Here’s a quick update on my goals for summer break.
Home Garden √
Boom! These dishes are done. Here are over 30 photos showing the whole process. Thanks to neighbor Bud and my buddy Andy for delivering the dark hemlock. I’ll add plants in the Spring. Any design ideas? Send them my way, thanks!
Give Mom a Hand
My plan was to visit mom in The Dalles and help her around the house. What ended up happening was mom came to Portland and her, my sister and I went to Float On for her birthday! Mom had never used a floatation tank before and wanted to try. It was great! If you’ve never used a floatation tank before, learn what it is and the benefits it offers on the Float On website.
Not long after that, my sister and drove to Snohomish to visit family and celebrate our grandmother’s 86th birthday! We don’t get up there enough and It was great to spend the afternoon catching up. Seana, Matt, Ed, gramma and grampa Shattuck, love you guys!
Technically, this goal is not achieved until I make it to The Dalles and work on something for mom. So Mom, if you’re reading this (and I know you are lol), let’s pick a project to work on at your place during winter break, k? =)
Record an EP √
Booked a 10-hour day at Jackpot Studios and nearly finished all four songs. I brought the tracks home and will finish up the EP in my home studio…stay tuned.
Read a Book √
The goal was to finish at least one book during the break. I finished the last 150 pages of Paul Smith’s Lead With A Story and the first 80 pages of Seth Godin’s The Icarus Deception before getting an early start on my Organizational Behavior textbook.
The Icarus Deception talks about how seizing new ground, making connections, and working without a map can help us transition from the industrial economy to the “connection economy”. I found a promo video for the book featuring Seth Godin himself, check it out.
Stay Active √
Since I had 6 weeks coming up with no work and no school, I made it a goal to “stay active”. With that aim, I decided to do a 6-week workout program. After a few minutes of research I found Mike Simone’s Built for the Beach workout program on the Men’s Fitness website. I was motivated to find a program that’s good for me and really stick with it.
These taste amazing and they’re packed with protein, carbs, vitamins, minerals, nutrients and more
I’m happy to report that I’m still working out 5 times a week, and omg, guess what. The other morning I was rolling up the sleeves of a favorite button down shirt and I was having trouble with it. Did the shirt shrink? No, I’ve had it for years. It wouldn’t roll up past my elbow. I started getting frustrated. Then I realized holy smokes, my guns are actually getting bigger! I felt like I was getting too buff for my shirt. It was a proud moment.
Along with working out, one change I made recently is drinking meal replacements from Shakeology. I’ve tried protein shakes before and never cared for the taste, but I tried one of these (tropical strawberry) and was hooked. If you workout or exercise regularly, or you’re thinking about starting, consider including Shakeology meal replacements in your meal plan.
I had originally planned to do the Built for the Beach thing until school started, but since I’m taking night classes for Fall term, I plan to continue working out in the mornings five times a week through the end of the year. I’ll be so buff you won’t even recognize me lol.
In addition to working out, I joined a grass volleyball league over the summer and had a blast. Good exercise too. Didn’t expect that we’d win the tournament, but we did! Nine wins, no losses. So I joined the fall indoor league, can’t wait to get started.
And finally…
It’s the first day of Fall term and I’m preparing for 10 weeks study time. With the prerequisite classes completed, I’ll start taking core business and marketing classes which is sure to demand even more time. As such, I’ll publish a new blog post once per month going forward.
•••
Thanks for reading! Do you have a summer goals update? Did you do anything fun over the summer? Let me know in the comments below.