25 Things Before My 25th Birthday: The Final Post

I wanted to write a quick post about how I managed with my goals for my 25th birthday. My birthday is in December so I am super late! I have finished writing the goals that I have for this year and that should be up later this week!

The ones I finished are green and the ones I didn't finish are red.

1. Do a 100 Days Declutter Challenge

Yes. You can see all my posts about it here. 

2. Move

3. Do a Photo an Hour challenge every month (12 times December 2012 - November 2013) 

I did do one in February and March.

4. Read books that start with all the letters of the alphabet (a-z) and review them. 

5. Read books that by authors last name (a-z) and review them. 

You can see all the books I did review here.

6. Start an inspirational book. 

7. Sew seven pieces of clothing.

8. Learn how to draw

9. Improve my handwriting

10. Make and write Christmas cards AND send them

Yea, not so shocked that this didn't happen. 

11. Go for a road trip

This actually happened, wasn't by car but by train! 

12. Go camping

13. Write and publish a short story

14. Write and publish 5 poems

15. Write and publish a small poetry book

16. Publish on my blog 5 cookie recipes

17. Publish on my blog 2 Do It Yourself

I have wrote one about melting lipsticks (see here)

18. Publish on my blog 12 soup recipes 

19. Take 12 outfit photos

I have posted three, OOFD #4, OOFD #5, OOFD #6

20. Open up an online handmade shop

This one annoyed me to no end, I still want to open up an online shop with the things I have made but there are just certain things holding me back  

21. Have over 250 published posts on my blog 

22. Start the free advertising on my blog

23. Be more organized.

This is something I have been working on this year and I think I am doing a great job with being more organized. I will definitely do a post/video on how I organize my life. 

24. Do the 200 sit-up challenge

I am at around 150 sit ups!

25. Not gain weight

I gained 10kg!! Not at all happy about that.

I only managed to accomplish 7 things of my list, it isn't a great achievement but I am really glad about the things I did manage and how everything turned out!

Bisous

25 Things Before My 25th Birthday: 21. Have over 250 published post on my blog

Another one bites the dust!

I am actually quite proud of this one! In 2011 I had 61 posts, in 2012 there were 50 and so far in 2013 I have posted 140 posts! 

250 posts, 288 comments, 119 GFC, 105 Bloglovin Followers, 293 Twitter Followers, 12 Youtube Followers and million happy moments! 

I feel like in 2013 I decided be more focused on blogging and I cannot wait for what 2014 has to offer!

Check out my other posts about my 25th Birthday list. 

Bisous

25 Things Before My 25th Birthday - 7 months in

I wanted to do a update when I was half way through the year but I totally forgot! So, this update comes half way through plus one month! 

Greens are the ones I have finished, orange are the ones I am working on and red are the ones I haven't started yet.

1. Do a 100 Days Declutter Challenge

Yes. You can see all my posts about it here. 

2. Move 

Hasn't happened yet, but it is orange since it is something I have been working on.

3. Do a Photo an Hour challenge every month (12 times December 2012 - November 2013) 

I did do one in February and March, I did mention that if I managed to do 12, no matter the month I would be happy, so I might start doing more when things start slowing down again!

4. Read books that start with all the letters of the alphabet (a-z) and review them. 

You can see the full list here, I have read 11 of 26, and I think there might be one missing from that list.

5. Read books that by authors last name (a-z) and review them. 

You can see the full list here, I have read 9 of 26, but as mentioned above there might be one missing.

6. Start an inspirational book.

Hasn't happened yet, but I did start writing in a diary again. 

7. Sew seven pieces of clothing.

Hasn't happened yet.

8. Learn how to draw

Hasn't happened yet.

9. Improve my handwriting

I did start this and I have to continue, but I am practising.

10. Make and write Christmas cards AND send them

I won't start this one until September/November.

11. Go for a road trip

Hasn't happened yet and I don't think it will happen this year!

12. Go camping

Hasn't happened yet and I am not sure if it will happen this year.

13. Write and publish a short story

I am working on this one.

14. Write and publish 5 poems

I have published one poem on Helium.com this year. 

15. Write and publish a small poetry book

I started this one but I need to finish it. 

16. Publish on my blog 5 cookie recipes

Hasn't happened yet

17. Publish on my blog 2 Do It Yourself

I have done one about melting lipsticks (see here)

18. Publish on my blog 12 soup recipes 

Hasn't happened yet

19. Take 12 outfit photos

I have done two, OOFD #4 and OOFD #5. 

20. Open up an online handmade shop

This is work in progress. 

21. Have over 250 published posts on my blog 

This one is going well! This is my 214th post! 

22. Start the free advertising on my blog

Done! You can get a spot here.

23. Be more organized.

This is something I have been working on this year and I think I am doing a great job with being more organized. I will definitly do a post/video on how I organize my life. 

24. Do the 200 sit-up challenge

I am doing this one on and off, at the moment I have passed 100 sit-ups so I think I will finish the 200 sit-up challenge in the Autumn. 

25. Not gain weight

I have gained a bit of weight, which is annoying me. But if I go back down to 74.4kg (164 lbs) before my birthday it won't have been a failure!

As you can see there are only two things that I have finished completely but there are 15 things that I am working on! I hope I will at least finish 50% of the list so 13 things! I just need to finish 11 more things!

Bisous

DIY: Melting Lipstick

On my 25 thing before my 25th birthday list I wore that I wanted to write two do it yourself posts and this one is my first!

I have been thinking about this for ages, or since I realized couple of my favorite lipsticks broke in transportation so I wasn't really able to use them! I felt it was such a shame and really didn't want to throw them out! 

The little jar I am using is actually a jar for medicine. It has three compartments, morning, lunch and evening, perfect for what I wanted to use it for!

Step One

Choose the lipsticks you are planning on melting!

The lipsticks I used were:

Elizabeth Arden -  Eight Hour Cream Lip Protectant Stick Sheer Tint - Plum (Reviewed here)

Yves  Rocher - Luminelle - Rouge Dragée - 64 Rouge Piment

Catrice - Absolute Moisture - 030 Spicy Coral

Step Two
Chop the lipstick into couple of pieces and scoop out the rest and place it into a metal spoon.

Step Three
Melt the lipstick over a small flame, be careful to not hold the spoon over the flame and not to let the lipstick start to boil.

Step Four
Pour the lipstick into the mold.

Step Five 
Continue with the other lipsticks



Couple of tips:
- Always have paper ready to wipe the spoon after each lipstick
- Allow the lipstick really to melt until you pour it into the container
- The lipstick won't have a different consistency when it is back to being cold
- Be careful of not letting the lipstick boil


Bisous

Photo an Hour - 20th March 2013

I wanted to do a photo an hour that would be just photos that are completely real, no cropping or photoshopping just 100% my life. For that I as well don't need any words. So without further ado, photo an hour

100 Days Later - 25 Things Before My 25th Birthday

I just wanted to do a quick update on my 25 list. My birthday was 100 days ago! Crazy!

1. Do a 100 Days Declutter Challenge (Happening right now - see here)

2. Move 

3. Do a Photo an Hour challenge every month (12 times December 2012 - November 2013) (February 2013) 

4. Read books that start with all the letters of the alphabet (a-z) and review them. (4/26) (See main list here)

5. Read books that by authors last name (a-z) and review them. (4/26) (See reviews here)

6. Start an inspirational book.

7. Sew seven pieces of clothing.

8. Learn how to draw (I have started to paint more)

9. Improve my handwriting

10. Make and write Christmas cards AND send them

11. Go for a road trip

12. Go camping

13. Write and publish a short story

14. Write and publish 5 poems

15. Write and publish a small poetry book

16. Publish on my blog 5 cookie recipes

17. Publish on my blog 2 Do It Yourself

18. Publish on my blog 12 soup recipes 

19. Take 12 outfit photos (1/12) (See here)

20. Open up an online handmade shop 

21. Have over 250 published posts on my blog (150/250)

22. Start the free advertising on my blog Started! (See here) 

23. Be more organized. 

24. Do the 200 sit-up challenge

25. Not gain weight

Photo An Hour - 23. February 2013

The third goal on my Things Before My 25th Birthday list was to 'Do a Photo an Hour challenge every month (12 times December 2012 - November 2013)' Well, I didn't manage to do that for December 2012 and January 2013. I am not going to say that this goal is now failed! I am going to try harder to remember for the next 10 months and maybe I will manage to do 2 some months and reach my goal of 12 Photo An Hour posts!

10 AM - A morning tea, gets me up and going in the morning.

11 AM - Double veggie burger! Seriously the best burger I've had in awhile!

12 PM - Just showered, my dark circles underneath my eyes make it sometimes look like I have got a black eye! Nothing better than using a towel to dry my hair!

1 PM - Reading the Scarlet Letter with different coloured highlighter to emphasize different things.

2 PM - Mr. Handsome has a math exam soon that we are studying for!

3 PM- Snacktime! Cucumber and cream cheese!

4 PM - More Math!

 5 PM - Cloudy as hell outside but the windows let in so much light that it didn't matter.

6 PM - Snacktime and studying some Linguistics. 

 7 PM - Castevania

 8 PM - Noodles!

 9 PM - Quick and easy work out!

 10 PM - Going out!

11 PM - Drinks 

12 AM - More driiinks!


All in all it was a great day and I am glad that I manage to do a Photo an Hour day!

Bisous!

25 Things Before My 25th Birthday - Twenty-one to Twenty-five

One of the reason I wanted to do a detailed list of my list was to have some posts when I was in Iceland, but since I am back I can focus again on writing about new things and actually doing the things that are on my list! So here it is, my last part of the list. 

21. Have over 250 published posts on my blog

Right now I have about 125 published posts! Right now there are 311 days until my birthday (time flies) so I need to write 3 posts a week to manage this goal! I think it is possible so I am really hopeful for this one! 

22. Start the free advertising on my blog

I started this and the first ads will go up on 1st of February! If you want to be a part of this please do e-mail me at contacttarteauxfraises at gmail dot com.

23. Be more organized.

I don't really know how to measure this one, except for how I probably will feel. At the moment I am procrastinating everything and that makes me feel bad! I just need to put on my big girl pants and do something about it! 

24. Do the 200 sit-up challenge

This is something I've tried before but always forgot about it and never finished! This year it will happen! 

25. Not gain weight

Well, not gaining weight is always great (unless you need to gain some weight), instead of begging the scale to go down I plan on just eating better and moving more and not be upset when I don't see a change on the stupid stupid scale! 

That is that, now I actually have to do these things! You can check out my other posts about my 25 things before my 25th birthday riiiiiight here.

Bisous

P.S. Did you know you can follow me on Twitter and Bloglovin'

25 Things Before My 25th Birthday - Sixteen to Twenty

I really feel by writing a more detailed list of my goal I can start to visualize how I will be able to manage to do them all! It is a strange feeling trying to plan something so far in the future since my life is quite fickle at the moment. Hopefully things will turn out well! 

16. Publish on my blog 5 cookie recipes

I love baking cookies but and I don't do enough of it! 

17. Publish on my blog 2 Do It Yourself

I love DIY! I love making them, reading about them but I never seem to post about them! Well, that will not really change since I plan on only to do it twice this year! Hopefully it will give me the confidence to do it more often!

18. Publish on my blog 12 soup recipes 

Same with the cookies, I love soup! LOVE IT! 

19. Take 12 outfit photos

Outfit photos are something I really enjoy doing but I just never seem to do it! So, I plan on trying to do one at least once a month! Maybe I manage to make it a habit and can do it more often! 

20. Open up an online handmade shop 

Right now, the goal is it to be ready at the end of February! 

Oh, and you can check out my other posts about my list here.

Bisous!

25 Things Before My 25th Birthday - Eleven to Fifteen

Today I will be talking a bit more about my 25 things before my 25th birthday list. My previous post on it can be seen here. 

11. Go for a road trip

I loved the road trip Mr. Handsome and I took during the summer 2011. It was amazing. I did blog about it a bit and you can see that here. I really would like to go on another road trip, it doesn't have to be long! I think the only rule I will set to this goal is that it must be an overnight trip and it has to be with a car!

12. Go camping

I love camping, I used to camp all of the time when I was younger but I stopped when I moved to Geneva! I really want to start camping again but I just don't like camping in Switzerland! 

13. Write and publish a short story

Yes, this is a repeat of my 24 things before my 24th birthday list. But, since I didn't manage to do it last year hopefully I will manage this year! 

14. Write and publish 5 poems

I love poetry! I love reading it, I love writing it and I do love analyzing it (to a certain degree) 

15. Write and publish a small poetry book

This is pretty much same as number 14. I just wanted a smaller goal and a bigger goal with poetry.

Stay tuned for next weeks post where I keep on talking about my precious list! 

Bisous

100 Days of Decluttering

As I mentioned on my 25 things before my 25th birthday list I wanted to do a 100 days of decluttering challenge. I plan on starting this challenge on 15th January which is a Tuesday until Thursday 25th April!

I am a cluttered person, unorganized and I never want to throw anything away. It can be problematic.

The biggest thing is that it bothers me tremendously. I don't need all of these things, I don't use all of these things. That is why I have decided to go on a mission. A mission of decluttering. I have one clear goal in sight, that all my personal belongings can be fitted into a 23 kg (50 lbs) suitcase! I am not talking about big things like my sewing machine or that kinda of things, I am talking about clothes, books, films, pens (I hoard pens), make-up, paint, shoes and that kind of things.

I have couple of mini-goals to accomplish my main-goal:

- Every week I will donate, trash or sell my clothing and books.

- Not buy anything except if I desperately need it

                  - Desperately in context of if I have no tights left and that kind of things.

- Every month I will put money into savings

                  -When ever I get my salary I will put what every I didn't spend the last month into savings, no                      

                   exceptions!

- Waste not, want not.

                   -Have to me more careful about trowing away food and just general wasting.

I have opened up a small shop on Storenvy where I will be posting 2-3 pieces of clothes weekly until I am back to owning normal amount of clothing. There you will as well be able to find some books and soon the things I make myself!

Every Friday I will do a small update on how I am going, sharing what I have trashed, put in the shop

If you have ever done anything like this please post the links so that I can read it! 

Bisous

25 Things Before My 25th Birthday - Six to Ten

This is the second part of a more detailed look of my 25 things before my 25th birthday list. My previous posts about it can be found here.


6. Start an inspirational book.
I have made an inspirational book before and it is really something I enjoy both making and looking over to feel inspired. My previous book is over 5 years old so I want to make a new one.

7. Sew seven pieces of clothing.
I love sewing and I do way to little of it! I believe 7 pieces over a year is something that I am capable of doing! I have decided on some of the things I might want to do and I will definitely share all about it later on!

8. Learn how to draw
I am not good at drawing and it is actually something that annoys me to no end! This year I want to try to make some effort to learn how to draw!

9. Improve my handwriting
This is something I have just always been bad at! I have no idea why. It might be a mixture of me just sucking, not practicing enough of good handwriting (I do write a lot by hand but I don't focus on how it looks)  and maybe how I hold the pen (I hold it wrong).

10. Make and write Christmas cards AND send them
I have wanted to do this for some time but I never have time in November-December. I might start making the cards super early and then writing them in October and sending them in November-December.


Bisous

25 Things Before My 25th Birthday - One to five.

Here is the first installment of a more detailed look at my list.

1. Do a 100 Days Declutter Challenge 
I have way to many things. There isn't much else to say about this, this will be a big part of me moving since I don't want to move so much stuff with me! I will start this one on January 15th and it will last until April 25th.

2. Move 
This one is super ambiguous  I want to move, but I don't really know where! I have couple of places in mind and I probably will just have to play it by my heart.

3. Do a Photo an Hour Challenge every month (12 times December 2012 - November 2013)
I love taking pictures and I have done a Photo an Hour Challenge before (here) and I think it is fun to look over it and see how everything used to be at that time!

4. Read books that start with all the letters of the alphabet (a-z) and review them.
I love reading and I do way to little of it! I have already started this one and I keep everyone informed of my progress. It is really hard reading anything else than school books during the semester but since I am taking a literature class as well I might be able to use some of them for this goal.

5. Read books that by authors last name (a-z) and review them.
Same as number 4!

I Chose these to be my top five because these are the ones I really am looking forward to and I know I will be able to do! I am not saying the twenty that are left won't be as enjoyable or get as much attentions it is more that these are just a little bit more special to me. 

25 Things Before My 25th Birthday

Whilst some of my goals are quite straight forwards some are more ambiguous. There are two reasons for that, while some of my goals I am totally willing to share all about them now some are still not really ready to be completely revealed and some goals are just not fully formed and I might have to change the direction they are taking later on. 

Over the next five weeks I plan writing more about these goals, I am going to choose five goals every week and write more about them and why I want to accomplish them.

1. Do a 100 Days Declutter Challenge 

2. Move 

3. Do a Photo an Hour challenge every month (12 times December 2012 - November 2013)

4. Read books that start with all the letters of the alphabet (a-z) and review them.

5. Read books that by authors last name (a-z) and review them.

6. Start an inspirational book.

7. Sew seven pieces of clothing.

8. Learn how to draw

9. Improve my handwriting

10. Make and write Christmas cards AND send them

11. Go for a road trip

12. Go camping

13. Write and publish a short story

14. Write and publish 5 poems

15. Write and publish a small poetry book

16. Publish on my blog 5 cookie recipes

17. Publish on my blog 2 Do It Yourself

18. Publish on my blog 12 soup recipes 

19. Take 12 outfit photos

20. Open up an online handmade shop 

21. Have over 250 published posts on my blog

22. Start the free advertising on my blog

23. Be more organized.

24. Do the 200 sit-up challenge

25. Not gain weight

It just seems to be a lot but if you think about it, it isn't that much, 365 days can go by super quickly and you need to stop the rush of life and enjoy what is in front of you.