'Tis the Season for Productivity!

What I'm bumpin': This section is closed till after Dec. 25th 


Productivity: the act of getting stuffs done

I've never been much of a list maker. I don't use planners and calendars. It's just not a very "Katie" thing. I have mentioned previously in a blog that I like to procrastinate because I work best under the pressure of approaching deadlines. However, this bucket list thing has put me into a list making mood. So that brings me to an apology. I have been so busy marking things off my "before Christmas" list that I have neglected to blog. Although, ironically, blogging was on the list that started all the lists.

That's right, I'm too busy completing my list to complete my other list...So much productivity. 

So the other night I posted on Facebook that I marked something off my list, and I would blog soon. Well, maybe I should have said I would blog later. Anyway, here's my completed task: 

12. Print pictures for every frame I own.

Yes, that's right, no more empty frames or creepy stock photos only real people that I know. Boom. It made our apartment like 10 times more homey, and our apartment was already pretty dang homey if I say so myself. I might get more picture frames just because I love it so much. 

I have three things left on my "before Christmas" to-do list, so please don't give up on my blogging if I'm a little absent until after the holiday. I'm going to end this post now because I'm already bothered by the number of paragraphs in it, but I don't like big blocks of texts in blogs because it's really intimidating and can be hard to read. 

The Best Book I've Ever Read...

Bumpin': Christmas



Happenings: group projects, studying, brain deadness

Papers left: 0

Finals left: 3

Question: What is the BEST book you have ever read?

Do you watch the food channel? Probably not as much as I do, but that's beside the point.  They have this show called "The best thing I ever ate ______".  So basically they fill in the blank with some sort of food subject. Example: The best thing I ever ate sweet/cheesy/for breakfast. Then they get all these food experts on the show and talk about delicious food. Great show. This paragraph is not related to the purpose of this blog, but my question reminded me of this show.

Back to the purpose of my question. What is the BEST book you have ever read in your whole life? I need to know because I'm starting the reading quota of my Bucket List over Christmas Break. Now I set an extraordinarily low goal for this reading thing, but it's only because I want these books I read to be the 5 best books I've ever read. Well, at least in like the top 20.

The only requirements I set for these books is that they cannot be in any way related to school.  That doesn't mean they cannot be educational or meaningful. By all means, I would like to learn something and seek to do so with every item marked off my bucket list.

Please help me. I need help. I put some great titles below to help quick start your memory (and I have to have images in my blog to pin it on Pintrest. That reminds me, I've added images to all my blogs so you should go look at all the cuteness in old blogs.) Also, I have read these books...so maybe choose the second best book you have read if  "your best book" is listed below ;-)

 

Between now and Christmas Break

What I'm bumpin': It's still between Thanksgiving and Christmas, right? But really, it was 70something degrees outside today, and I had the Christmas tunes on as well as the air conditioning in my car.


College Kids

So I don't have a degree yet, but I think that I pretty much know the key to being successful in college, and here it goes:

1) Learn to read minds. Specifically professor's, but mind reading doesn't seem like all that bad of a skill just for life in general.
2) Learn how YOU study.

That's it. In reality though, the most important thing is to learn how your brain works. While this is a scary thing for most of us to be faced with, just do it. It will save you tons of study time.  I learn by hearing. With that being said, I absolutely MUST attend my classes.  I must hear and understand the words as they come out of my professor's mouth.  I use my textbooks to jog my memory, but if I just sat down and read my textbook cover to cover it would be a complete waste of time. This is not to say that I cannot read and understand.  For example, I enjoy reading novels (as I have previously blogged), but those are read for enjoyment. This may come as a shock, but my school books are not enjoyable to read.  And if necessary, I can learn a lot by reading my Finance book. It will be read out loud though, and it will not be the most efficient for ME to learn.

So what's the point? Am I admitting to not reading every word of my text books? Well, maybe. But more importantly, I just want to say that I don't agree with all those cliche "study tips" that everyone gives. For me, flash cards are a complete joke! For others, it's the basis for their knowledge of everything. Who's wrong? Nobody when we both ace the tests! I hate the "Don't Procrastinate" rule. My best work is always a product of procrastination. I work well under pressure. I'm not a high stress person, so sometime I need the panicky feeling that the test is in X number of hours in order to get my brain kicked into high gear.  Disclaimer: If you are a high stress person, do not procrastinate, really. It's bad.

Finally, I've received exactly one good exam tip in my whole life. Be worried enough about an exam to study, but have enough confidence to be able to perform well. If you find that balance, you will be a success!!

And here is a dog with a piece of pizza in it's mouth:

P.S. This dog looks just like my niece-dog, Chloe, but it's not.

Bucket List Update

What I'm bumpin': It's after Thanksgiving so it's Jingle Bells, Silver Bells, fa la la la la, Merry merry merry Christ-mas, Pa rum pum pum pum, Silent Night, Oh Holy Night, Blue Christmas, White Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Translation: I'm listening to solely Christmas music for the next couple of weeks, and there is nothing you can do about it.


Update

It's been 3 weeks since I publicized my bucket list, and I feel, for my own sake, I need to summarize my progress. If you don't want to read a recap of my thoughts and actions, you can check out now. Just kidding..please stay. Did you know that on average my blogs have been getting 23.8 views per post? I'd like to bring that up to 30. So someone, anybody, please tell 7.2 friends to read my blog.

So I've COMPLETED two items off my list--Buy a Christmas Tree and Make noodles. You might point out, and rightly so, I have made some weekly and monthly goals. First, my weekly goal of writing 2 blogs per week has been a B+ effort. This is my 6th blog, and today marks 3 weeks of blogging. Though I haven't wrote 2 blogs every week, my ABPW (average blogs per week) is right on track. Now for the monthly goals, Setting a monthly scripture reading goal and discovering a new culture every month...I've been thinking a lot about these. These goals are very much alive in my head and will have their monthly installment completed before tomorrow at midnight. I've yet to determine how much I will blog on these, but they will be incorporated when I feel necessary. Because I'm the boss, I mean blogger.

However, I do have an IMPORTANT announcement that I'm reminded of by analyzing my monthly goals. My LOVELY friend Meagan has a fabulous blog.  She has taken on the challenge of exploring new cultures, too! She has traveled to several different places for mission work, and she is awesome, inspirational, and totally funny. And bonus, she blogs cookie/dessert recipes, too. So check her out here.

When I was writing this blog, in my head, I was going to write the blog "How to Succeed in College". For some reason I titled it "Bucket List Update" and just went with it.  So that's how the blog process goes.

Thanksgiving

What I'm bumpin': So guess what? Daniel and I spent several hours in the car over that past few days, but we forgot my iPod charger. So rather than doing our normal music routine, we had stimulating car conversations the WHOLE time. It was cool.


Thanks.

Yes, thank you for reading my blog.

Let's just be upfront. I don't have a direction for this blog, but hopefully it will be seasonally appropriate and thankful. I have failed to do the daily posts of thankfulness on Facebook. Not that I have anything against being thankful, I just know that I would not be consistent in doing it each day. I decided to hold out and blog because that's what I do.

So here's how Daniel and I's first Thanksgiving together went :

Part 1

First, we drove to Cushing on Tuesday after getting done with classes. Wednesday was my mom's birthday, so we spent Wednesday in Cushing and had our Thanksgiving that evening. All of my immediate family was able to come! I helped my mom make cookies and chicken and noodles. What???? That was totally on my bucket list. Let's mark it off.

6. Make my mother's recipe for delicious homemade chicken and noodles.

So I have a confession to make...When I wrote the bucket list, I had in mind that I would do it by myself, but you know what? I went back and read the list and I did not include that detail in my list. This struck me as funny that I manipulated my own bucket list and contract with myself, and it reminded me of something we learn about like everyday in my Business Law class: the limits of language. (Preface: I am not a law student AT ALL. I am taking one required Business Law class, and I find it very interesting. I know there are people that know more about these things than me...so don't judge me. Just hear me out).

The past few classes we have been focusing on contracts and "writings". Basically, some kinds of contracts require writing and some don't. The benefits of writing a contract seems quite clear, but are there really any negatives to writing a contract? Yes, and I just proved it.

Sometimes people entering into a contract KNOW what they are intending to do, but the way it is written is vague or not inclusive, whether it's intentionally unclear or not.  One of the parties involved in the contract can later use this faulty writing to get out of the contract. Okay, so that's what I did. I had the INTENTION of making noodles by myself in my kitchen, but I realized I did not specify that in my written list. Silly me.

You say, "You are only cheating yourself by manipulating your contract!" I say NAY! Why? Because, I realized 1) There is not enough room in my kitchen to make homemade noodles at this point in my life and 2) It's much more fun to make them with someone else and then share them with your family. So after much consideration, I deemed my noodle making experience MORE THAN worthy of marking off my bucket list.

I'm thankful for my family and the time we got to spend on Wednesday.

Part 2
After my immediate family gathered in Cushing and ate, Daniel and I headed out Wednesday evening to Tulsa. We also got to see everybody in Daniel's immediate family! We ate lunch on Thursday, and we actually ate OUTSIDE because it was so amazingly nice outside. There was a soft breeze and the absolute perfect temperature. Lovely is the only word I have to describe the weather today. Besides an AWESOME meal, we did the traditional Thanksgiving things: watch football. I had fantasy football implications today, and so far so good everybody.

After lunch, I watched Daniel and his family do their traditional holiday activity--play ping pong! I'm probably definitely going to have to practice up if I ever want to participate in this tradition. Like for real.

So after all the ping pong games were decided, Daniel and I packed everything up and hit the road again.

I'm thankful for my husband, his family, and the time we got to spend together on Thursday

End

So I'm thankful for lots of other things, too (in no particular order): a nice safe place to live, technology to blog, a brain to think, the opportunity to go to college, my job, my husband's job, football, creativity, social technology to keep in touch with friends and family, friends, diet dr. pepper, faith, salvation and MANY, MANY more things that God has blessed me with.

On a side note, Daniel went out to get us a Thanksgiving night snack after we got home because we have been gone and have no food at home or energy to cook it. McDonald's was CLOSED! I'm shocked, but I'm also glad that the employees of McDonald's got to spend time with their families today :-)

Sorry Sonic...

Oh one more thankful...I'm thankful that I can stay home ALL day tomorrow and decorate my apartment for Christmas and completely avoid Black Friday madness.

Friday

What I'm bumpin': A little bit of everything, but I have been listening to one song on repeat: The Last Time, Taylor Swift and Gary Lightbody. This is clearly one of the songs I like off the new CD, and oddly enough, it's one where Swift takes the back seat. Maybe this is a sign...

FRIDAY
So today is FRIDAY WOOHOO!! Let me show you my schedule for the day..

Mid-morning: Woke up and got ready
11:30 AM: Met Daniel at his work's Thanksgiving Party Thingy
1:15: Watched Breaking Dawn: Part 2 (Don't leave please. We can be friends even if you are a hater. I'm expanding on this topic below. Give me a chance, PLEASE!)
3:15ish: Went to Wally World for the THIRD time this week. Ew.
4:00ish: Arrived back at my apartment to pound out some more time on my group paper. Ew x2.
7:00ish: Sat down to watch the Thunder game and write a blog to my invisible readers.
8:30ish: Go to bed because I have to be at work tomorrow at 7:15 AM to Recruit like a Champion. (just kidding on the 8:30 bedtime, but not kidding on recruiting like a champion. It's Sooner Saturday everybody!)

First let's talk about the previews at the movies, boring topic, right?  Oh my goodness, the movies they are creating these days would blow your mind. The previews were for another Nicholas Sparks book gone movie (looked decent since neither Miley Cyrus or Channing Tatum were in it), A movie with creepy children in it (really, we need more of these movies?), a zombie movie (how creative!), and some World War Z movie that looked exactly like the (newer) War of the Worlds sans Tom Cruise insert Brad Pitt. No new creativity, and they should have kept Tom Cruise

So back to the Breaking Dawn thing. I enjoy a fantasy novel, I will not lie (I blame this on my mother..just kidding no blame needed). When I was in middle school, I read things like The Unicorn Chronicles, A Wrinkle in Time, and of course, Harry Potter. No, I did not believe these things were real.  Most "magical" stories are driven by strong moral themes with very interesting plots and loads of deep symbolism, and this is probably what drew me in the most. It took me a long time, and lots of persuasion by my friend Anna, to start reading Twilight. I liked magical things, but vampires suck blood, okay? That's weird and gross AND creepy. Anyway, I trusted Anna because she was my bestie and  never rarely led me astray. You know what? They weren't that creepy!!! The main character, Bella, is a normal girl who finds herself immersed into a very abnormal and a quite 'fantas'tical world. What's better than a novel set completely in a fantasy world? A novel where the fantasy world and the normal world coexist.  I was naturally drawn to this "normal fantasy" world that Stephanie Meyer created.

Then, much to every book lovers dismay, they announced they were going to make movies of the series.

Oh. No.

There is no quicker, more effective way to turn a beloved book into a mockery then to try to interpret it onto a big screen. I will admit, the movies were cheesy, full of questionable acting, and a bit creepy.  They have gotten progressively better though, especially with the change in directors in the Breaking Dawn movies.  So even though the movies were sub-par compared to the books, curiosity always draws the reader into the theater.

So that's it. I'm a nerd, but at least I get to read about cool fantasy places. Have fun in the real world :-)

I did it!

What I'm bumpin': Taylor Swift's new album Red. I'm pretty confused with this album. I can classify every song into 3 categories--Love, Hate, Confused. But I could write a whole blog about how I like/dislike Taylor Swift, and nobody would read it. While I'm not sure how many people actually read this blog, I'm going to pretend like it still has the chance of having a few readers and NOT give a review of this album. You're welcome. (Note: While I'm not sure who actually reads my blog, I can tell how many times it is opened. It is actually being opened. Hello there, secret readers!)


The REAL Stuff. 
Sorry for getting so side tracked on the music section, but now it's on to the real stuff. It's big news today. I did it! I marked off the first item on my bucket list.

11. Buy a Christmas tree  

And here is picture proof of my genuine (fake)  Madison Pine.

Please be aware, this is not the actual tree, just a picture of a picture of a tree that is supposed to look like the actual tree. And a cell phone picture at that. Gross. I'll have a REAL picture of the ACTUAL tree AFTER Thanksgiving because apparently the rule is "NO CHRISTMAS TILL AFTER THANKSGIVING. Below you will find all the Christmas tree loot I got to dress up my fancy tree.

^^^^^^^LOOT!!!!

But listen to this, they have now perfected Christmas tree breeding. They now grow lights ON THE TREES. No more tangled lights. If a bulb burns out? Throw out the whole tree! 

I'm pretty excited about my tree. I plan on putting it up when I get back from my Thanksgiving travels. I plan on making hot cocoa and (probably) cookies. I'll play some Christmas music, and it will be all kinds of fun. 

Daniel is going to be so excited about all this Christmasness we are about to embark on, and if he is not, I got some candy at the store to provoke the excitement a little. See below. 

P. S. That bowl is not dirty, it's sparkly. My coffee table however is messy. That's a hair tie, my ipod, and some mail you are probably seeing. Okay, I'm done. 

Progress

What I'm bumpin': Honestly, I haven't listened to much today. Shameful. My alarm went off to the tune of First Date by Blink-182 this morning though. 

Progress

So this is a joke. There is no progress. I went to the OU game this weekend and did absolutely nothing else. I have thought about the list though, and I think my first completed item will be....Buy a Christmas tree!!! I have to do that one before I buy a dining room table because I'm not sure where I would put the tree if we had a dining room table. One Christmas at a time...

On the subject of Christmas, I am absolutely obsessed with these things: 

           

 

So there's that. If I were crafty, I would make them, but I'm not.

Clearly, I've had a fairly uneventful weekend, but I needed a bit of a recovery from the last week of school. I feel ready to now conquer this week and something on the list. 

Year 22

  (Since this is the first blog let me explain the "What I'm bumpin'" section to you..this is my chance to tell you at the beginning of every blog what music I've been listening to lately. I am a music nerd, and I love trying to force music on people. So let's give it a go. Go.)

 What I'm bumpin': Imagine Dragons, Maroon 5 Overexposed, and August Burns Red Sleddin' Hill--A Holiday Album. (I have a problem)


If you want to suggest something that I should be "bumpin'", I enjoy musical recommendations.

Why?

The importance of this blog is to publish my year long bucket list and the journey to ensue. I know a bucket list is supposed to be all of things you want to do before you "kick the bucket", which I'm not planning on doing this year God willing, but; sometimes it's easier to break life down into smaller, more manageable chunks.

If you want to suggest some way that I execute a bucket item list, I enjoy recommendations in general.

A final note (on the list): There are 22 items for me to complete and work on throughout the next year of my life. I chose 22 because this is the 22nd year of life. Clever..I know. "That's a LOT to focus on!", you might say. And I say, "NAY". I have 361 days till my 23rd birthday to complete 22 tasks, granted some of the "things" are ongoing. Still 361 days...that's like .06 items a day.


BUCKET LIST

1. Perform musically, in some way, in front of a crowd.
2. Visit (at least) 4 states.
3. Read (at least) 6 books that are completely unrelated to school, management, and/or Human Resources.
4. Go to a Thunder game.
5. Make a pie from scratch without any assistance.
6. Make my mother's recipe for delicious homemade chicken and noodles.
7. (At least) 2 blog posts a week.
8. Go to a Zoo.
9. Create a song.
10. Obtain a dining room table.
11. Buy a Christmas tree
12. Print pictures for every frame I own.
13. Visit Fred Jones Jr. Art Museum.
14. Set a monthly scripture reading goal.
15. Cherish my husband more each day.
16. Discover a different country each month through the convenience of the internet.
17. Get better at pinpointing the important things in life.
18. With the help of my female friends, have more girl's nights/dinners/days.
19. Convince myself that I enjoy all of my classes that I have left to take.
20. Walk a dog on a leash.
21.  Produce more fruit! (Galatians 5:22-23)
22.  Seek out more things that I want to do.

So there you have it my friends. If you read this, you now have a moral duty to hold me accountable for the tasks listed above.