My 101 List

My 1001 Day Project ends on Friday, October 1, 2010 in .

• Main Goal
• Do something towards my goals every week (1/104)
• Cooking
• Catalog all my stray recipes
• Grow an herb garden
• Grow an organic garden in a pot
• Learn to cook fish
• Learn to cook flan
• Learn to cook my dad's garlic chicken
• Learn to cook pastelles
• Learn to cook piononos
• Declutter
• Clean out garage
• Declutter house
• Photograph and post at least 10 ebay or craigslist items for destashing 1x month (1/34)
• Photograph and post at least 10 supply items for destashing 1x month (2/34)
• Scan and shred all household documents
• Financial
• Create a budget
• Establish a $1000 emergency fund
• Inventory household items for insurance purposes
• Pay off all credit cards
• Health
• Establish an exercise habit
• Get hair trimmed 3x year (1/9)
• Get a real hairstyle…and not just a trim
• Grow my Kickboxing skills
• Lose 80 pounds
• Plan my meals out and shop for them 1x week (1/143)
• Start mountain biking again
• Start rollerblading again
• Test for brown belt
• Visit dentist 2x year (2/6)
• Household
• Buy/make non-disposable shopping bags
• Finish our living room curtains
• Fold laundry 1x quarter (4/12)
• Landscape yard 2x year (0/6)
• Paint our bedroom
• Setup memory board/mirror display in living room
• Vaccuum house 1x week (0/143)
• Wax truck 2x year (0/6)
• Jewelry
• Buy a tumbler and shot
• Establish a blogging schedule for A Pretty Rock
• Learn Chinese knotting
• Learn silver wire fusing
• Pay off A Pretty Rock debt
• Redesign website
• Submit website for write up to 4 blogs 1x month (3/34)
• Knowledge
• Learn to type Spanish language characters on keyboard
• Read 3 books in Spanish (0/3)
• Read Boriquas: Influential Puerto Rican Writings -- An Anthology
• Refresh my Arabic language knowledge
• Loving my dog
• Brush Snickers 1x week (0/143)
• Take Snickers for walk around block 5x week (0/143)
• Personal
• Create a family tree book
• Create an "in event of our deaths" list for both our moms
• Help our mom's fill out their own lists (0/2)
• Give blood (hate needles)
• Have a baby (again...hate needles...and pain)
• Create a book from my Grateful 365 project
• Take my mom to see The Nutcracker
• Recreational
• Attend a USPS dead letter auction
• Create website for my WoW guild
• Create wedding scrapbook (been 9 years…about time!)
• Finish baby blanket cross-stitch (started for my godson who is now 2)
• Go hiking in the Appalachians (I live so close!)
• Go horseback riding
• Learn how to handbind a book
• Learn to alter/customize clothing for myself
• Learn to rock climb
• Learn to snowboard
• Participate in project 365
• Purchase a dSLR
• Read all the Chronicles of Narnia books
• Read my lapsed comic book series
• Visit a corn maze
• Wear a costume to DragonCon
• Relationships
• Buy/make everyone's Christmas gifts before November each year (0/3)
• Host get-together 3x year (1/9)
• Keep track of birthdays and anniversaries (and addresses) and send a card on each one.
• Write thank you notes every time I receive a gift
• Spiritual
• Go on a missions trip
• Memorize a bible verse 1x month (1/34)
• Read bible 5x week (2/143)
• Travel
• Go back home to Puerto Rico with husband
• Take Jason to La Palguera
• Visit St. Thomas/Virgin Islands
• Visit New York
• Go to the top of the Empire State Building
• Go to the top of the Statue of Liberty
• See a musical on Broadway
• Visit Europe
• Visit Las Vegas
• Take a weekend getaway with my husband 1x year (0/3)
• Work
• Back up my computers 1x week (0/143)
• Create a program to serve a useful purpose for others
• Grow my business so my husband can stay home and work with me
• Join a networking group
• Learn a new programming language 1x year (0/3)
• Learn to expertly analyze web traffic tracking results
• Organize files on computers (0/3)
• Read a technical book 4x year (1/12)
• Setup landing pages for all my registered domain names
• Update paperwork for taxes 4x year (0/12)
• Write a blog post 1x week for Turtletopia (2/143)
• Write a blog post 1x week for YazminMedia (1/143)

Updates & More · 04/24/2009

Yes…I know…It’s been quite a while since I’ve truly made a good post on the blog. Sometimes I think I should shut down the store during the beginning of each year. I tend to get hit with so many things in the first 4 months that it’s all I can do to keep my head above water with web development work.

But I’ve made a few waves with my 101 list! I’m so excited to share that with all of you. First on the list…

Create a budget

Can you believe that? I finally finished reading Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover book. J and I sat down last weekend and worked through all the worksheets. We haven’t quite started yet, since we are near the end of our month which is bill paying time, but once they are all paid, we will start our budget with the next check.

Woot! We made a budget! Cross that one off my list!

Grow my business so my husband can stay home and work with me

This particular goal actually needed to be broken down into a few pieces. The first one was making my main business website more usable by moving it to a different platform. I’m almost there with that, which is great. Then I can start blogging on that website regarding web development topics. I also have some great ideas brewing in my head to help small businesses get started with their own web shop/blog/website like mine! Not to mention, a redesign for A Pretty Rock in the works. I’m so very excited.

And finally…

Photograph and post at least 10 ebay or craigslist items for destashing 1x month

I’m finally getting back to the destashing. After having cleaned the house for an all too short visit from the brother-in-law, I’ve been refreshed on my mission to declutter. Cleaning the house was amazing motivation, so I’ve already started listing some purses on my A Pretty Rock eBay account:

       

I love it when the ball gets rolling, don’t you?

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tags: 101 list, destash, handbags, purses, supplies

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Supplies 2/24! · 02/24/2009

A month later and I finally got around to listing a few more supplies for destash. At this rate, I’ll never be done! ;)

10 Hill Tribe Curved Bars with Flower Imprint

8” Strand Sunstone Heart Briolettes

10 Abalone Teardrops

And of course, while processing photos I decided to keep a strand I was getting ready to destash. But I’ve made a deal with myself…I have to use the strand within a month, otherwise I’m destashing it immediately. I’ll be the master of my packratting, not the other way around, thank you very much!

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tags: supplies

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Supplies 1/23! · 01/23/2009

Still working through my stuff here and on that decluttering project that lingers on the back of my mind. Just posted a few more supplies so I thought I’d share:

Go check them out in my shop!

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tags: etsy, supplies

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The Rings the Thing! · 12/05/2008

At one of my shows earlier last month, I saw this other jewelry vendor who had this fantastic necklace made with rings of agate. After talking to her a bit (and trying to sell her necklace to everyone who walked by which I thought was quite funny), I decided I had to get my own agate rings.

I’m so glad I did. Can’t wait to use them!

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tags: supplies

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I'm Back and Destashing · 09/06/2008

As I’m sure you already know, I am back. Dragon*Con was such a blast. I think this is the best time I’ve had in all the years I went, because not only did I get to enjoy my 3 days there with my best friend, J, I also got to see it through the eyes of a close friend who has only been but one time. It was a great reminder of that first-time wide-eyed feeling that you slowly lose over the years.

So, if you visit my Flickr site, you’ll find a new set titled Dragon*Con 2008. I only took a few hundred photos while there, so I’m being rather slow in getting them cropped, cleaned and uploaded. They are getting posted in about batches of 10.

In the meantime, feel free to browse the photos that I was able to take with my ever so crummy camera. There was plenty of dSLR envy that weekend on my part. The good thing is that I got J to agree to let me spend $1200 on a dSLR instead of a steampunk arm piece. Hope is what keeps me happy. ;)

Today, with all the fires in the wake of my return put out, I decided to do a little bit of catching up with the jewelry business. Among the things I picked back up was my destashing project…that’s #12 on my 101 List. I took some time to process a few more supply photos to post on the RockStash Etsy site. I hope you find something here you can put to good use:

Did any of my readers go to Dragon*Con themselves? Let me know! I would love to read your blog entries on the Con.

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tags: 101 list, etsy, supplies

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Shopping Trip! · 08/26/2008

The Intergalactic was in town this weekend, so I went and paid a visit to one of my vendors. A few purchases were for custom orders, the others to work on a new jewelry line. Take a look at my haul:

 
1st picture: cloisonne beads
2nd picture: crystal, rutilated quartz, mixed stone rondelles, fire cherry quartz

 
1st picture: moss agate, lemon quartz, green dyed chalcedony
2nd picture: keishe pearls, crystal quartz, tourmaline, hessonite, labradorite

 
1st picture: pink dyed chalcedony, amethyst, labradorite, prasiolite
2st picture: aquamarine, tourmalinated quartz, green tourmalinated quartz, rutilated quartz

quartz

Keep an eye out for new jewelry using these lovelies!

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tags: supplies

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Glitz Lounge May Challenge and More Supplies · 07/01/2008

Just making a quick post today ‘cause my head hurts from my extremely tough workout this morning…(Our regular instructor, Wendy, for the 9am class at My Health Kick is on a 2 week missions trip in Alaska and her husband, Dennis, is sitting in for her and kicking our butts.)

So I just have two things for you…

 

A new necklace made for Glitz Lounge’s May Themed Challenge. (I’ll be posting this lovely for sale on the site later this week.) I had such a hard time designing this piece. I even started with a different focal! In the end, I kept thinking of plants and berries and how everything needs water to live and grow. So my quartz is the big pool of water from which the leaves (pearls) and berries (watermelon tourmaline) grew and blossomed a lovely flower (prasiolite.) Hence, La Dolce Vita!

The necklace is a total length of 36", which makes it great for matching with other necklaces, or doubling up as a focal layering piece. I took great care to space the little clusters of berries and leaves so they would somewhat line up when the necklace was doubled to its 18" length.

And…

More gemstone goodness! Can’t beat that for eyecandy. Now, off to get a quick nap…

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tags: glitz lounge challenge, supplies

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#12 - April and May Destashing Done! · 06/28/2008

I’m so delayed on getting these posted. April turned into May, and May into June, so here I am playing “catch up” with the supplies that have been accumulating on my desk. Maybe next month I will get caught up with June as well. :)

In this batch you’ll find a lot of Swarovski pearls and a few crystal rondelles. There are also some new yummy peacock freshwater pearls that are definitely worth checking out.

Here is my Etsy mini with a few of the supply listings:

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tags: 101 list, etsy, supplies

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#12 - March Destashing Done! · 03/22/2008

It was that time of the month again for me to go through my supplies and destash what I have. This seems to be working out well. Now, if I could only just get myself cracking on the rest of my 101 list things would be so much better. :)

Check out my Etsy mini with a few of my latest supply listings:

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tags: 101 list, etsy, supplies

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#12 - February Destashing Done! · 02/16/2008

Here we go again! Last Sunday I was able to photograph a ton of supplies and I finally got them posted at RockStash the other day. I just failed to mention it.

Several things have already sold, but just like last time, there are some good things worth scooping. This time, I added some of the extra Mother of Pearl buttons I use to make my rings in designs I did not care for once in hand. One listing of those already sold.

There are also some great coconut heart beads large enough for pendants and some pink shell flowers which make cute dainty earrings…sadly, just not quite for my market anymore, I think.

I couldn’t help myself, though, and ended up making these sweet little hairpins with the pink shell flowers to list.

Check out my Etsy mini with a few of my latest supply listings:

Tonight I’m off to pick up my mom at the airport, so here I go doing a quick clean of the house. I hope you have a fantastic Saturday!

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tags: 101 list, etsy, supplies

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#12 – January Destashing Done! · 01/12/2008

Well, that was time consuming! I spent a good bit of yesterday photographing supplies and then another couple hours this morning getting them posted at RockStash.

There are some good things in there, like several pieces of Thai hill tribe silver that was purchased when the market was lower. There are also some vintage lucite beads that are worth scooping up. Hopefully all of these will go off to new homes!

Here’s an Etsy mini with a few of my latest supply listings:

Now to go grab some breakfast…

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tags: 101 list, etsy, supplies

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Clearly, I Need Help · 01/11/2008

Week 1 is over for my 101 goals and I’m just not doing as great as I thought. Excuses come easily and I find it’s just too simple to say “Oh, I’ll go a little later” or “I’ll do that tomorrow”, when in reality, my goals need to be made a priority and done that day.

I do want to be successful with my list, so I know I’m going to have to tackle this problem differently. Having the list public on my blog is just not enough. Which means I have to learn from my failure quickly so that I can get back on track and not be demoralized.

I did manage to photograph some supplies for Goal #12!

This morning, I was reading my blog roll and I believe I’ve found the solution! Zen Habits had a post last month on 16 Killer Apps to Put On Your Brand New Christmas Mac. (I’ve had my Mac for quite a while now, but I didn’t believe that precluded me from using the list.) :) I downloaded and installed several of them, among them iGTD, which I was going to use, but I had just setup a good system that I want to give a fair shot. For this though, I believe it’s a good alternate use for application…so I’m going to fill it up with my 101 list items!

I’m really excited about that and should be setting it up this weekend. Since there are so many different goals on various “time limits” (not sure what else to call them), I think iGTD will work well for what I need. This will also allow me to get familiar with the program in a non-urgent kind of way.

When Week 3 rolls around on the 18th, I should be in a better position to succeed. (I’m crossing my fingers here.)

Does anyone have any other programs they can suggest for tracking to-do lists? I’d love to check them out.

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tags: 101 list, etsy, supplies

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Late Spring Cleaning! · 09/27/2007

I haven’t been posting much jewelry of late. Have you noticed? I feel like I’m stuck in a rut. I have a bunch of stones and pearls in similar colors but I haven’t really been inspired to use them. I hope this isn’t the way of things to come for me. I can’t imagine not having a creative outlet of sorts.

So I’ve spent a lot of time photographing supplies and materials that I know I won’t be using any time soon and posting them on my Etsy supplies site. If you’re looking for beads, stones and findings, go visit RockStash. I just posted a bunch yesterday and will be adding some new things today and tomorrow.

I did feel enough inspiration to download a tutorial off of Eni’s site today for a Circular Pendant, so I’m looking forward to trying that out and hope it gets the creative juices flowing!

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tags: etsy, supplies

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Bead Show Blues · 08/25/2007

Ever since I went to Hong Kong, I’ve been very picky about the stones I purchase. I even go as far as turning my nose up at great quality strands just because I keep remembering how inexpensive the prices of items were at the Hong Kong gem show. Due to shipping, import and middle man costs, strands here are just so pricey for similar or even lesser quality than what I found overseas. That makes it hard to keep my final price fair. Just thinking about it makes me pine for the next opportunity to visit my brother during a gem show window…if it even comes along at all.

Since I haven’t been buying new supplies, aside from those for custom orders, I was really looking forward to a local bead and gem show that is happening this weekend. This morning I got up with much anticipation at all the goodies I would find. In particular, I was looking forward to visiting the vendor from whom I purchased my beautiful fire agate opal slabs like the ones to the right and the one used in Fire Drop Necklace. I was ready for more slabby goodness in as many variations and stones that I could find!

Sadly, after walking the whole convention center in search of the vendor, the promoter informed me that the vendor had several deaths in the family. The time periods have been such that they have missed the last 3 shows for this venue. (The shows occur in different states each month.) Having just lost my dad, I can’t imagine what it must be like to have more than one death occur in such a short span of time. My heart truly goes out to them.

Once I got my mind back to the task at hand, I realized that I had money burning a hole in my pocket! Having participated in the Use What You Have Challenge, I had racked up a nice stash for future supply purchases and I was ready to buy.

Wouldn’t you know it…I knew I was in trouble when I walked the whole convention center and found not a single thing that absolutely drew my attention. That made me so sad I had to call my close, always fashionable friend and sometimes advisor to bemoan how badly I felt. (Yes, I was just calling to complain.) I really wanted to spend some money and I couldn’t find anything that did it for me!

From top to bottom: rutilated quartz, tourmalinated quartz, rutilated quartz, imperial jasper

Well…I did find something that I have wanted for a long time – rutilated quartz. I bought two strands of it in a faceted heart shape. I also picked up some tourmalinated quartz and imperial jasper. Oh – and some 3mm Swarvoski pearls for a custom order experiment to match the ring I made earlier this month. (If you’re wondering what the difference is between the two quartz’, the rutilated has gold colored rutile spikes in it, while the tourmalinated has black and green colored rutile spikes in it.)

So, that was my shopping adventure today. I didn’t walk away with exactly what I was looking for, but at least I did walk away with something and that gives my inner shopaholic a little comfort. :)

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tags: supplies

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