#BookAddict

“Fortune Favors Action”

- thecolorcodedlife@gmail.com

I’ve been on a roll with the quotes from my books lately, so why stop now?

I’m currently reading #GIRLBOSS and a whopping 14 pages in, Sophia Amoruso smacked me upside the head with a killer paragraph (emphasis my own).

 

Abandon anything about your life and habits that might be holding you back.

Learn to create your own opportunities.

Know that there is no finish line; fortune favors action.

Race balls-out toward the extraordinary life that you’ve always dreamed of, or still haven’t had the time to dream up.

And prepare to have a hell of a lot of fun along the way.

 

I mean, how can you read that and NOT want to just take on the world?!

So here’s my update on how things are going with the Challenges:

  • Relax and spend some quality time with yourself at least one hour every week – JCT & Take an online class and learn to make your own greeting cards! – TH.

I have started painting watercolors, and I am officially obsessed! I have taken a shine to painting pineapples and it has been a joy watching them blossom under my paintbrush. I finally understand why people love to paint!

You can see pictures of my creations over on Instagram. I’m even thinking about getting super serious and painting some to sell!

 

  • Get story published by a major magazine under your own name – Me

I spend the past two hours working on this, so we shall see what comes of it. I plan to submit it to Real Simple, and perhaps see where else I could send it if I don’t win their competition.

 

  • Take a trip somewhere you have never been – alone. – MPM, DA, IS combined with
  • Visit California – SM

Sadly, this one is going to have to be put on hold. I had wanted to do this in September, but unfortunately, our car needed new brakes, rotors, and a bunch of other items. The travel budget got moved into the car budget, and thus no Cali anytime soon.

 

  • Make a dream board – MB

This is one I am going to work on this week. With the help of my Passion Planner, my Powersheets, and my latest read – 5: Where Will You Be Five Years from Today?, I am going to figure out exactly where I want to go. Which will, in turn, help me to create my dream board.

 

  • Read all of the books I own – Me 

As per usual, this one you can always catch up on over under the Bitchin Books section. You can see my ratings and which books I loved or hated, and why.

 

  • Read a classic book that you’ve always thought about reading but never took the time. – SYM

And finally, for the upcoming week at least, I plan to accomplish this challenge. The book I have chosen is How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie.

Considering this book was first published before World War II (1937, to be exact), I would definitely make consider it a classic! And yet, despite the fact that it was first printed almost 80 years ago, it still ranks as one of the top books in the world.

I am curious as to what makes it such an enduring book and whether it can actually help me do what the title says 😛

 

And on that note, I bid you adieu! I am off to get started on this week’s challenges, plus watch a little Olympics while I’m at it!

Always,

Amanda

 

 

Yeah, About That

- thecolorcodedlife@gmail.com 2 Comments

So basically I let life get in the way recently and haven’t posted.

It’s not that I haven’t been writing. It just that I have written so much, and then something else happens, and then I am unsure what to actually post.

It started with Saturday, June 11th.

  • I wrote a piece about what it’s like to grow up female. I wanted to explain how hard it can be sometimes for men to understand the little and pervasive ways that women deal with society’s expectations every single day.

Sunday, June 12th

  • Then I woke up Sunday morning to the horrific and devastating news about the Orlando shooting. I didn’t want to post the piece about growing up female after that because it paled in comparison to what others were dealing with and the shared pain that we all were feeling.
  • Again, I sat down and wrote out my feelings about the terror in Orlando and how hard it can be to even express these feelings after something like that.

Monday, June 13th

  • But before I could even get that post published, a shitstorm of politics rained down about gun control, and Donald Trump just generally being an asshole.
  • At which point I AGAIN wrote out my views on the current shitshow of our gun laws and the presumptive Republican nominee.

The Rest Of That Week

  • And for the third time, before I could publish anything, something got in the way. This time, I got so fed up with everyone being hateful to each other on Facebook that I just took myself off the social media channel and took a break from the internet.

Just in case you were wondering where I have been these past few weeks, there you go. Plus a visit from my baby sister was thrown in there, so obviously I was showing her around my new city instead of sitting inside and writing.

Luckily (or unluckily) for you, I am back at it!

I may still post my writings from the past few weeks in the upcoming one, but we shall see.

The important thing is that I am writing again, and that is what I need to be doing.

Not to mention – THE CHALLENGES!

 

(1) MEDITATION

via GIPHY

I am currently reading Secular Meditation: 32 Practices for Cultivating Inner Peace, Compassion, and Joy by Rick Heller.

(And by currently reading, I mean I started it last night)

However, I am already highlighting away and learning a lot about the overall practice of meditation, as well as how to use it for myself.

I will definitely be sharing what I’ve learned and how my practice is going in the upcoming posts.

 

(2) GETTING UP EARLIER

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In an effort to follow this challenge (Get up earlier and use that time to focus on something you love – DBQ) I have been getting up a half an hour earlier.

I have been using that time to read my magazines and just luxuriate in being awake before the rest of the world. It has also meant that I have been getting to work before everyone else, which has been really nice as well. I can use that time to get my brain sorted, go through emails, and get on top of any writing I need to do, before the world comes crashing in.

I will definitely be continuing this throughout the challenge year.

 

(3) WRITING TO SOMEONE, ANYONE

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The challenge was this: Send a card to someone (as many different someones) every day. – MA

And last year, I had asked for a bunch of #Skimmbassador’s addresses to write them Holiday cards. Sadly, I didn’t get through all of them, and I wanted to make it write.

Which is where this comes in! I am pulling that list back out and writing each of them a postcard or letter to share the love. I plan on sending at least 7 a week, and hopefully many more.

 

(4) READING IS MY SPORT

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But seriously. If it was an Olympic sport, I would get gold. One of the challenges was: Read all of the books I own – Me

In an effort to do that, read The General’s Mistress by Jo Graham over the weekend.

My assessment?

  • Loved the historical aspect of early in Napoleon’s military campaigns and reign
  • Loved that she took ownership of her life
  • Felt meh about some of the “romance” aspect. Sometimes I felt like the author threw it in there just to have it
  • Great beach read, wouldn’t read it if you want something intellectual
  • Overall, I would give it a 3.5 out of 5

I plan on doing this with all the books I’m reading, so feel free to check them out (literally! #librarypun)

 

There you go, folks! Where I’ve been and where I’m going – at least for now.

Catch ya on the flip side!

Always,

Amanda