Photos by Sarah Veyna

It’s been so hot lately that I struggle with deciding what to wear because, honestly, all I want to do is lay around in my bathing suit all day. Since I can’t do that, I’ve definitely have a couple of warm-weather pieces that I’ve been religiously wearing all summer. This black skater skirt has become one of my go-to pieces because it’s very light and it goes well with most of my summer tops. This weekend I wore it with this crocheted top that my grandmother made for me a while back; the open stitches are perfect for when you’re trying to beat the heat.

I can’t believe that it’s September already, and another month has come and gone. I want to start off this month by establishing some monthly goals. The reason that I want to do that is because I always have all of these long-term goals, but I hardly ever stop to think of what it is that I can accomplish at the moment. I’m also hoping that setting short-term goals will enable me to reflect on my immediate needs and priorities. That being said, these are some goals that I want to work towards accomplishing during this month:

• Last week I blogged about how I’ve been toying with the idea of giving up shopping for a couple of months, and focus on making on my own clothes instead. Well, I’ve decided to take on that challenge for the next six months. I want to do this because it will help me work towards becoming less materialistic, which is something that I struggle with when I’m under stress; I always have this idea in my head that a new top or dress will solve all of my problems. It will also help me cultivate my creativity and improve my sewing skills, so that I can finally move past only making things that are square-shaped such as tote bags, pillows, etc. Plus, almost everybody in my family has amazing sewing skills, so I feel the pressure to also perfect that skill.
• This month, I also want to start working towards being less of a perfectionist and people pleaser. Over the years, I’ve made a great amount of progress in this area of my life and I’ve started to learn how to roll with the punches whenever something unexpected comes my way. However, I still struggle with self-doubt and feeling guilty for doing things simply because they make me happy. Since I’m currently working on several long-term goals, I want to make sure that I’m in the right state of mind and am able to be my own cheerleader whenever a challenge comes my way. I have to remember that I need to do what’s best for me, and not let other people’s perspective affect my decisions.
• Although  I want to be less of a perfectionist, I realize there are certain responsibilities that I tend to completely ignore. Therefore, I want to become more organized to ensure that I’m making progress towards my goals. So what I’m saying is that starting this month, I have to stop procrastinating on studying for the GRE.
• I also want to set the goal to read more often. Since I was an English and Spanish major in college, I used to read 4-6 books a week, and completely gave up watching television during that time. Nowadays, I spend most of my time online and watching television, because it’s so much easier to find the energy to do those things when I come home from work. However, I miss learning and want to make that a priority in my life again.

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