September :: Through The Lens

One of my September goals was to take more pictures so that this post would have pictures from more than one weekend! I think I kicked that goal in the hiney, let's talk September through the lens!

row o n e // more Georgia games, there's never enough | sweetwater reunions | roommate surprises

row t w o // family Braves time | all of the dog pictures! |  if I bought my fancy camera, so I had to take a picture of it right? 

row t h r e e // just the most delicious jalepeno poppers | margs on the rooftop | HOLDING THE BLOG BATON!

Speaking of Instagram, you should definitely follow along so that you don't miss the fun shots, like this gem: 

I'm kinda good at #tbt, if I may be so bold. May the force be with you! What kind of pictures did you take last month?

OCTOBER GOALS!

Monday is like a bad penny y'all. Keeps showing up. This past weekend, I easily lost ten years off of my life by not breathing for the last three minutes of the UGA game. Then the Falcons broke my heart, again. So let's recap on Weekly Wishes + goals. OH and I guess since October is Wednesday, I should probably set those goals too. I can't handle it. Let's start with September's goals!

september goals ::

increase followers -- Y'ALL. I particpiated in Rebekah's September giveaway and not only did I grow followers, but I made new friends! OH AND I HIT 100 BLOGLOVIN' FOLLOWERS. A HUNDRED! 

make more pinable images to strengthen photoshop skills -- I played around with photoshop a lot. even used it to edit all my fancy camera pictures. so, success

take more pictures --  I've already started putting together my September Through the Lens [I always want to spell it lense and that's not a word] post + I took oodles more pictures this month than last month. 

blog every weekday in september -- I ONLY HAVE ONE MORE DAY TO GO. y'all. ONE MORE DAY AND I ALREADY WROTE AND SCHEDULED IT! sorry for the screaming.  

last week's wishes :: 

organize my closet // nope. I actually made it worse. oops. we'll just roll it over to this week..

write + schedule my posts for #blogtober14 // oops. I didn't finish this, but I did start it. soo that's sort of a success. 

plan something cool for Thursday because I'm holding the Blog Baton! // oh good! I did accomplish one of them!! I had all sorts of fun holding the Blog Baton last week! 

this week's wishes :: 

work on my editorial calendar //  so I made one, but I haven't really done anything else with it. Now it's time to plan posts + be organized. boom. 

organize my closet... for obvious reasons. 

knock three things off of my fall bucket list // uh oh. that's probably a lot. but I have at least one, maybe two planned for this weekend. so I should be able to swing three! 

october goals :: 

blog every weekday in October // if I could do it in September, why can't I do it in October?

master at least one aspect of manual shooting with my camera // I'm still learning how to get the right lighting + aperture settings down. so I'll keep taking pictures and get better. 

get on top of my budget // in line with needing to organize my closet and be an adult, I should really get on top of my budget as well. so I'll be pinning and researching and building something I can really stick to. I promise I'll share if I come across anything super helpful! [other than ebates, because if you shop online and you don't use ebates, you're throwing money away.]

That's it for me today, what are your goals for October? 

Weekly Wishes + A Giveaway!

Oh, Monday. Here you are again. I'm in a substantially better mood than last Monday because the Falcons played pretty well on Thursday night and UGA did okay too... So we're back again for weekly wishes with the Nectar Collective, let's see how I did!

last week’s wishes ::

use "teach yourself photography" lessons every day // I took easily 400 pictures last week. how about that? I mean, I like to take a bunch of pictures at once to make sure I get a good one [+ even more candid ones, because those are usually so much better]. I shared some from the Braves game, how do you think I'm doing?

continue to limit spending on dining out // ALL I wanted for dinner Thursday night was takeout + I managed to refrain mostly because I didn't want to miss any of TNF. So I did well again this week! 

Work out every day this week // okay so I didn't get any long runs in, or even any really long walks in, but I did get about a mile every day -- so that totally counts. 

this week's wishes ::

organize my closet // Thursday night I cleaned the apartment, obviously because it wasn't on my to-do list for the week. I have an oversized walk in closet that will hold all of my clothes and probably could be a bedroom, so I shouldn't have piles of clothes on the floor, because apparently at 25 you're supposed to pretend to be an adult. So closet organization + maybe cleanout are in order. 

write + schedule my posts for #blogtober14 // in keeping with my new addiction to blogging every weekday, I've already decided which prompts I'm going to use so, in theory, I should be able to write those ahead of time + schedule them. hello preplanning!

plan something cool for Thursday because I'm holding the Blog Baton! // YEAH! You read that right! I will be taking over the Blog Baton Instagram on Thursday, September 25th + I'll have to do some fun stuff, obviously! 

Hand in hand with my September goal of increasing followers, I'm participating in this killer giveaway that Rebekah put together! What would you do with $100 to J. Crew?

Living Lavender // Dream Big And Buy The Shoes // Our Nashville Life // The Mile Advisor

Love The Here And Now // Becoming Adorrable // Kasey At The Bat // Blogs Like A Girl

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Weekly Wishes :: Eight

No, I do not want to talk about that game Saturday or anything else any of my sports teams did this weekend. All I want to do is sit in bed and eat froyo and not talk about how the SEC officials redefined a first down or how the Braves got swept again. I just don't okay? So let's do weekly wishes, see what I did last week, and where I am on this month's goals!

last week’s wishes ::

limit spending by not going out for dinner // success! Well, sort of. I did go out on Tuesday night, but my mom bought my dinner, bonus – I didn’t go out to eat any over the weekend either, so of the $50 I budgeted for the weekend, I still have $35. How about that?

create an editorial calendar for the rest of 2014. // okay so I didn’t finish this, but I started. I also wrote out all of the ideas that I have for the rest of September in my planner. I decided I wanted to make something reusable rather than something that would just cover me for the rest of 2014. So, half win at least!

get back to applying for jobs //  I’ve applied for two this week, and I think I’m going to go to the Falcons thing on Thursday. Even if I don’t find a job, maybe I’ll get in front of the right people. Even if I don’t get in front of the right people, I’ll at least get to go to the Falcons game. So the silver lining has a silver lining..

this week’s wishes ::

use these "teach yourself photography" lessons every day // I want to practice every single day this week to [duh] become a better photographer. I’m going to make sure I get my money’s worth for everything.

continue to limit spending on dining out // maybe I should really sit down + build a better budget, but I’m thinking eating at home more will make my life better. Not that I’ll be bailing on adventures or anything, just less drive through + takeout.

Work out every day this week // no excuses. I’m going to hit that #100byHalloween if my legs fall off in the process. so this is going to happen.

september goals ::

increase followers – I’ve been doing well in all of these! I’ve been slowly but surely increasing followers all around, so if you’re new, welcome! Plus, this month I’m hanging out on Becca + Steph’s side bars! Check that out!

make more pinable images to strengthen photoshop skills – still a work in progress, I did use photoshop to resize + watermark all of my pictures from my fancy new camera!

take more pictures – I am taking pictures of ridiculous things, but it’s so much fun. I’m also toting my camera everywhere. Sorry not sorry for being that person.

blog every weekday in september – hayooooo 11 for 11. How about them apples? oh + not to brag, but thanks to making myself sit down + work on an editorial planner, I have all of this week at least planned if not already half finished. boom. 

Being able to track the progress of my goals here really keeps me honest. It also helps me visualize my success and honestly it's a nice little ego boost that I normally need on Monday. I'm predicting this to be a great week, I have the Cole Swindell concert tomorrow to look forward to, and you know, pay day on Friday! What are your goals for this week? 

Weekly Wishes

Apparently in order to get my laundry done, the first thing I had to do was take it off of my goals list and accept that it wasn't going to happen. I'm not sure what that really says about my type A, goal + list oriented personality though.. Anyways, here are my weekly wishes/goals + super soon updates on September goals!

weekly wishes
limit spending by not going out for dinner // we eat out a lot. I need to curb that for a little while at least so that I can start saving for Europe. My trip is in 111 days which is going to go by so fast. I had a nightmare the other day that my trip was the next day + that I had the amount in the bank available for my trip and I had a meltdown. So my goal is to save at least $50 this week by not going out for dinner as often.

create an editorial calendar for the rest of 2014. // I'm a planner, I haven't been applying that aspect of my personality to my blog and I really should be. I've seen and pinned countless guides to creating and maintaining editorial calendars, I just need to sit down for an hour or so and do it. Maybe I'll knock out a media kit while I'm at it.

get back to applying for jobs // I've kind of settled into my role managing the office and accepted that it's my job and I've kind of let finding a job in sports fall to the back burner. I'm considering attending the Falcons Networking event -- they're calling it a career fair, but I seriously doubt anyone will actually be hiring at the event. I'm burnt out on not knowing if I'll have a job at the end of the season.

september goals -- 
increase followers -- so my inner mathematician is really cute, 10% of 300 is only 3 which is where I already hit that goal on Instagram. I'm not even sure where those new followers came from, I think they want me to follow their band... so I'm modifying this to be 30% which is still a very attainable number. by the way, are you following bloglovin', instagram, twitter, and facebook?

make more pinable images to strengthen photoshop skills -- this is obviously a work in progress, but I did make that image at the top of this post!

take more pictures -- I have been stalking my amazon.com order for my DSLR since I placed it Friday. It still hasn't shipped and I'm ready to break out in hives over it. Just give it amazon, just put it on the truck please.

blog every weekday in september -- six for six!! In case you missed it last week, I compiled three easy steps to help you not be a big fat jerk.

bonus// if you haven't seen it already, Korked Bats put together a gallery of sad Urban Meyer pictures and everything was well.

Make sure you head on over to the Nectar Collective to see what everyone else is hoping to accomplish this week! How happy did the gallery of sad Urban Meyer's make you?

Five For Friday!

We made it! I have very little planned for this weekend and I could not be more excited about it. I'm pretty sure I was going full throttle every weekend in August, so it will be nice to take a break and catch up on sleep. So today I'm linking up for Oh, Hey Friday!

 

1// I did it y'all. I just bought my DSLR. That makes me a real life, official blogger now right? I'm considering taking actual classes so that I can call myself an amateur photog + everything. Just the fanciest. I'm still having a mini-heart attack from the amount spent, but I'm sure the killer pictures I bring back from Europe will more than cover it. PLUS amazon is special + offers a "drop + spill" warranty which I will probably have to take advantage of more than once.

2// Because Steph is just the sweetest there ever was, I officially accomplished that August goal of sponsoring 3 blogs. How about that?!

3// I made this! Check week 1 off for the whole "make something in photoshop to get better" goal column!

4// After I ordered my camera, Amazon suggested these items based on my shopping trends. Apparently I only shop for Mary Kate + Ashley VHS movies on Amazon...

5// The Buzzfeed rabbit hole is a real thing, like there should be a study on the impact it has on society, so here are 5 articles that I completely lost easily an hour of my life by reading.

• 16 Everyday Problems That Would Not Exist If You Were A Wizard
• This One Where Jessica Williams is Awesome -- I really dig this chick. I mean honestly. She's awesome. She speaks her mind AND she's hilarious. 
• The One Where T. Swift is Awesome Again 
• 14 Inspiring Quotes From Robin Williams’ Greatest Movie Characters -- I mean, I cried through this + then read the four "related" articles about his movie quotes + regular life quotes. 
• "Are you callin' me a liar?" "well I ain't callin' you a truther!"

There you have it! My Friday Fives. My camera is expected to arrive on Monday so expect lots of shaky pictures that I think are so cool because they came from my fancy new camera. I'm still kind of freaking out about it. What do you have going on this fantastic Friday?

Thursday Things + September Goals

I've been trying to be better and more accountable with my goals, you know by posting them on the Internet so people can be like Kasey, you said you were going to organize your closet this week but it still looks like all of your dirty laundry is in a pile on the floor. That hasn't happened yet, but it really should because I haven't done any of my laundry.. Let's see how I did on my August goals anyways.

august goals ::
pick three new blogs to sponsor for September  --  oops, looks like I only did two.. but I'll be hanging out on Becca's sidebar in September + Rebekah's in November!!

put my agenda to work – obviously forever a work in progress, I've been doing pretty well.. probably because it's just so damn cute.

run/walk/exercise three days a week – two days is better than no days. I may still have shin splints from all the Athens walking... whooops.

september goals ::
increase followers -- I managed to hit 30 bloglovin' followers without even setting a goal, so I'd like to use the month of September to increase bloglovin' followers, Facebook fans, Twitter, and Instagram followers by 10% -- this goal should come with some kind of plan to gain followers, but I haven't figured that part out yet. 

make more pinable images to strengthen photoshop skills -- I was really proud of my Oliver Wilde quote last week and I'd like to make at least one per month from here on out to strengthen my photoshop skills and boost Pinterest stats.

take more pictures -- when I put together August Through the Lens, I didn't have much to choose from because I slacked on the whole picture taking aspect. Hopefully I'll be getting my new camera sometime this month so I will need to take lots of pictures to learn to use it well and become a semi-decent photographer. Practice makes perfect you know..

blog every weekday in september -- there are plenty of challenges and linkups to help me on days that I have writers block. plus so far I'm 4 for 4. this should also help me with all of my other goals, so how about that!

I'm slowly but surely becoming more ready for fall, with the bonfires and spiked apple cider and Halloween! Also the whole leggings every day, that's going to happen too. Do you have anything you want to accomplish in September?