goals

MARCH 2024: Celebrate Every Day

/ One"L"Michele / Leave a comment

Several websites, calendars, and books lists the celebrations for each day. It can be an anniversary of an event, a major holiday, get people aware of the subject, food and drinks, or just strange & random ones.

Here’s a list of ones I picked to try celebrating every day this month. These were found at Nationaltoday.com. I also like to go to National Day Calendar’s website. I might post what I do for some here, but it will be mostly recorded on my Instagram page.

  1. National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day and World Compliment Day
  2. National Banana Cream Pie Day
  3. Peach Blossom Day and Talk in Third Person Day
  4. Marching Music Day
  5. Namesake Day
  6. National Oreo Cookie Day
  7. National Cereal Day
  8. National Retro Video Game
  9. Popcorn Lover’s Day
  10. Harriet Tubman Day
  11. Genealogy Day and National Johnny Appleseed Day
  12. National Alfred Hitchcock Day and National Girl Scout Day (Daylight Savings Time Starts)
  13. National Earmuffs Day
  14. National Pi Day
  15. The Ides of March
  16. National Panda Day and National Artichoke Day
  17. St Patrick’s Day
  18. National Sloppy Joe Day
  19. National Backyard Day (Red Nose Day)
  20. Spring Equinox
  21. World Poetry Day and National California Strawberry day
  22. International Goof Off Day
  23. National Chip and Dip Day
  24. National Chocolate-covered Raisins Day and National Cheesesteak Day and National Cocktail Day
  25. Waffle Day and Tolkien Reading Day
  26. National Spinach Day and Make up Your Own Holiday Day and Wear a Hat Day
  27. Quirky Country Music Song Titles Day
  28. Something on a Stick Day
  29. Manatee Appreciation Day and Mermaid Day
  30. National Take a Walk in the Park Day
  31. Coloring Crayon Day and Cesar Chavez Day

What days will you be celebrating? Are there other days not on this list you will be participating in?

March 2024

The Friday Addition {#9}

/ One"L"Michele / Leave a comment

March 1, 2024

See the full list of items here.

Friday is here! Time to choose at random, ten things to do. These items come from several other lists and books I have collected over the years. In a sense, this is re-organizing those lists to make a new one. Hence the “Friday Addition”. I add on to the main list. This will be my inspiration to also research and get at least a couple of them scheduled on the calendar.

I’m excited to give this new plan a try and see what new adventures I find myself doing.

Things to Do:

  1. Become conversant with Symbolism, Dadaism, Der Blau Reiter, and Renaissance art
  2. Ride a cable car in San Francisco
  3. Read to children
  4. Watch Bela Lugosi Meets a Brooklyn Gorilla or Devil Girls From Mars (or any trash movie genre)
  5. 1001 Sac: 613
  6. Solo Adventure: 29
  7. Brewery to Visit: Track Seven Brewing Co. (Natomas)
  8. Winery to Visit: Van Ruiten Family Winery (Lodi)
  9. (1001+ List) Book to Read: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
  10. (1001+ List) Movie to Watch: The Thief of Bagdad (1924)

If there are any suggestions to add to the lists, I’d love to hear. Also, any tips you might have for ones that might require some research. If you have done, or want to do these too, I’d love to hear of your experience.

February 2024

Music Monday: Dreams

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This Week:
What songs have “Dreams” in the title? Or about dreams? Let’s make a playlist of those songs this week.

It will be fun to see which songs might pop into my & your head when seeing these themes. Instead of having a streaming music site create one. If you have ideas for other themed playlists, let me know.

2 Weeks Ago’s Theme:
I missed posting this last week. whoops.

Let’s make a playlist of songs from your favorite super bowl half time performers. I found a Wikipedia list [here] of all the shows. Pretty neat to see how it’s evolved through the years.

Actually, for this one, I am just posting the singers and not the songs. I like how they do mashups of their songs for the performances.

Random 10 From Created Playlist:

  1. Black Eyed Peas (2011)
  2. Patti LaBelle, Indiana Jones & Marion Ravenwood, Teddy Pendergrass, Tony Bennett, Arturo Sandoval, Miami Sound Machine (1995)
  3. Gloria Estefan, Stevie Wonder, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Savion Glover (1999)
  4. University of Texas Longhorn Band, Judy Mallett on fiddle (1974)
  5. Southern University Marching Band, Helen O’Connell (1981)
  6. Marguerite Piazza, Doc Severinsen, Lairen & Tara, Al Hirt, Lionel Hampton, Carol Channing, Southern University Marching Band (1970)
  7. Usher (2024)
  8. Sharika, Jennifer Lopez (2020)
  9. Boyz II Men, Smokey Robinson, Martha Reeves, The Temptations, Queen Latifah, Grambling State University Marching Band (1998)
  10. Elvis Presto, South Florida-area dancers and performers (1989)

A couple of years ago, I came across a blogger that would create weekly music playlists. It could be for a particular artist, genre, mood, event, color, animal, number, etc. I think you get the idea, a lot of variety. I would go through my music library and create playlists based on her posts.

I think it will be fun to revisit, and come up with some new themes for this year. My plan is to share the theme for the week each Monday (#MusicMonday), or a Tuesday (#TuesdayTunes). I’ll also have a list of songs from the previous week. Just a few that are in my music library that fit the theme, or had been shared.

February 2024

The Friday Addition {#8}

/ One"L"Michele / Leave a comment

February 23, 2024

See the full list of items here.

Friday is here! Time to choose at random, ten things to do. These items come from several other lists and books I have collected over the years. In a sense, this is re-organizing those lists to make a new one. Hence the “Friday Addition”. I add on to the main list. This will be my inspiration to also research and get at least a couple of them scheduled on the calendar.

I’m excited to give this new plan a try and see what new adventures I find myself doing.

Things to Do:

  1. Learn to program the VCR (more like a memory now. Did you learn it?)
  2. Read Kerouac, Ginsberg, Corso, and Burroughs
  3. Get a precise and expensive haircut (most haircuts are expensive now)
  4. Fingerpaint
  5. 1001 Sac: 69
  6. Solo Adventure: 46
  7. Brewery to Visit: Berryessa Brewing Co. (Winters)
  8. Winery to Visit: Harney Lane Winery (Lodi)
  9. (1001+ List) Book to Read: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  10. (1001+ List) Movie to Watch: Love Me Tonight (1932)

If there are any suggestions to add to the lists, I’d love to hear. Also, any tips you might have for ones that might require some research. If you have done, or want to do these too, I’d love to hear of your experience.

February 2024

The Friday Addition {#7}

/ One"L"Michele / Leave a comment

February 16, 2024

See the full list of items here.

Friday is here! Time to choose at random, ten things to do. These items come from several other lists and books I have collected over the years. In a sense, this is re-organizing those lists to make a new one. Hence the “Friday Addition”. I add on to the main list. This will be my inspiration to also research and get at least a couple of them scheduled on the calendar.

I’m excited to give this new plan a try and see what new adventures I find myself doing.

Things to Do:

  1. Have a personal trainer
  2. Grow the largest pumpkin
  3. Throw strikes
  4. Go Bowling
  5. 1001 Sac: 898
  6. Solo Adventure: 34
  7. Brewery to Visit: Dueling Dogs Brewing Co. Lincoln)
  8. Winery to Visit: Dobra Zemlja Winery (Plymouth)
  9. (1001+ List) Book to Read:  Animal Farm by George Orwell
  10. (1001+ List) Movie to Watch: Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

If there are any suggestions to add to the lists, I’d love to hear. Also, any tips you might have for ones that might require some research. If you have done, or want to do these too, I’d love to hear of your experience.

February 2024

Music Monday: Favorite Half Time Performers

/ One"L"Michele / Leave a comment

This Week:
Let’s make a playlist of songs from your favorite super bowl half time performers. I found a Wikipedia list [here] of all the shows. Pretty neat to see how it’s evolved through the years.

It will be fun to see which songs might pop into my & your head when seeing these themes. Instead of having a streaming music site create one. If you have ideas for other themed playlists, let me know.

2 Weeks Ago’s Theme:
I missed posting this last week. whoops.

Let’s find songs that have “Dance” in the title. Or dancing or some rhythm to the music that gets you up and moving.

Random 10 From Created Playlist:

  1. That’s What I Like by Bruno Mars
  2. Life is Better With You by Michael Franti & Spearhead
  3. Timber by Pitbull and featuring Ke$ha
  4. Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO
  5. Dance With Me by Orleans
  6. Dancing on the Ceiling by Lionel Richie
  7. Can’t Stop the Feeling by Justin Timberlake
  8. Conga by Gloria Estefan
  9. I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas
  10. Danza Kuduro by Don Omar & Lucenzo

A couple of years ago, I came across a blogger that would create weekly music playlists. It could be for a particular artist, genre, mood, event, color, animal, number, etc. I think you get the idea, a lot of variety. I would go through my music library and create playlists based on her posts.

I think it will be fun to revisit, and come up with some new themes for this year. My plan is to share the theme for the week each Monday (#MusicMonday), or a Tuesday (#TuesdayTunes). I’ll also have a list of songs from the previous week. Just a few that are in my music library that fit the theme, or had been shared.

February 2024,

The Friday Addition {#6}

/ One"L"Michele / Leave a comment

February 9, 2024

See the full list of items here.

Friday is here! Time to choose at random, ten things to do. These items come from several other lists and books I have collected over the years. In a sense, this is re-organizing those lists to make a new one. Hence the “Friday Addition”. I add on to the main list. This will be my inspiration to also research and get at least a couple of them scheduled on the calendar.

I’m excited to give this new plan a try and see what new adventures I find myself doing.

Things to Do:

  1. Needlepoint something
  2. Play dress-up (themed outing)
  3. Go back to where you came from
  4. Play with clay
  5. 1001 Sac: 881
  6. Solo Adventure: 11
  7. Brewery to Visit: Kathrin’s Biergarten (Rocklin)
  8. Winery to Visit: Block 21 Winery (Lodi)
  9. (1001+ List) Book to Read: All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
  10. (1001+ List) Movie to Watch: The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

If there are any suggestions to add to the lists, I’d love to hear. Also, any tips you might have for ones that might require some research. If you have done, or want to do these too, I’d love to hear of your experience.

February 2024

To Read in February 2024

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Challenging myself to track what I plan to read and what I ended up reading each month. My goal is to start with 4 books. Maybe I will end up reading more or might end up with less. I have an account on Goodreads to help track, and will be writing my thoughts about the book on my blog.

The genres I read the most often are Cozy Mystery, Fantasy, and Romance. I am hoping to expand by looking at book reviews on social media, book clubs, and challenge prompts. Oh, and I hope to read some from the 1001 Books to Read Before You Die list.

My FEBRUARY TBR List:

  1. Pride, Prejudice and Poison by Elizabeth Blake
  2. The Guncle by Steven Rowley
  3. A Fellowship of Bakers & Magic by J. Penner
  4. A Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams
  5. Bonus (1001+ List) Book to Read: Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

What are you currently reading?

Do you keep a TBR list? How do you decide what book to read next?

Bonus TBR List:

2024 Read List:

  1. The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston – cute romance
  2. The List That Changed My Life: the uplifting bestseller that will make you weep with laughter! by Olivia Berne (didn’t get to this one, putting it back in my bonus TBR list.)
  3. The Secret, Book & Scone Society by Ellery Adams – pretty predictable, but I enjoy all the characters and wouldn’t mind reading more in this series
  4. A Streetcar Named Desire By Tennessee Williams (didn’t get to it, will keep it on the monthly TBR until I read it)
  5. Bonus (1001+ List) Book to Read: Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (didn’t get to it, I’ll keep it as my monthly classic TBR until I read it.)

February 2024

The Friday Addition {#5}

/ One"L"Michele / Leave a comment

February 2, 2024

See the full list of items here.

Friday is here! Time to choose at random, ten things to do. These items come from several other lists and books I have collected over the years. In a sense, this is re-organizing those lists to make a new one. Hence the “Friday Addition”. I add on to the main list. This will be my inspiration to also research and get at least a couple of them scheduled on the calendar.

I’m excited to give this new plan a try and see what new adventures I find myself doing.

Things to Do:

  1. Interview yourself on video camera
  2. Catch the bouquet
  3. Get on the cover of a Wheaties box
  4. Get to at least one opening day of baseball
  5. 1001 Sac: 868
  6. Solo Adventure: 22
  7. Brewery to Visit: HWY 50 Brewery (Camino)
  8. Winery to Visit: Durst Winery & Estate (Acampo)
  9. (1001+ List) Book to Read: Blind Man With a Pistol by Chester Himes
  10. (1001+ List) Movie to Watch: Up in Smoke (1978)

If there are any suggestions to add to the lists, I’d love to hear. Also, any tips you might have for ones that might require some research. If you have done, or want to do these too, I’d love to hear of your experience.

February 2024

FEBRUARY 2024: Celebrate Every Day

/ One"L"Michele / Leave a comment

Several websites, calendars, and books lists the celebrations for each day. It can be an anniversary of an event, a major holiday, get people aware of the subject, food and drinks, or just strange & random ones.

Here’s a list of ones I picked to try celebrating every day this month. These were found at Nationaltoday.com. I also like to go to National Day Calendar’s website. I might post what I do for some here, but it will be mostly recorded on my Instagram page.

  1. Hula in the Coola Day / National Freedom Day
  2. Groundhog Day / Author: Ayn Rand Day
  3. Carrot Cake Day
  4. Sweater Day
  5. World Nutella Day
  6. National Frozen Yogurt Day / National Chopsticks Day
  7. Send a Card to a Friend Day / Rose Day
  8. National Kite-Flying Day
  9. Pizza Day
  10. Teddy Day / Chinese Lunar New Year’s Day
  11. Super Bowl Sunday
  12. Darwin Day
  13. Mardi Gras
  14. Valentine’s Day
  15. Susan B. Anthony Day
  16. National Almond Day
  17. Random Acts of Kindness Day
  18. National Drink Wine Day
  19. President’s Day
  20. National Comfy Day
  21. Language Day
  22. National Margarita Day / National California Day
  23. Banana Nut Bread Day / Curling is Cool Day
  24. Floating Lantern Day / Whooping Crane Day
  25. Let’s All Eat Right Day
  26. National Pistachio Day
  27. National Retro Day / International Polar Bear Day
  28. National Snow Shoe Day / National Essay Day
  29. Leap Day

What days will you be celebrating? Are there other days not on this list you will be participating in?

February 2024

DEC 2023 Wrap Up / JAN 2024 Plans

/ One"L"Michele / Leave a comment

I thought about doing an end of year post instead of a monthly recap, but have changed my mind. 2023’s biggest highlight was me going to a new state (Idaho) for vacation.

Since it is now almost the end of January, I think I will go over some things from December in this post and then do a review of January later.

DECEMBER WRAP UP

Let’s see, what happened in December that would be fun to remember?

I created a special Christmas bingo activity card and crossed off a few boxes. (14/25)

  • Decorated for Christmas
  • Got new outside lights to put up on the house. They are still up, because it’s been dark when I get home from work or it’s raining on weekends.
  • Donated a couple of toys to a charity
  • Walked around a neighborhood known for great holiday lights and displays.
  • Enjoyed eggnog
  • Celebrated the Winter Solstice
  • Celebrated Christmas
  • Celebrated New Year’s Eve
  • Watched a LOT of Hallmark Christmas movies. I took a screenshot of each movie to see how many. Still need to add them up.
  • Watched a few other Christmas movies, new and old (almost always watch It’s A Wonderful Life)
  • Read a few holiday inspired books.
  • Listened to Christmas music as I decorated, especially putting ornaments on the tree.
  • Wore a couple of ugly sweaters to parties
  • Went to a holiday fair
  • Enjoyed cookies & sweets
  • Stayed in my pajamas (okay, more loungewear) all day

A friend invited me to a winery’s holiday party, and it was such a fun night. They had lots of good food, wine, and music.

Observed a few everyday holidays like, Cabernet Franc Day & National Cookie Day & National Sock Day (celebrated on December 4th).

Went on a couple of hikes.

JANUARY PLANS

Some of the things I am looking forward to in the new year is to get back to doing more activities to keep from just work and home life. I will be re-organizing my different lists into a new one and post some of them each week to start researching and getting onto the calendar.

I started doing a monthly “to be read” list for books and hope to continue that. Goal is to read at least 40 – 52 books by the end of the year.

I’ve had this blog for 11 years but keep removing posts as I changed how I wanted to showcase them. I feel like I finally figured out how I want to be posting some themed days or months as well as checking off activities from my list. I need to go back through, revise, and post again some of those fun moments. As well as new ones.

What’s something you are looking forward to doing in January?

I’m always open to suggestions for adding to my list of things to do.

Music Monday: It’s a Dance Off

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This Week:
Let’s find songs that have “Dance” in the title. Or dancing or some rhythm to the music that gets you up and moving.

It will be fun to see which songs might pop into my & your head when seeing these themes. Instead of having a streaming music site create one. If you have ideas for other themed playlists, let me know.

Last Week’s Theme:
Mom got a song about rain stuck in her head. So, with it raining a lot and mom’s song as inspiration, let’s make a playlist with songs about rain.

Random 10 From Created Playlist:

  1. Rhythm of the Rain by The Cascades.
  2. Rain by The Cult
  3. Rainy Days and Mondays by The Carpenter’s
  4. I Can’t Stand The Rain by Tina Turner
  5. No Rain by Blind Melon
  6. I Love a Rainy Night by Eddie Rabbit
  7. Have You Ever Seen the Rain by CCR
  8. Here Comes the Rain Again by Eurythmics
  9. Blame it on the Rain by Milli Vanili
  10. When it Rains it Pours by Luke Combs

A couple of years ago, I came across a blogger that would create weekly music playlists. It could be for a particular artist, genre, mood, event, color, animal, number, etc. I think you get the idea, a lot of variety. I would go through my music library and create playlists based on her posts.

I think it will be fun to revisit, and come up with some new themes for this year. My plan is to share the theme for the week each Monday (#MusicMonday), or a Tuesday (#TuesdayTunes). I’ll also have a list of songs from the previous week. Just a few that are in my music library that fit the theme, or had been shared.

January 2024, Bloganuary

The Friday Addition {#4}

/ One"L"Michele / Leave a comment

January 26, 2024

See the full list of items here.

Friday is here! Time to choose at random, ten things to do. These items come from several other lists and books I have collected over the years. In a sense, this is re-organizing those lists to make a new one. Hence the “Friday Addition”. I add on to the main list. This will be my inspiration to also research and get at least a couple of them scheduled on the calendar.

I’m excited to give this new plan a try and see what new adventures I find myself doing.

Things to Do:

  1. Press the mute button
  2. Learn the first 5 Amendments
  3. Construct a card house
  4. Spin the perfect yarn
  5. 1001 Sac: 286
  6. Solo Adventure: 36
  7. Brewery to Visit: FiftyFifty Brewing Co. (Truckee)
  8. Winery to Visit: Calivines Winery & Olive Mill (Lodi)
  9. (1001+ List) Book to Read: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
  10. (1001+ List) Movie to Watch: Gandhi (1982)

If there are any suggestions to add to the lists, I’d love to hear. Also, any tips you might have for ones that might require some research. If you have done, or want to do these too, I’d love to hear of your experience.

January 2024, Bloganuary

Music Monday: Rainy Days

/ One"L"Michele / Leave a comment

This Week:
Mom got a song about rain stuck in her head yesterday. So, with it raining a lot and mom’s song as inspiration, let’s make a playlist this week with songs about rain.

First song on there is, “Rhythm of the Rain” by The Cascades. Thanks mom.

It will be fun to see which songs might pop into my & your head when seeing these themes. Instead of having a streaming music site create one. If you have ideas for other themed playlists, let me know.

Last Week’s Theme:
Let’s see if we can make a playlist of songs about hats or any headwear. Might have to expand on this to include anything head related.

Random 10 From Created Playlist:

  1. You Can Leave Your Hat On by Joe Cocker
  2. Hats Off to Larry by Del Shannon
  3. Raspberry Beret by Prince
  4. This Cowboy’s Hat by Chris LeDoux
  5. Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails by Fred Astaire
  6. Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home) by Marvin Gaye
  7. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat by Bob Dylan
  8. Hat Full of Stars by Cyndi Lauper
  9. Hard Hat and a Hammer by Alan Jackson
  10. Many Hats by Oddisee

A couple of years ago, I came across a blogger that would create weekly music playlists. It could be for a particular artist, genre, mood, event, color, animal, number, etc. I think you get the idea, a lot of variety. I would go through my music library and create playlists based on her posts.

I think it will be fun to revisit, and come up with some new themes for this year. My plan is to share the theme for the week each Monday (#MusicMonday), or a Tuesday (#TuesdayTunes). I’ll also have a list of songs from the previous week. Just a few that are in my music library that fit the theme, or had been shared.

January 2024, Bloganuary

The Friday Addition {#3}

/ One"L"Michele / Leave a comment

January 19, 2024

See the full list of items here.

Friday is here! Time to choose at random, ten things to do. These items come from several other lists and books I have collected over the years. In a sense, this is re-organizing those lists to make a new one. Hence the “Friday Addition”. I add on to the main list. This will be my inspiration to also research and get at least a couple of them scheduled on the calendar.

I’m excited to give this new plan a try and see what new adventures I find myself doing.

Things to Do:

  1. Go to a comedy event
  2. Inspire Someone
  3. Learn to Recognize Iambic Pentameter
  4. Stop Complaining, Stop Explaining
  5. 1001 Sac: 799
  6. Adventure: 34
  7. Brewery to Visit: Loomis Basin Brewing Co. (Loomis)
  8. Winery to Visit: Avio Vineyards and Winery (Sutter Creek)
  9. (1001+ List) Book to Read:  Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
  10. (1001+ List) Movie to Watch: Days of Heaven (1978)

If there are any suggestions to add to the lists, I’d love to hear. Also, any tips you might have for ones that might require some research. If you have done, or want to do these too, I’d love to hear of your experience.

January 2024, Bloganuary