5 Goals for March 2022

Hello Everyone!

I hope you’re all as excited for March as I am.

February a bit tough and I was so ready for it to be over. I love a fresh start and I feel like I get one on the first of every month. I’m also looking forward to Spring.

These are the things I’d like to accomplish in March.

One

Finish a 5K walk on 20/03.

I’m confident I can do this, even though I haven’t been walking that much lately. The other day I ended up walking 5 km without planning it and it wasn’t so bad. My pelvic pain and heavy belly make it harder but not impossible.

Two

Get everything ready for the baby.

We’re pretty much done with the things we need to buy and the changes around the house but I still need to get a few things and wash all her clothes.

Three

Finish and pass my Training Course.

This training course I’m taking is ending next week and I need to prepare my final presentation. Fingers crossed it will go well and I’ll get my diploma by the end of the month.

Four

Go on a weekend getaway to celebrate our 9th anniversary.

I’m not sure where we’ll go yet but it will double as our babymoon.

Five

Deep clean the whole house.

I’m excited for Spring cleaning. My nesting instincts are kicking in and I feel like getting rid of all the clutter and cleaning every nook and cranny until the whole house is sparkling.

So, yeah. If you need me, I’ll be working on these goals.

What about you? Any goals for March?

Love,

Cheila

Days of March: March 2018 in Review + Plans and Goals for April

In March I:

– Got officially engaged.

– Bought a cute dress, a cardigan and two pairs of basic leggings.

– Had my sister over for a couple of days.

– Had a baking competition at work and was probably the biggest loser because I took two different things and they both looked like shit.

– Decided I wanted a second job.

– Began looking for a second job. Sent many applications, got many calls and went to a couple of interviews but it was hard to find something I could do while keeping my current job, which I love.

– Had our 5th anniversary. We’ve been together for 5 years and a few days.

– Had 2 extra days off.

– Worked a few mornings because the kids were off on Easter break and we had them from 10 a.m to 1 p.m.

– Didn’t go to the pool at all.

– Just came to Rui’s hometown for Easter. We got here Thursday, 30th at 9 p.m and are going home on Sunday afternoon.

– Got to 2500 followers on WordPress.

– Read 3 books. Not nearly enough but more than I usually do.

– Watched the Oscars.

– Watched a few movies, finished the second season of This is Us, the second season of Divorce, the first season of The Good Doctor, and we’re almost done with The Alienist.

– Spent a little time with friends and family.

– Announced our engagement, told our family and the wedding party.

– Decided on a date (yet to be announced) and began brainstorming wedding plans. The countdown is on!

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Review of my March Plans and Goals:

• Celebrate our 5th anniversary. We’re planning on maybe taking a little trip to a city I’ve never been to, here in Portugal. We have friends there too so we’re probably going to visit them.

– Boy, did we celebrate. We got engaged.

• Plan a little getaway trip.

– Didn’t happen.

• Paint our house. We really wanted to have done this last Summer but ended up not doing it. I think we’ll do it this month instead of waiting for the Summer. We really need to paint all of our inside walls and our patio walls too.

– Didn’t happen.

• Spend Easter with Rui’s family. Although they’re catholic my family don’t celebrate Easter so we always spend this holiday with Rui’s side of the family, traveling to his hometown and spending the long weekend.

– We’re here now.

• Get little Easter treats for everyone, on a budget. I hate this time of year because we always spend so much on chocolate. I hate giving presents that people are just going to eat and be done with.

– We bought eggs for the kids and nothing else.

• Have my sister over for a few days.

– Done.

• Watch the Oscars.

– Done.

• Make sure the kids finish this term with good grades. Please, God! Put some sense into their little heads. They can be so lazy and careless. I try to do my part but I cannot study for them or force them to work.

– Done.

• Finish my freelance work project until the 15th.

– Nope.

• Blog every day. There are a few things I really want to post this month:

1 Guest Post Sunday

2 Freelance Work and how I make money online

3 How we save money part II

4 Question of the day

5 The loveliest quotes

– Nope.

• Get our garden ready for Spring.

– It rained a lot so no! But we changed a few plants.

• Lose 10 pounds.

– Hahahaha

• Go to the pool at least 3x a week.

– Hahahahahahahaha

• Keep on decluttering.

– Tried but we had rain and guests and we’re busy.

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Plans and Goals for April:

• Find a second job.
• Work on our garden.
• Read 5 books.
• Decide on a wedding budget.
• Finish the first draft of our wedding guest list.
• Finally finish that freelance project.
• Blog every day.
• Go to the pool three times a week.
• Declutter and Spring clean our house.
• Caught up with laundry.
• Try some baking recipes. I’m trying to learn and become good at it.
• Probably paint our house.
• Look into buying a new bed and mattress.
• Try intermittent fasting.
• Watch a few movies.

❤️❤️❤️

• Watch La Casa de Papel.

February Goals: 11 days late

Before I was a blogger, I was a blog reader.

I absolutely loved reading about goals, to-do lists and routines.

When I started this blog, that was one of my main focus. With time, things changed.

I’m still very much a goal maker and definitely a list lover. I just haven’t been sharing them, for some reason. But I do have goals and things I would like to do this month.

February goals: 11.02 – 28.02

• Finish my big freelance work project and get maybe one more. Extra income is always welcome.
• Go to the pool 5 times a week. I’m really enjoying it.
• Keep on leaving my nails alone (not biting them)
• Keep on drinking 1.5 l of water every day.
• Blog every single day.
• Read 3 books.
• Read as many blog posts as I can every day.
• See/talk to family and friends as much as possible.
• Keep my de-cluttering/rearranging/reorganizing process.
• Remember my year 26 challenges.

 

 

And I’m back! – July reflection + Updates (Sorry for the long post, but I know you miss my rants)

Hello everyone,

How are you? I hope you’re all doing very well.

I’ve been MIA, haven’t I? I know. I have been lazy and doing other lazy things instead.

My monthly update is long due, since I always do one. I’m going to do a simple one and just tell you what I’ve accomplished and where I didn’t do as I had plan. I’m fine with everything, though. Whatever got done, very well. Whatever I didn’t get to, I will, when I feel like it.

• I have obviously completely ignored my cleaning challenge, for the second month in a row. I still mean to do it during the second half of this month, because I want to deep clean the house before I go back to work. I do it every Summer and sometimes Spring so I need to get to it.
• I’m still doing my movie challenge. Not watching one every day, but picking movies from the list to watch, instead of going for others. I mean to finish this list by the end of the month and creating another one from September to the end of the year.

My movie list:

Day 1: The Godfather

Day 2: The Godfather: Part II

Day 3: Casablanca

Day 4: Memento

Day 5: Sunset Boulevard

Day 6: Requiem for a Dream (I’ve started this one but gave up. It was late and it was confusing. I’ll obviously get back to it)

Day 7: Before Sunrise (Already waiting on my computer so it will probably be the next one to watch)

Day 8: Lion

Day 9: Les Miserables

Day 10: Babel

Day 11: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Day 12: Munich

Day 13: The Aviator

Day 14: Pulp Fiction

Day 15: Suicide Squad

Day 16: Inception

Day 17: It

Day 18: It’s a Wonderful Life

Day 19: Selma

Day 20: Apocalypse Now

Day 21: Cinema Paradiso

Day 22: To Kill a Mockingbird

Day 23: Rebecca

Day 24: Winter’s Bone

Day 25: Hotel Rwanda

Day 26: Mystic River

Day 27: Chicago

Day 28: Beauty and the Beast (Waiting on my computer)

Day 29: The Zookeeper’s Wife

Day 30: The Shack

I still have many to get through but I don’t mind at all.

I’ve been watching series, which is probably the reason why I haven’t been watching that many films.

Currently watching:

• Poldark (season 3)
• Married at First Sight (don’t ask)
• Upstairs, Downstairs (already in season 2)
• Game of thrones (Season 7)

I’m waiting for, in the fall:

• The Crown
• Outlander
• Victoria
• The Walking Dead
• American Horror Story
• Stranger Things
• Call the Midwife

I’ve been also watching documentaries and a bunch of YouTube videos, both from my favorite YouTubers and fact and educational videos, which I love.

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As for my blog, I have been neglecting it for a long time, not following any schedule, not posting regularly and ignoring most of my series.

I still mean to record and post the bipolar/depression/anxiety videos I was supposed to have done in July.

Here’s the list:

1. “When did it all start”
2. “The moment I realized I needed help”
3. “First diagnosis and treatment”
4. “From doctor to doctor”
5. “Medication”
6. “What do depression and anxiety feel like”
7. “Relapses and acceptance”
8. “Bipolar Type 2 – misconceptions”

I think I might leave these for September. I might record them during this month, so I have enough time to have everything ready and in order. I’ll probably publish them every Saturday and Sunday in September. I’ll let you know.

• I have completely been ignoring my meal plan and grocery haul posts, which everyone seems to really like. I’ll get back to them as soon as things as back to normal, when it comes to blogging.
• I’m not sure when I’ll go back to my daily journey and to-do list posts because I’m technically on vacation until August 16th, which means Rui is home and I don’t go about my normal routine, obviously.
• I’ll do a What’s Up Wednesday post on the 9th and on the 23rd, only twice this month.
• I’m still deciding what I’ll do about the huge list of tags and awards I’m nominated for.

My main goals in terms of blogging and social media were:

• I would like to get to 16,000 views. – Obviously didn’t.
• I also like to get to get to 1,600 followers. I’m at 1,402, at the moment. – I’m at 1,820
• 300 followers on Instagram would be nice. I’m currently at 272. (I would also be nice if people stopped following and then unfollowing, it happens every day and it makes me really pissed) – Currently at 310 but, with Instagram, you never know. 
• I would like to get to 250 twitter followers. Currently at 189. – I have new people following me every day but, apparently, I have a big number unfollowing too, since I’m still at 200.
• I’m at 134 followers on Pinterest. I’d be happy to get to 150. I’ve been slacking on Pinterest, which is sad, because I love it so much. Let the pining begin. – I’m at 145.
• It would be nice to post (each day) twice on Instagram, Twice on Twitter, Once on Facebook. – I haven’t.
• I want to make more blogger friends and meet new people. – I have!
• I want to help newer bloggers. – Sorry, haven’t been there for anyone this month.
• I’m starting to consider and research on self-hosted, but I won’t do it before I reach, at least, 2000 followers. I feel like there’s a right time for everything and this would be the right time for me. I need a solid audience and it doesn’t make sense to me to go self-hosted before a certain number. – I’m not going self-hosted anytime soon. I still don’t see the point, for me.

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My Personal Goals: Health

• 2 l of water every single day. Be very careful not to forget to drink it on weekends. – I drink plenty of water. Not sure about 2 liters though, simply because I haven’t been paying attention.
• A daily walk of at least 30 minutes. – hahahahahaha
• My daily 20 minutes of yoga (It feels amazing). – I love it so I have no idea why I’m so lazy about it.
• My 5 portions of fruits and veggies. – Oh yes!!
• Eat my seeds every single day. – Yeah!!
• Take my pills on time: that would be 10 a.m, 8 a.m, 10 p.m. – I’m supposed to take them breakfast and before bed. I’ve been doing well by taking them every single day and always on time at night, but not at the same time in the morning.
• Have my meals and snacks on time: 10 a.m, 1 p.m, 4 p.m, 7 p.m, 10 p.m. – Not at all.
• Cut dairy, except a tiny bit of milk for my oatmeal and plain Greek yogurt. – I have. I’ve been eating only cottage cheese, milk sometimes and tonnes of plain Greek Yogurt.
• Cut carbs. No carbs for dinner. Only for breakfast and lunch. Small amount. – I have cut carbs. I have just a small portion each day, unless I’m cheating and eating a whole box of cereal.
• Actually lose weight. I’d be happy with 4 kg to keep it healthy. Because I’m way too heavy for my height weight and structure, I might be able to lose more than that. I gain fast but lose fast also. – People keep telling me I look thinner but I haven’t noticed.
• Sleep no more than 9 hours. – It’s almost impossible. Medication makes me really tired.
• Take care of my skin, hair and nails. – I’ve cut my hair shorter because it needed and started using natural soap instead of body wash. Not so bad.
• Spend time outside every day. – Almost.

My Personal Goals: Entertainment and relaxation goals

• Read at least 30 minutes a day. – No.
• Listen to music at least 30 minutes a day. – I’ve done more than 30 minutes. I’ve been listening so much relaxation music. Every single day, sometimes for more than one hour. I’m very happy about it.
• Do some gardening every day. – I pretty much just water. It’s been too windy and I’m scared of getting a bad sinus crisis because of my ears.
• Crochet for at least 15 minutes a day. – Haven’t touched it.
• Color for at least 30 minutes a day. – Haven’t touched it.
• Call and see people more often. – I think I can say yes. I have been talking to my friends often and I think I can say I have a new group of awesome best friends. We’ve talked every day and we’re getting closer and bonding 🙂 Love you, ladies.
• Read blogs. – Failing miserably.
• Watch YouTube videos. – Yes, every day. 
• Play with Rosa outside. – Well, she’s pretty much napping all the time, the little lazy girl so not much play. She wants to play at night, when we’re relaxing on the couch. Crazy bitch.

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I guess I can say I’m doing better in general. Maybe because I’ve been resting and relaxing and watching nice movies and series and taking time to do what I really want to do. The house is a mess but I’ll get back to my domestic efforts soon. For now, I’m still on relaxation mode.

I’ll come back tomorrow with my plans for the second half of August. I’m not making many plans for the next two weeks, other than being with mah man and relaxing.

Thank you so much for reading and for always being there.

Love you all and always.

Chey.

Days of June – A monthly wrap-up

Good afternoon everyone,

Buckle up, this is going to be a long one. Hopefully you like to read monthly plans and reviews. I’ll try to make this as non-boring as possible.

Before I get into the monthly reflection, let me tell you I forgot to update you on my day, yesterday, because I fell asleep. I won’t do it now, but I’ll apologize.

I watched 2 movies and 10 minutes of another lol I watched Conviction, with Hilary Swank and really liked it. Then I caught about 10 or 15 minutes of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which is one of the saddest movies ever (I have seen it more than once). I really makes me cry. In the evening, Rui and I watched Little Miss Sunshine, which I had never seen but has been on my watch list for ages. I loved it. Funny, yet dramatic.

Anyways, there’s three things that are important that I want to share with you:

1. I didn’t meet my goal of getting 15,000 views this month, which is totally my fault because I know I slack a lot. I’m not even close at 11,516. Still needed 3,484 views to meet my goal. It was even worst because I had less views than in May, the total being 13,337 last month. I had 1,821 less views this month. Don’t worry I don’t lose sleep over this and I don’t obsess about it either. I just like to set goals and reach them. That is all.
2. I’ve noticed that my perfect party series posts didn’t have as much views or likes or comments as I was expecting. This is not for me, it’s for them. I would be so happy if you would go over the posts again, show your support to the bloggers, go over to their blogs, compliment their work. It would mean the world to me. It took so much work and they’re such special people and I think they deserve more love and attention.
3. I’m no longer taking any exams or finishing university this year. It really breaks my heart. I had not yet paid my tuition this year and I thought I could pay it later in the year, no problem with paying interest. Turns out they have a new rule, where you’re not allowed to do exams unless you have paid full tuition. It’s over 1000€ and it’s not like we don’t have it, we just cannot spend such a big amount right now, because we don’t know how long I’ll need to be home and we need to save and be frugal. I’m really sad. I’ve been trying to finish my degree since 2011 and I’m only 3 courses away. The need to work or mental illness have always been in the way. The worst part is, I’ll still have to pay this amount, of course, but enroll again next year for those 3 courses, paying an extra 800€. Life is never easy, is it?

So, this is what I wanted to share or talk to you about. Let’s now get to see what I accomplished in June, shall we? Don’t expect anything too grand.

My June goals were:

• Drink 1,5 l of water every day. – I mostly have because it has been hot and I have no issues in meeting my daily goal in the Summer.
• Do my yoga every single day and find one video with exercises for back pain to add to my regular yoga routine; – You know I didn’t do this.
• Go to the beach; – Went once. In my defense, it has been to windy and colder since.
• Wake up early every day, maybe 8.30 hours would be a good time; – I do. But then I get so sleepy I have to get back to bad. Pills.
• Go to bed earlier, between 11.30 and midnight; – No way.
• Take a walk in the morning, at least 3 times a week; – No.
• Do some gardening, at least every other day; – I’ve been pretty involved with gardening and my inside and outside plants and they’re all still alive and thriving.
• Keep up with house chores, they count as exercise; – Slacking so much.
• Go swimming; Didn’t.
• Watch 2 movies a week; – Yes, I have, give or take.
• Finish reading 3 books I need to finish and get back to the library. (bonus points for 5 books); – I finished one.
• Go to therapy once a week or every other week; – I went once. Things didn’t go as planned, totally my fault. 
• Finally schedule a gynaecologist appointment, a dental appointment and a dermatology appointment; – I didn’t, but that’s because I’m waiting for my insurance to come through on July, 25.
• Don’t slack on self-care: Wash face morning and night, use toner, moisturize, exfoliate once a week, do green clay mask once a week, do hydration mask twice a week. Moisturize body, exfoliate twice a week. Brush teeth 4 times a day. Do a pedicure and manicure. Make sure I get sun protection. Keep taking my multivitamin and my hair supplement. Do hair masks twice a week. Take my pills. – It wasn’t so bad.
• Don’t sleep too much. – Let’s not talk about this. 
• Cook healthy meals. – Not always but we have.
• Never let food spoil. – I don’t think we let anything spoil.
• Make breakfast for Rui and leave his clothes prepared every night. (I like taking care of him and he has a lot of responsibility and stress at work so I like to help as much as I can so he can focus on work); – Never thought about this again. Poor guy.
• Spend more time with friends and family; – Not much.
• Spend more time outside; – Definitely have.
• Drink less coffee, eat less sweets and fast food; – I have.
• Try new baking recipes; – Haven’t baked for 2 reasons: So we don’t eat sweets and to save because our stove and oven are electric (some are gas) and they use up a lot of energy. 
• Study hard and in an organized way for my exams; – Doesn’t even apply anymore. 
• Reach out to people I haven’t talked to in a long time; – No, but I have asked a few to be my friends on Facebook and to follow me on Instagram.
• Send postcards and letters; – Still haven’t.
• Wash dishes after dinner; – We bought the machine and have been good at putting it to work every day.
• Eat three meals and three snacks each day, be more consistent with meal times. Do a food journal. – No food journal but I think I’ve been eating better.
• Do a habit tracker; – Done. 
• Get more plants; – Done.
• Try to cut back on laundry and spend less water and electricity (we’re paying too much); – Done.
• Slowly get back to work. I’ve got some students already and I’m happy I’ll be able to work from home; – Maybe now in July. Rui and my doctor are kind of reluctant about this.
• Save money; – I have spent almost nothing, if you don’t count medical expenses. Which were over 200€.
• Help Rui with the veggie garden; – I haven’t.
• Work on our relationship (we are fine but we’ve been better. We’re both stressed out most of the time and need to focus on being nice to each other. We rarely fight but we can really say mean things and be nasty); – We have tried.
• Celebrate my mom and grandmother’s birthdays; – I was there for my mom’s, not for my grandmother’s.
• Start taking my driver’s license; – Definitely in July.
• Call people (family and friends) more often; – Nope.
• Invite people over; – Nope, I’m pretty much a hermit.
• Work hard on accomplish all of my goals. I know I can do it if I’m more organized and better with my schedules. – Not at all.

You guys must think: What a failure she is, so many goals and almost nothing got done. You know I would like to be more inspiring. But I had a bad month or even a bad year. But I will keep making goals and I don’t care if I fail them. I do them so I have something to work for.

In June, for my blog, I wanted to:

• Get to 15,000 views. – Didn’t happen.
• Get to 1,250 followers (currently at 1,118) – I did. Currently at 1397.
• Have a guest post every Sunday – I did:

Clothes Sizes by Ella May Garrett (4th)

“So What If I Want Something Else?” by Lyz – Stephanie

The 5 Ways To Happiness by Maggie

“How I came to be” by Jane Love

• Post every day – I did, usually 3 or 4 posts, actually;
• Post something useful (maybe tips or an informative article) and maybe some poetry or short-story) – I don’t think I did. But I have plans.
• Meet new bloggers; – I have.
• Keep my “Perfect Party Series” going. – Yes, today is the last day. I’ve written 19 posts on 19 different bloggers.
• Help new bloggers kick-off their blogs. – I think I did?
• Catch up on Awards – Only one or two.
• Do my cleaning challenge – I totally forgot about this. I mean to do it this month.
• Share more photos taken by me – Definitely! 
• Keep up my “Thursday meal planning and recipe share” posts – Kind of slacked.
• Write the following posts: My morning routine, my night routine, my body routine, my makeup routine, what I’m wearing this Spring with no shopping, what’s in my bag, day in the life, studying schedule;

I did a few of these:

My Beauty Routines and Products

My Morning and Night Routines

And I tried my hand at two kind of fashion posts:

My Shoe Collection – Inspired by Angela

My Dress Collection – Part I

I’ve also done two vlogs:

“Blogging Tips” – What I think works for me (Most useless VLOG ever)

Answering Random Questions From My Readers + Best Question Giveaway winner

I’ve done an internet cleanup:

• I announced on my personal Facebook that I would only use the account that I use for my blog. I followed everyone I was interested in, asked them to like my Pink for Days page and then received a few friend requests. Again, I’ve only accepted the ones I wanted to. Then, last night, I deleted my personal Facebook account that I had since 2010. Didn’t even blink. I couldn’t manage two so, using my blog account, I can post both for my real friends and family and for my followers at the same time. Everyone can see what I post and what’s going on the blog.
• I announced on my personal Instagram that I was going to shut down the account and keeping only the one associated to my blog. I followed who I was interested in keep following, unfollowed some people I didn’t know in real life or from the blogging world (otherwise I don’t have time to focus on your Instagram posts, the ones I WANT to check) and then, a few hours ago, I deleted my old Instagram account.
• I unfollowed a bunch of people I didn’t know, on Twitter, just to clean up a bit and to be able to keep up with you guys.
• I announced on Facebook that I have a YouTube account, in case anyone is interested in subscribing.
• I deleted all of my phones old photos. No, I don’t save my meal or plant photos.
• I unfollowed blogs that were inactive;
• I unsubscribe to junk mail on all of my email accounts (I have 6 but only really use 3 or mostly 2 right now, since the other three are for work and the other is for my university emails)
• I unfollowed a few people on Bloglovin.

I’ve also been more present on social media and gaining followers.

Next post: Plans for July

Thank you so much for reading, if you were able to read that much!! xx