Cabin in the City

Books, cats and midwestern charm.

Small Goals

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Small Goals // September 2017

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Welcome back to Small Goals! Let’s see how I did on last month’s goals.
  1. Get my summer reading list together. Done! I’ll let you know if anything is worth checking out.
  2. Get a few more designs whipped up for Kaminski Handicraft. Happy to report that this is also done! I added this Yes to staying in more! design, an X-Files hoop and a Beetlejuice hoop.
  3. Apply for the Crafty Fair. I applied for this, and unfortunately I didn’t make the cut. I also applied to Hover Craft in Milwaukee, but I won’t hear back until September 11.
  4. Get my stitching in order. Yes! My fabric and floss combinations are all in writing (finally).
  5. Clean, like really clean, my bathtub. Done. I’m pretty happy with how this turned out. The tub looks 95% cleaner and all it took was a half hour, some elbow grease and $5 for supplies.

5/5. I feel good about this past month! I had a whole week of vacation tucked in there and I still managed.

Let’s move on to September. I hate to see summer wind down, but I really love the fall. I’m going to take it easy on myself this month because – drum roll – I’m starting a new job! This is a task on its own, so I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself to accomplish a lot outside of work. Also, I’ll share more about that later!

  1. Find the perfect first-day outfit. I’ve bought a new interview outfit for every post-college job I’ve had – except for my new one. I’m going to treat myself to a new first day outfit instead.
  2. Clean up my wardrobe. Looking in my drawers and closet recently I realized that a lot of my clothes are under- or over-worn. It’s time to trim down my t-shirt collection and get rid of sweaters that have seen better days. I’m not going to go full-on Kondo by any means, but if I can get rid of a laundry basket full, I’ll be happy.
  3. Find a suitable 70th birthday gift for my dad. My dad likes simple things: new zip-front sweatshirts, Elvis memorabilia and anything he can take camping. Those aren’t going to cut it for a milestone birthday like this. I’m making it my mission to find something special for his 70th.
  4. Paint the cabin’s shutters. Our family cabin (OK – it’s a mobile home) is looking a little worse for wear due to its bleached out shutters. I want to spruce the place up and paint the shutters a fresh shade of Blue Midnight.
  5. End the mattress shopping saga. Earlier this year, I upgraded our full-size mattress to a queen. I was convinced after limited research and limited understanding about my own sleep needs that a Purple mattress was going to perfect for Michael and me. It was impossibly firm. So I ordered a Cocoon by Sealy. Still way too firm. It’s time to put this problem to rest. PUN INTENDED.

Alright, that’s all, folks! See you in October.

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Small Goals // August 2017

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Predictably, July went by quick just like any other summer month. Let’s see how I did on my goals.

  1. Take some time up north. Done! Michael and I went up to our cabin the very first weekend in July. My oldest friend Amanda and her husband came to visit, and we did some of my favorite tacky tourist things in the Wisconsin Dells. We also had a very good fire. I also learned that gin and tonics are amazing. WHO KNEW?
  2. Deepen my tarot practice. Did not even touch this. I spent a few weeks this month in a kind of stress spiral. I was tempted to shuffle the cards for some insight, but I thought all that anxiety wouldn’t yield the best reading.
  3. Sew a dress from Gertie’s Ultimate Dress Book. Didn’t get into this one either. To make matters worse, I bought even more summer fabric for another TBD dress. What is wrong with me?
  4. Get back on the horse with my Great American Baking Challenge.  Back on the horse! I tried my hand at making dinner rolls over the 4th of July weekend and then focaccia the next weekend. I think they turned out really well!
  5. Visit the Hoyt Park beer garden. Maybe I should have been less specific with this goal. I didn’t visit the Hoyt Park beer garden, but I did visit the one at Estabrook and I learned how to play kubb. Does this count? Half a point?

2.5/5. Overall, not super great, especially after I went 5/5 in June. I did kind of fall into an anxiety pit mid-month and lost control of my schedule a bit, and that definitely impacted how I spent my time. You can’t win them all, so let’s move on to August.

  1. Get my summer reading list together. I know what you’re thinking: it’s August and you’re starting a summer reading list? I am! Every year my mom, aunts, sisters and I head way up north for a week. In this week, I typically read a half dozen books, so it’s time to search out some titles and get my library requests in.
  2. Get a few more designs whipped up for Kaminski Handicraft. I added a few new designs to my Etsy shop last month and had some success. But I want to round out my shop with some new pieces. I’ve got some commissions in the pipeline, so maybe those will inspire some new work.
  3. Apply for the Crafty Fair. I saw via Instagram that the Crafty Fair in Madison is taking applications. I know I’m not as up on my game as a lot of other participants, but everyone has to start somewhere. Once I get those designs done, I might stand a chance!
  4. Get my stitching in order. I’ve been making a little headway on Etsy selling out of a few designs (this blerg! hoop is particularly popular). But every time I start to stitch a new one, I’m searching for an old pattern to trace and the right shade of floss. I think it’s time to get those things written down and organized. And maybe I can get some new office supplies to make it fun. (I love love love office supplies.)
  5. Clean, like really clean, my bathtub. Clean your bathtub, Lisa? Really? Yes! I’ve been working toward updating our bathroom for a while now, and the project is getting bigger all the time. One issue that I’ve run into is whether to replace our old porcelain tub with a new fiberglass one or not. Well, new tubs are pretty expensive and fiberglass isn’t as durable as porcelain, so I’d like to try to get the existing tub into fighting shape. It can’t be so hard – Nicole Curtis from Rehab Addict cleans up the nastiest tubs all the time. And it turns out that her secret weapon is super cheap and easy to find: Barkeeper’s Friend. Wish me luck!

Here’s hoping that August is a little more productive than July! On to the last (full) month of summer!

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Small Goals // July 2017

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My first month of small goals is behind me! Let’s see how I did in June:

  1. Celebrate our second anniversary. Done! Michael and I stayed in Madison for a short weekend. We visited the farmers market, the zoo and hit up the Old Fashioned on the square. Pretty much all my favorite things.
  2. Get the house in order. I got everything I wanted done (with the exception of  slaying the ever-present laundry pile). While the finer points of organization might have eluded me, I think the house looks much better. I’ll call it a win.
  3. Add a few non-wedding items to my Etsy shop. Done! I posted four new designs in my shop this month: a Golden Girls hoop, a 30 Rock hoop and two GBBO hoops. I’m working on a few more and working on replenishing the design I sold out of (yay!). I’ll have a post soon showing you some of these designs plus a few wedding hoops I knocked out!
  4. Visit La Crosse and Eau Claire. Check! Though it was a short trip, I got to see my friends’ new home in La Crosse and caught up with with one of my oldest pals at her baby shower.
  5. Polka at Polish Fest. Done. My dad and I got out on the dance floor for a minute and had a good time (even if we aren’t very good).

5/5. 100% for my first month isn’t too shabby! Let’s keep this momentum going in July!

Since June was pretty busy, I want to focus on slowing down and enjoying some time at home. June was a great month, but between all our busy weekends and trying to put our house back together post-basement repair, I felt like I didn’t get to really bask in the nice, long summer days. To make up for it, I’m trying fill this month with some nice home-based goals that help me unwind a bit.

  1. Take some time up north. Michael’s family has a little place outside the Wisconsin Dells, and I really don’t visit often enough. It’s a great place to relax and super convenient for our Madison-based friends to swing by for the day.
  2. Deepen my tarot practice. Is 2017 the year of tarot? Seems like everywhere I look, someone is getting into reading, including myself. After a few classes and my art show, I got really interested in it. So this month I want to dedicated more of the symbolism to memory, which means I have to actually read the books I got and start practicing!
  3. Sew a dress from Gertie’s Ultimate Dress Book. I cut out a basic day dress from this book all the way back in February because I was excited about summer sewing. Apparently not too excited because the pieces are folded up in a box right now. So it’s time to stitch this baby up and get a few wears out of it!
  4. Get back on the horse with my Great American Baking Challenge. I’ve been keeping up with this challenge, but the last two months I picked pretty easy recipes (key lime and banana cream pies) that didn’t really challenge me too much. I’m thinking about trying my hand at some bread recipes. We’ll see.
  5. Visit the Hoyt Park beer garden. We live pretty darn close to a nice beer garden. While we do make our fair share of trips there throughout the summer, Michael and I typically only go when we’ve got friends visiting from places that don’t have beer gardens (which, it turns out, is most places outside of Milwaukee and Germany). So I’m hoping to convince Michael to take a walk down there one evening and just relax. It’s really a nice place to spend an evening.

Let’s see if I can do 5/5 two months in a row! What are your July goals?

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Small Goals // June 2017

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A girl’s gotta have goals, amirite? That’s why I’m going to follow the lead of Nicole from Writes Like a Girl and start sharing a list of monthly goals. I like seeing what people are up to, I like checking off lists and accomplishing tasks – this series is no brainer, right?

So let’s start with my small goals for June.

  1. Celebrate our second anniversary – Last year we really celebrated our anniversary in a big way in Jamaica. Not every year is a vacation year, but every year is a reason to celebrate.
  2. Get the house in order – Since the basement got tore up from the floor up, we’ve been living in quite the mess. You can’t move in our house without tripping over a box for Goodwill, a piece of furniture that’s on its way out or just general clutter. I hope to remedy that so we can get back on track with a clean(-ish) home.
  3. Add a few non-wedding items to my Etsy shop – I recently made a Golden Girls hoop for my shop, and I really love how it turned out. I hope to add a few more fun pieces like it this month. I want to shoot for four more, but I’d be happy with three!
  4. Visit La Crosse and Eau Claire – I’ve got friends up both ways with new homes (and one with a baby on the way!). It’s been too long since I visited, so I’m hoping to stop by and say hey all in one weekend.
  5. Polka at Polish Fest – My dad and I started going to Polish Fest together about ten years ago. Now, it’s a family affair and the perfect way to celebrate Father’s Day. I’m hoping I can con Michael into a polka before I stuff myself with too many pierogis.

Alright, folks! Let’s see how I do this month! I have good feelings about the fun stuff, and hopefully enough frustrated energy to accomplish the home stuff. I’ll see you back here in July with an update (and before that with other posts!).