HERE. I'm trying not to set too many goals for myself for 2015. I like the round even number of 100 books so that's the goal. I also want to continue to make a dent in the books I own by have not read. At the beginning of 2014 this number was 604, NOW it's 596 books on the shelf (that I officially know of) that I have not read. Not too shabby considering the number of books I bought this year. To finish up, if you are up the challenge, I was sent this great 2015 reading challenge from a friend on Pinterest ... who's up for the challenge with me? Well, tomorrow is today, and that means a fresh start - a new beginning - changes and resolutions. It's hard to believe that a year has gone by, that I accomplished so many things in 2014 and when I look back I wonder if I accomplished enough. It's funny how we are always our harshest critics - put the most pressure on ourselves to succeed and do things, when really we've moved mountains and haven't noticed.
It comes time and time again to my view that I am one of those people who pushes themselves to difficult extremes, setting momentous expectations for myself, and in the end someone I end up disappointed versus elated. A great lesson I learned this year, is that it's okay for the plan to change, the goal to change, and to let something go. So for 2015 I'm writing a really good book. And page one is turning out to be pretty amazing because I'm organizing what I want this year to look like and I'm telling myself along the way that it's okay if it changes. Because life is all about change and adventure and trusting in God's plan for us. I'm setting some lower expectations for myself, to enjoy the year and see what unfolds. Here's my short list:
What are your goals and plans for 2015? |
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