Jana Says

Living life from cover to cover

My 40 by 40: The official list

by Jana 41 Comments

As one of my goals for the Choose Your Own Adventure February theme of complete, I decided I would finally complete my 40 by 40 list. I mean, every day is a day closer I am to 40 and that’s just one less day to work on it (I’m within spitting distance, if spitting distance is just over 2 years) and since the clock is ticking, I got my shit together and created the list.

I really struggled with what to put on it because if I’m being totally honest, I am not a daredevil. I have no less than zero interest in skydiving, bungee jumping, climbing a mountain, riding a motorcycle, or anything that might maim me. Except parasailing but I feel like I’m too fat to do that. In fact, I have a whole separate list devoted to weird reasons I want to lose weight and that’s one that’s on it (let me know if you want that list. I’m happy to share. Meh. Maybe I’ll share it anyway. It’s pretty amusing).

Anyway.

When you’re not thrill seeking, or athletic, and have zero aspirations to achieve either of those, rounding out the list is pretty difficult. I managed to do it, though! Here’s what it looks like in no particular order and no specific grouping (although I probably should categorize them at some point for easier tracking):

 

 

 

40 by 40

  1. Publish a book
  2. Visit the UK
  3. Get to my ideal weight (one that I’ve decided)
  4. Learn French
  5. Visit Salem, MA
  6. Take a cross country drive (preferably in a convertible)
  7. Volunteer somewhere meaningful to me
  8. Visit the Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC
  9. Attend an art gallery show
  10. See Jimmy Fallon live
  11. Read through the Bible
  12. Take a dance class
  13. Write a screenplay (not to have it produced. Just to have it written)
  14. Vacation in Myrtle Beach, SC
  15. Sew an apron or blanket. Maybe both.
  16. Watch the AFI top 100 movies list (the 66 I have not yet seen)
  17. Go to a drive-in theater
  18. Relearn how to play an instrument (I used to play piano and guitar)
  19. Stay in a log cabin
  20. Go to an MLB All Star game or World Series game
  21. Sit in on a Supreme Court hearing
  22. Be debt free (again)
  23. Eat a farm to table restaurant
  24. Swim with dolphins
  25. Host a murder mystery party
  26. Give $100 tip to a server
  27. Adopt a family at Christmas
  28. Make candy from scratch
  29. Get a hot stone massage (this a big deal for me as I hate massages)
  30. Go to the top of the Empire State Building
  31. Be an extra in a movie
  32. Have a Twitter conversation with a celebrity (that lasts longer than a one tweet reply to something I said)
  33. Have a blog post go viral
  34. Read a classic novel (yes, Kristen, I will consider Pride and Prejudice)
  35. Read a book of poetry
  36. See a nonmusical Broadway show
  37. Pay for a stranger’s dinner in a restaurant
  38. Take a cooking class
  39. Visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
  40. Visit MLB Hall of Fame

Bonus: speak in public or at a conference for longer than 2 minutes

I have approximately 52 months to get this all done. Some task will be easier to complete than others but it averages out to roughly one activity per month, alloting time to budget, plan and make necessary arrangements for the items that involve travel or learning a skill but overall, it’s a completely realistic list. I aimed high but not so high it’s impossible.

I’m excited to get started. This should be a fun adventure. Even if turning 40 scares the shit out of me.

Do you have a list like this? If so, what did you put on it? Have you done any of these? What should I do first?

 

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Choose Your Own Adventure: January recap and February goals

by Jana 26 Comments

So remember last month when I set all kinds of ambitious goals for January’s theme of complete? Remember I said I wanted to edit my book, start a newsletter, update the photos in my living room, and update the decor in my daughter’s playroom?

Yeah. Me, too. I think the high of the freshness and possibility of the new year had kicked in and I was feeling extra motivated. Then, you know, the high wore off and I shit the bed on all of the goals. Well, three of them. I opted out of doing the newsletter for now because I just don’t have the energy right now to take on a new project. So quitting technically isn’t failing.

That’s what I’m telling myself, anyway.

As far as the book, I did write the summary and started combining bits and pieces and scraps into one cohesive story (sort of), and I’ve written some new content. So it’s both a pass and a fail on this one.

With the photos and the decor, I know what I want to do. And there’s no reason except my own laziness that I haven’t done it. I mean, lack of funds isn’t helping but it’s mostly due to my own lack of motivation. So that’s a huge fail.

You know what I did manage to complete? Seven books, 3 seasons of Rescue Me, 1 season of SouthLAnd, some laundry, our February budget, and going to approximately 2934073 doctor appointments (not to mention scheduling a shit ton more). And I managed to stick to my new blogging schedule.

So I didn’t totally suck at life during January but I didn’t succeed either. Neutral will have to do at this point.

GoalSettingLinkup

But now it’s February. A new month, a new theme–create. Since I can’t handle failing for another month, I decided that I’d limit myself to only three things to create and absolutely none of them will involve arts and crafts. I need to do stuff that will not intimidate me nor make me cry at the thought of doing them. That said, here’s what I’m creating in February:

  1. My 40 x 40 list. I’ve wanted to do one of these for awhile and I’m finally doing it. Well, truth be told, since Steph is gracious enough to give us the themes in advance, I knew this was something I wanted to do this month and I’ve already completed this one. If you guys are interested, I’ll be happy to share what I put on it.
  2. My “already done” list. When I was researching what others put on their age related bucket lists, I realized how fortunate I’ve been thus far in my life and how much I’ve actually done. In a way to not feel so pathetic regarding the current state of my affairs, I think it’ll be helpful to look at how much I’ve done. If you guys are interested, I can share that list, too.
  3. A recipe binder. Technically, I already have one of these but it desperately needs an overhaul, including removing recipes we’ll never try and adding ones we love. I’ve been having trouble with Pinterest (where I get the bulk of my recipes) crashing as well as finding dead links and I don’t want to keep having these problems. So back to the old school paper method we go.

If time and motivation permit, as well as permission from my husband, I’ll start editing the short stories my husband writes for our daughter because I want to have them put in a printed book (he has a blog where he writes them now). If anyone can draw and wants to help with some illustrations, I’d love to talk to you. I can’t draw for shit.

So that’s what my month looks like. How about you guys? What are you creating in February?

 

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My podcast: 5 things you need to know

by Jana 11 Comments

Ordinarily I share my Friday favorites and link up with Amanda and I had planned on it but a bunch of you guys wanted to know about my upcoming podcast so I figured I’ll switch gears and do a Friday Five and share 5 things about my podcast you need to know:

  1. I’m cohosting it with my friend Bobby, who blogs at 2 Minute Finance. The idea came about while we, and a group of our other blogger friends, were wandering the streets of New Orleans and as we talked, we realized we had similar ideas for a podcast. We decided it would be a good and fun idea to work on it together.
  2. The first episodes will be released in January. Right now, we’re still working out the kinks in the interview format and developing our guest wish list along with practicing how to interview, designing a logo, and writing our rapid fire Inside The Actors Studio-type questions for the end of each episode.
  3. Even though it was founded at a financial blogger conference and Bobby is personal finance blogger, we don’t plan to have a personal finance focus at all. In fact, the nature of the podcast is everything but the blogs. As in, we’re talking to bloggers about all the stuff they love. Except their blogs. There’s enough blog talk. We want to know about the person behind the blog.
  4. It’s official name is Offline. A woman in my mastermind group came up with it so I have to give her props. It’s a kick ass name and I’m super excited about it. I just hope we have no conflicts and we don’t have to change it. So far, I think we’re good. (Off topic: remember yesterday when I didn’t know if I should italicize or use quotes for podcast titles? I looked it up. Titles are italics, episode titles are quotes. Just in case you need to know).
  5. I have no idea what I’m doing. And my interview skills are terrible and I have consciously remind myself not to curse. Thankfully Bobby is way more savvy with this stuff than I am and all I really need to do is write questions, send emails, and show up. And not curse.

Thanks you guys for your enthusiasm and questions and I can’t wait until I have episodes to share!

Since I can’t let a Friday go without sharing at least a couple of my favorite things, here’s my favorite funnies:

This kid is brilliant

computer guy
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you understand this, we are BFFs.

cinderella

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cow vengeance. The threat is real.

cows

 

 

 

 

 

 

And my favorite internet reads for the week were this post on how lateness is actually extremely rude and selfish (and one of my biggest pet peeves); this post discussing that moms are people, too; this list of 18 ways people make their lives harder than they need to be; and this list of 20 unconventional date ideas (my husband and I plan to do a few of them).

Let’s end this with my favorite 90s song of the week, “Plowed” by Sponge.
Plowed by Sponge on Grooveshark

On deck for Monday: the second post in my cheer mom series, focusing on the financial aspects of being a cheer parent.

Have a great weekend!

 

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The return of Pinterest Project Tuesday

by Jana 12 Comments

Last year, when I transitioned the blog from strictly personal finance to a lifestyle blog, I started documenting my attempts at completing recipes, projects, and assorted other things I found on Pinterest. I stopped when we moved and never started it up again.

Until now.

As part of my Choose Your Own Adventure Challenge for November, I’m working on organizing my Pinterest boards (full details on what else is in the challenge coming up tomorrow) and I thought this would be a good time to resurrect Pinterest Project Tuesday.

So let’s get to it. Pinterest button

 

I’m terrible at remember to take pictures so for the first post for the resurrection, I’m showing you guys a project I worked on over the summer. Next week’s will be a new, more seasonal one. I promise.

Okay.

Here’s the ingredients I used (not pictured: the stuff used to make the cake batter like eggs and applesauce)

photo (7)

While I mixed the batter, my helper put the cupcake liners in the pans

photo (8)

The cupcakes baked in the oven and I got out my blue food dye

photo (9)

Then I mixed it with the vanilla frosting (note: I usually make my own frosting but I didn’t have shortening and ain’t nobody got time to run to the grocery store twice in one day)

photo (10)

After the cupcakes came out of the oven and cooled, I generously applied water blue frosting on each one because really, cupcakes are just holders for frosting

photo (11)

Then, because this was supposed to be an edible version of bears floating in inner tubes, I added the gummi Lifesavers “tubes” and put Teddy Graham bears inside each one:

photo (12)

Lastly, because we can’t have our bears getting sunburned, I added cocktail drink umbrellas. On the left is my version. On the right is the Pinterest version.

2 bears

Save for the Christmas wrapper (remember what I said about not going to the store twice?), I didn’t screw the pooch too badly on this one. It turned out better than my usual attempts, as you’ll see going forward.

And now is when I announce that I’m going to try this as a linkup next week, but on Thursday instead of Tuesday since next Tuesday, November 11, is when Steph and I want you to show us your books in our monthly book chat.

Life According to Steph

Have you guys tried any Pinterest projects lately? How’d they turn out?

 

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10 steps to your own pioneer project: part 1

by Jana 6 Comments

pioneer project
I’ve been planning this series for awhile but wasn’t really sure what to say or how to say it or when would be the appropriate time to put it up. After last week’s post, Reshaping My Pioneer Project, I thought now would be as good a time as any. So here we go with part 1.

Have you ever been enamored with the concept of pioneer living? If you have, this is the right place for you. 

For the last few months, I’ve been working on my version of a pioneer project. I’ve been practicing and learning all the classic pioneer skills: making my own butter, growing my own food, learning (and failing miserably) to crochet. But, as I talked about, my project is shifting focus to also include internalizing pioneer values, slowing down, and practicing contentment yet also working hard and setting goals to improve certain areas of my life.

In other words, I’m pioneering my own life. And my project is so much better because of it. Because being a pioneer is really about doing something new, that hasn’t been done before, and charting new territory. It doesn’t have to be on a global scale. It can just be for you.

That said.

Maybe you’ve been following along with my little project and have thought that you’d like to start your own. But maybe you don’t know how. You’re in luck because in this three part series, I’ll be sharing just how you can start your own pioneer project. There’s just one concept that you need to remember: whatever you decide to do, it’s your project. You’re pioneering your own life and, as a result, your project can look however you want it to. It can be similar to mine or maybe you have no interest in developing self-sufficiency skills and instead, you want to take the pioneer work ethic and apply it to marathon training or writing a novel. The what isn’t really as important as the how. 

And the how is what we’re talking about. So let’s do that now. 

10 Steps to Your Own Pioneer Project, part 1

1. Decide what your project looks like. This is the first, and probably the most important, step because it’s setting the focus of your project. In this step, you’ll figure out what part of your life you’re going to pioneer. It’s your end goal and everything you do going forward will be to achieve it. And, so you don’t forget, write it down somewhere. Put it where you can see it. Make your intention known.

2. Do some research. This is most likely the nerd in me talking but I think it’s important to have some background information on your goal. Knowing what exactly you’re diving into, what’s worked for others (and what didn’t), and having a resource bank for tutorials, data, and general knowledge will keep you focused and, at times of frustration, give you a place to go to figure out how get through that moment.

3. Figure out your methodology. You need to decide exactly how you’re going to do your project. To do that, you need to ask yourself some questions including: when will I work on this? What materials do I need? What do I need to learn? How often will I need to practice? Will I need to involve anyone else? Basically any logistical question (except budget. We’ll talk about that next week, in part 2) that will get you going, and keep you going, throughout your project.

These three steps will provide the map, the foundation if you will, for the rest of your project. It’s important to put in the time and energy to get them as clear as possible. Make sure you write them down, too. 

Do you think you’ll start your own project? What will you be pioneering in your own life?

 

 

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