Thrift Store Skirts and Sweet Clove Tea Will Always be #worthit

Day 28: Let Go of a Goal
At age 16, at the Hugh O'Brien Youth Leadership Seminar, a goal that I set was to be able to speak Swedish by the time I turned 20 years old, a whole FOUR years away from where I was then.  By age 20, I imagined, I would be a real woman.  Living independently and having mastered a language I had only flirted with until that point.

And here I am at age 20, and unable to speak Swedish much better than I did then.  Four years ago.  I have moved forward very little, besides dabbling with my language App at the end of last summer.  I am disappointed and disheartened that this is as far as I have come. That my Swedish is still so terribly inadequate for simple conversation with my cousins and sweet Morfar (*mother's father)

So here is me letting go of this failed goal. I must remember, however, that these past few years have not been idle. So a failed goal of learning Swedish by age 20 is okay because I can do all sorts of things like write a awesome lab report, do all sorts of neat math stuff, do all sorts of chemistry stuff, etc.  But Swedish remains on the list, one of the many fun plans I have for self-improvement this summer (besides lots of sewing, "sew" mush embroidery, etc.)....

Day 29: Turn Off All Notifications
I actually never have any notifications on.  Not even vibrate notification.  My phone sound is always off.  New app download requests to turn on notifications are always answered with a "no" from me.  Most of the time this is irritating for some people close to me.  My Mom has always had to text any or all of my known friends (or "informants" as I call them) in order to ascertain if I have made it home safe from anywhere.  One of my close friend's favorite things to do in these radio silence instances is to spell out my name letter by letter.  So if I am not responding, when I finally pick my phone up I just have 20-30+ texts of:

E
L
L
E
N
M
A
R
I
A
....... etc.

So that's a fun thing to do to your friends that you are welcome to try.  But I very much like having a moderately limited reliance on buzzes and beeps during my day to try to remain focuses (a difficult task for me at times).

Day 30: Evaluate Your Last 5 Purchases

1) Barn Dance Admission ($10)
2, 3) Two skirts from the DBR Thrift Store. ($3.98)
4) Embroidery Supplies (needles, white cotton thread for finishing pieces) (~$5.00)
5) Groceries at Target (Greek yogurt, 3 boxes of tea on sale, rice cakes, etc) (~27.00)


DMN3, a marketing management company that is employed by such companies as Shell Oil, describes consumer purchasing process a 5 step process.

1. Problem recognition
2. Information Search (research)
3. Evaluation of Alternatives
4. Purchase
5. Post-Purchase Evaluation

So here we are at the evaluation stage! But I want to look back on all the steps to walk through my purchases and take a little more time to think about them than I initially did.

Problem Recognition was: A lack of admission to a fun barn thing, No Problem, Inability to Properly thread a needle, and lack of snacks for my room.

Information Search: Previous excellent experience, none, lots of online research (YouTube videos), previous yogurt experience.

Evaluation of Alternatives: "I could sleep instead, cause it's really late.", "What about this other skirt, I've seen something like this on Pinterest", "Oh God, so what do the numbers really mean? Is the 18 bigger than the 22? I'll need this white cotton soon anyways right? For the sign I want to frame?", "There are so many teas, how much caffeine do I want? Earl Grey or English Breakfast?"

Purchase! "Woo, Dancing!" "Woo, cute skirts!" "Woo, let's sew!" "TEA!"

Post-Purchase Evaluation: I got flipped spun around a lot and tossed into an unexpected back flip and that was pretty fun, no regrets there.
I spent the same amount of money some people spend on coffee in a day on two skirts, and they are cute skirts that I've already worn.  Does this justify this purchase? No. But I've already worn them, and I like them, and I'm getting rid of other skirts I don't wear as much when I stop home in May.

I got to embroider a fair amount over the weekend, so below are pictuers of the fun I had when I finally had a needle eye big enough for my thread.
I have been happily staying awake drinking tea with lots of caffeine for the last two weeks, and I am beyond tickled pink to do so. If you get a chance, please go to your nearest Target (a stretch for some of my rural friends and family, sorry you must miss out) and buy Harney & Songs Hot Cinnamon Sunset.

I made up my own leaf pattern! The stem is made with a *shocker* stem stitch, Leaves are just little stitches, make it look a little like a marigold.  Must practice more! And the center is a satin stitch (so proud).

Back stitch monogram.

More leaf practicing with leftover thread from the last two fun pieces. I used s few french knots to try to replicate leaf buds on the green one.