I decided to take a break from goal setting in the month of January. I don’t like setting “New Year’s Resolutions” because often whatever goal I set, I abandon within a month anyway. Now that January is over and done with, I wanted to talk about my month of February with a new set of goals waiting to be met.

Set a budget for Planet Comicon

I always spend too much money at conventions because I love to buy new comics, art, and more. I haven’t decided how much spending money I will actually bring, but I’m going to set a budget for sure. Usually, I bring cash with me so once I spend whatever I have in cash, I’m done. This seems to work for me at most conventions, but I think I’m planning on bringing at least $80. I did look at the exhibitor listing before the convention and Tee Turtle is one of them and I love their t-shirts so honestly, this is going to be tough for me.

Work at Steamship at least once per month.

Steamship Coffee & Tea is the coffee shop I work at in Minneapolis. I’m not on the schedule every week, so I take shifts whenever I can. My goal is to work there at least once per month. I’m their emergency barista in case someone needs time off or is too sick to come to work. I like it because I can set my own hours and choose shifts that work for me. Did I also mention my coffee shop is in the same space as Universe Games? I can stock up on my board game needs while earning money making lattes.

Play D&D at least once this month.

I’m a part of an all-female DnD group on Facebook and I haven’t once gone to a role-playing session. I usually justify it because I have to meal prep on Sunday or go to the gym. I need to cut out the excuses and just go for a couple hours because I know I would have fun.

Read one book & one comic book this month.

I still have Paper Girls Volume #3, Saga Volume #2 and Madame Xanadu to read along with a pile of books. I want to set the bar low for this one because I do end up getting busy in between work. I have been better at reading before bed and I bring a book to read on my lunch break. There’s so much to read and so little time to do it.

Happy February everyone! Happy Valentine’s Day and Galentine’s Day and whatever else happens in this month.

Ever since moving into my own apartment in August of 2017, I had bugged my boyfriend about adopting a kitty. I missed having an animal around since both of my kitties I had growing up passed away a year and a half ago. The boyfriend assured me would start “shopping” for a kitty after Christmas since he had to travel to Milwaukee for the holiday. Compatibility was important for us, we wouldn’t adopt a kitty we didn’t believe would be a good fit for us. On December 27th we visited Feline Rescue Inc. which is a volunteer-run no-kill shelter specifically for cats. There were multiple rooms with kitties wandering around freely while other kitties were sitting in their assigned cages. Athena was in a cage and actually wasn’t able to be adopted right when we fell in love with her. She needed a vet check-up first and if all went well, we could adopt her. Athena was loving right away because we would hold our fingers to her cage and she would purr as she rubbed her head against them. We stopped back into the shelter again on Sunday, December 31st to see if she was available and she was! We filled out her adoption paperwork then and picked her up on Wednesday, January 3rd! I’m going to share all the cute pictures I took of her.

The above picture is the first picture I took of her. She was still at Feline Rescue Inc at this point in time. She’s a gorgeous tabby kitty. This is my first time owning a grey tabby; my two other kitties were a calico and an orange kitty.

Her favorite hiding spots so far are underneath the end table, laying on the floor of my closet onto my suitcase, and in the closet with all of our bath towels.

Athena is a pretty needy kitty. She usually greets me when I’m home from work looking for pets. She woke me and the boyfriend up at 4 AM with meows for her breakfast and wet cat food. She is currently sitting next to me as I type this sentence. She’s a lap kitty for sure.

I am so happy to have a kitty around. She is comforting when I come home from a long day at work, she brings some energy to the apartment and she’s a stress release for me. If you’re thinking about adopting an animal, try to adopt and not shop. I feel this is easier to do with cats than dogs, but so many animals are looking for a good home. I am so glad I opened our door to Athena.

Happy New Year! I decided this year I wasn’t going to make a resolutions post like I have written in the past. I feel 2018 will be a great year because of how happy I am with my life right now. I’m lucky to have a job in the field I went to college for, I live in an area I enjoy and I’m grateful for the healthy relationships I have with my family, my boyfriend, and my friends. I have a couple exciting trips/news for this year already and I’m just giddy about what the future holds for me. I wanted to jump in and talk about what I’m excited for:

New Cat

This isn’t “official” yet. We have filled out the paperwork and now we are waiting for the adoption center to call our apartment building. Ever since moving out, I have been bothering my boyfriend about a cat for our place. Cats are low-maintenance and are loving creatures. Our kitty is named Athena and she’s a 5-year-old female tabby. She needs to be the only kitty in the household, unfortunately, so we probably will only have her for quite some time. I’m thrilled to be a cat mom and to have a cat welcome me as I come home from work.

Planet Comic Con

I already wrote a blog post about this, but I feel like this will be a fun trip. I haven’t done a convention out of state before, so this is all going to be new for me. Plus the months of January – March are boring for me it will be nice to have something fun planned in that time frame.

Trips?

My friend proposed a trip to NYC sometime in March and my family hasn’t stopped talking about going to Seattle. Hopefully this year I can explore new places and take loads of pictures. I’m a typical tourist whenever I see something new.

Playing my PS4

Normally, I don’t go Black Friday shopping, but I was scrolling through Facebook and saw Gamestop’s sale of a PS4 for $250. I couldn’t pass it up, so after work I went to the store and purchased it. I’m currently playing Sexy Brutale which is a murder/puzzle mystery, but I also have Last of Us, Uncharted, and more PS4 games to play. I was hoping after the holiday season I would be less busy so I could play more video games during the harsh winter.

I could go on and on about how happy I am right now. Here’s to a Happy Healthy 2018.

I cannot believe I haven’t already written about this already. I’m excited to announce in February 2018 I will be attending Planet Comic Con in Kansas City, MO, and meeting Jason Momoa! I am super excited to meet him even though I don’t watch Game of Thrones, I’m still a big fan of him as Aquaman from Justice League. My friend hasn’t been to a comic book convention so this will be a new experience for her too. We will be planning on driving there which I’m happy about because I enjoy road trips.

As far as our tickets go, me and my friend decided against getting a picture with Jason. It was expensive and the pictures to me look really awkward. An autograph though, that will last a lifetime. I’m planning on bringing a New 52 Justice League graphic novel for him to sign since I enjoyed Justice League and I’m interested in his solo Aquaman movie. Also Matthew Lewis aka. Neville Longbottom will be there and me and my friend might pay for his autograph.

Besides the autographs, I’m excited to spend money on comics and cosplay for this comic con. I have never been to Planet Comic Con so I have no idea what to expect. I’m a very casual cosplayer as in I would rather thrift a cosplay together than hand-sew pieces of cloth. I’m sure once I know who I’m cosplaying, I’ll make a post about it here.

February 2018 cannot come faster. I’m happy to escape the MN area and explore other comic book conventions out of state. The next comic con I want to attend would be C2E2 or New York Comic Con.

If you have been keeping up with my blog, I spoke about how I was driving to Chicago to visit a friend from college. I acted like a tourist taking pictures of everything while she took me around the city. When you visit Chicago, you walk everywhere! On Friday alone I walked about 10 – 12 miles and Saturday probably at least 7 according to my iPhone.

Chicago has a lot of really good food. My friend took me to Portillo’s which is a chain featuring Chicago-style hot dogs with no ketchup and plenty of pickles. Deep dish pizza is all the rave as well and we ended up picking Giordiano’s and it was heavenly. We also went to this cute little cupcake shop on the “richer” side of town. I knew it was the richer side because the shops were all designer / name-brand clothing. My red velvet cupcake was small and sweet.

As far as this trip, my main goal was to see all the museums. Museum campus is right along Lake Michigan and it features the Shedd Aquarium, the Field Museum, and the Planetarium. Shedd Aquarium was breathtaking! My favorite part of the aquarium was all the otters because otters are the cutest. The Field Museum has Sue right in the middle of the first floor which is an almost complete T-Rex. Unfortunately, we did miss the planetarium as it closed early, but we also saw the MSI which was the Museum of Science and Industry. My favorite part of the exhibit was the human body portion and the portion about the storm.

Overall, it was a nice getaway from my normal routine on weekends. I am glad I got to see her and catch up. I am considering making another trip down to Chicago for C2E2.? Don’t know if that will happen, but I have always wanted to go.

Happy Friday! As I sit typing away writing up my goals for this month, snow is steadily falling onto the grass and coating the tree branches. It looks like Narnia outside my window and to be honest, I’m enjoying the snow. October has been one hell of a busy month, but one to remember. I cannot believe Thanksgiving is already in three weeks,  this year has been flying by. Let’s recap the wonderful fall month that was October:

Watch the Classic Horror Movies – NOPE 

Me and the boyfriend were planning on watching the classic films, but I ended up participating in a Call of Cthulhu D&D session on Halloween instead. Eventually, I will sit down and have a marathon of these movies.

Yoga Once Per Week – Sort of. 

I usually would plan my yoga days to be on Monday because that’s when I work my 12-hour shift, but sometimes I’m just too tired from work so I come home and crash. Yoga is important to me, so I need to make it a priority every week.

Participate in D&D Sessions – SUCCESS 

As I mentioned, I did play D&D this past month. I was super excited I was able to fit it into my schedule. It ended up being a great time and my character found an old saxophone in the asylum which I would beat people with, it worked out well.

Carve a Pumpkin – Nope 😦 

Unfortunately, this fall activity slipped by me. Maybe next year.

Plan a Trip with the Family – SUCCESS 

I think we all decided to travel to Arizona in February of 2018? It’s not confirmed, but my mom used to have a friend who lived there and she says it’s gorgeous up by the grand canyon. By February, I’m done with Minnesota’s winter which means Arizona would be much needed.

Now onto November’s goals:

Read before bed on most nights (around 5 – 10 minutes)

Reading helps me fall asleep and stay asleep at night. Plus I have piles of books to read, and I’m behind on getting through that pile.

Buy kitty/pet supplies

Me and the boyfriend are starting the process of getting a cat for the apartment. We finished saving for the down deposit required by our apartment building, and now we need pet supplies. I am hoping for sure by December we will have a cat roaming our apartment.

Yoga Once Per Week

I decided to set fewer goals this month so I could put my attention on reading more before bed, saving for a cute kitty, and making time for yoga.

October has been one of the first months where I have had plans every single weekend. Sometimes it’s nice to be busy, but I have been craving some downtime. This past weekend I went to a Harvest festival in Stillwater, MN which is a gorgeous river town. This next weekend from Thursday – Sunday I will be in Chicago visiting a friend from college. Hopefully, after Chicago, I should have a couple slow weekends until Thanksgiving. I wanted to share pictures from the Harvest Festival and talk about how excited I am to go to Chicago again.

Stillwater is right along the St. Croix River on the border of Wisconsin. It’s a bright river town away from Minneapolis & St. Paul. There were a couple activities such as the beer tent, but we didn’t participate in those. Instead, we walked around the town and explored. There was a candy shop that was filled with chocolate goodies and I ended up purchasing a dark chocolate-covered Oreo. Nearby was a small bookstore attached to a coffee shop. I did end up buying some books which I know I didn’t need, but I cannot resist a cute bookstore. It turned out to be a perfect Fall date day. The pictures below are from Teddy Bear Park which has statues of bears in the park. Me and the boyfriend wanted to check it out.

I have only been to Chicago once and that was back in July 2016 on my birthday. My former roommate from college is from Illinois and is living near the downtown area. We coordinated a weekend where I could drive to stay with her. It’s about a 6-hour drive from my apartment to Chicago which seems long, but I would rather drive that distance than pay 180 – 200 dollars to fly for a 45-minute flight. I already have my podcast episodes picked out for the drive and I’m looking forward to a smaller vacation away from my daily work routine with 2 days of paid time off. I am counting down the days till my tiny road trip.

So that sums up what I have been up to and why I haven’t been blogging as much. I try not to let myself get frustrated if I hit writer’s block or I become busy. My blog will be here when I’m done with mini vacations or I have a short 30-minute window to write about what’s on my mind.

October is probably my favorite month because Fall is my favorite season. I love the beautiful colors of Fall and being able to wear a cozy cardigan with cute ankle boots. With the end of September, I wanted to reflect on my month and the goals I set:

Planned Out Universal Studios Trip – NOPE

My second job took over my life and I was unable to do this. I wanted to go to Orlando in February, but me and my family have also talked about an Arizona trip or a quick Vegas weekend trip. So we shall see what we decide on doing.

Rent Two Books from the Library – SUCCESS! 

Unfortunately both books I rented I didn’t like reading. One was a mystery book that took place in MN which you would think would be exciting, turns out it was incredibly boring. The other was an Iron Fist trade paperback.

Participate in D&D One-Shot – NOPE 

No D&D for me this month. However, I joined an all-women-led D&D group meeting at a comic shop in the cities while also being interested in other Facebook D&D events. I’m thinking this will be a way better month to get more D&D in.

Yoga once a week – SUCCESS 

I am actually very glad I included this in my goals. I use the Yoga with Adrienne videos and I have a couple on my favorites list that I enjoy. Once my ankle is better (I sprained it pretty bad), I will get back to this.

50% of my goals were achieved! I would say that’s not too bad. Now here are my Fall / October goals:

~Watch the Classic Horror Films

I have this collection of the classic Dracula, Werewolf, and Mummy movies from the early 1900s. It was a collector’s edition I found at my house that my mom wanted to get rid of. This would be the perfect month to crack open the case and watch them.

~Yoga Once a Week

~Participate in more D&D Sessions

~Carve a Pumpkin

~Plan a Trip with the Family next February.

Why haven’t I written a blog post in almost two weeks? Great question. My free time has been used up plus I am fatigued. I don’t have the energy to read a book before bed because my eyes feel heavy as my head hits the pillow. I hadn’t seen some of my friends in a month and I went weeks without calling my grandma. Two weeks ago, I made a decision to quit my job at Steamship Coffee and Tea and today was my last shift on the schedule.

I originally applied to be a barista because I missed it! Being a barista is challenging which is what I enjoyed. I compare this to a real-life Diner Dash work environment. I can be my boisterous self and yell over the sound of the espresso machine pulling espresso shots. It balanced out my career while introducing me to a new set of regular customers.

As I mentioned, I started to notice changes in my demeanor. I would come home and crash right away or my friends would text me about plans Saturday night, but I was busy working. Me and the boyfriend didn’t have quality time together because our schedules were so chaotic. Thankfully, me and the boyfriend have Sundays off so we can have a regular date day once again. I asked for advice from friends and family who both said maybe I’m doing too much.

Plus my gaming decreased! One reason why I was excited about being a barista was that it was connected to Universe Games. I haven’t had the time to put a Magic the Gathering deck together or roll my Star Wars Destiny dice. I am looking forward to becoming a customer rather than an employee.

I always look at the positive side of any situation because that’s who I am. My co-workers know if they need a shift covered, I’m the first one they will call. So technically I’m “quitting”, but I could still work a shift in the future. Instead of crafting the perfect latte, I’ll be drinking cups of coffee while gaming as a loyal customer.