The 25 Things I Plan to Do in 2015

My Moleskine planner arrived yesterday. Thanks to my friend, Grace! The package from Dubai came with a handwritten note and a lucky charm from Japan. Sweet!

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I have doodled (I am bad at it!) on one of the pages to express my plans for the year. This is my vision board.
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1. Open an online watercolor art store. My friend, Grace, told me to open an Etsy store. I am still thinking about it. I am inclined to just start a Facebook page. Whatever it is I will finally decide on, I need to plan my painting time. I also need original paintings done. Most of my watercolor artworks are copies of existing ones.

2. Offer watercolor painting workshop. Another friend messaged me if I can teach her kids watercolor art. For this to push through, I need to plan on how to go about this one. I need to recall how my high school teacher taught us art.  Plus, I can only teach what I know. That means painting subjects like flowers, food and animals.

3. Learn lettering and calligraphy. I am fascinated with beautiful penmanship. I am a fan of Fozzy Castro-Dayrit. She does an amazing calligraphy work. I have yet to buy my first set of nibs and other tools for calligraphy. For now, I will try to just use these calligraphy pens to practice.

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4. Blog regularly. I am trying to do this better. I write long posts so I really need to allot time for this one. Plus, I am picky with photos. It takes me hours to finish a blog post.  Hopefully, I will find away around this problem.

5. Share blog posts in social media. A friend of mine asked, “How do I read your blog?” She knows I have one but she does not know where to find it because I do not share my posts except among my BCBlogger friends and other blogging network.  I feel that I share too much on social media that sharing my writing feels like oversharing. I still feel uncomfortable letting my friends read my thoughts.  There is also that fear of embarrassing myself with grammar mistakes.

6. Invest. My friend invested on a mutual fund. I will follow suit this year. I just need to look through my finances and find sources where I can get myself enough budget to explore this option.

7. Take small risks. I want to learn about trading stocks. There are risks so I still need to read more about it.

8. Live with intent and purpose. My friends and I finished reading Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Life last August and, at the end of the 40-day reading  period, I still have not figured out my purpose. For now, I think my purpose is making time for people- being there for people when my presence and attention are needed.

9. Read more. Oh, I did not read a lot of books in 2014. I need to change that. I am currently reading this one. I know. It is an easy read but it is a start.

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10. Show appreciation more. I am not very much of a verbal person. (Although some of my friends would argue that I am talkative.) It is easy to express what is on my mind but not how I feel. I just need to show appreciation to people who made my life easier. I know I am loved by God. There are people He send my way who have shown me kindness, given me trust and offered help. I do not think I have thanked these people enough.

11. Make time for people I love. At the start new year, I was in a number of get-together with friends. I had to take advantage of the time that they were still here. A number of them flew back to where they work. I hope to become that person who makes time for things that matter and people I cared for.

12. Work with passion. I try to bring my heart and soul to the work that I do. I try to give it my best shot at all times. Kinakarir ang lahat ng bagay. (I treat everything like a career, like I was paid to do it.) Work, for me, does not have to be paid work. Work can be projects I do on the side just because I like doing them.

13. Work smart. This means I also need to manage my time and achieve a work-life balance.

14. Pray more. I always say that I am not a deeply religious Catholic. I sometimes sleep without praying. Bad, I know. However, I am amazed how God works in my life that I feel that if I talk to Him more, I will be more equipped to face whatever challenges that come my way.

15. Create. 

16. Innovate. I am inspired by many kickstarter projects. I often find myself saying, “Why didn’t I think of that?”  I hope I can start my own project. I wish for some spark of inspiration.

17.  Be healthy, exercise more. Three of my friends are into fitness and it is inspiring to see them transform into their fitter selves.  I have trimmed 2 inches off my waistline through regular exercise and eating smaller portions.  But I gained the inches back over the Christmas vacation. Next week, I will start this 21-day challenge posted by my friend, Grace.

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18. Keep things in order. I started cleaning my room last year but my closet is still full, the other room still needs to be organized and I still have a lot of laundry to do. I wish I can be like Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs who would wear the same type of clothes everyday so I can trim down my closet to a few pieces. I am no clotheshorse nor a fashionista but I still want variety in what I wear.  I just need to weed out my closet of clothes I no longer wear often.

19. Invest in experience. I am always excited to explore new places and try new things. I will continue to do so this year.

20. Nurture friendship. I try to accommodate as many people in my life as possible. Although I call my travel friends as Team Laagan and some of my close friends, The Core Group,  anyone can join in this circle of friends. I never grew up with a best friend or a barkada. I hang out with different people and I keep in touch with a lot of friends. I never join clubs and associations because of their exclusivity. I function well when I develop friendship with a person (individually not a group).

21. Write more. I am not really a writer. You know, the type who can create sentences that sound like a lullabye. I write the way I talk. I just translate my Bisaya into English. However, writing has been my bread and butter since 2012 and it has brought me places, fed me and clothe me. I am still not good at it. I try to. They say one needs to write 1000 words a day to develop their writing skills. I hope to do that this year.

22. Learn paper flower craft. Look how gorgeous these are.

23.  Learn how to create bento meals. I follow bentobykat on instagram. I want to try these, too! So creative!

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24. More photography. I enjoy this hobby. I have a lot to learn. Good thing I have appreciative friends and a patient cousin who teaches me photography tricks.

25. Continue to be grateful.  I am blessed in many ways. Thank you, God, for never abandoning me even when I am not worthy of your love.

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