Self- Improvement Summer

This summer is going something like this:

I work every day 8-4 at ancestry.com.

Dahl goes to school full time (taking 8.5 credits this semester=17 normal credits!).

We go to the gym every day after I get off of work till around 5:30- 6:30, depending on how soon we actually get there, etc.

We thought Dahl's schedule would be a lot easier than it actually is; we envisioned a summer where we would go to work/ school, Dahl would do his homework and have it all done before 4, come pick me up, take me to the gym, and then we would have the whole rest of the night to do whatever our little hearts desired. False. He still stays up late doing homework. At first I was dismayed. I work all day, go to the gym, and naturally want to just play and have fun afterwards. I didn't know what I would do, or how I would spend my time.

The first night this happened, I wanted to watch Dancing with the Stars. (This was the first and only time I have watched it this season, so I am not a hardcore fan or anything, I just didn't have anything else to do and they were doing an Instant Dance thing which I thought was cool and entertaining.) Dahl was unable to concentrate when I was doing that, so he had to move to the bedroom to do his homework.

This made me sad, because I wasn't with him anymore, and annoyed that there really wasn't anything I could do with him when he was doing his homework. When we were still in school, I would use the time to get ridiculously ahead in my classes, but now I have no classes to get ahead in. I toyed with the idea of reading a book, but I already read at work when I have breaks, and I didn't want to read all summer. Besides, I was running out of books.

So, that got me thinking. I have a lot of time this summer. What if I used it for self-improvement? It would be a self-improvement summer! The idea is still so fun to me; I have extra time, so I can use it to get better at things I've always wanted to do, but never had the time to do.

These are some things I have decided to do:

1. Learn to cook. I am a decent cook, and generally everything I try turns out alright. The thing is, I hardly ever cook. And Dahl's mom and sister are good at cooking. And my mom is good at cooking. So, I feel like to be a good wife and someday mom, I should practice cooking. This means that every week I am going to try at least one new recipe, and I cook most days of the week. This will help with our calorie counting and our budgeting as well. So, it will make for a cheaper, healthier summer. One thing I made that I was particularly proud of was a salmon with mayo and dill dish with wild rice and corn on the cob. It was so yummy :) I felt very domestic!

2. Lose weight. This goes for both Dahl and I, and so we are counting calories and hitting the gym pretty hard. Fun :)

3. Sew a T-Shirt dress. Ever since I saw this blog last summer, I have wanted so badly to make one of these adorable dresses. They are so cute, and they are modest as well, so I feel like it would be a fun and good investment of my time.

4. Be a consistent tithing-payer, temple-goer, and scripture-reader. Self- explanatory.

I'm sure I will think of more, but this is my basic list. This way, we can both be learning all summer long :)

PS- I thought this was funny :)