Yes, there is a band called The Blue Unicorn. Yes, there’s some local church ruins that are being re-used as a theater and concert hall. Those two reasons alone are enough to get me to go even though I had no idea what kind of music the band made.

They started out with a quote: “Let’s sell the horse, he said. Let’s sell the house, too. And from now on, let’s just dance.” The quote by itself isn’t really what resonated with me, though. It’s the comment:

Let’s sell the horse. Sell the horse and you’ll have money for dancing. So, selling the horse is a good idea. That is, unless you just stole a wagon. In that case, selling the horse is not a good idea. Stealing a couple more horses and taking off into the sunset, however, is.

It kind of reminded me to take every piece of advice with a grain of salt. What works well for someone else might not work at all for you.

It also makes me feel good that the participation fee is donated to a local women’s shelter (they received more than EUR 7,200 from runners alone!).

Rebecca and I also decided right away that we would sign up for the 5K city run in September. Now I have something to train for. Boo yah!

So glad that May 1st is a holiday here in Germany so I could get some paperwork and other stuff done. I finally did my taxes and am going to send them out tomorrow (holiday means the post office is closed). I re-organized part of my closet and my scarf drawer (Who has that many scarves? I do.) and I’m determined to try out a little project today. Also on the agenda: make a white-silver-gold-maybe bracelet and possibly some earrings. Gosh, sometimes I wish my day had more hours.

Writey-write.

My project for April was to write 500 words every day.

I decided to go for short stories and writing exercises instead of a full-on 15k word story and it worked out alright. I missed 5 days that I couldn’t catch up on, but I’m still pretty proud. I feel a bit more confident getting back into writing and I think it helps that I really didn’t intend to share any of the stories. That gave me permission to suck majorly and just get the story out on paper –uhm, the screen– instead of worrying about the wording.

Surprisingly, I did a lot of rewrites on a couple of those stories and they turned out alright (I posted them anonymously somewhere but I won’t tell you where ), which also helped with the confidence.

Birthday

It was also my birthday at the beginning of April (which I, as usual, forgot about and was reminded of by my mother at 5:45am) and I’d like to introduce you to my new roommates:

Everyone, meet my owls. Owls, meet everyone on the internet.

Ever since my Dad mentioned that I live in an “owl tower” I have adopted a new-found love for them (they’re easy to draw!). My friend Claudia, the one that left me for Munich, got me the two on the left. They’re hand cream and lip balm, respectively. My sister made me the pen bucket in the back, which I love. And my parents got me the photo holder on the right.

Oh, and the girl in the “picture” is me. The resemblance is stunning, isn’t it?

It’s gonna be May.

My projects for May? I honestly don’t know. But here are a few things I have to get done this month:

• I signed up for a 2.5km run on Sunday, May 5. I know it doesn’t sound like a big deal, but it is for me. So glad that Rebecca will be running with me! I think I’d chicken out otherwise.
• Sew cushions for my mother. ROUND ones! I don’t think they realize that I only got that sewing machine six months ago and still have only a slight idea how to use it. But I got fabric. I can do a couple of test runs.
• I gotta re-organize my files. It’s not that I can’t find stuff, it’s just that I’m no longer happy with the way it looks and is sorted. I have so many more files now that I’ve moved into my own place, got work and basically became an independent person. And it doesn’t look pretty… (Yes, I went over to IHeart Organizing and got Jealous with a capital J.)
• There may be a tiny little photoshoot Claudia and I want to do. I’m not telling what it’s about, yet, but I’ll see if I can share a couple of pictures if she lets me
• The packages for the Kenziks and Matt have to be sent out. I’ve just been slacking. It’s May and they’re “2013″ packages. I’m a bad person.

I think that’s about it. If I think of anything else, I’ll let you know.

What about you? How’d your projects go?

Two of my friends are also taking this class, which amuses me. Usually, my internet life is strictly separated from my real life, although I don’t know why. I’m still kind of surprised when friends (oh hai, Claudi!) or family members talk to me about something I mentioned here. It’s also made for quite an amusing discussion with another friend of mine, Rachel, who was quoting this blog when we were talking and it turned out to be mine. She said, and I quote, “It’s like this person can put into words exactly how I feel.” And I said, “That’s because I know you so well.” We’re still laughing about this today.

So, you know I love learning new things (otherwise the whole monthly projects thing would be kind of pointless, right?). But, personally, I’m terrible with theoretical stuff. Names, dates, terms… they’re all in one ear and out the other. More often than not, this has proven to be a hindrance during school and university and pretty much any class I’ve ever taken. I also get distracted a lot and apparently ‘selective amnesia’ runs in my family. (“I told you about this last week!”)

If you’re like me, you’ll love this list: Daniel Strauss shared his article 75 Tips and Resources to Go from Amnesic to Elephantic with me the other day. Most of them I already knew about (but there’s a difference between ‘knowing’ and ‘doing’, right? ), like that talking to yourself can help process information. But I didn’t know that telling yourself that you have a bad memory apparently can cause you to actually have one. I’m not surprised, though, it’s been proven that a person’s attitude towards a situation can significantly change its outcome.

Anyway, so I’m off to get my learn on. And, after that, I have my daily 500 words to write. I’m a little behind, I admit, because it was my birthday on Wednesday and apparently, that means that people want to actually spend time with me

While you ponder over whether or not you’ll believe the contents of this month’s ‘Monthly Projects’ post, I’ll go ahead and start talking-typing. I even brought pictures along to make it more believable

Left-Over

First off, give me a big hand, folks, I finished the curtain! Looky here:

The story of how it finally came to be is about as ‘least glorious’ as it can get: My Dad had a few days off two weeks ago and said he’d come to visit. He installed a new mirror in my bathroom (I now have two! Two mirrors. In my bathroom. TWO!) and said that if the curtain isn’t done by the time he gets that done, he’ll help me make it. Now, if you know me a little bit – which I reckon by now you do… – you will know that this is a sure-fire way to get me going. He did ‘help’, of course, he wouldn’t be my Dad if he didn’t manage to insert himself into my projects in some way (I guess we know where I got my pig-headedness from, right?), but I did the majority of the work. So there. A bit late, but finished!

March Goodness

My (fitness) goals for February were doing a 3-minute dolfin plank, the crow and the big wheel. And, believe it or not, I managed all 3! Check out my crow (yes, I know I should pull my legs up more) and wheel (yes, I know it needs to go higher, sheesh) below:

I don’t have a picture of the plank mainly because it doesn’t really show anything. I mean, I could put up a picture and you can stare at it for 3 minutes… but why would you, right?

So, this goes to show that nothing is impossible. I am one of the least athletic people in the world. If I can do the crow, then anything goes.

April Creativity

April is all about creativity again. At least in the projects department. I’ve decided I want to get back into writing, so this months goal is:

• Write 500 words every day.

They don’t have to be great (they probably won’t). Nobody has to read them. But they have to be put down on the page.

Your Turn!

What are your April goals? How did you do in March? Let me know!

Of Failures …

February, as you might be able to tell from the first line, did not go well for me. At least in the projects department. I didn’t finish the sewing projects. In fact, they still sit the same way they sat on Feb 1st. I had a minor meltdown over a footer of the sewing machine not working the way I wanted it to and then kind of went over to other projects to distract myself.

… and Successes.

I made a bracelet for myself and a wreath for my sister. I also successfully kept up with my workouts and diet during February so I’m confident that’ll work for March as well. At least that got done!

I’ve also discovered the terrible world that is Pinterest. I browse through the Health/Fitness and DIY/Crafts areas and get really, really inspired for ALL the projects and ALL the workouts. It’s a bit scary, though, because I think that will just make me want to start everything that I’ll never finish anyway. But everything there is very, very pretty.

New Goals

This month, March, I want to get a couple of fitness goals in:

• do a 3 minute dolphin plank (I can currently do a 1:15)
• do a big wheel
• do the crane pose

As for the more creative goals, I’m giving myself a bit more leeway this month. I’ve noticed that some creative things just don’t want to get done and then I can’t make them. That only frustrates me (and I think my quote for calling my parents while sobbing is fulfilled for 2013).

One Last Thing

As you may or may not know, I started a freelance translating service on the side in October. Surprisingly, it’s been going alright: I just finished my third project this year and am looking forward to the next ones. I’m currently setting up an internet presence, business cards and all that jazz.

That is to say that I’m content with my current position. My part-time job allows me to dive into the freelance business with a safety net. I have a solid monthly income I can count on, which allows me to turn down projects I don’t want to or that just don’t pay well (luckily, I haven’t had to do that, yet).

What about your February goals? Was it a Fab-uary or more of a Fail-uary?

31 days already gone.

Can you believe it? It’s already 31 days into the new year! Time really does fly. Even though I didn’t officially announce it, I was going to do some arts and crafts this month. And I did. I made a bunch of snötomtebarn, which is Swedish for “snow elf cildren” and some jultomtebarn, which means “children of Santa Claus”.

I also made some vinegar all-purpose cleaner and last week, I made some cough syrup out of honey, lemons and ginger. I love playing around with that stuff!

28 days to go.

And now it’s February. 28 days for new projects and ideas. I’ve got two big ones this month and something a little more like a resolution than a project:

• sew the curtains for my bedroom
• sew the skirt that’s been sitting in my box for an eternity
• get back on track with my diet and workouts

The first two are big sewing projects that I’ve been thinking about since last year. The fabric is here, the pattern is here, I just have to do it. Why haven’t I done it, yet? Because I’m a scaredy-cat, that’s why. I guess I’m too nervous to screw it up (I know what you’re going to say, they’re curtains, how badly can you screw them up?), so I now have it officially on my plan for this month.

And the third. Well. I knew I was going to go off track when I was visiting my sister because I didn’t want to restrict myself too much from trying out all the wonderful traditional food (and believe me, it was so worth it!). But after I came back, I didn’t really get back ON track, so to speak. I just kind of kept slacking. And I’ve been paying for it with rashes on my foot and my hand. And generally not feeling so well. So this month, it’s back on the healthy diet. As for the workouts: I got sick a couple of weeks ago and just had to take a break. But I’m better now and so that means I have to get back on track for that, too. My mental health doesn’t like me becoming a couch potato, it really doesn’t.

What about you now? How did you start the new year? Got anything done yet?

I’m currently home sick –as in, home and desperately trying to avoid catching pneumonia– so I have a little time to write this up. I’ve been fairly busy all month with work, the remainder of Christmas stuff (I KNOW! This year, it’s all drawn out for us, a celebration that spans more than a month!), and a couple of arts and crafts projects. But now I have time to stay in bed all day and watch TV. Or, in this case a web series.

I present to you: The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.

This is where the gushing comes in. First of all, I think it’s such a great idea to adapt the story into a series of vlogs where Lizzie Bennet, main character of Pride and Prejudice for everyone who doesn’t know Jane Austen, talks about her crazy life. It’s updated to present time, and I think that they’ve done an awesome job bringing all these issues they have into modern time.

Because of the format, you see mostly Lizzie during the entire thing (they now have 81 episodes, all under 5 minutes each) with guest appearances by her sisters Jane and Lydia, her friend Charlotte and, yes, even William Darcy.

Check out this adorable episode (nr. 28) when the viewers meet Bingley (in the series his name is Bing Lee) and his adorableness with Jane for the first time:

A thing that I love is also how diverse the cast is. Especially with the whole Lena “finally all women (except those of color) have a place in media because I’m flawless” Dunham mess. They could have used the excuse of ‘they must be all white because it was written 100 years ago’, but they actually specifically decided to use a diverse cast: Bing Lee, his sister Caroline and Charlotte are Asian; Darcy’s friend Fitz is black (and gay). It’s refreshing, really.

What do you think of the show? Am I late to the party and you already know all about it?

True. Very true. But there’s something magical about that date, 01-01, isn’t there? It really does signify a new beginning, a start. Whenever we count, we start at one, after all.

Yes, there are a lot of broken promises on New Year’s. There are those that want to lose weight, those that want to try something new, those that want to quit smoking. And when they wake up with that phenomenal hangover, all is forgotten.

But the truth is: Promises are broken at any other day, too. Those extra 10 pounds on your hips don’t just scream at you on December 31st, and you’ve probably thought about quitting that nasty smoking habit before. But there’s no starting shot, no set date for you, and so you postpone it. Until tomorrow.

So no, the number one isn’t magical in the way that it will make your dreams come true. It’s just magical in that it’s a symbol. A symbol of a beginning, that shot to signal the race starting. What you do with it, is up to you.

What will I do this year? I have loads of plans and ideas. Will I get around to realizing all of them? Probably not (I’m looking at you, ball-of-fabric-soon-to-be-curtains). But I will try.

What about you? What are your plans for 2013? What do you want to accomplish?

Whatever it is, I wish you the best of luck with it!

 

Just a few notes to let you know about Stockholm:

• It’s cold.
• There’s snow.
• My Dad bought me the bestest socks.
• Ergo: My feet are warm.
• We have an affinity for crippled Christmas trees.
• Everything’s the same.

I probably won’t be checking in before the new year, so:

I wish all of you the happiest of holidays, whichever you celebrate, and the best possible start into the new year!