Emily Marie is Me

55. For one month, plan and make at least 2 meals/week (9/7/2017) For our whole marriage I've been really bad at planning meals and making healthy dinners. We usually eat terribly. But I want to change that! So during the first weekend of August I planned about seven meals and did some major grocery shopping. I later came up with a few more. These are the meals I planned and the weeks I made them: Week of August 6th - Chicken & Broccoli Casserole, Chili & Cornbread Week of August 13th - Salisbury Steak, Chicken Taquitos Week of August 20th - Rainbow Wraps, Italian Dressing Pasta Week of August 27th - Mock Tacos, Oven Baked Chicken Week of September 3rd - Chicken Burritos, BLTs (There were a few small meals that I "planned," like I decided the night before that I was going to make Mac & Cheese the next day, but I didn't keep track of those. Obviously.) A few things that helped this goal go smoother: - Shredding chicken in the crock pot an...

ME THIS MONTH August felt less busy than July, but I don't really think it was. I had more work than normal and we planned for lots of time with friends. We've been trying to do more things with people we like, because the people we like are pretty awesome. I was able to spend time chatting with Kathryn (an old roommate and wonderful person) , geeking out over design and creative stuff with Saya, and playing board games with some of Jonathan's friends. We also went to the farmer's market with Sara and Garrett, got sushi with Myke and Amanda, and had a visit from Peter and Zoa. It's been a social month for us! Maybe that's why it didn't feel as busy - we were having more fun! Bad parts of the month - I got a cold. Boooo. Luckily it didn't get too bad and was over pretty quickly. Still lame though. And Daisy got her first molar! She was up around 2 or 3 every morning for a few weeks, just crying and not wanting to sleep. No fun. Also, I feel like bec...

80. Go to the movies alone (8/23/2017) So I got this idea from a friend's list, but I thought it would be fun to make it kind of like a date with myself too! I chose to go to an 8:30 showing of Wonder Woman. I got "dressed up" - i.e. I didn't wear a basic t-shirt or comfy pants, I straightened my hair, and I wore cute sandals - the only time I dress up this much or more is on Sunday. Then I took myself to one of my most favorite places - Sweet Tooth Fairy! I wanted to get something different, so I tried their "cupshake" where they mix a cupcake (I chose red velvet, my favorite) with vanilla ice cream. It was pretty good, but honestly I think I should have just gotten the cupcake haha :) Would have saved me like $2 and I've had way too much ice cream lately. But! I tried it and now I know. While eating my dessert, I stayed there and tried to brainstorm ideas for a business name for myself. It is so hard and I am SO picky. Unfortunately, I did not...

13. Get another design client ( 8/22/17) I so did not think I would be passing this one off already. I'm very happy, but also very surprised! It happened so suddenly and without me needed to really do anything! Story time! My other "client"   is a company called Oil Life.  (It's my job...but I'm like a contracted worker so they're also a client...right? Sure. Anyway!)  I do most of their social media graphics, but also some other random things when their in-house designer has too much to do. They have a big convention coming up so I've been doing a lot more than normal - mostly banners, a few flyers, etc. They also offered to design a "tear pad" for someone - we'll call him CJ - who is also helping them with something at the convention. (Tear pads are just sheets of information for doTERRA consultant people. Also, I don't know why I'm not going to give the guy's name, but I'm just not.) Because this falls in the "extr...

19. Get a new bedding set ( 8/8/17) Hooray for passing off the first item from my list! Our previous bedding was stuff that I had before we were even married. I think I got the blanket and bed skirt back in high school. Before starting this list, I noticed that it had started ripping in some places and threads were coming loose - obviously we needed something new. Before After The "quilted coverlet," as the zulily website called it, was on sale for like half off. I originally bought a different pattern, but then I started having second thoughts because of our black furniture. For the next two days I kept thinking about how it may not match very well. It bothered me so much that I contacted zulily customer service and changed my order. (I'm insane, I know.) Luckily it hadn't shipped yet AND the sale was still on. This pattern was the only one with black accents. While it's not really my style, getting out of your comfort zone is good! Seeing it in ou...

I want to break these monthly update posts into sections. This is probably kind of overkill, but I think it will help to give me direction and I feel like it will be easier for me too. If I finish a goal, I'll still do a separate post for it within the week I finish it (hopefully). ME THIS MONTH I'm thinking I'll use this section to give highlights from the month that aren't list-related. Maybe I'll share some favorites of the month, some fun things I've done, or some thoughts I have about my progress. July has been quite eventful! We spent lots of time with friends and family, and had a few big, one-day events that required extra time beforehand for planning and stuff. The week of the 16th was especially busy. I'm one of the Webelos leaders in my ward and there was a day camp on the 17th. It featured a 3 mile hike where the first mile was almost entirely uphill (my knees and I nearly died), and I brushed up on my first aid knowledge (no more breaths...

I am SO EXCITED to finally start this list. I was coming up with ideas back in November as a way to avoid homework, then I took forever to finish it after my last list was done. But these past few weeks I've really been itching to start, so I buckled down and finished it! I wanted to break my list into different categories so I could make it more well-rounded. I like doing fun stuff, but I wanted to make sure I was setting some personal goals in as well. While some items are from my last list that I never got to do, the majority of them are things that I've been inspired to do through many different channels. I've looked at friend's lists, as well as a few I've found on Pinterest. I've seen other people do things on social media that looked super fun, and I wanted to try them too. I've thought about what sort of skills I want to gain, what type of mother and wife I want to be, and what I can do to improve talents that I already have. When I hit 101, I fel...