Live Life Meraki

Day 7: What are the top 3 things that are holding you back?

1. Money: I think a major thing that is constantly holding me back is money. I’d be so happy to own a house and be able to travel freely. Those dreams come with lots of costs. Both my boyfriend and I really want the same thing, but the money issue always holds us back a bit. We live comfortably and have been able to go on at least 1 nice vacation a year. But we would both like more freedom in terms of traveling. 

2. Fear of change: Sometimes I sit and think “I love my job.” And other times I think “What else can I do with my life?” Even though I do genuinely love my job, sometimes I would love to see what else is out there. However, that would involve me quitting my current job and exploring other options. What if I don’t find something I like more? Changing jobs is hard. Starting over is hard. Its scary. I’ve been at my current job for over 7 years and thinking about starting over makes me nauseous. 

Day 6: What are some of your favorite memories about watching fireworks?

Day 5: List 10 things you would like to achieve by the end of the year.

There are 5 months left of the year and there are definitely some things I would like to accomplish by the end of December. 

1. Read 5 books - I love reading, but it is so hard with life to sit and read a book every day. I think 1 book a month for the rest of the year is really reasonable and I’d like to do that. (Possibly reading 30 minutes a day might be a good option) Book suggestions welcome!

2. Lose 25 lbs - This would be AMAZING, but I think an overall thing I’d like to achieve is getting back into eating healthy and if the weight comes off with it thats where I’d like to be by the end of the year. 

3. Drink “enough” water. Since being home for quarantine, my water intake has plummeted drastically! I’d love to increase my water intake back to pre-quarantine levels.

4. Regular exercise - I love “StepBet” and I do them every once in a while, but its really not enough exercise. I also pay for “BeachBody On Demand”. I’d love to be into it, but it really isn’t my thing. Now that phase 3 is a thing our apartment’s gym is going to open up and I’ll be able to go to the gym. I love “Aaptiv” and do the workouts on the app. I’d love to work out 4-5 days a week.

5. Save $500+: My boyfriend and I have been living together in a beautiful apartment for the last year. We love it, but its pricey! We would LOVE to buy a house sometime soon, but saving is so hard. I know $500 isn’t much, but baby steps right?

6. Plan my next big trip: I know that I can’t necessarily travel right now, but I would love to plan my next big trip.

7. Craft more: I really like to craft and make things and I haven’t in so long. Between Grad school, work, and life I have not found much time to do these things that I really enjoy.

8. Etsy: I started an Etsy shop years ago. I sold a couple of items so I feel that if I stuck to it I could have fun with it.

9. Try a few new recipes a month: I love to cook, but its so easy to get stuck in the same old thing because it is easy and you don’t have to think as much. I want to make it a point to try at least 1 new recipe a week for the rest of the year.

Day 4: If you are in the US, today you celebrate Independence Day. What will you do?

Day 3: This is the beginning of the Dog Days of Summer. How do you like to cool off?

During the HOTTEST days of summer, I love to cool off in my apartment with the air conditioner on full blast while laying under a blanket. Anyone else? 

Day 2: Write about what you would love to see in your reflection each morning.

We bought this “Adventure Challenge” book in March and finally got a chance to do our first challenge today! The rules of the book are once you scratch off a challenge you must then go complete it. HOWEVER we scratched one last night that we couldn’t complete today because we woke up and it was pouring rain and it was outdoor activity... so we scratched another one ... our official challenge today was to dress up fancy and paint portraits.. clearly we modified the activity. We didn’t dress up because both of us would very clearly get paint all over ourselves.. and to quote Doug — “My fancy clothes are fancy because they don’t have stains on them.”  - Instead we decided to find a YouTube tutorial for beginners and I must say that they came out pretty good! An afternoon well spent and definitely something we would not have decided to do together on our own without this book.