by Kristine | Jan 7, 2017 | Goals, Personal, Super Secret Kristine Project, Wedding
So 2016 has come & gone with quite the fan fare. Of note would be all the famous people leaving this world & moving on to the next. I came across quite a few articles of those people that have passed & by golly I actually recognise some names. I guess it’s just the way of the time as we all get older & our time on this earth just gets shorter.
Enough with the macabre tone. 2017 is here & I’m excited! It’s the year we’re getting married (5 months away now, eeek!) & lots of exciting opportunities career wise. I’ve been given the opportunity to cover a role at work which uses my OT degree more & I get higher duties to complete. I’m hoping it’ll work out with the role & it’ll give me something to put on my resume. I also got into the pool for the same role in the Northern suburbs, though slightly different to what I do now.
Looking back on last year’s goals, I must say I’ve not done too shabbily. Yes, I have used pretty much the same terminology but that’s just me! I’ve managed to slowly work my way to getting fitter, I joined the gym late last year and have started small bits of exercise in an effort to get more active. The learning to invest goal was a little more difficult, I didn’t manage to get into that as my first investment turned out pretty terrible 😛
I also managed to see more of my friends during the year as well and will be following that goal into this year too. I’ve attended and started learning Auslan through work. Made it through the basic 8 week course and wanting to do the intermediate course, but haven’t yet found the time due to work commitments and the acting role. I’ve also indirectly learned some German through Matt, who is learning German. I’ve picked up the basics and can understand bits of the German music he plays in the car.
For this year, I’m keen to get some other goals into place as well. Not resolutions, but goals. I’m the kind of person who is outcome focussed, so hence the goals. It’s about the destination & not the journey for me. Although the journey is also pleasant, my focus is the destination ☺️
I’ve got quite a few goals for this year. I’m hoping to completely achieve at least half of them and make a serious dent into the other half. I like to aim big, at least I know I would’ve tried to do lots of things at once. Go big or die trying right?
Declutter
My parents and brother currently live with me in my tiny 3 bedroom place and it is starting to feel a little crowded. They’re moving out soon and Matt will be moving in within the next month or so, whenever their house is finished. All of us tend to accumulate stuff and I know I’m guilty of buying heaps of things that I don’t need and just take up room. I’ve made it my goal this year to seriously declutter, sell or donate my junk or extra stuff as I don’t like living out of my room where everything is just crammed in at the moment. I’m making it a point every day to either chuck stuff, put things into a sell/donate pile and recycling items. Once I’ve gather about a car load of stuff, I’m wanting to go to the local swap meet to sell stuff and donate whatever is leftover so that I don’t collect useless junk.
Decorate house
I haven’t been able to decorate my house to my taste since moving in, I’m keen to expand my creative side and to make it look all nice and pretty. I’ve got all the stuff needed, the thing that’s not on my side this year is time. Between travelling to and from work daily, the wedding planning, the wedding and going out to see friends, it’s hard to get time to do much more than keep the house neat and tidy. I’ll have to work smart this year for that.
Start my side hustle
I’m not making it public yet, but stuff is in the pipeline. Again, time is again not on my side with the amount of things happening this year. I’m keen to get started as this has been a long time coming and I’m itching to start things and be on my way to being my own boss.
Get more active
This is kind of a leftover goal from last year, but it’s good. I’m making small changes each day and and looking forward to being more active and being a healthier version of me for my family.
Eat more home cooked lunches
With mum & dad moving out and Matt moving in, I’m itching to stretch my culinary muscles and will be trying to make more of an effort to make lunches. This is a 2 part goal as it is to save money for everything this year and to also be a healthier version of me.
Plan and go on our honeymoon
We’re thinking of going on an overseas trip maybe at the end of the year or early next year (possibly 3 countries, so there will be heaps of planning involved). We’ve got a few ideas in mind but nothing set in stone yet as money is tight at the moment and we’re saving everything for the wedding at the moment.
Take more photos
Ironic that this post does not have photos, but I want to be able to document our lives and have memories of things. With our new Google Pixels, this has been an absolute dream as we’ve been able to capture quite a lot of moments in absolutely brilliant quality. Plus, unlimited storage through Google cause of the phones really helps with this goal 😉
Blog more
This also ties in with the previous goals, I want to be able to have written down memories of things to look back or have our children look back on and to get to know their parents. Plus, writing has always been my passion, life just got in the way. Or rather, mundane adult responsibilities of paying bills, sleeping and watching TV has gotten in the way of writing. I often have quite a lot of thoughts that I wish I could’ve written down about things that are happening in the world, but sitting down in front of the computer after a long day in front of it at work, just does not seem that appealing sometimes. The whole notion of living my life in front of a screen is not what I want to do.
Make more of an effort with my appearance
I’ve been wanting to experiment more with makeup that I got previously and haven’t been bothered trying out. I’m wanting to be more bold and look more presentable, even if its just a bit of eyeliner or mascara so I don’t look so washed out.
Save for deposit on another property
This one I must admit is a bit of a long term goal. I’m hoping that we’re able to save money to be able to purchase another property and turn one into an investment property for our retirement or something. I’m a bit of a long term planner and want to be able to secure our financial future so that we don’t have to rely on government pensions or things like that which might not be guaranteed in the future. I want to be able to retire on our terms.
I think that’s all for this year’s goals. There are quite a few big ones in there, but I’m hopeful I’ll be able to address most of them. One more goal which I would like for us to be able to achieve this year is to have a great wedding and marriage. Here’s to 2017!
by Kristine | Nov 7, 2016 | Super Secret Kristine Project, Wedding, Working Woman
The countdown to the big day is going pretty quickly. There’s quite a few things left to do & I really need to get moving in terms of getting it all done in time. It has been a pretty busy few months at work and random things around the house too. My brother and parents are preparing to move out once their place gets built and I’m getting ready to move Matt in & clean up my place prior to that happening.
Wedding wise, it’s been pretty slack around here. I’ve tested the recipe for our wedding cake, received some RSVPs eventhough I haven’t sent out Save the Dates and our wedding guest list looks to be expanding still. I’m not too stressed about the whole thing as yet, I’m a bit blase about it to be honest. Oh, and the tailor for the bridesmaids dresses has absconded with the money :’P I could be devastated, but I’m not. Thankfully we found out now, so we’ve still got time to fix it all up.
Did a spot of baking for work’s Melbourne Cup lunch last week. The cake went down a treat, which is great! I really need to get more baking and cooking done, can’t wait to have my kitchen back & get started with practicing my cooking and baking skills.
Joined the gym over the weekend, in an effort to get fitter and look better. So far I cancelled out my efforts by eating heaps. The gym really does make my appetite go mental! Will try again this weekend to keep more active and get the sweats on.
Been feeling a bit under the weather the past few days, hoping it is just minor bug and will go away soon. I can’t afford to have any more days off. I’ve got some days off in November, will be the first time since I started here a year ago that I’ve had any decent time off. Albeit its only a few days, but it is better than nothing. Work has been pretty busy and I’m trying to keep stress levels to the minimum and get stuff done.
by Kristine | Oct 18, 2016 | Personal, Super Secret Kristine Project, Working Woman
I can’t believe it’s just after the middle of October already. Matt told me today that he got an e-mail saying that it’s 67 days till Christmas! *insert OMG emoticon*
Where has the year gone?! In just over a month, I would’ve been at my current workplace for a year. It has been a year of ups and downs, lots of changes and lots of lessons learnt. This time last year, I was lamenting on how I needed a new job as my job was paying pretty crap pay & I couldn’t survive on that for very much longer. Today, I’m so thankful I get an automatic salary increase on my anniversary date and another increment in the middle of the year due to the bargaining agreement.
Been a bit up and down lately at work, my mood has been pretty stable since I cut out the coffee. I worked out through trial and error that it was giving me anxiety and made my mood quite low. Been a bit stressed but am taking it day by day and hoping to achieve small goals every day to keep me on track. I’m also keeping my side project dream alive by working on little things each day & thinking about the ideas I have for it and documenting it.
You might say I’m a bit selfish for having exit plans from work, but to be honest I’m just forward planning. When we start having a family, I don’t want to be driving almost 3 hours a day to get to and from work, I much rather spend the time with my children and husband. I might not make as much money, but it would be doing something I love and will give me flexibility to grow and adapt with my family. I feel that’s important for me at this point in my life.
Anyway, a really funny thing happened at work today. I had worked pretty hard on a piece of work, ready for my manager to speak to his manager about. The negotiation for this had been going on for about 2 months with this. I provided my manager a hard copy of the document for the discussion. Fast forward 2 hours later, my manager comes out to me with his hand out. I was procrastinating work and had just finished playing a game on my phone when I turned to look. I was very puzzled to what was going on, I took it as an indication to smack his hand.
I asked my manager what was going on. He sheepishly told me that in the rush of him wanting to print a previous version of the document to take to his manager along with the current version, he accidentally hit the copy to draft button, which meant that my current document now looked like my previous document. Those damn buttons are located next to each other in the database, and usually there is a warning before it copies it over completely, but not this time. I was a bit shocked but oh well, accidents happen. I then spent about an hour redoing the document and sending off for quotes to an organisation again, I’ll have to redo the rest of the document tomorrow. Haha if I didn’t laugh at it, I would’ve cried.
The rest of the week looks to be pretty busy, but I end the week with a morning tea with our director general. I’m pretty happy with that to be honest. Now to focus on finishing the week on a high note!
by Kristine | May 14, 2015 | Super Secret Kristine Project
After yesterday’s cathartic post, I felt a bit lighter & relieved that I put my thoughts down & out to the universe. I went to bed & slept quite a good sleep actually.
I woke up before my alarm this morning & checked my emails as I was quite content in laying in bed till I had to get out. I stumbled upon an email saying that I had won a signed copy of Rachel Khoo’s Kitchen Notebook cook book. Needless to say, I was pretty elated & chambered out of bed straight away to message the other half. Why I had to climb out of bed to do that on my phone, I’m still not quite sure lol
I’m a person who believes that things happen for a reason & nothing is there by accident. Winning this book has really made me believe that this is a sign to chase my dreams. Believe or not, it was this week that I was praying for a sign of where my career would lead to as I had received another rejection a few weeks ago & am expecting that another rejection will be in the near future for some positions I’ve applied for. I’m not bummed that I got rejected for my old job or even the job I’ve been chasing for years while in my old job. I’m a bit relieved at the fact I don’t have to go back to that old life, but at the same time wondering what my future holds. After a wake up call like this, I think I have a vague idea of what I need to do.
by Kristine | Dec 8, 2014 | Eternal Student, Finance Matters, Growing Up, Super Secret Kristine Project, Working Woman
So it’s been just over 3 months since I’ve blogged. Since I last posted, I have hopefully finished the last of my units for my Grad Dip in Information and Library Studies, passed my probation at work & settled into my new role at work. I’ve been at my new work for about 2 months now & been settling in rather well. The only problem I have with the whole work situation is that I’m still a casual & if I can’t work for whatever reason, I’m screwed. That is in fact a very scary situation to be in, considering that I’ve got a mortgage over my head. I’m taking one day at a time & slowly looking for work as it comes along, building relationships along the way & networking. I’ve also got accepted to do my Masters in Information Management, I’ve decided to do this within 2 years rather than a year and a half.
It’s been a pretty eventful year & I’ve had many opportunities to reflect on where my life is headed. I’m hoping to start a few side projects which will help me get through the working day & keep my brain active doing what I love to do. I can’t quite say what it is yet, but all in due time. I’m also wanting to get back into reading more & blogging more about stuff. I’ve always struggled with keeping my private life off the internet & have been fiercely protective about what I put out there on the big internets. Hazard of the job I guess, knowing how much data is put into cyberspace daily is frightening, especially when it can be used against you. But, I’ve decided sharing & documenting bits of my life without giving away identifying information is as much as I want to do. I’ve got a few interesting blog posts lined up, so am really looking forward to getting into it.
I guess the reason why I’ve been absent from blogging is that after a long day’s work staring at the computer all day, the last thing I want to do is stare at the computer all night again. Staring at the computer screen for 7.5 hours a day while doing mundane tasks is really not my thing. I’ve been craving human interaction at work & not quite getting that much. Which is why I’ve also decided to turn to blogging again as a way to get my thoughts out in more than 140 characters. There is only so much I can put on Twitter, which I will still be on. I’ve always been one for writing & I’ve missed it. A lot more than I’ve actually realised.
At some point later this month, I will be reflecting more on the year gone by & looking to set some goals for next year & review what I’ve accomplished this year. It’ll be exciting and bittersweet to leave behind 2014, but I am looking forward to 2015 & for better beginnings! I’ve always been one to wait for the perfect time to do things but I am slowly beginning to live by the motto carpe diem, seize the day. There is only so much time I’ve got on this earth & waiting for the perfect time to do things is just not something I can afford to do anymore. Here’s to seizing the day!
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