My Happiness Project: Week Six

I had to be really secret this week. I had to employ like super secret agent moves.

Motherhood

For the record: NOT PREGNANT. Not even a little pregnant. Not even baby hungry yet.

But I did want to learn a little more about pregnancy and motherhood since the only things I know I learned from The Office and Baby Mama. I'm getting to the point where the baby aisles at Target don't make me physically sick, so that's good. But I still don't know anything about babies, ultrasounds, infant care, onesies, bath time, car seats... wow this list just keeps getting longer.

-Read up!
--So I sneak-attack put a bunch of books on hold and I wore my trenchcoat and sunglasses to go pick them up at off-hours at the library. I didn't really wear the trenchcoat but I was very sneaky and fast. I don't need to run into students or friends when I have an armload of maternity-info books. I also delved into a lot of the blog posts "348 Things You Need To Know As A Complete Moron Getting Pregnant For The First Time" that I've pinned over time.

-Watch up!
--I watched The Science of Babies on Netflix - fascinating. I even got The Beard to watch What to Expect When You're Expecting with me! He's probably less scared of babies than I am, actually. He's great with babies and little kids - unless they're our niece Lillie who is still terrified of his big black beard.

-Think about what type of mother I'd like to be
-- The biggest thing that I walked away with is "Take a breath, Danica. People have been doing this for thousands of years. Millions of people didn't read books, and watch documentaries, and ask every person on the street about pregnancy. Millions of people! And overall, pregnancy for them is still ok. If the idiots on 16 and Pregnant can do this, I'm pretty sure I can do this. Also multiple people told me that I'd need to drink a bathtub's worth of Diet Coke a day in order for it to hurt any baby I was carrying, so even though I drink an obscene amount, I'm not scratching that surface. That really helped my fears. I won't have to give up Diet Coke!!!

Blog

- Get a "real" blog URL
- Got it. Execpt The Beard got it for me on this weird site and we're still working on getting it linked up to host this blogspot. Get excited for that to come up.

-Make it look cuter.
-- Working on a new logo/name. Added an Instagram feed. Rearranged. I'm creating tabs and pages like a real deal blog. And I'm working on a few new buttons. There's not a lot to show for this right now. But it's still coming. Promise.

- Learn how "real" blogs operate.
-- No surprise - I checked out a bunch of books, read a bunch of posts (Especially Bon's. So helpful) and started mapping out where I want my blog to go. I really have never even TRIED with my blog. I've done a couple of things that friends have asked - giveaways, hosting, guest posts, etc. But I've never really done anything with my blog. But I'm ready to be more real. Blog more regularly, interact more in the blogging world, be a "real" blogger. Who knows. Maybe we'll even get to a sponsorhip phase. I still don't really know what that is. But it sounds cool. Dreamin big over here.

Coming Soon - my overall view of my Happiness Project. Acceptable social media posts when you're pregnant. Annoying stuff Bloggers do. More things that I realized/got bugged by when I did my Happiness Project.

My Happiness Project: Overview
My Happiness Project: Week One
My Happiness Project: Week Two
My Happiness Project: Week Three
My Happiness Project: Week Four
My Happiness Project: Week Five

My Happiness Project: Week Five

**Breaking News - This week's Happiness Project includes working on my blog, so if you have any issues with my site, please bear with me! It will be even prettier and more functional soon!**

This last week was so fun because I just got to be girly! How many beauty-related pins have I pinned over the years?! I got to choose a few and try them out. Why not? They don't take an inordinate amount of time and it was fun to shake things up. My beauty resolutions will probably be the easiest for me to continue in my regular life.

Beauty

- Try new hairstyles
--I  tried my favorite milkmaid braids again (welcome back, bangs), a new technique for hot rollers (start rolling at the top, leaving the ends out, the same way I do with curling iron, except I don't have to hold it!) and a braided bun. Still working on a couple of hair ideas for the wedding - I'll keep you posted.

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- Try an organic hair mask for my lifeless locks
-- Did it! I mashed up half an avocado, one egg and a hearty splash of olive oil. It looked like a weird guacamole and I smeared it all up in my hair - check out the gross chunks - and tied it up for 20-30 minutes before washing it out with COLD water (you don't want to cook the egg!). I saw the biggest difference! It's hard to tell in the second picture, but by dinner that night my hair was softer and shiner. Definitely worth a try if you feel like your hair is basically straw.

 - Try new makeup techniques and wear lip color every day.
- I spent a few hours on my Makeup Pinboard, reading Lauren Conrad and Bobbi Brown beauty & style books, and watching YouTube videos and tried several new techniques. I tried eyeliner into the corner of my upper lid (loved it!), blended bronze creme shadow instead of black eyeliner (very summery), and a better technique for covering my biological dark circles that make me look like a zombie (forming a triangle of cover from the inner corner of the eye, down the side of the nose and then up to meet the outer corner of the eye).

You absolutely HAVE to check out this girl's blog - her tips are so great

- Wear lip color every day.
-- I tried. I really did. I just suck. I never think it looks good, my lips are always too dry and chapped for good color deposits, and it's always bleeding regardless of liner.

- Take a luxurious bath to recharge
-- I was super sore and tense from sleeping poorly and doing intense crossfit every day, so these bathsalts were particularly needed. I've done milk baths, bubble baths and scented salt baths, but these epsom salt baths are just the top of the line. This little package costs like a dollar at the grocery store and it's amazing. This one has a soothing menthol smell and it loosened up all of my tense muscles and soreness. Highly recommended.

Personal Improvement

- Quit picking my split ends!
-- If you've ever seen me in real life, you've probably seen me picking at my split ends. I've been doing it since like 9th grade. It's an absent-minded thing, as well as a mental escape for me. I do it when I'm bored, nervous, thinking, worrying, all the time really. It's a bad habit and my car and clothes are covered in little blonde broken hairs. It's preventing longer growth and makes my ends look so unhealthy. I still did it from time to time, but curling my hair, wearing it up and looking at Cara Loren's gorgeous locks helped me to leave my split ends alone. Work in progress, but I tried!

- Stop complaining.
-- Easier said than done, right? They also say that your goals shouldn't be a "Don't..." or "Stop...." but that you should rephrase them to be positive and action-based. So I tried to replace complaining with gratitude! It is so easy to forget and start complaining about stupid things, but when I consciously tried to think more positively about my life and eliminate complaining I saw a real difference. Seriously, why do we complain? What do we hope to accomplish by that? Has it ever made you feel better? No! We should all just stop.

- Finally master the French Macaron!
-- Epic fail. I am literally the WORST at macarons. I don't get it. I don't understand.  Look at this. It's not a camera trick. They are actually flat.

 

 - Continue my other Happiness Projects.
-- I'm still moving in and cleaning up my new apartment, still working on my BOM study,  supporting The Beard in our new life pursuits, checking out lots of books from the library on various topics, couponing and even trying to practice mindfulness. Even just working on them for one week helped to make them more habitual and more conscious.

Happiness Project: Week Four

Kind of anti-climatic, this week. Not a ton of resolves and not a ton to show for it - but I did make some progress and did good things.

Finance

 - Spending Fast - the plan was to not buy anything not strictly "necessary"
-- We had several free hours to kill in Provo between The Beard meeting a friend who was in town for breakfast and the 3 pm showing of Wolverine with my parents (GO SEE IT). I accidentally found myself in Target. I accidentally found myself in the Clothing section. I accidentally found myself in the dressing room. Then I accidentally found the perfect dress for Haley's wedding dinner/school. So this one didn't go GREAT this week. But I'm still curbing my unnecessary spending. I guess I don't need every new shade of OPI polish.... :(

 

- Couponing! From blogs to TV, couponing is becoming more "mainstream" or whatever.
-- I'm not hard core. I don't have the space or family consumption to buy 300 bottles of mustard. To be fair, I don't think ANYONE has the space or consumption to ever buy 300 bottles of mustard. But I did start clipping coupons instead of throwing them away every week. I read Krazy Coupon Lady's blog and checked out a couple of books from the library (Try Budget Savvy Diva's Guide to Slashing Your Grocery Bill by 50% or More, I liked it the most).

- Reevaluating our Budgets
-- If you remember, we're both looking at going back to school this fall and that means researching student loans and preparing to pay for them. Obviously I'm not going to go into super detail about our budgets and just how little we make (curse you, Danica's calling to be a teacher). Fear not. I use Mint to track trends month-to-month and I use Evernote to check off the bills and other things we need to pay from each paycheck. I also opened a second checking account that is dedicated to bills, ensuring that I never wrongfully assume I have plenty of Forever 21 dollars when it's actually supposed to go to responsible crap. We're already saving more on each paycheck, so that's awesome. Future Forever 21 dollars.

Spirituality

- 30 Day BOM Challenge. Because I've read it a million times but never so quickly.
-- I'm falling behind. But still trying to catch up! It's an awesome way to kickstart my scripture study since I've been slacking lately.

- Get involved in our new ward
-- It's easy to coast and slip through the cracks when you move into a new ward, especially if you move into an apartment complex that is divided between like 6 wards. We could have spent our Sundays napping and playing with Glen Coco at home, like we did a lot after we got married, but instead we introduced ourselves to the bishop on our first Sunday here. They promptly invited us to a WARD CAMPOUT. The dirty C-word to me. Luckily it's the day of Haley's wedding, so we have a legit excuse. But we're are going to the ward softball game in a few weeks. :) Baby steps.

- Praying every night (From Week One: Marriage)
-- We haven't missed a night! It's awesome. 

I'm really excited for this week - Beauty and Improvement! Get ready for Danica to finally tackle lip color. Or burn my apartment down out of frustration that I always look like a red-lipped clown.

My Happiness Project: Overview
My Happiness Project: Week One
My Happiness Project: Week Two
My Happiness Project: Week Three

My Happiness Project: Week Three

You guys this might be my best week yet. I'm fitter, more energetic, making some good life plans and feeding my brain. Don't let my tweets about watching tons of episodes of cheesy teen dramas let you think I just sat on the couch last week. I freaking got shiz done.

Physical

- Exercise every day and push myself.
-- It was hard some days to drag myself off the couch when I had a sleeping puppy in my lap, but I worked out every day but Sunday. Zombies! Run, gym rat lifting, Kickboxing classes, jogging in the park with Glen Coco and yoga - I'm feeling good. You seriously never regret a workout. There's something about that sweaty, weak, tingly feeling after a tough workout. You want two things

1. A high-five or pat on that sweaty back
2. A ton of carbs

- Sleep 8 hours
-- Since May I haven't slept well. I've been staying up late, tossing and turning all night, and getting up early. Even in Hawaii the jet lag had me sleeping so weird, then I came home to crazy packing, 5k training, Mitch's Farewell, Boston, moving and settling in. I tried hard to go to bed at a reasonable hour, do my meditation/breathing exercises before bed and hit at least 8 hours a night.

- Eat Right. I really do feel like a million percent better when I eat tons of fruits and veggies and kick the sugar.
-- There was a huge batch of my homemade chocolate chip cookies on the counter all week. I'll have you know I only ate like 2 of them and didn't eat a thousand calories worth of bread. And I ate like 8 bags of Steamables veggies. Straight up nutrition over here. 

Learn

- Apply for Grad School.
-- I did it. I applied. It still makes me a little sick to my stomach to think that I will have homework again. But if I get in, I'll be able to get a Master's in under 2 years. Then I can make slightly more than nothing as a teacher.

- Learn more about dog training
-- We never got Glen Coco as socialized as he should have been. He LOVES people, especially little kids, but he gets really nervous around people/places/things he isn't familiar with. And as The Beard puts it "He's a barky little doosh." I checked out a few books from the library and read up about it. We're trying a few new techniques and he's already less barky and more calm! It's like I always say - the library can fix anything.

- Figure out Education Plans with The Beard
-- This one is still in the works, so hopefully I'll have some good news to share in the next couple of weeks, but we made some huge progress this week. The Beard went to some meetings and found some really cool programs that we're interested in. We're getting all kinds of grown up over here.

This week I'm tackling Finances and Spirituality -Already hitting it hard with my 30 day BOM schedule! Join me if you like! :)

My Happiness Project: Overview
My Happiness Project: Week One
My Happiness Project: Week Two

My Happiness Project: Week Two

This week started off a little slow. Netflix was set up, all the life necessities were unpacked, The Beard was at work all day and Glen Coco was being EXTRA cuddly (he's still a little unsure about living in a new unfamiliar place). Therefore we spent quite a bit of time on the couch and at the pool. Still, I managed to work on my two goals for this week - Mindfulness and FUN.

Fun

- Go outside EVERY DAY. This sounds so pathetic, but there really are days when I don't go outside. It happened a lot last summer. Life is just better when you spend some time outside. (I refuse to say NATURE because then that means my concrete walk to the pool doesn't count.)
-- I did it! I walked Glen, went to the pool, read outside and I went to Bear Lake and spent TONS of time outside. You just feel good. You feel like you did something, even if it was a 2 minute walk. If you do one thing, do this, you guys.

- Choose to DO over NOT DO. On both Tuesday and Wednesday we had plans to hunker down and work on some research stuff at home. Both afternoons we got invited to do things - Tuesday we went to the Owlz game and to Buffalo Wild Wings with Chris & Haley, Wednesday we saw Despicable Me 2 and went to Iggy's with the Holdaways.
-- We DID! Both were late nights where we didn't accomplish what we'd planned for that night. Did we regret it? Absolutely not. It was replenishing and FUN.

-Do new things. Break out. I love sitting on the couch and watching The Office for 6 hours, but am I learning anything new or having FUN? No.
-- This meant going to the family reunion with my parents even though The Beard had to work, I hate camping, I'm not a lake person, and I'm not super tight with my dad's side of the family. But you know what? I had an amazing time! I learned to ride a jet ski with my 70+ year old grandma! I played with the cute babies and told ghost stories with the young girls. I came home exhausted and smelling of smoke but so refreshed and energized. I've got a pretty awesome family.

Mindfulness

- I read The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh. He's a Buddhist monk and he stresses the idea of mindfulness, or being mentally present. Basically, he says you shouldn't wash the dishes just to get the dishes clean and move on with your life. You should wash the dishes to WASH THE DISHES. Whatever you are doing at any given moment should be the most important thing in your life. Otherwise, if you're always thinking about what you SHOULD or RATHER be doing, you will never have real happiness from life and you'll always feel like you don't have time.
-- Again, my multi-task-y-ness is a problem here. It's about being mentally quieter. I tried to think about things as I was doing them - applying mascara, playing with Glen, walking to and from the pool, driving to Bear Lake with my parents and just t
alking with them instead of trying to read, listen to music, nap or make to-do lists. I found much more pleasure in those things and, as they always say, I think I did them BETTER than if I'd multitasked.

- Journaling. Latter-day Saints are all about journaling, but I've never been that consistent with it. And when I do, I only write positive things or notes from scripture study. But being mindful means thinking about your day, good and bad, and remembering it.
-- I'm sucking. I wrote like once this week. But I have motivated myself by keeping my journal on the coffee table so I remember to write while I'm watching my bedtime 6 Office episodes. I also promised myself that as soon as I finish this almost-full moleskin journal I can go get a really pretty new fancy journal. The kind with the fuzzy cover and a tiny lock and key. (jk... kind of)

- Meditation. I've only ever done this in yoga, and even then not specifically. The goal is to achieve real mental "rest" by accepting all thoughts and feelings and quieting the mind in peace.
-- I have yet to exercise the patience to do it for the recommended one hour a day. But I am trying to do it for at least 15 minutes each day. A couple mornings I did it when I woke up - I shook my muscles out, tied my hair up and propped myself in the lotus position while acknowledging each thought, feeling, idea and then releasing it. I was amazed to find how much PEACE I felt. Even if I had to go clean up all the fuzz Glen ripped out of his hedgehog toy while I was all zen.

 

Look at this guy. I'm in love with him. 

 

It's going pretty good, guys! I really feel happier and like I'm doing more with my life. The mindfulness stuff is kind of weird, but the fun part has been... well, fun. :) Tune in next week to hear how I do with my physical and learning goals this week! Wish me luck!

My Happiness Project: Overview
My Happiness Project: Week One