2014 Goals {#Welcome2014}

I also have hopes that 2014 will be the best yet!

New year, new me.  Right?  RIght!  Mind you I’ve said this almost every January 1st.  BUT this time I mean it and I’ll admit I need some help too.  You see I’ve found when you let people know what’s up it makes you more accountable.  It also makes me WANT to meet my goals.  So here are my 2014 goals in no particular order.

Read 30 books between now and Dec. 31, 2014!  You can track my progress here.   Plus see what I’m reading.  If you happen to be a Goodreads member – friend me!

Dial down the sarcasm a bit.  I know I can do it.  I also know that some people couldn’t imagine me without it.  But I sometimes feel my sarcasm is more hurtful to me as well as other.  So time to cut it a bit.

Write more!  Somewhere there is an awesome novel/short story/poem wanting/waiting to get out.  I just have to make the time to let it happen.

Less social media.  This one will be hard.  I LOVE Twitter.  Way more than I love Facebook.  But I think hanging out in cyber space it taking away from my reading and writing.  It may also be adding to my sarcasm.  So I may need to curb it to a set number of hours a day.  Or perhaps if I meet X word goal I can tweet all I want.

Get my health issues sorted out.  Not quite sure what the issue is, but something isn’t quite right (esp. my immune system).  Time for a complete physical and all the blood work the doctor is willing to throw at me.

Relax more.  I seriously do not slow down.  From my first waking hour to the time my head hits the pillow I am just go, go, go.  So it is time to finally stop and smell the roses.  I hope to try a little meditation or Tai Chi this year.  Yoga let’s my mind wander too much.  I think Tai Chi is the answer.  Now to find a place.  This will also help with the whole exercise thing I need to do!

Organize the house!  We’ve lived in the house a little over two years now.  There are still boxes everywhere!  Still photos to hang on the walls and more.  Time to MOVE IN!

That’s it for now.  I think seven is a good number.  Any more and I am doomed to fail.  So as I said I’ll need help in keeping accountable.  So…feel free to check in and ask me how things are going via the Facebook page and on twitter (@galinthegreyhat).  KEEP ME ACCOUNTABLE!  I’m going to need all the help I can get.  I also plan to post updates here on the blog.  Book reviews, photos of organizing things, etc.

I’m also going to add a Page for these here goals too.

Do you have any goals for 2014?

#SherlockLives Tonight!

As most of you know I’m not watching.  One there doesn’t appear to be a legal way for me to do this.  The other is there’s a bit of a bet going on between me and a few folks to see if we can hold out for 19 days.  If we had to wait until May again I would lose that bet in a second!

One friend who happens to be a “casual” Sherlock watcher said “What’s the big deal, you know how he escaped in the books.”  True as you recall Holmes told Watson the way he escaped was “About that chasm… I had no serious difficulty in getting out of it for the simple reason that I was never in it.”

I for one might be a little ticked and want to punch Sherlock in the face if that wasn’t him on the roof.  I already suspect Watson will not faint when he sees Holmes tonight, but will instead punch him in the face.  Which I could not blame him for at all.  It seems we had a kinder Watson there, who could forgive his friend anything.  The John of the modern day Sherlock is more likely not to take any silly business from Holmes.

The difficult task I face is avoiding most social media for the next 19 days.  I’d say it was easy, and it might be, but I may have to unfollow some folks until the 19th, as that might be the only wany to keep my social media sanity.  If you know me I cannot give up Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Only 19 days to go…wish me luck!

19 days!

Goodbye 2014, Hello no knee pain?

I’m just back from my trip to the ortho.  Which was a weird trip.  Last time I was there my doctor hardly gave me the time of day (he’s a busy guy, but still – bedside manner people), but this time he was super funny and dare I say charming.

I think it’s my new do.  It’s hot. Fine it’s different.  Anyway, he went over the results and everything is FINE with my knee.  No tears or anything weird.  Ok sure I apparently have a little bit of a weird bone growth thing and a cyst or two.  But none of these things is the cause of the pain.  Nor is the extra weight I’ve gained.  INTERESTING.  So I have NO idea what it is.  But I did score a lovely cortisone shot in my knee, not so lovely.

Talk about ALL THE FEELS!

To be honest, it hurt and still hurts like I stepped on a lego.  But within a day or two it will start to work the magics and I should be feeling better.  Good times!  Also good was that my wonderful ortho made sure I couldn’t see the shot going in.  I certainly felt it!

This might be the last post before the ball drops.  So I want to wish all of you a VERY happy new year!!

 

But can I make it look like this tomorrow?

Tonight was hair cuts night.  Now I’ve been trying to grow my hair out for a very long time now.  I was actually getting somewhere too.  But then JLaw went ahead and cut her hair super short and CUTE.  So I thought to myself I could probably rock that.

Check it out.

I also got a few wicked highlights added in.

Teh back.

Finally the side view.

Of course the real question is…can I make it look anything like this tomorrow?  The answer, probably not.  But I’ll give it my best.

We don’t have any major plans for tomorrow.  I finally get the results of my MRI (yay).  Then we have friends coming over for eats and an early NYE.  Perhaps the Hubbins and I will watch a movie and ring in 2014 with the nice bottle of champagne I purchased this weekend.

Whatever we do I’m looking forward to ringing in 2014.  In the hopes that it brings good things for everyone!

Happy (early) New Year!!

 

 

Well flip!

Today I was planning on sharing some of my old “taking tea with….” posts with all of you fine people from my old tea blog.  Some of them very very good (my mommy said so).  Most of them had to do with taking tea with Sherlock (both classic and BBC) Holmes.  But it seems as though those posts have vanished into the interwebs, never to be seen again.

Bother!

On the upside I guess it just means I will have to go ahead and write up new “taking tea with” stories here.

These guys and….

…these guys.

MAYBE even tea with this guy too!

ALL THE FEELS!

So this aired today, many thanks for posting it on YouTube BBC!

Oh my feels!  Is it too early to start drinking?  Happy Holidays all, I’m off to find my shock blanket.

Don’t get me wrong…

I love the holiday season.  Mostly because I now do the bulk of my shopping online.  Holiday shopping crowds are the WORST.  However, I hate how much running around the Hubbins and I do and how little rest we actually get with what little time off we have.  Sure I have tomorrow off, but I’ll be stuck here at home when I’d rather be off watching ‘Frozen’. I am HOOKED on this song.

Seriously, Idina’s voice reminds me of her stint as The Wicked Witch in Wicked.  So basically amazing!

But I shall be at home.  Perhaps I’ll try to actually write something since I’ve only blogged since NaNoWriMo ended.  But best laid plans tend to bite me in the rear. Meaning I’ll probably end up sleeping in way too late and park my butt in front of the TV for the better part of the day.  (I am determined to NOT do this).  Starting at 5 tomorrow we’ll be in run around mode and see very little of our house until later the following evening.

Like I said don’t get me wrong, but I wish we could stay home a little more.  But it would appear until we find ourselves with little ones of our own that is not an option.  So off we’ll go dashing through the nonexistent snow.  Which is a little bit of a bummer, I do enjoy a white Christmas rather than all the rain and melting we’ve been enjoying in these parts for the last three to four days.

Sure it is great for the whole traveling thing.  Not so great for trying to get into the holiday spirit.  Perhaps I’ll have to try to spend a little bit of tomorrow getting into the spirit of the season.  Wish me luck and Happy Holidays!

And now for something totally different!

So to cheer myself up (after someone posted Sherlock Season 3 spoilers on Tumblr) I’ve changed up the look of the blog with a new (and free) theme.  What do you all think?  I’m still messing around with the right color, but I think I like the layout of things.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.  If you needs me I’ll be in my mind palace!

Hush…

Holiday Shopping Reminder

I received an email from Amazon.com this morning reminding me that the last day to order amazonPrime items is December 22, 2013, which is Sunday (if you want/need something in two days)!  This reminder is more for the fellas out there and less for the ladies.  Let’s face it most of us finished weeks ago!

Seriously – do not test the powers of amazonPrime this time of year!

Very Inspiring Blogger Award

I don’t often get nominated for much of anything.  Ok there was that one time I was voted most organized in high school.  Gee thanks guys.  However, if you’d seen my locker, well you would totally have seen why!

So Deborah of Hellcat Vintage nominated me for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award.  If you haven’t checked out her website please do.  It is full of great tutorials and other vintage facts and finds.  I enjoy reading through her tips and tricks even if I’m too big a chicken to try any of them out!

Ooooh!

The rules of this nomination state that I have to share SEVEN random facts about myself with all of you fine people.  After said facts you can find my seven nominations.  And away we go!

1. I know it might not seem like it, but I find being at big social things super draining and terrifying.  Yes, I am a giant chicken.  Seriously I’d rather sit at home and write a blog post, watch a movie, or read instead of go out to a party or bar or anything with more than 7 people in attendance.  How I got to work everyday is still a mystery to me.

Cluck!

2.  My favorite movies tend to run more toward the action adventure genre.  Chick movies sort of bug me.  Unless it happens to be something like Love Actually or Bridget Jones’s Diary…because British chick flicks are fun and mildly sappy.  For goodness sake give me The Usual Suspects or Die Hard any day!

“I’ll flip ya, flip ya for real.”

3.  I have had a massive crush on Alan Rickman since I saw him in Die Hard many moons ago.  I swear I must own almost ever film he’s ever been in well, save Closet Land I think it is.  I swear you cannot get that bad boy anywhere.  I mean I would pay good money to listen to Mr. Rickman read the phone book.  My obsession got so bad that my own mother begged me to crush on someone my own age.  Thank goodness Benedict Cumberbatch came around…

Hello Sweetie!

4.  I SWORE I would hate the new Sherlock (BBC version) when it first turned up on Netflix.  I mean who the heck did these people think they were?  There was only one Sherlock Holmes and his name was Jeremy Brett, thank you very much!  However, after only one season I found myself a bit of a, pardon the pun, die hard fan.  Yup I’m hooked and awaiting January 19th like woah.  I’m also far too excited to be off the next day so I can stay up late for the show!

Hooked, I tell you!

5.  I wanted to be an opthamologist when I was younger.  I also have had 10 eye surgeries between 1982 and 2007!  Which the only cool thing it allows me to say is that I have implants…lens implants.  But at least it sounds cool until you get to the lens bit.  (Oh and I was awake for those two surgeries.)

Of course having all those surgeries sort of axed said career in eyes.

6.  I love and I do mean LOVE Broadway Showtunes.  I will sing and or play them more than any other type of music.  Much to the Hubbins complaints!  My favorite song, that my cats love or perhaps think I’m a dying animal…is Send in The Clowns from A Little Night Music.  Oddly enough I have never seen this show!

7.  I’m glad there are seven things I have to list.  Why?  Seven is probably my favorite number.  I’m pretty sure it has something to do with being born in July, the seventh month.  I’m weird what more can I say?

Awesome number right?

The following are my seven choices.  I find them all pretty inspiring and YOU should check them out!

1.  Amy from Lucy’s Football

2.  Sj from Book Snobbery – it might just be Snobbery, in which case I’m sorry…

3.  Ashlee Mae from Willfully Disobedient

4.  Jona from Zee Lemons

5.  Beth from I Didn’t Have My Glasses On

6.  Katrina from Tea Pages

7.  Mandy from Mandy Melodies