GOALS 2014: HALF YEAR RECAP

Hello friends!

Here Iam again with my goals for this year. In the meanwhile I added much more goals (I'm a dreamer) but I'll keep these ones only to make it real.

So let's see how I'm doing, not so bad I guess. This is my progress from beggining of April until the end of June. If you missed the first Goals 2014 recap you can read here.

MARTA'S GOALS FOR 2014:

* Make a tattoo

Two first sessions are done, next is coming and finally color in my redwood! probably will need another session which makes 4 sessions total. I prefer to go slow (3 hours sessions max.) so I don't get too tired but I'm not really the most available person, I'm glad Helder, the tattoo artist is patient and always find time for me :) You can have an idea of my tattoo in this post. 

* Stop using Microwave 

Doing a great job! I turned this goal into an habit and currently I'm avoiding this thingy 100%. Still dunno about restaurants though. 

* Do Volunteer Work 

Three weeks volunteering in Tipi Algarve, glamping concept. Cleaned the tipis, weeding, learned more about gardening and made sure the place was neat. I consider these 3 weeks as a retreat, since I was in contact with mother earth all the time and there wasn't too much work by that time. You can read about this experience here and here. 

I'm also a volunteer of Refood, a social project to make sure no one is starving. The point is to find partners (restaurants, coffee shops...) interested in give their leftovers to people who doesn't have food. We need more volunteers so if you want to give 2 hours/week to this project you are welcome! 

* Attend Boom Festival 

Less then a month to be in paradise of love, peace, harmony and arts.

Main Dancefloor at Boom Festival 2012. Photo by Ana Luisa

* Travel to Iceland, Belgium, Amsterdam, Switzerland, Morocco and South America

Been in crazy Morocco already (see all the wonderful spots I travelled in Morocco here). I'm flying to Belgium right now, Netherlands next and then Luxemburg (instead of Switzerland, we only have 20 days and Luxemburg is nearby).

* Start a Recipe Book 

I'm loving this goal so much! It's helping to be more creative when cooking and now I can cook more variety :) 

* Watch all of these 166 documentaries to expand my consciousness 

Doing terrible with this one. When Sun come out I can't help myself and being outside all the time so watch movies and documentaries are left for Winter time. But I'm planning to do not have winter this year so I guess this goal will stay behind. It's not so important though.

* Go to the Theather to watch at least Three Plays.

I wanted to attent one in Morocco but didn't happen. Still need to watch two. 

* Stop eating Fast Food (Junk Food)

Very proud of myself! I think the 3 weeks volunteering in Tipi Algarve helped me to eat healthy since we ate all veggies from the garden and we were far away from supermarkets. 

* Buy as much Local as possible.

Very, very good. Every Wednesday I go shopping in the week market for fruits and vegetables, they are organic and my money goes to locals, all good.

* Plant Trees 

Not yet. I have a feeling this will happen in South America.

* Give Reiki to myself and to others more often. 

When I have an headache I always use reiki and it helps. Mostly I'm giving reiki to Ricky (my parent's dog) because his epilepsy attacks are back more often (Summer is too hot so he suffers more) 

* Visit grandparents more often.

Visited them 3 days ago and everytime I'm around I visit them. Now I know the best schedule is during lunch time, when all family is there (my aunt and cousins are living in the second floor of my grandpa's house)

* Meditation every morning. 

Again, when in Tipi Algarve I was meditationg everyday, now I'm meditating every two days but I wanna go back to the daily basis again. 

* Update the blog 4-6 times a week

If you look at my blog archives I've been blogging half of the month and that's pretty good. I think this goal should change to 3-4 times a week :)

* Learn more about antiques and how to restore vintage items.

The only thing I've done was this vintage shelves makeover. I used it in the last crafts fair I participated. 

* Learn how to make natural products

I'm not giving the best dedication to this goal. The only thing I've done was hand lotion and it's basically glicerine with lemon, smells delicious and your hands will turn pretty soft. I also wanna try these recipes: Shampoo Bars and homemade laundry soup.

* Read tweenty books 

I took too much time forcing myself finnishing MAKTUB by Paulo Coelho until I gave up. It's a book filled with messages and I don't even agree with mostly or are too cliché. For the first time Paulo Coelho disappointed me. Then I tryed to read Briget Jones Diary but it was a failure again. So I finally found a good book "Ensaio sobre a cegueira" by José Saramago, his sentences are so intelligent but hard to read since he doesn't use commas.

Also read PIDE that was a secret security service agency in Portugal during the dictatorship of António Salazar (someone like Hitler) that last for 40 years, from 1945. During this time no one could say anything negative about the government, otherwise they would kill you or you'd get arrested by PIDE. They were all around! It was a strong book with some testimonials of people who were years (innocently) in prison in pretty bad conditions and subject to different tortures like staying 14 days straight without any sleep. 

Last book I read was "Ecology", seemed a book for kids with tons of pictures and clear explanations, I read it in 3 days and learned a lot!

* Make Road Trips in Portugal (or) Spain (or) France.

We've been on a Road trip in Portugal and I loved even more this beautiful country. Read about my road trip here and here.

* Make at least Ten DIY (Do It Yourself) Projects 

I have done Vintage Shelves Makeover, Felt Owl Plushies and Vertical Recycled Bottle Garden.

* Learn a Musical Instrument 

I guess I found it! I can't wait to start playing the guitar :)

* Attend gigs of local bands.

I attended many gigs in Festival MED!!

* Dye my hair a bright color 

For now I'm blond! It's such an huge change but I'm getting used to. I'll be blond not for too long though. I decided to dye pastel pink, looks so cute. Read more here!

* Attend Flea Markets: to sell, to buy, to trade.

Last Saturday I finally attended a flea market to sell and it was good, earn enough money for my next trip :) My seller neighbours were kind people and the morning passed like a lightning bolt. I missed the dynamics of barganing and meet other vendors with funny stories to tell. 

Bought some stuff in this flea market (candles and a vintage summer dress) but ended up not buying anything in Lisbon Flea Market. Also didn't trade anything. 

I'm super excited to attend those amazing Amsterdam and Antwerp Flea Markets :D