last 90 days challenge

5 Habits I Want to Implement into My Life

Last year around the end of September I had just finished reading Rachel Hollis’ book Girl, Wash Your Face and I was doing my usual round of Internet stalking. I wanted to learn all about the woman who got me so inspired and see if there was anything else I could immediately learn in order to jump start my way into badass-ery. In the process, I came across her “Last 90 Days Challenge” which encourages you to bring grit and determination to the last three months of the year so that when the New Year comes, you’re already in that motivated mindset. (You can check it out here.)

Personally, with my schedule, I couldn’t maintain the requirements of the challenge, but embraced the mindset as a whole. I am someone who, in looking at the last three months of the year, might want to just get them over with so I can get to that inspiring fresh start in January. So after reading about this challenge, I started last year and will continue this year to look at these last three months as equal opportunity months, that have as much potential as the first three months of a new year after that strike of midnight.

On top of that, I’ve made a list of five habits I’d like to implement into my routine for these last three months and thus carry with me into 2020. These are things that I’ve thrown around in my mind for a while as something I want to do, maybe that I finally want to put aside the time to finally, actually do.

1) Drink 60-70 ounces of water per day

One of the cornerstones of the Last 90 Days Challenge is to drink half your body weight (in ounces) of water every day. I already do a pretty good job at drinking water, but I want to make it a habit to hit a goal every day (or as many days as possible). I usually carry around a 32 ounce Hydroflask with me, so I’m going to try and make it a habit to fill it up twice each day.

2) Put lotion on every day

I keep a small bottle of hand lotion in my purse, but I have never been good at remembering to put on body lotion after a shower or before bed, or, you know, ever. I buy the lotion, and it sits on my bathroom counter like I’m some sort of consistent moisturizer, but I’m not. So, I’m trying to make a better effort. What can I say, I want to be smooth, y’all.

3) Read before bed

This is something I’ve desperately been wanting to do in place of scrolling through my phone. Not only do I think it will help me fall asleep easier, but it will also help me fall asleep earlier. As hard as it is to admit, it’s way easier to close a book than it is to put down my phone. And since I’m trying to distance myself from my phone, I think this is a good place to start.

4) DIY Projects

I probably have at least ten projects sitting around my room that I’m “going to get to eventually.” During the week, I’m too tired after work, and then on the weekends, I’m either busy or not wanting to do anything at all. So, I’m going to try and work my way through them one by one. I’m going to set one up on my desk, and maybe even pick one day a week to set aside time to work on it. This goal/habit is pretty vague, but I’m putting it on this list mostly as a commitment to finally start these bad boys. I know full well that I feel my best when I am being creative, so I want make more time to do that.

5) Meditate a few times a week

I tried meditating for the very first time last year and while it was a little off-putting at first, I couldn’t deny that it was relaxing. Since then, I’ve downloaded the Headspace app to try to motivate myself to do it more, and while I don’t use it often, in the handful of times I’ve used it before bed, I slept like a baby. So I want to make it a habit a few times a week, either in the morning to start my day, or when I get home from work, or right before bed. Anytime I can just take five minutes to relax and block everything else out.

Have any habits you’ve been wanting to add to your routine? Now’s the time to start! 🙂

17 (More) Things that Inspired Me This Year (List-cember #2)

About halfway through the year I posted this blog that listed a bunch of things that had inspired me so far in 2018. I felt bad holding them hostage until December when they might be just the burst of inspiration someone was looking for in July.

Now, as we’re (already!!) making our way through December, I’m hoping this list will give you all warm fuzzies and encouragement you need to close out this year and welcome the New Year.

2019 is going to full of good things, y’all. I promise.

1) Girl, Wash Your Face

“Comparison is the death of joy, and the only person you need to be better than is the one you were yesterday.”
“The only thing worse than giving up is wishing that you hadn’t.”
“There are hundreds of ways to lose yourself, but the easiest of them all is refusing to acknowledge who you truly are in the first place.”

2) This little act of kindness

3) The Monday Club

This is a newsletter I subscribed to about halfway through this year. It comes every Monday with inspiring words that aim to get your week off to a good start. This is a snippet from one of my favorite ones:

“When your dreams go unfulfilled because you didn’t start the work, the world won’t even know how to be heartbroken by the loss of things that would have made them better people. That’s the thing about the things you don’t do: you carry the loss.”

(find it here)

4) The Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes

Be brave. Be amazing. Be worthy. And every single time you get the chance? Stand up in front of people. Let them see you. Speak. Be heard.
Happiness comes from living as you need to, as you want to. As your inner voice tells you to. Happiness comes from being who you actually are instead of who you think you are supposed to be.

5) This documentary

6) The School of Greatness Podcast

My favorite line (from Episode 721):

“Fear can be: Fear Everything and Run or Face Everything and Rise”

7) Teen Vogue’s “Compliment Battles”

It’s just such a wholesome segment. We should all compliment each other more.

8) My Life (So Far) in Song by Sara Bareilles

I highly recommend this book, especially the audiobook. Each chapter starts with Sara Bareilles (BEAUTIFULLY) singing a portion of one of her songs and then she talks about how that song applies to a specific part of her life.

9) #Last90DaysChallenge

I talked a little about this challenge in the most recent edition of My Google Search History. The challenge was started by Rachel Hollis (see inspiring thing #1) and it essentially dares you to be as aggressively passionate and optimistic about the last 90 days of the year as you normally would about the first 30 days of a new year. I love the concept and it has help me scare off that “I’ll start that next year” mindset that always tends to sneak in during this time of year.

(find it here)

10) This milkshake from the Ventura County Fair that showed me no culinary dream is too small

11) Tuesdays with Morrie

Read. This. Book. It will make you smile, it will make you cry, it will make you think.

I could have highlighted, underlined and dog-eared the entire thing.

12) “Don’t let anyone rent space in your head or heart unless they’re a good tenant.” – Anna Faris Unqualified

13) Francesca Battistelli’s album Own It

I love the ENTIRE thing.

14) This:

15) The White Helmets

**16) Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, who inspired me to write this blog post.**

17) And finally, this:

Inspiration is all around us, all the time. Sometimes it gets hidden by frustration and discouragement, but if we look closely, there’s always something there to make us smile, or laugh, or cry (in a good way) or just feel.

Keep your eyes open for all the magic around you and I promise I’ll do the same.

Find more List-cember posts here

My Google Search History (Part 3)

Hello and welcome back to another episode of why does Kim never close any Internet windows?

In this post a little while back I talked about my tendency to max out the number of search windows that are allowed open on my phone. And now, since this habit shows no signs of slowing down, this has become somewhat of a series that dives into the mind of past Kim.

What has she been Googling lately?

Let’s find out:

1) French Poodle

I honestly have no idea why, when, or how this came into conversation, or if I was just sitting around wondering what a French Poodle looks like, but in case you’re curious, they look like this:

2) What icing goes good with spice cake?

I hate spice cake but my mom and cousin love it. This past June, while preparing for my (at the time soon to be) cousin’s Bachelorette party, I made a couple of spice cakes to bring to Vegas with us and had no idea what to put on top. According to Google, my best bet was: cream cheese frosting, maple frosting, or cinnamon buttercream frosting. I went with cream cheese frosting because I could buy it in the store, but you better believe I’ll find an excuse to make cinnamon buttercream one of these days.

3) Kanye poop song

This pretty much speaks for itself. I was trying to show my family that song where Kanye West starts saying “poop” and words that rhyme with it over and over again. They didn’t believe it was real, even after I pressed play. But I just kept saying, “wait for it” and eventually they heard the cold hard poop truth.

4) How to cut a mango?

I got a mango in my Imperfect Produce box and while I was excited, I had no idea how to go about eating it. I ended up finding this article, which helped me cut the mango perfectly—too bad I didn’t realize it wasn’t ripe yet.

5) World’s Largest Peanut

Again, I don’t remember when or why I wanted to know this. But to be honest, this one isn’t that weird for me as I have an actual list of the World’s Largest Roadside Attractions that I hope to see one day. Also, it’s in Ashburn, Georgia by the way.

6) Thorncrown Chapel

My mom, my sister and I were in Arkansas to visit some family and we decided to make the drive to check out this church in the northern part of the state. The roads were a little windy but the drive was worth it. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL.

7) Error Code 771 DirecTV

My roommates and I spent a good amount of time watching our cable box skip in and out—namely during Jeopardy, which is pretty much all we have time to watch together—and were frustrated when we couldn’t identify the cause. But, after a few calls to the DirecTV service department where we were told it was probably a (clearly invisible) tree blocking our satellite dish or a tornado in our area (because you know how common tornadoes are in Southern California), we were finally able to get a technician out to our house who discovered the cord connected to our satellite dish had almost completely eroded, which in turn was causing all of our Jeopardy interruptions.

8) What do the emojis mean on Snapchat?

A while back, Snapchat added a feature that places emojis next to your friends’ names, which describes your snap-lationship with them. Now, I rarely send Snapchats, so whenever I do, my friends list lights up with emojis and I’m always curious as to what they mean. Here’s a legend.

9) Einstein’s Riddle

My brother came home one day with this puzzle for all of us to solve, which we quickly jumped on board with, each of us timing ourselves to see who could solve it the fastest. So far my dad and my roommate Rachel are the quickest with a time around 30 minutes.

10) Baked stuffed peppers recipe

Try. This. Recipe.

**11) Loser by Beck Lyrics**

My roommates and I spontaneously bought tickets to see Beck at the Hollywood Bowl one Friday night, and as the band started to sing their most famous song, I started wondering, you know, what the hell they’re saying.

Soy un perdedor = “I’m a loser” in Spanish, so it makes sense…but yeah I definitely wouldn’t have guessed that.

12) Last 90 Days Challenge

As mentioned in my latest favorites post, I absolutely loved the book Girl, Wash Your Face. After reading it, I looked up everything there was to know about its author, Rachel Hollis, which led me to the Last 90 Days Challenge that she runs every year on her website. The whole idea behind it is that if we put as much gung ho energy into the last 90 days of the year as we do the first 30 days of a year, we could be unstoppable come the New Year. I LOVE this idea, and while I have been a little bit too busy to stick to every part of the challenge, it’s given me a much more positive mindset. I’ve really made an effort to stop looking at these last few months as something to get through and to instead think of them as equal opportunities for inspiration and success 🙂

13) What are scallions?

My mom and I were in the grocery store looking for scallions for a recipe we were cooking that night. When I googled a picture, the Internet returned what appeared to be a photo of green onions. At the grocery store, we found the food that matched the picture, and it was also labeled as green onions, which led me to wonder, then what the hell is a scallion? Turns out, green onions and scallions are actually the same thing. It’s up to the grocery store selling them to choose how they are labeled. So….yeah, that’s dumb.

14) Why is the flag at half-mast today?

Have you ever driven past a fire station or police station and seen the flag flying at half-mast and immediately feel like a bad American because you have no idea why? This website is here to help you figure that out.

Also, in Googling this, I learned that “half-mast” is actually only appropriate when referring a flag on a ship. Flags on land are flown at half-staff.

15) 2019 Honda HRV

A couple weeks ago I wrote this blog about my attempt to better appreciate the (figurative and literal) rental car I was driving while my car was in the shop. Unfortunately, a few days after posting it, I got a call from the insurance company informing me that my car had officially been totaled. This broke my heart, as I’d been driving that car for 11 years and was not ready to let it go yet. Plus, with the coverage on the rental car coming to an end, I was going to be without any car very soon. So, I quickly started doing some research on what options I had out there, and with the help of my family and my job—because I do a lot of driving for work—I was able to find a new four wheeled friend. She is yet to be named, but she is pretty and I’m very thankful and lucky and GUYS, I HAVE AUTOMATIC WINDOWS NOW.

Well, that’s all for now. I’m again going to close all the windows and see how long it takes me to max out again. Which to be honest, shouldn’t be too long…

Check out Part 2 of this series here.