2009 resolutions!

First off, Happy New Year! Yay, pandas!

For the last two years, I've started off the new year with my resolutions. In fact, I started off the blog itself with resolutions -- so PeriodicStyle is now two years old! (Hooray!) And little did I know last year, when I said I'd go somewhere and report on something in '08, that it would be New York Fashion Week itself! So big things can happen if you just set a goal.

Thus, here are my goals for 2008:

- Use what I have. Beauty-wise and fashion-wise, I need to do a better job of using what I have and playing with it more, versus dashing out and buying something new every time I have a special occasion or a new collection comes out. I need to curb the "buy! buy! buy!" impulse, especially now that I'm a Big Girl Living In The City (with Big City Rents).

- Take care of myself, physically, mentally, and emotionally. I'm going to take dance classes, go out and have fun, and not let myself get snagged up in stuff. Brightness and lightness and fun, yesyes.

- Donate more. Clothes, money, time and energy.

- Write more! More blog posts! (Yes, for real!)

- Comment more and reach out more! (Yes, for real, again!)

- Cook more -- I'm very much a boil-or-microwave type of cook, and so I'm hoping to break myself of my bad habits and actually cook for real. (Yeah, I'm not a food blogger, but I do like food!)

- And yes, as always, work on my skin. It's actually doing reallyreally well right now, so I just need to keep hydrated, keep my hands off, and keep doing what I'm doing because it's actually working... (!!!)

What are your goals for 2009?

image from muryousozai.com

Resolutions for 2008

Earlier than last year, I must be growing up!

-Keep working out three times a week. (I know, it is the most boring annual resolution ever, but it gets me to the gym.)

-Branch out with the makeup/wardrobe a bit. I'm a very basic girl, but it wouldn't kill me to do a different smokey eye or a colorful lip every once in a while. And I have new boots dying for outings, so a break from the jeans and hoodie routine is in order, I think.

-Post more varied content and comment more often! The past couple of months were actually great on the varied content, but I want to keep up the variety. If left to my own devices, I'd just post about tv all the time (which does not work so well when there is a writer's strike on.)

-Read 50 literary classics and/or non-fiction books by the end of the year. This is part of my bring the blog some varied content movement; I'm planning mini-reviews every five to ten books. Literacy for all!

-Find new sporty activity to pursue as hobby. I've started ballroom dancing, which is fun, but would also help with weight loss goals to have another sporty hobby to do with people. Hiking? Jogging? Ultimate Frisbee? I have no idea, but something with hot guys would also be good. Especially if they like to take off their shirts.

-Give blood more than twice this year. It's my favorite way of giving back, and there's a definite need. Plus, they give me cookies. I love cookies.

-And finally, go on a proper grown-up vacation with a friend. I go visit my friends and family a lot, but I still have yet to go on actual vacation where I pay for my share of the hotel room and drink fruity drinks by the pool. I've got a brand new passport and I'm ready!


I still have trouble believing we've been at this for a year. I think we've been hitting our stride lately (at least I know I've been more comfortable with what I've been posting in the last two months,) and I want to keep up the quality. I'm definitely excited about some of the changes we're undergoing, and I hope you all will keep reading! We love hearing from you too!

Hopes and goals for 2008

A year (and a day) ago, I put up my first blog post with my beauty and blog resolutions for 2007. Some of them I failed miserably (was I really going to deny myself any form of chocolate?). This year, I'm hoping to do better, so here I go:

1. I want to wear skirts and shorts this spring and summer, so I need to take better care of my legs earlier in the year. I can't keep hiding them under jeans all year round. This was one of my goals last year and I didn't make it, but this year, I will!

2. I want to attend and report on at least one fashion or beauty-related event this year. Whether it's Fashion Week San Francisco or a designer appearance (I missed out on Louboutin at Neiman Marcus, and had to decline an invitation to a Frederic Malle event -- aaaaugh), I want to go out and get involved and get my name on some lists. The DuWop event last year was a good start, but I could have done a better job with the reporting. So better luck this year!

3. I also want to reach out more to other bloggers and get more involved. So if you see me popping up in your comments section, that means I'm working on this goal! I'm also going to be attending BlogHer '08 in San Francisco this July, so that'll be another great way to meet other bloggers.

4. I want to take better care of my skin -- I need to get some good sunglasses, find a good eye cream with SPF for daytime (my poor under-eye skin!), and do a better job at keeping my hands off my face. My skin is better than it could be, but also not as good as it could be. I don't even want to start thinking about anti-aging stuff, but sooner or later, I'm going to have to. (Let's hope it's later!)

5. I want to play more with color. I've got lots of fun lipsticks and eyeshadows in colors I haven't even worn yet, so I need to take the time to make it happen. I also think that the new MAC collections for Fafi (February) and Heatherette (March) will help me out with this one. How much do I want this hot pink lipstick from the Fafi collection? (For more info on those collectons, go check out Specktra's blog, if you're not a devotee of Specktra itself.)

6. Finally, not really a resolution but definitely a goal: 2008 is going to be a bigger, better year for the blog itself. We've got an awesome makeover in the works (expect it by the end of January!), and we've got plans to keep it going in the direction we want it to go in. Plus I'm getting more comfortable with my voice on the blog the more I write in it (if you look at some of my earlier posts, I seem so aaaawkwaaaard). We've got one year under our belts, but 2008 should be a better year for us with getting more established and more awesome.

What are your goals and resolutions for 2008? Will I be seeing you in July? (Will you be seeing my legs in July is really the question, isn't it?)

Obviously stop procrastinating is not one: Resolutions 2007

Well, it's 2007, and I can safely say I have already been to three states this year (four if you count the evil luggage eating Denver Airport,) so travel more probably does not need to be on this list. Things that do:

-Continue to workout three times a week this year, and increase it to four or five a week. I'm shooting for consistency.
-Do yoga more often. Some would consider this part of the last one, but I'd like to be doing a half hour of yoga everyday, regardless of any other workouts. This may require getting up very early.
-Continue to try new things. Some of the more interesting things I tried last year were Open Sea Kayaking, and eating snails. I hope to continue to the trend. So far so good, I had my first facial ever last week and it was very nice.
-Eat healthier. This has been one I've been gradually working on over the past two months or so, and it is going well. I don't want to fall back into my old simple carb loving ways though, so it shall be a resolution.
-Organize my room. It is filled with stuff right now from when I moved, and I would like to just get rid of stuff that I don't want or need and just get every thing tidy for once.
-Write my thesis and graduate, already.
-And lastly, I'd love to read fifty books that aren't chick lit and that I haven't read before within the next year.

Hopefully this will be a far better year for awesomeness than 2006. Let's make it rock.

Resolutions for a new year: 2007

I think 2007 is going to be a pretty good year. As years go, 2006 was sort of mediocre. Sure, there were good times with friends, dim sum in snowstorms, new directions and all that good stuff. Still, there were polonium-12 poisonings, various surprisingly good-looking celebrity babies were born, Saddam Hussein was hanged, and Democracts won over Congress and Senate. 2006, you gave us a nice variety of outrage, joy, shock, and pleasantry, but I expect that 2007 will be AWESOME. So, on a smaller and much more superficial scale, I have some of my New Year's resolutions to share:

1. Exercise (bloggers! they're just like us!) and strength train at least three times a week. This includes and will be instrumental in my general goal, which is to...
2. Drop a dress size by the summer. Homegirl has been chubby since the sixth grade, and it's time to change.
3. Wear more skirts, and shoes with kitten heels. They may not be pink and frilly, but my daily wardrobe could definitely use a little girly-ing up with skirts.
4. No more frivolous "but it's so cheap!" purchases: only buy clothes that can be incorporated into a professional wardrobe. I am, after all, scheduled to enter the work-a-day world very soon. A carefully planned professional wardrobe will go further for me than a new hoodie that I'd only wear for pajamas, even if it does have owls on it.
5. Read more poetry. I've never been much of a creative writer myself, but I had recently forgotten how beautiful words can be until I caught a reprinting of a Nabokov poem in the January Harper's Magazine. Glorious.

That's really it, keep your fingers crossed for me that I can make time to get all of this done...in addition to this blogging adventure, school, part-time work, and plans for the future, of course!

viva la resolucion!

Welcome to The Periodic Elements of Style, the triple-owned blog about life, living, and style. We're kicking off the blog with the beginning of the year, so here's to 2007 being bright and beautiful from the get-go!

My New Year's Resolutions:

- wash my face every morning and evening EVERY DAY -- that means no more slacking on the weekends!
- only eat "good" chocolate (See's and above) and, when I do drink soda, only drink "good" soda (Stewart's, Henry Weinhardt's, Thomas Kemper, etc.)
- cut down on the spending -- try to limit the Sephora, MAC, etc. splurging. Find what I really *need* and buy that. *Need*, not *want*.
- clean and organize my living area and keep it that way
- work out! use the gym membership twice a week OR sign up for a weekly dance/workout class OR walk/run every weekend.
- shave, exfoliate, and moisturize more (I know, I know, I know!)
- hands off! Stop picking at my cuticles, stop putting my hands on my face...
- make The Periodic Elements of Style as awesome as I possibly can!