Summer wrap up; wins and losses

Mueang, Chiang Rai, Thailand

Summer vacation has come to an end this week. I am back at school and attended lots of training for new curriculum … yay! No really! Although it won't effect me as much (it was all math based) I do love the concepts and ideas behind it. I think it is a step in the right direction for DODEA. I may be biased since it stems from the Massachusetts frameworks, which I am very familiar with. Regardless, in my world the summer is over and I no longer get the privilege to pee when I want but rather when it fits with the lesson plan.

This summer went by fast. Too fast. I definitely did not finish all my goals and fell into a slump for the month of July, but I did all right considering.

Here is my summer wrap up:

I very much wish I remembered this amazing cafes name, its located in Minatogawa, Urasoe. Guess I'll have to go back ;)

New Cafes weekly – I pretty much did this. I still have 3 more to write up and one I loved so much I went twice but I'm labeling this a win. Upon moving here I was really excited for the food, I mean its food, its what I live for. . Until I had the food and slowly I became more and more unimpressed with typical Okinawan food. The flavors just don't really excite me. That along with a serious lack of cheese makes all menus lacklustre to me. But the Japanese are creative and trendy people so there had to be food on this island that I loved… besides Coco's. Cafes were the answer. They are too adorable and too delicious. I'm happy I followed through with this goal!

Cafe Green Green, Toguchi, Okinawa

Read 5 books. - well, I read two. No wait, nope I just lied. I read one. One was never finished. I also gave “Game of Thrones” a good go. But I don't know, after watching the show it gets hard to read it. I heard it becomes different from the show in the second book, so I'll attempt again by skipping the first book and see if I get excited. The one book I did read, “When we fall” by Emily Liebert was blah. Good beach read I guess. You know if you like the stereotypical, “I'm an artist getting payments from my dead husbands parents trying to survive in a mucky muck town outside New York”.Exactly, BLAH. I do however have a new goal; for every day this month I will read an hour. This is my solution to not having to stick through a mediocre book but still stretching my brain a little. So far its been great and I am really in love the book I am currently reading (The Illegal Gardener by Sara Alexi). So my new goal paired with my free month trial of Kindle unlimited should prove fruitful! Actual goal was a flop though.

Keira and I having been sitting in our backyard getting my reading in! Kingston is off peeing on my flowers; I'm sure of it.

Paint 25 watercolors – I decided to dust off my paint brushes this summer. I have always been a more acrylic/oil/inks kinda gal but watercolors have been catching my eye here. I think they just fit with the slow paced beachy island life. They are also easily portable! I ordered a pack of 25 post card sized watercolor papers and went to town. Now all of these painting are not good. Most were play and experiments but I count those. You learn a lot when you just pick up a brush and paint to watch how both move across the paper. I have gotten much better. I have a few left to do but I have plans for them that will be completed over the next week. I'm adding this to the win column.

Nanjo district, Okinawa

Travel– Another solid win here! I don't know if I told you but I went to Thailand. Just kidding I told you about 10 times. But still!!! Traveling is my “ish” (TB to 2012!) I am so happy that I was able to meet this goal. Every time I get to travel my heart grows and I'm especially thankful because it is looking like our travel plans for later this year are being put on hold. Not only did I travel off island but I did some great exploration on island. I made sure to try new places and return to some of my favorites. If you are like me and don't always have the resources to travel; time, money, someone to go with(I'm the ladder) traveling at home and going out to explore what is around you is the perfect solution. It is something I really wish I did more while growing up in New England.

Mueang Chiang Rai

Singha Park, Chiang Rai, Thailand

Blog – Ha I actually almost forgot this one and added it right before I posted! I've been wanting and talking about doing this for a while. I finally decided that this summer was the perfect time to start it up. I had a simple goal to get it up and going and post a new entry every week. Mission accomplished. I still don't have a firm direction where to take this thing yet. Truthfully it helps keep my accountable for my photography(a goal I set out to teach myself last year, its coming along) and I know I want to use it to keep our travel memories fresh. We shall see what life it takes as we go I suppose.

So 4 out of 5. 80%; I'll take it! Goodbye Summer 2015. I wish you were longer.

My goals for the first half of the school year are...

1. Read an hour a day

2. Work out 4 days a week(aiming for 5, but lets not set ourselves up to fail, amIright?!?)

3. Learn calligraphy.

4. Travel – of course!

5. Blog - I want to continue doing this weekly but I also want to learn more about the nitty gritty of blogging. Host, SEO's and all that non fun stuff. By the new year I would like to buy my domain name; I need to earn first.

Breaking up my goals throughout the year leads me to be more successful in meeting them. I've tried the whole “new year new me” types goals but keeping something going for solid year is hard. I have a lot of things I want to learn, see and do. If I tried to do them all year long I would fail at them all. It becomes easier, for me, to keep up with new habits if I enjoy them and they don't become a chore. And I feel that goals don't have to be something that you do forever. Sometimes trying new things only teaches you that maybe you don't like diving as much as you thought you would and you really suck at doing your eye makeup. Both are true for me. As long as when you set out to do something, you try your very best to accomplish it I think it is a win.

How do you go about putting your goals in the win catagory?

#travel #goals #okinawa #okicafe #tripsfromOkinawa #daytrip #Overlooks #art #watercolors