Image Credit: BeautyBeyondBones

Welcome back! April was a relatively busy month. But, the weather has finally started to stabilize, several rains have washed away the nasty pollen, and we’re already a full quarter through 2018. How crazy is that!!

Here’s the link to my April Goals post:

• Getting Personal #113: April Goals

Ready?

Here we go!

1. Give blood. — Accomplished!
2. Celebrate Dad’s birthday! — Did not accomplish.
3. Participate in Camp NaNoWriMo, April 2018. — Accomplished!
4. See Avengers: Infinity War. — Accomplished!
5. Continue working on my Lady Lounge. — Accomplished!
6. Read at least two books. — Did not accomplish.
7. Enjoy time with Melissa! — Accomplished!
8. Attend the TAPA Spring Luncheon. — Accomplished!
9. Attend Olivia’s bridal shower! — Accomplished!
10. Visit LanternAsia with Al, Casey, and Beth. — Accomplished!
11. Attend the P.E.O. Family Gathering. — Accomplished!
12. Update my TBR. — Accomplished!

Here’s the breakdown:

Give blood. — Accomplished!

• We celebrated our 18th Anniversary blood drive on Saturday, April 7th.
• I was able to give a Power Red donation for the first time! Yippee!
• What is Power Red? — Power Red is where you essentially donate two units of your red blood cells. Everything is spun through a centrifuge, and you’re given back your platelets, plasma, and some saline. You have wait 16 weeks to donate again, which is okay because I’m going to be out of town for the June blood drive. I don’t feel guilty now!
• For more information: Power Red Donation – American Red Cross Blood Services

Celebrate Dad’s birthday! — Did not accomplish.

• Dad’s birthday fell in the middle of the week. We’ve offered to take him to dinner at some point, but our family experienced a series of crises the week after his birthday (Family illnesses, and Mom and Dad needing to travel down to care for said family).
• So, we’ll officially celebrate some time in May!

Participate in Camp NaNoWriMo, April 2018. — Accomplished!

• I feel SO GOOD that I did this!
• I can’t wait to do it again in July!
• I’m writing a Getting Personal post about my experience, so look for that on May 2nd!

See Avengers: Infinity War. — Accomplished!

• Al and I went to the Peninsula Movie Bistro on Saturday, April 28th.
• No spoilers, but if you’re a fan of Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), this movie is a must. We’re already planning to see it again in the next week or so.

Continue working on my Lady Lounge. — Accomplished!

• Oh, man! I’m so excited!!
• Al’s dad delivered the custom doll cabinet he built for me on Saturday, April 14th. So, I hustled my butt and got all the boxes cleared out for him during that Thursday and Friday.
• The last piece is to move the remainder of the boxes that are along the wall where my standing desk is going to be. Almost there!!
• Look for an upcoming Home Improvements post soon, with photos!

Read at least two books. — Did not accomplish.

• With the aforementioned family crises toward the beginning of the month, I’ve been so exhausted by bedtime that I fall asleep pretty quickly.

Enjoy time with Melissa! — Accomplished!

• Al and I drove up to Richmond on Sunday, April 29th.
• We had such a nice visit. Her mom made amazing paella, and then we hung out with Melissa for several hours, just catching up. I didn’t want to leave! We finally left, reluctantly, at 8:00 p.m. to drive home.

Attend the TAPA Spring Luncheon. — Accomplished!

• The luncheon was held on Saturday, April 14th. It was a gorgeous day!
• One of my sorority sisters, Beth McOsker, was honored as the “Greek Woman of the Year.”

Attend Olivia’s bridal shower! — Accomplished!

• Olivia’s shower was hosted by my mom on the afternoon of Saturday, April 14th. It was so wonderful!

Visit LanternAsia with Al, Casey, and Beth. — Accomplished!

• We went to the Norfolk Botanical Garden on Saturday, April 21st.
• Here’s the link to my Adventure Time post: Adventure Time: Norfolk, VA Edition (Round 4 – LanternAsia 2018)

Attend the P.E.O. Family Gathering. — Accomplished!

• The Family Gathering was held on Saturday, April 28th.
• Although I arrived a little late, it was a very spirited, positive discussion. We met until noon, and everyone came away with several great ideas!

Update my TBR. — Accomplished!

• Here’s the link to my TBR post: Getting Personal #115: Sixth TBR Recap

Final Thoughts

• I was able to put Accomplished next to 10 out of 12 goals! Yippee!!
• The two goals that I did not accomplish: Family illnesses suck, so much. But, it’s okay. We’ll get through this!

What about you? Did you have any goals for the month of April?

Come back tomorrow to see my May Goals!

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

Image Credit: Maria Estes Photography

Hello, April! I’m so happy that you have arrived. Bring on the warmer weather!!

Here are my goals for the month of April:

1. Give blood.
2. Celebrate Dad’s birthday!
3. Participate in Camp NaNoWriMo, April 2018.
4. See Avengers: Infinity War.
5. Continue working on my Lady Lounge.
6. Read at least two books.
7. Enjoy time with Melissa!
8. Attend the TAPA Spring Luncheon.
9. Attend Olivia’s bridal shower!
10. Visit LanternAsia with Al, Casey, and Beth.
11. Attend the P.E.O. Family Gathering.
12. Update my TBR.

Here’s the breakdown:

Give blood.

• Our 18th Anniversary blood drive is this coming Saturday, April 7th.
• If you’re in the Hampton Roads area, come on out and Give the Gift of Life.

Celebrate Dad’s birthday!

• Al and I likely going to take my dad out to dinner to celebrate his birthday very soon!

Participate in Camp NaNoWriMo, April 2018.

• See my announcement post from March 27th: Getting Personal #111: Camp NaNoWriMo.
• I’m SO PUMPED to do this. Seriously! I haven’t felt this invigorated to write in months. Bring it on!

See Avengers: Infinity War.

• We’re definitely seeing this on either the Thursday night it premieres, or Friday night. We’re so stoked!

Continue working on my Lady Lounge.

• I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!!

Read at least two books.

• I’ve finally broken out of my reading slump. I stopped reading the book I was attempting to finish, set it aside, and moved on to a different one.
• It was an excellent decision – I’ve been powering through 5-6 chapters per night!

Enjoy time with Melissa!

• My best friend is coming home for a visit!
• She’s invited Al and I to drive up to Richmond on a Sunday, to eat lunch with her, her mom, and her stepdad.

Attend the TAPA Spring Luncheon.

• I am part of the Greek Woman of the Year Committee, so I look forward to being part of the award ceremony on Saturday, April 14th.

Attend Olivia’s bridal shower!

• After the TAPA luncheon, I’m headed to my mom’s to celebrate Olivia! She’s getting married in July. She’s one of the first friends I made when we moved to Chesapeake in 1992.

Visit LanternAsia with Al, Casey, and Beth.

• We’re excited to have dinner and visit LanternAsia at the Norfolk Botanical Garden with Casey and Beth very soon!
• Look for an Adventure Time post after we visit!

Attend the P.E.O. Family Gathering.

• This is something new we’re trying as a chapter. It’s not a formal meeting, but a space and place to harbor open discussion and idea sharing.
• I’m hoping for a good turnout and positive discussion about the upcoming year!

Update my TBR.

• It’s that time of year again! Look for my post within the first two weeks of the month.

Do you have any goals for the month of April?

If so, I’d love to hear about them! Comment below!

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂

Image Credit: BeautyBeyondBones

So far, 2018 is turning out to be very busy. Most of our weekends have been chock-full, although we have had a blessed few where absolutely nothing was on the calendar. March seemed to drag on a little bit, probably because of the crazy weather! At least now it’s a bit more spring-like. Temperatures in the 60s and 70s – I’ll take it!

Here’s the link to my March Goals post:

• Getting Personal #106: March Goals

Ready?

Here we go!

1. Work at least one hour on my Lady Lounge every weekend. — Semi-Achieved.
2. See A Wrinkle In Time. — Did not accomplish.
3. See Ready Player One. — Accomplished!
4. Attend a meet-and-greet with Old Dominion Greyhound Adoption. — Accomplished!
5. Update the Household Bills spreadsheet by the end of the month. — Accomplished!
6. Prepare for my P.E.O. officer transition. — Accomplished!
7. Make chocolate mousse for the office. — Accomplished!
8. Make at least one thrift store donation run. — Accomplished!
9. Continue to make progress with my 2012 NaNoWriMo endeavor. — Accomplished!

Here’s the breakdown:

Work at least one hour on my Lady Lounge every weekend. — Semi-Achieved.

• I was able to do this for a few weekends, but not all.
• I spent two solid hours on one Sunday afternoon, and I was immensely proud of myself. I’m slowly carving a path through!

See A Wrinkle In Time. — Did not accomplish.

• This wasn’t a priority for us. Maybe one day soon!

See Ready Player One. — Accomplished!

• We have tickets to see it TODAY! Cannot wait!

Attend a meet-and-greet with Old Dominion Greyhound Adoption. — Accomplished!

• We did this on Saturday, March 10th. We had so much fun!
• You can read more about it in my post from March 12th: Adventure Time: Newport News & Williamsburg Edition (Greyhounds, Colonial Williamsburg, and Romantic Escape Package)
• We have the application in hand, but we’re waiting a little longer to submit it. We need to build the fence!

Update the Household Bills spreadsheet by the end of the month. — Accomplished!

• It feels good!

Prepare for my P.E.O. officer transition. — Accomplished!

• I was officially elected and installed as the chapter’s treasurer!
• Thankfully, almost everything is logged and recorded through Excel. That makes me happy!
• I’m excited for this new role!

Make chocolate mousse for the office. — Accomplished!

• Al helped me make it, and I brought it to the office last week. Out of three I’ve made since Thanksgiving, this one was the best of them all. It was awesome!
• My department director was even able to find the original recipe online, and sent it to everyone.

Make at least one thrift store donation run. — Accomplished!

• We dropped off all the clothing donations, plus the big boxes of books and DVDs.
• Then, after that solid two hours of work in my Lady Lounge, I had quite a bit to donate. We loaded up the car and dropped it off at the CHKD Thrift Store near our house.

Continue to make progress with my 2012 NaNoWriMo endeavor. — Accomplished!

• I signed up for CampNaNoWriMo for the first time, with a singular focus on this endeavor.
• Read more in my March 27th post: Getting Personal #111: Camp NaNoWriMo
• Feeling inspired, I went on an awesome sprint this past week. When Al was in the shower on Thursday morning, I wrote over 1,100 words! Woohoo!
• And then, last night, I wrote another 884 words!
• I’m up to 37 pages now. It’s really starting to come together, and I’m enjoying writing again.
• I wrote approximately 2,025 words!! Happy dance over here!!
• Current word count: 13,241 words.

Final Thoughts:

• I was able to put Accomplished next to seven out of nine goals. More than 75 percent – I call that a win!
• The one goal that was Semi-Achieved: This was mainly due to time constraints. However, I’m happy with the progress I made.
• The one goal that I did not accomplish: I’m not too worried about this one. Movies will always be there to watch.

What about you? Did you have any goals for the month of March?

Come back tomorrow to see my April Goals!

Until the next headline, Laura Beth 🙂