this little life of mine

To remind you of the way this works, here’s how to play:

First — post your list of New Years’ Resolutions in a post at your blog (or in the comments here, if you don’t have a blog).

Second — every week, on Wednesday, write a new post about how you’re doing with each of your goals … you’ll have to list them, again, each week, as people won’t remember what you’re working towards, otherwise. Be brief in your updates, as there may be several blogs to visit! ((come give a quick update here at Should Be Reading, if you don’t have a blog)).

Third — after you’ve written your update, come back to Should Be Reading, and share your link so that we –the other New Beginnings participants– can stop by your blog and encourage you!

Important! … It would be absolutely great if you could visit at least ONE other participant’s blog  on Wednesdays and leave a comment on their post to share some encouragement for their efforts! Show your support! That’s what this event is all about — standing by each other to finally reach our goals!

NOTE:It's the middle of the year already and I was inspired by a recent post from our New Beginnings hostess MizB to reevaluate my 2010 goals/resolutions. So, I've made a newish list. It's slightly less complicated and will hopefully be easier for me to follow.

1. Health and Fitness
o   Get down to size 14. Still at a comfortable size 16. 
o   Try three new recipes per month (one of which will be vegetarian). I didn't cook anything new this week, but I did make a couple recipes from the new Clean Eating magazine last week. I posted a picture of one of them, but I forgot to post the Chicken Almondine, so I'm doing it now.

  
o   Hit the gym four days per week. I made all my trainer appointments last week - despite feeling sick two of the days - and plan to make them all this week as well.  

2. Writing (removed the poetry section since I probably won't be writing any poetry at all this year, and I'd rather not stress out over it)
o   Write 1st draft of a novel. This is one of the goals I've changed. I was having too much trouble figuring Falcon's Gate out, so I'm going to set it aside and work on something else; I just don't know what yet.
o   Write a(nother) complete novel during NaNoWriMo. Begins November 1st and continues through November 30th. 

3. Photography
o   Take more artistic photos. Not done yet, but maybe soon ... see below!
o   Spend more time composing photos rather than just “point and shoot”. I haven't done much on this lately, but I signed up for a new sh1ft.org photo project: 31 Photos in 31 Days which runs the month of August, so I'm hoping to become inspired to do some really nice, artistic photos during this month.
o   Go "old school": take some pictures using film with manual 35mm camera. Not done recently.
 
4. Homefront
o   Organize stuff. My stuff is pretty well organized right now, but who knows how long that will last.  
o   Reduce clutter. I've still got some items for sale on eBay, but I'm going to wait until after my Vegas trip to do another closet/drawer/cd purge.  

5. Fun Stuff
o   Go to the beach. Not done this weekend, but my mom and I are planning a weekend trip to either Pismo Beach or Avila Beach in September! 
o   Get new ink. Still contemplating a design for the Vegas tattoo. 

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a random page

3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Good morning, readers! This week's teaser comes from page 5 of this world we live in by Susan Beth Pfeffer, and yes I cheated YET AGAIN and have more than two sentences. (I really hope MizB doesn't mind!) This is the third book in the Moon Crash Trilogy (or The Last Survivors series, as some people call it. Personally I prefer Moon Crash.). If you haven't read this series yet, I HIGHLY recommend it. Read on!

I tell myself we've made it through the worst and we can face whatever will happen next. I tell myself what Mom always says, that as long as we're alive, hope is alive.

I just wish I knew if dad was alive also.

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read

2. Open to a random page

3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

5. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser this week comes from page 36 of Exodus by Julie Bertagna:

When Tain was a boy, the Arctic meltdown turned the northern seas cold and Wing suffered biting ice-winds all year round, though the rest of the world was warming up. The polar ice sheets that once reflected the sun's rays back into space must have shrunk drastically, reasons Tain, and Wing bakes in burning summers now that heat is trapped on Earth.