Ashley: New Year New List.

So we began 3 years ago. And I for the most part failed. I've been thinking a lot lately about my life, and the things I'd like to change about it, thing's I'd like to learn, and the things I want to work towards. So I'm starting again, but I'm changing a few things based on what I learned from this last go:

1. 1001 things is a lot of things. Even for a nearly 3-year period. It works better for me to add things as I go. So I don't end up with crazy-stupid things (like making 365 dresses), and actually fill my list with things that are meaningful, useful, and purposeful. If I can only accomplish 100 really important to me things in 1001 and one days, I'll probably be happier about that than accomplishing 1001 arbitrary things.

2. I get overwhelmed easily, really easily. So I'm biting off my list in chunks of five things at a time. At least as far as the bigger things. On my personal blog, I've made a list of five big goals for 2013, and doing five additional goals each month. The monthly goals are smaller, less vague or broad. All of these will be added to my list.

3. I've decided that each time I complete something I'm going to put some money aside. One of my goals is to start each paycheck with a savings deposit, and I'd like to add a little to that for accomplishing goals. Smaller amounts for smaller goals, larger amounts for larger goals.

As of now there are only 13 things on my list, and I'm planning to add more as I go along in the journey. I hope you all join in/follow along!

Sarah: Graduate!!

Yep!! I finally did it!! I graduated college!! SO, here's to becoming an official adult!! YAY!

First my family had a photo shoot:

Then after a while, I walked into the ceremony accompanied by "Pomp and Circumstance":

Then I went to the stage to shake some hands with people I don't know:

 But when all was said and done, I got a thing to put my diploma in. The diploma comes in the mail...

 My wonderful sister:

 My super-handsome boyfriend: 

My proud parents:

So I am so glad this challenge is done!! Finally!!

Sarah: Write a Play

During this semester, I wrote three plays, which was one of my goals, more than completing that. So, I can check it off of my list!! Yay!!

I also had that book read at a play reading, and it was great!! Everyone laughed where they were supposed to laugh and it was a great night!! We all had a great time performing in each other's plays and listening to the culmination of a great semester. Afterward, we had cookies and sat around and talked. I loved it!!

So, good challenge to myself and I had a great time completing it!!

Jessica: midnight showing of Alice in Wonderland!

18. Go to the midnight premiere of a movie

i know it's been a while since i've updated, and it's been a while since Alice in Wonderland premiered. it was so fun! my first midnight premier of any movie, ever. it was full of laughs, fro-yo, young girls dressed up in either slutty Alice/Mad Hatter outfits or pajamas, and searching for Ashley because we thought she died and/or got lost.


[edit:]

ALSO!

69. No fast-food for three months

technically i had In-n-Out once during this time, but i don't qualify them as "fast food". anyways, i had Del Taco one time once the "three months" was over, and it was yuck! i remember how much i didn't enjoy fast food...so even though it is not on my 101 list, i will probably keep away from fast food unless it is the last thing on earth to keep me alive. or second-to-last, because i despise spam.

Sarah: Silent Weekend, A post that took forever to get out

One goal that I promised myself that I would do this year, was the goal of finally going to Silent Weekend. I had the money, I paid early, and I was so pumped for this goal!!!

Well, before we got there, we had no idea there was snow on the ground, so many of us had packed for slightly chilly nights, but there was at least 3 feet of snow on the ground!! So we were a bit cold. But we made up for it in fun!!! Here are some pictures of my adventure!!!

So this was my bed. My bunk mate and I were stuffed into a closet and the bed creaked and shrieked all night long, unless we stayed perfectly still. Plus the fact that I was squishing her....:

First, I was on the pink team. As many of you may not know, I HATE PINK. SO I wasn't too thrilled with this:

But we were the Pink Panthers, so it was O.K.:

For our teams, we had to compete, so I was in a three legged race:

And we had to shave a balloon:

Which we won:

We competed in other games too:

We also had to put on a skit, which was awesome:

(Right here I am saying, "The Money is Gone!!!")

And as I mentioned before, there was a lot of Snow!!!:

And Icicles, which I immediately turned into sword, because I am a Pirate:

I started killing people:

Then at the end of the week, we took a group picture. I got stuck behind some people, because I didn't know where to stand. Oddly enough, that happens to me a lot.:

So I loved this goal, and I loved completing it!! On to more exciting things!!!

Charissa: More Accomplishments

Seriously guys, I am on a to-do list roll. I've been accomplishing so much. Soon I will be at a dead-end b/c all the expensive things will be left undone.

Another thing I did over break, which I believe was also on Brianna Barrett's list was
*drum roll*
KAREOKE!

We went to the Falconers Inn bar downtown and sang kareoke for like, three hours.
I started out wiht "Bohemian Rhapsody" with Bri and Ash, then sang "I Got You Babe" with Bri, solo'd "Cabaret", and ended the evening with a little "Say You Love Me" with Ashley.

It was great fun, and we ended up getting our food and drinks for free, so it was free great fun, which of course is the best fun of all!


xoxo

Charissa: Accomplishment MACHINE

HEY Y'ALL!!!

Oh my gosh I haven't blogged in SO long!
I took a two week break from all things media and technology, and then I went on Spring break and was far too lazy to blog. But joy of joys I accomplished so many of goals over spring break! I'll post a few now, and a few later...I made sure to take pics of almost every accomplishment [=

To start Spring Break off right, my mom, sister, and I tried to go to Santa Monica. Mom got lost, no one would listen to me, the girl who actually lives in L.A., and thus we accidentally wound up in L.A. and accidentaly achieved goal #101


We had fun adventuring, but honestly it's quite dirty and gross.


I hated the constant smell of "cracked-out hippie" and all the near-hobo's who were waisting away their lives. But it was fun to experience it...now I feel like a true L.A. girl haha.


Next to-done was #46



I made it with egg whites, zucchini, mushroom, cheese, spinach, chilli powder, ground pepper, and garlic powder. It was yummy, but next time I'll make a crust to go with it.
I also made a berry pie from scratch to go with it, all though that's not on my list.



Well, that's all for now. I'll post more of it soon [=

xoxo

Ashley: SNOW!

Hey guys! I know I've been kind of quiet here, but life has been a bit crazed and I kind of fell off the bandwagon for a bit. but I am back with a rather silly accomplishment!

I've lived in So. California my whole life. If we're lucky (and this has happened a total of three times in my life) we might get an hours worth of snow. It snows a handful amount and then melts. So I've always wanted to make a snow angel and snowman. Both are on my list, both are things I've never really done.

Well this year my family and I went up to Big Bear after we'd had a pretty big rainstorm at my house. If it Rains in Riverside, it snows in Big Bear. So up we went for a wonderful day in the snow! It was a blast. We didn't end up making a snow man, but we did make snow angels! Unfortuantely this is the one activity I didn't bother photographing, so no pictures, but I did slide down the snow using my skirt as a sled!

We did end up going back up there last weekend, but I forgot to take pictures of our snow play then too. I never did get around to the snowman. However we are going back up there for Easter and there should still be snow on the ground so I will make sure to get my snowman done and photograph it!

So silly as it may seem, I am really excited for this accomplishment!

Done!

Sarah: Deaf Day at Disneyland!!!

My goal was to go to Disneyland. On deaf day. That has been my goal for years, but this year I told myself I would finally do it, and do it I did!! Through my dorm building, I got a free ticket, a free ride, and $20 for food free!! So I did it in fashion this year! It was really great! We did almost every ride! So here was my goal:

I went on the Dumbo ride:

I went on the teacups:

I saw so many things! I have missed Disneyland! It was so exciting!

I even saw Captain EO!! I know!! I haven't seen this movie in years and years!! When I was a kid, I forced my parents to see that movie every time we went to Disneyland. They got annoyed, but I loved it and it made me euphoric to be able to see it again!!!

So, I would say this goal is done!! So many goals coming up that I am going to be posting about! I have sort of completed a few more and many are in progress right now, so I am excited to share that with you all within the next few weeks!!

Charissa: detox-ish

I am currently on a mental, health, and spiritual detox of sorts. Giving up a few things. Not a big deal. But it's pretty hard. And I have felt like death warmed over for two days...I believe I had/have food poisoning. Yikes.

I was looking over my 101 list and I actually have a few more things in progress than I realized.

I'd like to cross some off over Spring Break. Maybe I'll take my parents out to a nice dinner or go for a picnic. And I'll try learning how to do a cartwheel? Yea...maybe that.

I'm totally failing in the exercise category but it's 'cause I have bad injury to my hamstring and have to do physical therapy so I'm allowed. But I think that's part of what is making me feel so yucky.

This post was weird. Sorry.

xoxo

joel mchale!

98. Go to a stand up/improv show






a fun, memorable night, and life-changing for my own personal reasons. hopefully it is all for the best, and i can't wait to see how everything fits into God's always perfect life for me.

Jessica: New Month, New Updates...

sorry i haven't updated lately, weird times.
i haven't accomplished anything new yet, but there are some possible things to come...

i haven't drank any soda since January 1, just like i've been planning.
i really think i could go the entire 1001 days, even though its hard to just not give in.
i'm loving tea and orange juice though...

i may be visiting a lot of new cities this year, which include Fargo, ND...Minneapolis, MN...Portland, OR...and after that, who knows?

i'm not reading out of my daily Psalms devotional, but i am reading from my Bible, just whatever speaks to me. i admit i haven't been doing this every day, if anything i've just been starting this in the past week, but i'm loving it so far and everything i'm reading is inspiring.

i'm praying a lot more, if anything just for peace and strength to accompany hour by hour.

that's about it so far...

Charissa: Happy February

Well, yesterday was January 31st and I thusly squeezed in my one church day for the month! I really want to go more, but this quarter is killing me. I have class 6 hours a day Monday-Friday, and Rehearsal 3-5 hours a day/night Sunday-Friday. My only day off is Saturday and I use it to attempt sleep and homework.

I'm proud of myself for sticking to my fitness goals, eating goals [I've slipped up a few times with dessert but everyone's gotta live sometime, am I right?], being happier, and getting into a mianstage musical.

I have not been good with purposefully praying every morning. I talk to God here and there all day long but I think I need to very purposefully devote at least ten minutes of everyday to him, whether that be through memorizing verses, journaling a prayer to him, verbally praying, or reading my Bible. God is the biggest part of me, Christ is my biggest blessing, and the Trinity is my driving force so I must indulge in this relationship. On that note I don't like the church I've been forcing myself to attend, so hopefully I'll be able to find something better within a mile so I can walk.

On the agenda for February: BIRTHDAY! Woohoo! Also, Sweet Charity opens in less than four weeks! OMG!!!!!! Plus mid-terms this week, many papers, many projects, etc.

Here's to a busy life full of joy, passion, and a nice cherry of stress on top.

xoxo

Jessica: Deaf Coffee Night

50. Start a monthly "Deaf Coffee Night" at a coffee shop

tonight was the first (of hopefully many!) Deaf coffee night at Jazz-n-Java! it was so fun!

at first i was really nervous and worried that people wouldn't show up because of the rain...but overall, we had about 10 people show up! some of my old friends, my old ASL professor and her friends, an old classmate, and a couple (that came all the way from an entirely DIFFERENT college! word spreads fast!) all came :)

we stole chairs and sat in a group and had 95% of our conversations in ASL. it was so fun! the level was from beginner to advanced, but everyone was so good at slowing down for others and explaining signs if they were forgotten.

we even had a fun moment because one man, David, forgot the sign for "thank you" and asked "oh, is it this?" and did the sign for...basically, "eff off", and i laughed and said "nooo!" so i explained what just happened to my old ASL professor and my new interpreting friends, and they laughed. then they decided to share their funny stories of messing up certain signs and getting confused.

overall, fun night! everything that i wanted was accomplished: meeting new people, practicing ASL, and having fun!

Charissa: fitness

Check out my newest post on my other blog Live A Little to see how I'm doing with my health and fitness goals!

xoxo

Charissa: better choices

So...I figured out a better way to monitor my eating. I've been writing down everything I eat each day for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, and then what type of exercise I do that day. Every day I want at least one thing to write down for exercise, even if it's just lifting my arm weights for five minutes. A little exercise is better than nothing.

This writing down everything I eat [and recording the portions if they are abnormally small or large] is working well for me so far. It allows me to really look at the choices I'm making, and really evaluate if I'm being healthy or not. The past two days I've done really well. I also put a tiny strike through something if I know I only ate it because I was bored, or if I was no longer hungry but ate it anyways. This is working well because it's making me really acknowledge if I'm eating when I'm hungry, if I'm eating just to eat or because my friends are eating, as well as protecting me from reverting into starving myself or being to hard on myself.

So far I've been eating really healthy stuff, but I'm realize I just eat super huge portions. I'm not sure whether I actually need those large portions, or if it's just a habit, but it's good for me to see how I'm eating. Yay for health.

xoxo

Bri-Detox and Embroidery

I am loving the detox! I have so much more energy and feel fabulous! And I've lost some pounds!

Also, I went to a quilt show this weekend and got some adorable embroidery patterns and supplies so I can begin my goal of learning to embroider!

More later!

Love!

Charissa: I'm not doing so well

With losing the cake weight.
=[
I had apple pie on Thursday, non-fat yogurt with banana yesterday, and today I had:
Breakfast: A big bowl of smart start + banana
Lunch: A salad with Turkey meat, 4 slices of Honeydew, and a HUGE bowl of oatmeal with strawberries, bananas, and peaches.
Dinner:A big bowl of minestrone, an orange, and a bowl of smart start/special k
Snacks: an apple and a banana

I guess when I spell it out like that it doesn't seem like so much but I feel like the quantity of food I'm eating is the problem. I don't stop when I'm full. Tonight I was full after the minestrone, but I wanted the crunch of cereal so I had an entire bowl anyways. I need to learn to stop when I'm done. And the desserts need to just plain disappear except for special occasions.
I'm not getting any more toned or any slimmer or any of those things. And this gut that refuses to escape me is about enough to drive me insane. It's not about losing weight. It's about being happy with whatever place my body is at and right now I simply am not. But I'm not happy with what I was either. I think it's going to take a long while to figure this out.

*sigh*

Being healthy is probably the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.
Especially when I am literally surrounded by people with horrible eating habits.
At least I just exercised by way of jumping jacks/jump rope/salsa/pilates for an hour.

How are you guys doing with the diets? Losing weight yet? Any helpful hints?

xoxo

Ashley: Check Mark?

So yesterday I spent the WHOLE DAY working on my car. It needed it. I now have a front passenger seat. Trust me, big accomplishment. One of my goals was to learn how to mantian my own car. I don't mean, keep it clean, fill it with gas, keeps lights in working order, I mean how to change the oil, how to fix the brakes, how to keep it running in ace condiditon. I figure that since I am taking this car to Oregon in June, then I should probably learn how to fix everything without my dad's (of the jerk at E-Z lube who ripped me off) help.

I now know how to pretty much rebuild the damn thing. The only two things I've yet to learn are how to change the brakes and change the oil. I'm pretty sure the oil part is fairly simple, but not sure on the brakes. We do need to change the brakes here fairly soonish, so I should be able to get that down pat. I also want to find a manual for the car so that I can fix any other problems that might come up when I'm 1000 miles away.

So here's the question: does this qualify as completeing a task? I mean yeah I do still need to leanr two things but they shouldn't be brain surgery. What are we saying? to check, or not to check?

Sarah: Working on my Calligraphy Goal Today

Today I worked a lot on my goal to make my calligraphy better. It is simply something that I never finished doing that I have always told myself that I would do. Now, I am making the time for it.

Here is one of the fonts that I was copying.

Here is my first attempt at the alphabet.

Here is my name after many attempts to get it right...

It can only get better from here!!! So here is to working on a goal!!

UPDATE:

Done all by myself. What do you think? Can I say this one is complete? Or should I practice some more?

FINAL UPDATE: