Becky

Resolutions for 2019

I used to think that resolutions were dumb, and part of me still might. I get the whole it’s-the-start-of-a-new-year thing, but people always put pressure on themselves or just give up come February. (But, you ask, how else would gyms get people to sign up in January for memberships?)

I’m trying to be good to myself and also hold myself accountable for things. Because I feel like I’m at a good place in my life, and I want to take advantage of it. I think my resolutions are fairly reasonable and attainable, so why not share them with the Internet?

Read at least two books per month

I fell off the reading wagon for a little while, but I’m back on it. I normally read before I go to bed and can probably read a few chapters at a time. (I did finish one book in about four days over break.) I think two books a month is reasonable, plus I always get the books from the new section at my town library and they’re due back in three weeks. (Yes, I know you can renew books, but the last time I tried to renew a “new” book, it was already on hold for someone else, so I’m scarred from that.)

(Also, add me on Goodreads!)

Survive my first 10k

Self-explanatory. I’m half looking forward to the race and half nervous. My boss and one of my co-workers normally run the race, and my friend said she’d come support me. But all I’ve heard is that it’s a really hilly race course and to pace myself. And don’t take any road sodas from spectators. (It’s a St. Patrick’s Day race…)

Be better about motivating myself to run

I’m aiming to run two to three times a week, whether it’s on the track in the field house on campus, on the treadmill, or outside. More often than not, I dread running—especially when I decide to do it on Saturday mornings—so I’m not setting myself up for success. I forced myself to run on Christmas Eve and hated every minute of it, which made the run really bad.

I have to be open to running and stick to my schedule. And also listen to my body if I’m just not feeling it. Hopefully being consistent and slowly increasing my distance will help me.

Use my smoothie maker more

We bought a Ninja blender a few years ago, and I don’t use it as much as I should. My dad has two gardens in our backyard during the summer, and he grows blackberries and raspberries. I could use those in the smoothies along with some frozen fruit from the grocery store. Do you guys have any easy smoothie recipes you use? I’m going to check out Pinterest for some.

Work on my story at least twice a week

After NaNoWriMo, I got further in my story but fell off once I hit December. I’m aiming to work on it two times a week. The entire story is planned out—I’m working on chapters 13 and 14 right now—and I know how it ends, so it’s not like there’s any mystery. But similar to running, there are times when I feel like I’m in the groove and other times when I don’t even want to touch it because I’ll make it worse.

Continue to track my spending

My new job has a bunch of benefits, which includes the ability to go on my own medical and dental insurance. It’s pretty affordable for me, and it’ll be coming out of my paycheck. I’m getting used to being paid every two weeks instead of every week, but my checks are still split between my checking and saving accounts. And I’m still paying my student loans, car payments, car insurance, rent to my parents, and credit card.

Back in this post, I shared now I kept track of my credit card and cash spending. It’s definitely helped to see what I’m spending money on, mostly when it comes to cash. My credit card is used for gas, if I need to buy something online, and my chiropractor appointments. I use cash for everything else, so I like to know where it’s all going.

Get better about putting things away

I have a bad habit of leaving things out and putting them away like a month later. One great example of this is my laundry. I’ll let it pile up after it’s washed and folded to be put away; it ends up on my desk chair, and I dread having to put it away. If something has a home, I need to put it back there within a reasonable amount of time. Because if I don’t, everything just ends up piling up on my desk.

Dabble in makeup more

I really don’t know how to use makeup—it’s a lot like the blind leading the blind—and I’ve been using the basics for years. Whether or not I’m using them properly, TBD. I’m not going to venture into eye shadow or anything fancy, but lately I’ve been thinking about lip stick or lip gloss. I’d want something that isn’t too expensive, and something that won’t look too dramatic. I’d most likely wear it to work, so I don’t think I need a bold red lip every day. Anyone more experienced with makeup have suggestions?

Oh, and I chopped off a bunch of my hair. Because why not? (Well, it was actually getting really annoying and too long for my liking.)

You can’t see it in the picture but it’s lighter on the top and underneath on the sides, sort of a mix of blond/caramel/light brown.

Happy 2019! 🙂 Do you believe in resolutions? If so, what are some of them? Do you stick with your resolutions?

39 comments

  1. You’re right! These are all totally obtainable! And you can do it!

    I like the Katy Perry lipstick. It’s matte and it doesn’t taste weird (I always think lipstick tastes like whale blubber and that’s gross) and it comes in lots of different colours and you can start really pale/nude and work your way up to bolder colours like black and purple haha but I’d never go that dark and I don’t think you would either haha

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  2. Those are such doable resolutions. I like how they aren’t super vague, so you can’t actually track your progress. I’m challenging myself to read two books a month too – so I’ll help keep you accountable 😉
    I don’t do makeup much either, but I really like lip crayons which sounds weird, but I find them so much easier to apply than lipstick and less sticky than lipgloss. I really like the Burts Bees brand anddddd another one that I can’t think of right now and am too lazy to get off the couch XD I’ll text it to you when I remember!

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      • Yes! I’ve been using them for about two weeks and really like them. They have matte and glossy (idk the word) and have about six/seven shades each ranging from nude to brown/plum. I have a matte light pink and deep red and really like them both. They are on the pricier side, but I’ve found they stay on really well and the color actually shows up the color it’s advertised.

        I remembered to look at the other crayons that I like. They are the brand Wet n’ Wild and you can find them at like Walgreen or CVS (if you have those). They stay on ALL DAY even after I eat. I have the red and coral colors.

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  3. For the “putting things away” thing, I read a blog once where they said “If you can do something in five minutes or less, do it now”. Maybe that’s a motto you can tell yourself in those situations.

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    • Yeah that’s what I was thinking of doing. Or setting aside time on the weekends to fully put everything back. My room is small to begin with, so I don’t need clutter everywhere. Or shoes. That’s also my downfall, leaving my shoes out and not putting them away.

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  5. These are some awesome resolutions girl, you can totally get through em!

    I can really resonate with motivating yourself to run, I am the worst at that! Yesterday I spent the day adding running distances into my calendar which hopefully will help me run more & keep to my schedule.

    What do you like in your smoothies?? I have at least one a day, depending on what you like in them I may be able to send you over my go-to’s.

    Ugh totally feel you on the makeup part, I feel like I need to start wearing it more often. I like keeping things neutral, so i usually just do mascara, a bb cream (just evens things out), & a little bit of blush, totally simple & easy to dress up with lipstick if you need to 🙂 I have a tinted lip balm (from Sephora, brand is called Fresh) it’s my favourite, & totally soft on your lips!

    PS, love your new hair! Your going to kill this year 🙂

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    • On Sundays, I look at my week ahead and mentally figure out when I can run, aiming for three times a week. I just have to suck it up and run on the treadmill.

      In my smoothies, mostly fruit. I don’t think I can do the whole kale/spinach/green stuff in there. When I used to make them, I’d do a mix of frozen fruit and fresh fruit and orange juice as the liquid part. I know that you can use yogurt but I’m not sure which kind to use. I’ll take any recipes you have!

      Is the lip balm sticky at all? That’s my fear with something that’s not a lipstick haha.

      Thank you! 🙂 It was too long for my liking and it’s refreshing to have short hair again. Plus it’s less to wash haha.

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      • I feel you, running on the treadmill has sucked but we gotta do what we gotta do.

        hmm, i’ll have to think. I mix blueberries & spinach (the blueberries overshadow the greeny taste). but those sound yumy. When I used to use only fruit, I think I was using Bananas, strawberries and/or blueberries, with plain or vanilla greek yogurt & protein power with water or almond milk. Now I always have a green in them. So now my smoothies are: spinach, blueberries, coconut milk, cinnamon, collagen protein, flax seeds.

        The lip balm isn’t sticky, which is amazing. not too bright either!

        Makes me jealous, I have been using up my shampoo so quickly with my long hair! but it looks amazing babes, really suits you

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  6. Hey! Loving the resolutions, yours seem way more attainable than my vague ones 😂 For picking things up, I’m really bad at it too (I say looking at a puzzle that’s finished sitting on my counter for a week now). One thing that helped me is to set aside 15 minutes (what even is 15 in a whole day?) and just pick things up or clean. So set a timer for 15 minutes and run around the house cleaning/picking up as much as you can. Do this everyday and soon you won’t even need a full 15 (which I then use to convince myself to do harder tasks like dusting the ceiling fan). Hope this helps, you got this!!!

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    • That sounds like a good idea! I think I could do it in five minutes, I normally don’t have too much to put away but just enough that if left unattended, it becomes a lot more to put away. One of my downfalls is kicking my shoes off after work and creating a pile in my room. If I can easily put them away, then I need to put them away haha.

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  7. I love that you included dabble in makeup more. I am not much of a makeup girl either. I mean, I wear it almost every day, but usually just some mascara and eyeliner. While not really specifically included in my new year’s goals, trying to care more about fashion is a low key goal of mine for the year- really just to feel attractive again I guess. Haha. The makeup idea is nice too. Maybe I could brush up a little.

    Best of luck to you in 2019!

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    • I wear the same—mascara, eyeliner, sometimes I’ll fill in my eyebrows with a pencil if needed. I think it’s totally okay to care about fashion! It can be a little overwhelming but I think maybe looking at ideas on Pinterest could help. Happy 2019 to you! 🙂

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      • Thank you for the idea. I never know where to start with those things. I would rather go shopping for a book or food. LOL. I’ll try looking at Pinterest. Maybe I should look more into a capsule wardrobe, though I don’t really know what that is. haha

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    • I wear mascara and eyeliner and like some cover up but that’s it because I don’t really know anything else haha. Anything more complex seems like a lot of work, and I don’t want to cake my face up too much. That’s why I figured looking into some kind of lipstick was a good start. If you find any good/cool products, let me know!

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  10. What great resolutions!! I’ve also been trying to get better at makeup lately. I’ve always loved makeup, but I know I can learn better techniques and more about bases for skin types and such to get better results. It’s fun and I find YouTube very helpful!
    We’ve been making smoothies a lot lately! I would die for a Ninja haha. We have an Oster and it does okay, but it does get stuck. Smoothies are so great for getting a kick of nutrition and a meal in one lol.
    Happy New Year, Becky!! 🙂

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    • I’ll have to check out some YouTube tutorials. I just need like the basics haha since I normally just wear mascara, eyeliner, and coverup to kind of even everything out.

      I used to make smoothies and bring them with me to work two summers ago but I just kind of fell off from doing that. I know the blender is sitting in the cabinet and I want to put it to use. What do you normally put in yours?

      Happy 2019 to you! 🙂

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      • So far, I’ve only made triple berry + banana smoothies with Greek yogurt, honey, and milk. I can’t wait to try other flavors, and even green smoothies, though they intimidate me a little haha. What’s your favorite flavor to make? I think I’m going to make strawberry banana next.

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      • When I used to make them, it was with the frozen mixed berries (like the kind you get in the freezer section at the grocery store) with any fresh fruit we had in the house, plus orange juice. I think I tried to make one once with yogurt and it didn’t work out well, but I’d like to start using yogurt and maybe a little bit of milk. The green smoothies also scare me, but you could probably start by adding a little bit each time and see how it tastes.

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      • My husband used to make smoothies with orange juice as a base! I think that would be a great option and then we wouldn’t have to add any honey as a sweetener. Currently, my ratio for a full blender is 2 c. fruit, 2 c. milk, 1/3 c. plain Greek yogurt, and 1 1/2 tbsp. honey. I think if I used more yogurt, it would probably be too thick and wouldn’t mix as well. Also, I wouldn’t want it to taste like yogurt, lol. I love all the different options we have when it comes to making smoothies, though! There are literally so many different ways you can make them. That’s true! I should start with just a few greens and taste-test it as I go, lol.

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  11. Very good resolutions! It’s funny- I used to be a die hard makeup user, never left the house without my face done. Now I dread putting it on, it feels like I’m wearing a mask. The really hilarious part is that I was so young when I wore it all the time & didn’t need it. Now I’m older and it helps a lot, and I can’t stand it. Good luck with everything and Happy New Year!

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    • Haha there are some days when I don’t want to put it on when I leave the house. I only wear it to work but with the minimal amount that I use, I don’t even know if it’s noticeable vs. me not wearing it. I want to avoid caking my face up with a lot of stuff, so that’s why I stick with the basics.

      Thanks and Happy New Year to you too!

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  12. I really want to start using my blender more often for smoothies too! I used to just mix a banana with almond milk and whatever fruit I have available (normally strawberries). I also worked at a cafe not too long ago, and the only fruit they used were bananas, mangos, and strawberries. They were pretty good. I can’t remember all of the combinations, but they only had orange juice, apple juice, and pineapple juice to mix it with (along with lots of different syrups).
    Anyways, good luck with your resolutions!

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  13. These resolutions are super attainable, Becky! I know you’ll be able to check them all off come 2020!

    I get what you mean about not wanting anything too dramatic for your makeup but still wanting to dabble in it more. You should try a sample sized subscription box like Ipsy, Birchbox, or Sephora!

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      • Aww 🙂 sounds like a good start! The sub boxes send you 5 little samples for $10 a month. Such a great way to start experimenting with makeup without spending so much money on things you may end up hating.

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