101 Week 6

This week is not pretty.

Weekly Goals:
- daily journals
- weekly German
- weekly blogpost (this one, natch)
- weekly diary
- morning workout (totally counting my morning bike commute for this. Yeah, I'll cheat like that for now)
- DVD workout
- walk in park
- play music 2x (1x figured out the chords to Firewater's Hey Clown, 2x practiced Hey Clown)

Sporadic Goals: 
- Finished Female Chauvinist Pigs


Monthly Goals:
- 40% Commute by bike
- 1 pleasure bike ride
- 1 week carb free, 1 week dairy free
- visit library 2x

Reflections
-A wonderful development in my life lately, which coincides with The Housening & The 101: I. Sleep. I mean, I wasn't really a problem sleeper before, except that I'd stay up a little later than I should've, and be a little sluggish the next day for it. But between The Housening & The 101, I get home from work, I get f*n productive for a few hours, I have maybe 23-46 minutes of TV some nights, then I crash. And I crash at a time that is good for my body but not so early I feel deprived of living, and I wake up at a time that I can get ready, and have breakfast (previously taken to work with me), and not rush in the morning (admittedly, living closer to work and taking a few minutes off the commute helps, but biking to work will negate that gain). Anyway, it has been AMAZING. As The Housening calms down, it'll be interesting to see if this pattern holds; but I haven't much reason to expect it won't, so long as I'm continuing through the 101 and being productive most of my evenings. That's been huge for me: not just sitting and zoning at the computer.
-You may notice that, week after week, I slack on most goals resembling physical activity. It's not that I'm that lazy, on a good week I'll spend 5 hours in classes at my local dance studio (2 hours on a bad week, 1 on a really bad week - or a week when I'm saving $ for a house, which is no longer my excuse). While I know a variety of physical activity is great for the body, damn if it's just dance that motivates me best to move. On that note, three weeks ago I did something to my foot, I assume in a dance class (but maybe while I was moving things into the house), as I pretty much only feel it when I'm barefoot. I don't know what I did or when I did it, but one day a very small portion of it started tingling. I've taken no course of action on it as it will start to feel better, then I'll be stupid and aggravate it again. Sadly, it looks like I just need to ease up on it for a bit. This makes me profoundly unhappy, but I should take the opportunity to bike more as (A) it doesn't aggravate the foot and (B) the saddle sores that I remind myself of everytime I think about riding are only going to reduce in frequency & intensity if I ever actually bike regularly. Anyway, injured - but not hurting - foot. Reduces overall physical activity - goal related AND the regular stuff.
-Last week I pushed myself, and it was awesome. I simply did not fare so well this week. 

101 Week 5

Week 5 was a definite improvement over 3 & 4. I pushed myself to make it happen, and am happy for doing so. I'm inching closer to a "perfect" week (i.e. fulfilling all weekly goals, plus a monthly goal or two, plus a sporadic or one-time goal).

Weekly Goals:
- daily journals
- weekly German
- weekly blogpost (Birchbox review time!)
- weekly diary
- morning workout (totally counting my morning bike commute for this. Yeah, I'll cheat like that for now)
- DVD workout
- walk in a park (hell, we camped in it, too!)
- play music 2x (1x -practiced You Don't Know My Mind. I appreciate that it has easy chords. I need the brain space to concentrate on the rhythms.)

Sporadic Goals: 
- more reading in Female Chauvinist Pigs
- Camped!

Monthly Goals:
- 40% Commute by bike (1 ride/ week 1 - 20%)
- 1 pleasure bike ride
- 1 week carb free, 1 week dairy free
- visit library 2x

Reflections
-I'm over the diary thing. I am not a diarist. I love the short little daily journal. Hate sitting down to an unknown quantity of time expecting to fill space with more. It's early in the 101, I may reclaim that goal spot for something else. Carb & Dairy-free weeks are also dangerously close to revision.
-Camping was great. During the trip I realized it had been at least 7 years since I last camped. The weather was perfect, as was our chosen company. Mr. Burly wants to camp more than once a year.
-I enjoyed biking to work...between the wheezing & gasping (I exaggerate. a little). It had been a few months since I rode, and this was my first foray into traffic riding.

July Birchbox Review: Not So Easy to Please

I'm very high-maintenance in my low-maintenance ways, it seems. I kinda want the world from my Birchbox. I should probably reset my expectations. Or stop my subscription and try another subscription. Or not have any subscriptions and resume my happy SlackerChic ways. It's taken forever (and the August Birchbox arrival- teaser at the end!) for me to get around to writing this "review." "Review" is in scare quotes b/c, well, if you asked me to list what I got off the top of my head, I would only remember 1 thing, and even then I haven't tried it.

Granted, I've been busy. So very busy. About the time this box showed up, we closed on a house, and we've been moving and/or settling. I couldn't even tell you where the box is right now. But the Birchbox page reminds me what I have.

See!

To which I am relieved that I'm not missing anything, apparently.

So without further ado, I present to you  

Birchbox, July: A Half-Assed, I-Have-Better-Things-To-Do, Review.

Alterna Bamboo UV+ Color Protection: I will revisit this product with a proper review once I resume putting color in my hair.

Birchbox Earbuds: The one thing I remembered but hadn't tried. OK, they're brightly colored earbuds. And, I'm a sucker for bright colors. And, I'm no audiophile. At a guess, I probably won't hear a difference between these buds and the factory-issued buds I have floating around. Hell, I don't know that I hear a difference between my factory-issued buds and the Skullcandy buds I paid real monies for (purchased so I would have in-ear buds with the foamy tips that I can buy in small so they FIT and STAY. not for maximum hearings of ALL THE SOUNDZ). If I get around to trying these and find there is a difference (price: $10, I doubt it), I will update accordingly.

Eyeko Skinny Liquid Eyeliner: I reeeeally wanted to be excited about this one. It's (A) a full-size product, not "sample" size and (B) eyeliner! Something I use! But alas, why eyeliner is ever made in anything other than waterproof is something I'll never understand. My eyelids shed product like nothing. So, while I have every intention of giving the eyeliner a fair trial, it has yet to happen. I have to be motivated to apply makeup ever, let alone on a day I'm not actually doing anything (lest I be caught out, looking like a sad raccoon, and no means to fix it). Me, put on makeup for no one? See also: the Slacker half of SlackerChic.

Harvey Prince Hello perfume: See also: my rants about perfume.

Supergoop! City Sunscreen Serum: OK, I also have every intention of trying this. It happened to show up a week or two after I finally (FINALLY!) found a sunscreen for my face that didn't turn it into a slick and didn't stink. Pardon my lack of enthusiasm for trying a new (more expensive) substitute after I found exactly what I'd been looking for.

Tea Forte minteas: I guess this one is technically full-size, too. Meh, mints. The flavor is a little weird. I'm not a tea person, but the mint & sweetness were pronounced enough that the tea flavor didn't put me off. 

So, that's a lot of reviewing for not reviewing anything. Go Me!

Stars? ummm.... 3 of 5? Technically this basically fit all the objective parameters they have from me (since I don't have a box to check in my profile that says NO FUCKING PERFUMES). But I can't really get excited about anything in this box, and part of that is the timing of it (a sunscreen in the June box had a better chance), but...I can't let all the bad be blamed on timing, either. I wouldn't have been impressed with Teamints no matter what day, or phase in my life, it was.

...August teaser: Another perfume!

101 Week 4

Yeah. I got nothing. The days I'm not at the dance studio, I'm working manically on the house. Less than one month to house-warming, and I want the place to look good. That said, we're making good progress. I might be able to lighten up just a little bit. But this is the sad reality:

Weekly Goals:
- daily journals
- weekly German
- weekly blogpost (well, there's this post at least)
- weekly diary
- morning workout
- DVD workout
- walk in park
- play music 

Sporadic Goals:
- more reading in Female Chauvinist Pigs

Monthly Goals:
- Commute by bike
- 1 pleasure bike ride
- 1 week carb free, 1 week dairy free
- visit library 2x

Reflections:
The quickened move got me all screwed up. Totally spaced the carb & dairy-free weeks, although truth be told these are not high priority goals for me. They kinda feel like filler in the goal list. Let's see what month 2 brings...

101 week 3

Weekly Goals:
- daily journals
- weekly German
- weekly blogpost (well, there's this post at least)
- weekly diary
- morning workout
- DVD workout
- walk in park
- play music 

Sporadic Goals:
- every month have a week of daily physical activity.
- try a new restaurant every 3 months. We had dinner at Siam Square in Fountain Square. I highly recommend it, quite delicious. 

Reflections:
This week's goals went about as well as could be, which is to say I only got a few in. I'm counting the week of physical activity. Every day this week was spent either painting, packing, or moving. That's way more activity on each individual day compared to any normal day I would have. Trying a new restaurant was not on the agenda, so that was a pleasant surprise. We're not anywhere near settled in the house, but I'm working to fit the goals into my day, which will be fun because I am exhausted.