to do in oh nine: january

monthly inventory.
here we go...



☆2008 leftovers☆

6 32-read more - read one book a month (1/12)
i finished a book by kamiji yusuke (his blog). it's not really what i had in mind when i said "book" but i finished it nonetheless! AND it's in japanese. i didn't make that part of my goal, but i like to think i get an extra gold star☆


☆habits☆

1 stick with a face skin care routine
i bought clinque's 3 step skin care system while i was home. my mom swears by clinque, and while i'm SURE there are just as effective (and cheaper!) products out there, i just needed something to jump start me on actually taking care of my face. and i'vedone pretty well so far. i only went to bed 3 nights without washing my face.

2 eat breakfast before work
check! (at the very least i had a yogurt and a banana or toast)

3 make a japanese study schedule and stick to it
i've got the beginnings of a kanji study plan. (jan. 13th) i need to figure out whether it will allow me to completely learn all the kanji i need to know for level one of the jlpt or not though. it's not based on number of kanji studied in a day, but on a number of correctly read words over at readthekanji0.56. if you are studying kanji, check it out! i wasn't very diligent about actually following through with it this month, so hopefully february. i'm still working on a grammar plan. i feel like i've bought more than my share of study books and don't really want to buy anymore (unless there's one someone strongly strongly recommends); i just need to set up some kind of way to systematically learn grammar points from the resources i already own. work in progress.


☆one time deals☆

2 buy curtains
i have them picked out. i was just too indecisive in the store and left without buying them. having thought about them now, i'm pretty sure i'll get them next time i go to that store.

4 work on mt fuji again
early this month (jan. 6th) i called my boss from last summer and told him i want to work the whole summer this year. he said 「おいでよ.」so for at least july and august, i'll be at the summit of mt fuji. come say hello! :) this one isn't checked off just yet, but it's in motion.

10 organize my magazine clippings/etc. (make an inspiration board, or two!)
i bought two cork boards and sorted through some torn out magazine pages and last night went through about 4 magazines which can now be thrown away. hey, it's a start.

15 go to another museum
went to the national art center, tokyo on a date with Noki.


☆multiple time deals☆

1 apartment cleaning
toilet room: by accident, my toilet room is now sparkly clean. i hung new shelves and bought a curtain rod for when i make a curtain for the little window. i'd like to buy a new toilet mat too, but again, was too indecisive in the store and couldn't pick a color (scheme). same thing is happening with the to-be-made curtain too. work in progress.

bath room: i bought a new shower caddy rack, which actually holds everything nicely and makes my bath room look purposefully organized...yay! could do with a new shower curtain (it protects the non-tiled part of the wall) to spruce it up a bit though. i'm thinking purple. work in progress.

senmenjo: i weeded out stuff that doesn't actually need to be in my medicine cabinet to make room to "put away" the stuff that i do use but that was just sitting out. also a work in progress.

i also rearranged my "living room" and am still trying to put it back together.

2 make 6 things on my sewing machine (2/6)
i made this きんちゃく. and i also made this pillow, inspired by one i saw online. and i've got ANOTHER project in the works: i may have bitten off more than i can chew, but i thought it sounded awesome!! fabric has started showing up in my mailbox and it's so much fun!! i might have to set some kind of time schedule so that it doesn't just end up in a drawer somewhere. call me a daydreamer (there are WAY worse things to be called, as far as i'm concerned!) but maybe it'll end up being a baby blanket for some future baby (future future FUTURE baby! ha.) will keep you posted on my progress, of course.

6 invest at least as much as 2008, if possible, depending on job situation
after getting a couple sizeable checks for christmas and talking it over with my parents, i decided to invest almost all of it. even though it's all getting invested at the same time, in my mind almost half of it went in as being invested in 2008 and the other half as being in 2009. i don't know what the year is going to be like financially, and i figured i have the means to invest it now. then i don't have to worry about trying to match 2008 numbers later down the road. now i've already invested as much in 2009 as i did in 2008; and it was enough to impress my dad (go me!)



after one month, i'm getting the sense that this year's list is way more doable than last year's. there are a bunch of easily accomplished ones but then there are a handful of big one's thrown in too. time will tell...!


things for next month:
○ call home. i didn't call this month.
○ hoop more. hoop/exercised 5 times in three weeks? i can do better.
○ find a book to start AND finish.
○ study japanese!!
○ might be going to a concert (jason mraz!!)
○ work on my charm quilt.