I have found myself sleeping quite late these days.
Sometimes it's Harry Potter keeping me up, and other nights it's the bright moon (or is it insomnia?).
Other times still, it's my phone.
Bad bad smartphone.

Anyway, I'm about to purchase two books for the first time in years.
I'm hoping that reading will take the place of playing on my phone before I fall asleep.


Fingers crossed?


&

way back at the beginning of 2012, i wrote out a list of resolutions

renovate my room; finish my 21st birthday quilt; read (at least) one non-phD related book per month; spend less money; live healthier - sleep more, eat better, smile everyday; learn to balance my life; finish HPW 2011 US Tour photobook; reduce computer time as much as possible; travel to europe; be awesome.

well, here we are and...lol.
i think i managed about 33% of that list, which isn't too bad. but then, it hits me that i completed the first two in the first month, and then, it kind of makes me think what the hell happened during the rest of the year?

stream of consciousness to myself: i'm really proud that i finished renovating my room and sewing my quilt. both accomplishments that i see everyday as a reminder of what i can do when i put my mind to it. (let's just ignore how rarely i put my mind to things). i'm proud that i've read a few more books this year, but hopefully, i'll be able to read a few more. have i spent less money? probably not. i'm not even sure that's a goal i want to carry over, but i guess...i'd like to save money so that i can spend money, if that makes sense? living healthier is definitely something i want to do more of, as well as balancing my life and reducing computer time. but let's be realistic, i am supposed to be a phD student after all...i'll have to set some slightly more SMART goals. scrapping the photobook idea because...yeah, nah. i didn't get to travel to europe last year, but i did get to go to the US again. which was really cool. FINGERS CROSSED FIVE TIMES OVER i make it over there this year. and of course, i always want to be awesome. 

i'm not quite ready for 2013 yet. somehow, despite all the free time i've been handed these past two weeks, i haven't thought about what i want this year to mean yet, which is really strange because usually i reflect, reflect, reflect...

i guess...

1. learn more. learn to take a photograph, learn another language, find out more about the world and the people who are in it with me.
2. be creative. i want to take on one creative project a month (doesn't have to be big)
3. read more. let's aim for a slightly more realistic...10 books this year.
4. keep sleeping and eating (appropriate amounts at appropriate times), keep smiling (always).
5. return to europe. come on!
6. be awesome (:P).

donna.

forgive me if i sound a little too proud of myself but come on! two new year resolutions by the end of january! whootwhoot~

i've been meaning to renovate my room for...awhile now (read: a few years)
and i finally, finally got around to doing it with the help of my mum and miss cherry hoho
it's been so long that the ideas surrounding my bedroom have evolved from painting clouds on the wall to a tangerine/turquoise theme to the grey/yellow theme that i finally settled on

the project took three days, beginning friday when mum and i went down to the local bunnings and spent almost $200 on paint materials
we ended up leaving with (what was essentially) 4L light grey, 2L dark grey, 1L yellow and 1L chalkboard paint. plus a bajillion brushes and rollers and 33048209 rolls of painter's masking tape (three...)

day 1 was spent moving furniture into other parts of the house, attempting and failing to sand down the existing paint splatters on my wall and painting two coats of the base colour.
i slept at 3am that night on the basement couch.

day 2 i woke up around noon, and we yumchaed with cherry at carlingford before returning to my mess
the majority of day 2 was spent taping and painting stripes as well as getting high on chalkboard paint fumes. yummy~
we were epically nerdy when we attempted to line up the stripes, making sure we had at least two data points for each strip of masking tape and when that wasn't possible, we ended up ~eyeballing our data.
cherry left around 11pm and i continued painting the trimming etc etc,
i slept at 3am last night, on the basement couch.

then today, was spent moving everything back into my bedroom and reconfiguring everything.
and now we're done.
and tonight i will sleep at 10, and it will be in my bed, enclosed in new surroundings.
so excited~

donna.

new year, new layout!
new year, new resolutions!

this was the old layout, which i've had since 30th January, 2011:

as you can probably notice, the blog's had quite a big revamp...(obviously have way too much time on my hands, not).

then there were last year's resolutions...

aside from...be nicer to family and bitch less about life - i've pretty much failed on all other accounts.
but no matter, because 2012 is a new year! this year, i tried to make my resolutions S.M.A.R.T so that i have a higher chance of reaching them;
and i'm off to a good start (with my quilt finished and all *proud grin*)

now to get away from my computer ^^
adios!




donna.

it appears that at the beginning of every year i have a very melodramatic moment of panic in which i become completely overwhelmed by what's in front of me...
le sigh.

there's just so much possibility in a new year, you know?

i was going through my to do list from 2011, and realised...i'm really crap.
like, really crap.
so much i managed to put off, postpone, etc etc etc
but at the same time, i'm super elated that i can finally cross new zealand off my list, since it's been there ever since LOTR: FOTR came out. it feels this achievement, possibly because the idea that i would get to go at the beginning of the year was so remote.

this year,
i feel like there's some really exciting opportunities ahead, but at the same time, i'm pretty scared that they'll pass me by, or i don't take full advantage of them.
placements start this year, i might tutor this year, i might overload my courses this year, i might go somewhere with my phD this year, i might try and network this year.
i might take better photos this year, i might take less photos this year, i might change the way i process photos this year. i might start experimenting with videos this year.
i might make more things this year. i might try and only give homemade gifts this year. i might sew more this year. i might sing more this year. i might stare at the sky a bit more this year. and my computer screen a little bit less.
i might sleep more this year. i might spend less on clothes and food this year. i might go to europe this year. i might not travel this year.


what is going to happen this year?




donna.

don't know what randomly set me off but i'mma try go on a health kick
i'm pretty sure it's partly (mostly) for vain reasons
been feeling like a huge potato lately, with like heaps of spots on my face
(or am i remembering a gaussian-blurred version of my previous face?)
and my dough-y face is more dough-y than usual
and instead of two rolls there are three
etc
etc
etc

not sure what this is going to entail
but hopefully, there will be a bit of money saved, i.e. by eating homemade sandwiches and salad
instead of buying lunch all the time
so it's another two pebbles killing one bird thing
score!

also, need to reduce computer time
another one of my post-thesis resolutions that i've just completely failed at -.-
maybe i need to purchase a lonely planet book and write the tourbook by hand

now that i think about it, i really suck
i shall write a list of resolutions and nag myself...
yes.

donna.