Guess What I Just Realized

I was able to cross my first thing off my 30 before 30 list! How awesome is that?!? That's right, I graduated college and it feels so gooood!

And being able to cross that off my list made me want to cross more things off more lists. So I'm making some goals for myself, which are going to be extremely random. But it's going to happen right here, right now!

1. Work on Growing This Blog - I love this blog of mine. Despite my frequent blogging breaks, and still not being able to completely throw myself into it, I really do love it. So my goal is to grow in my writing, my readership, and my involvement in the blogging world. I already took the first step by purchasing my own domain for my blog! I have to say, I am extremely excited about it! Also, I feel like putting money into my blog will cause me to focus on it more. See why in number 2.

2. Continue to Work Out - I have been working out pretty consistently for about a month now. If you have not tried Tone It Up yet, I highly recommend it. I feel so incredibly inspired by those beautiful women! I think what people don't realize is that it really isn't about being skinny, it is about being fit and feeling confident about your body. And I feel more confident than ever! This ties in with number one because since I purchased a gym membership, it makes me want to get the most of my money and get my butt to the gym!

3. Make a Budget and Stick to It - My last semester of college I took a personal finance course that honestly has changed the way I think about money. That sounds so silly, but it's totally true. If you have never read All Your Worth by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi, I recommend you get right on it. I now feel so confident that money will not be a big issue in my life because of what I learned in this book. However, with how I am paid (hourly and not on salary, and my hours change weekly) it is really hard for me to create and stick to a set budget. I'm hoping I can figure it all out and stick with it soon.

So three goals are better than no goals, right?? Here's to really hoping I can stick to them.
Do you have any goals you're working on right now?

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That Time I (Left You in Suspense)

I know you have been waiting all week to see my next post about the cruise, but unfortunately you're going to have to wait one more week before you find out the next fun adventure!

Summer has me pretty messed up schedule-wise.

I seriously love summer, but it's hard for me to find the energy to do anything...even blog.

(Because honestly blogging can be pretty time-consuming!)

Especially after a 7+ hour work day, I just like to come home and snuggle in bed with my teddy bear and watch some Netflix. (Currently I'm rewatching Pretty Little Liars.) I always aspire to accomplish so much in the summer, but laziness takes hold of me, plus the summer heat of Arizona is honestly energy-sucking. 

Here are some of my summer goals that I have yet to accomplish (or even come close to accomplishing):

1. Read...a lot!

I'm currently only on my first official "summer book" which is honestly just pathetic. I need to hop off Netflix and dive into my books! I'm reading Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi, which is the sequel to Shatter Me. If you haven't read these books yet DO IT!

2. Work out consistently

I'm pretty sure I have done a grand total of...zero workouts this summer. Unless you count the Harry Potter work out I attempted to do with my sister, but the video was loading too slow and I had more important plans that weekend (like turning 21).

3. Blog Good

I am sure you have already noticed my lack of good blogging. My goal has been to make at least one more blog post in the current month than the previous month. So far so good, but in order to keep it up I'll have to blog every day for the next five days...probably not going to happen. :/

4. Learn how to play guitar

Okay so this one is actually going a little better than the rest! I had my sister teach me a few chords this past weekend and so I can now kind of play What Makes You Beautiful by One Direction. There are a couple other songs I have attempted but they require a capo and I don't have one quite yet. But my roommate called me a rockstar the other day...so success!

5. Decorate my room

I recently (like a month ago) switched rooms and I still haven't gotten around to putting up all my pictures and making sure everything is organized. I'm not the kind of person who can't handle a little clutter so this one might take all summer, even though I don't even have that much stuff to organize.

So do you get the picture?

Summer = Lazy Emily

But I am really hoping I'm not the only one!

Send me good vibes and hopefully I can gain some motivation to actually put a dent in these goals!

Alex @ Let Life Be Like Music//Just Because

Getting in Shape...Kind Of

Let me be clear - I am not a work out fanatic, I do not know everything about working out, I can't even say I know the first thing about working out. All I know is that, for me, working out has never been a priority. My body type does not require me to work out to stay thin (yay, fast metabolisms). However, I can say with 100% certainty that I am out of shape. I can't climb a flight of stairs without getting winded. To be completely honest, I am okay with that. However, I have a boyfriend who is obsessed with working out. He is the type of person who just cannot sit still, whereas I am the type of girl who can lay in bed and watch Netflix for hours. He is always trying to motivate me to work out, and sometimes it works! Sometimes I get so motivated; I make a plan of what I'm going to do when...and then fail miserably after about, oh...one week. I do think that being in shape is important, I just never had the motivation. Until...

In my Educational Psychology class we were given an assignment to change one behavior, whether it was increasing a behavior or decreasing. And we had to give ourselves a reward for doing that behavior. I took this as a sign, and the perfect opportunity, that my behavior needed to be to work out. I had recently seen this pin on Pinterest, and since my stomach is my most undesired part of me, I decided it was fate. My reward? Clothes, what else!? I figured, if I work out, I'll feel better about my body, and I can buy a new outfit to showcase that. Perfect motivator for my behavior.

I am proud to say that after stumbling a little at the beginning, I am now only four days away from completing the Fab Ab February work out! I have to say, I am so excited for myself. Not just because I will soon be able to purchase some new clothes, but because I told myself I was going to do something and actually went through with it. They say that it takes three weeks for something to become a habit, so I am really hoping that I will continue to do some sort of work out past this.

The calendar I used was from a year or two ago, and I just had to keep track. But just in case you would like to start it, I made one that you can start tomorrow! DOOOO IT!

I do admit, it starts out super easy, and you can definitely start with more reps to begin with, and then either stay at Day 30 for the rest of the time, or keep increasing. This is the only form of work out I did during this time, but I would definitely suggest mixing it with stretching, cardio, etc. for an actual work out. 

And now for the fun part! Here are some of the items I have picked out to possibly buy after I am completely finished with the work out. What is your favorite?

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