First of all – IT’S JUNE YOU GUYS. How did this happen? I swear it was Christmas just a couple of weeks ago. Where is my life going? It’s a total blur. Please tell me I’m not the only one who feels this way!
Secondly – do you remember your New Year’s resolutions? I certainly remember mine. This is the first year I’ve made resolutions in a long time, so I thought it’d be interesting to give myself a 6 month checkup. Want to hear how it’s going? In 2015 I resolved to:
1. Allow my appearance to reflect my spirit – Honestly, this one takes some effort that continues to put me outside of my lazy comfort zone, but, it is so worth it. First thing I did in January was bleach my hair and turn it into a cotton candy colored teenage dream of a my little pony mane, which is something I’ve been wanting to do since about 1995. FINALLY. It takes time to maintain. It costs money that I don’t have to spend. But it looks like the Los Angeles sky at sunset and it makes me feel happy every time I look in the mirror. I like this feeling. It inspires me to play with my makeup and paint my nails and put my clothes together in ways that I never thought about before. (I guess now that I’m not acting anymore all of my creativity has got to go somewhere – the lewk it is!) The heart of this resolution was to be better groomed, and I think it’s going pretty well. I’ve started giving myself regular facials and manicures, and I have to say that my skin has never looked better, despite the fact that I keep getting older (stupid time) and will never ever be able to catch up on all of the sleep I’ve missed out on over the past 2 & 1/2 years. So, mission accomplished. Knowing me, I was sure that I would loose patience with the amount of extra time all of this self care would take and end up going back to my old habits, (or lack thereof) but I’ve been surprised to discover that it’s not as hard as I thought it would be. I guess this is one of the upsides to the fact that my life is super boring and routine right now. That, and my work week is such a marathon that I’m more than happy to just stay in and pamper myself on the weekends! Definitely stay tuned for more beauty-centirc posts about my tricks and routines – I think I’m finally getting the hang of all this girly stuff!
2. Boost my immune system – I thought I was doing really well with this one, but then a week and a half ago I came down with the cold from hell. I don’t think it could have been avoided though, really. If your kid gets sick it’s pretty much inevitable. At least in my world anyway. Considering that I work in an office and have a kid in full time daycare, I think one cold in 6 months is not so bad. I’ve been making an effort to eat all of my veggies, I drink green tea pretty much everyday, I try to make the time to start my day with a coconut water kale berry banana protein powder smoothie, which I had been slacking on right before I got sick – lesson learned – and I’ve been a very good girl in regards to my sugar intake. I was doing the hot water and lemon thing in the mornings, but the acid was not so nice to my tummy, so I’ve been enjoying the lemon water sparingly these days. Overall, I think I’m doing OK here, but getting sick recently has made me feel extra motivated to do even more. Although, I’m actually not sure what more there is to do here. Maybe get more rest? HAHAHAHA.
3. Only buy clothing that’s second hand, vintage, or from a purposely vegan/ethical fashion company – You guys, this is so easy! And not just because I’m too broke to shop. Just don’t go to the mall. Just don’t! It’s that simple. I’ve included personal care items under this umbrella too, which means that I rarely go to Target anymore, which means that I have no more temptation to buy cheap vegan shoes. (Also the Target shoes I bought last year are not holding up. Don’t waste your money.) I’ll admit that I was tempted to break this one right at the beginning of the year. I’ve been wanting a new slightly oversized black boyfriend cardigan because my favorite (of almost 10 years) is looking a little worse for the wear and Target had one that looked perfect for around $30… it took all of my willpower to walk away. Now I just don’t look. I don’t need to. I prefer browsing all of my favorite ethical and vegan stores (SO MANY) anyway, and I’m beyond spoiled by the fact that I live right next to a Buffalo Exchange and some pretty great vintage shops. I’ve decided that it’s time to add a new resolution to the list – to take a picture of my outfit at least once a week (not a mirror selfie) – so you guys can see just how well I’m doing here. It’s funny, because I thought that giving up my H&M and Zara etc., would be so difficult when I thought this up back in January, but now I feel like I could keep going this way for a long time. I mean, I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with buying new quality items from mainstream brands when needed, (I work in fashion production so I think I have a pretty good handle on how the cost of an item relates to how it’s produced, although I’m sure there are always exceptions,) but no more fast (cheap) fashion, EVER, for me. It’s just not necessary. I’ll show you…
4. Start a business (or treat my blog like a business) – I haven’t even started on this one. Actually, I’ve decided that now is not the right time for me to start a business. Actually, I’d rather just start treating my blog like a business. See, the thing about starting a business is that it costs money. I have no money. I have negative money. In the red. Not fun. But, there is potential for me to earn money through this website without any overhead through affiliate links or sponsored posts. And maybe someday the time will be right for me to start an e-commerce venture straight from this blog! But first things first – I have to figure out how to consistently offer quality content within the confines of my day job/single mommy schedule while growing my audience. It’s super frustrating because I know how much potential there is here and I know exactly what I need to do, but I have no time to do it! I feel like I’m getting better and better as 2015 races by, but ugh – If I just had a little more time I could do so much more! Also, this is all I really want to do right now anyway! I really hope that by December (which will be here tomorrow apparently) I’ll be feeling better about this one. I’m definitely going to be working extra hard for the rest of the year to ensure that I’m on the right track to start my own business someday. I hope you’ll stay tuned to find out how it goes and enjoy everything I post along the way. I love the thought of getting to share my story with you as it unfolds!
So this is how 2015 is looking so far for me. I feel like I’ve made some pretty significant changes for the better, and of course I had to throw in some fun changes too, just because. Fun is important too! 
What about you? Are you sticking to everything you said you were going to do this year? I’d love to hear about it!