Achievement Unlocked: February 2017

Achievement Unlocked: February 2017

February went by so fast, I didn’t even realise I hadn’t done a monthly review until it was March! Oops. And I have been so busy that I’m still catching up reading everyone’s blog posts, and didn’t realise everyone else was doing their monthly round-up type posts either. 😦 But yes, to address that “busyness”, I’ve decided with the help of some friends (namely those in the Fenders group) to block out time in my calendar specifically for my tasks, so I dedicate time to these tasks, I know where the time is going, I can allocate breaks, and I can allocate time to not be disturbed (and I thank Nancy for that idea).

I wouldn’t really call myself an organised person. I feel a sense of shame when I say I am organised, because the to-do lists and the up-to-date calendar of events and the fact that I even have a notebook can be just a façade. I slip, every now and then, as we all do, and if I’m honest, the past week has been a cloud of stress.

I don’t want to go into details because I have most of it under control, but instead I want to recap on the awesome month that February was. I started it off in Perth, speaking at the inaugural Localhost meetup (it went so well!), and I was so pleased at all the feedback and so aww, shucks ☺️ at all the love from the Perth peeps. I did an interview for Localhost as well!

I was in Perth for about ten days, dearly missed soy matcha milkshakes from Whisk, caught up with my friend Kim again, and returned to Sydney with so much love for my team at work who had supported me whilst I worked remotely. And, we had a new (female! Yay!) team member join us as an engineer – something our team had been waiting for for a long time.

After seeing The Beach Boys in concert, Nick and I prepared for our short sampler cruise. It was my first cruise and I really enjoyed it. We saw Explosions in the Sky last week. I went to the dentist for the first time in a couple of years, and my teeth were absolutely fine.

I went to the Girl Geek Sydney meetup this week and I interviewed my friend Monica for my Hey Girlfriend! interview series. If you haven’t read the interview yet, please, please, please check it out. I think it will be really eye-opening for some people, and Monica is an awesome person, very good-hearted, intelligent, funny, but knows when to be serious. You’ve probably heard this before but I did meet her on the internet, and that can be creepy as all hell to meet someone on the internet… but this lovely lady is going to be a bridesmaid at my wedding. 😍

Speaking of weddings, I managed to sort out a few wedding related things this week, and I guess that’s where last month fizzled into this month. So let’s recap the month gone by!

This past month, I learned:

That Perth cafés are pretty dang good.

This past month, I got bored of:

My clothes.

But that’s OK, because I enjoyed:

Buying some new ones. I really shouldn’t have bought so many, but I tried to make wise decisions this time about what could be mixed and matched with items already in my wardrobe.

Today, something that made me happy was:

Chatting to my friends.

Today, something I could have done better was:

Manage my time at work. I probably could have squeezed in a little more work and completed a certain task if I wasn’t so distracted.

Tomorrow, I’m going to:

Go to the gym, pick Nick up from the train station (he went to Melbourne for a few days for work) and finalise our wedding invites. Yup, as you probably guessed, I’m designing them myself. 😄

Next month (March), I’m looking forward to:

I’m looking forward to catching up with Dylan and Lilian next week.

Next month (March), I’m going to make the positive change of:

I said “saving money” last time, and I really need to listen to myself because I bought so many clothes in February. Ugh.

One thing on my to-do list is:

Apart from what I’m doing tomorrow, I am actually going to do another talk on blogging at the next Girl Geek event. I need to prepare that!

One happy photo from this past month is:

Me and Nick with the octopus statue from the cruise in the background
A photo of me and Nick from the cruise

If I had to write a book or record a film about this past month, I would call it:

Good Vibrations 😆

After I post this, I’m going to:

I’m going to prepare some of our wedding favours. We’re making cacti in pots. 🌵 And I’m going to line the bottom of the pots with thin material to stop the soil coming out of the hole. There is more to be done, but that’s the next step.


I’ve finished this post before the end of the time I blocked out for typing a blog post – so I’m pretty proud of that. I was just chatting with Tara about how blocking out time doesn’t work for her because it’s very specific, and she just prefers a list of tasks. I think I will see how I go, but I agree with her to some extent. I’ll continue to try a combination of things, because everyone is different.

For me, I think that this will help with my distractions if I have dedicated time blocks. It’s easy to deal with my distractions by shutting off notifications and sitting in a quiet place, but this feels like another layer if I dedicate a specific amount of time to work on something.

Comments on this post

I think I need to try blocking out time again. I did this back in the summer of 2015 when I was unemployed because I desperately needed structure in my life. But then I got out of the habit of it when I started working. Now I just have like a master to do list and I take items from that and add it to my daily/weekly to do list, but there’s no really order to my system.

It sounds like February was a busy month for you. I’m glad everything went well in Perth and I’m still so jealous of your cruise. Honestly, I went hunting and found a cruise I want to do after I read your post. Hopefully we can get it booked soon.

I’ve found so far (it’s only been a few days) that I don’t stick to the time blocking very well. I still like to-dos as a general thing to keep me organised. But while time blocking helps me to get started on tasks, sometimes other things can just get in the way so it’s not good for me to have every single minute blocked out. I have to leave some space, I’ve learned.

Yes do it! Go book that cruise hahaa 😎

I opened my WordPress reader feed and very impressed by your reading/commenting skills, haha. Also I love the little wedding updates you’ve been adding into your blogs – it makes me more excited for you about your upcoming wedding!! That is very cool that you’re designing your own invites :D

February did go by really fast though and I’m amazed that it’s already March. Good luck on the time blocking. I know it works for some people but like Tara, I find that it didn’t work for me either. I guess I can’t cope with being super organized xD

Haha I have little sprints where I read people’s blogs, and little sprints where I reply to people’s comments. 😆

I think it’s going OK for me so far but I have learned that blocking out so much stuff is not as helpful as just roughly blocking things out. Other things can get in the way and I don’t like having a really tight “schedule”.

Sounds like you had a very busy February! Mine was pretty quiet. I had a cough for 3 weeks and felt fairly run down, loads better now. We had planned our 2nd mountain hike but that was put on hold due to illness. March is going to be very busy – comedy shows, comic con and mother’s day.

I’ve gotten bored of my clothes too lately! I’d like you see some of things you bought – maybe in an upcoming Fashion Friday post?

I’ve never been on a cruise (mini or otherwise) as I always associated them with something older couples or retirees did. Lol. I’m glad you had a good time and I’ll be looking at cruises differently now. ;-)

I’m sorry about your cough but glad to hear you are better now! Hope you get that mountain hike done at some point in the future.

Yeah, you will definitely see some new items in some upcoming Fashion Fridays. 😆 At the same time I’m cleaning my wardrobe so saying goodbye to some other pieces!

That’s a bit of a thought I had about cruises but I was proven wrong. They can be for families too, Royal Caribbean seems to be targeted at families with children so it’s like there is something for everyone.

I like to think I’m organised but in reality, we all slip sometimes with our to-do lists. And that’s okay. I remember beating myself up over it in the past but the added stress and negative thoughts didn’t help me feel any better about slipping up on tasks or didn’t help with my tasks so there was literally no point. I hope you feel a lot better now, we all got your back 💜

Haha, I went on a good few months like end of November – mid-January where I didn’t excessively buy new clothes but I started getting bored of my clothes recently too and have bought a lot of new clothes. Justifying that I’m going on holiday soon so it’s OK (when it probably isn’t :P) But I’m happier and feel like I dont need anything else for a while, so that’s a plus!

Hope March is lots of fun <3

I wouldn’t call myself organised either. I would probably say I’ve become more organised, but like you say “façade” ~ which is one of my favourite words, btw. How about semi-organised? Sounds about right, haha.

I’m really glad you enjoyed your time in Perth. It’s amazing to get positive feedback and support from your work. I know I would feel well chuffed. So proud of you! <3

I would love to go on a cruise one day! I always used to think they were just for old people ONLY because my grandma literally goes on them all the time, but I know they're not now. They look like so much fun, I'm glad you had fun!

"Good Vibrations" made me snort. Let me take my mind of out of gutter.

Good luck with time blocking and wedding planning!

That’s such a cute photo! Sounds like you’ve been really busy. Are you still doing that women in tech interview series by any chance? If so I’d love to be considered for it.

Hope your time organisation tests go well!

I have been posting the interviews on the fourth Tuesday of each month. I already have interviewees lined up for the next 16 months, but if I open up expressions of interest you can get back to me then.

Hope time blocking your calendar works out! I find DnD blocks useful if people actually check your schedule :’).. Everyone has their own ways of being organized. As long as it works and you get the job done at the end, your method works.

Glad to hear that February was an eventful month! The new post for Hey Girlfriend! was really insightful :). I can’t believe your wedding is coming up so quickly! Sometimes, we need something new in our wardrobe. I’m waiting for my next spending boom to happen XD. I’m looking forward to seeing your wedding invites whenever you post them. (I call prediction on some kind of teal/blue XD).

You just made me realise that my wedding dress is technically part of my wardrobe. 😂

I’ve started to block out time for stuff as well. I get so distracted if I don’t have a set deadline, so I’m hoping this will help. No more spending three hours on YouTube while trying to write a blog post!

It’s great that you did so much this month! It must be so exciting to plan your wedding. I hope it’s all going well. I can’t wait to hear about your day!

I also need to save better this month. Comic con really screwed up my saving!

Hope March goes well!