29 before 30 – The Second Quarter Ploy

For my 29 before 30 challenge I wanted to work on a quarterly basis. At the beginning of every quarter (going from the 24th to the 23th) I’ll post a list with goals I want to work on specifically in that quarter and at the end of every quarter I’ll give you an update. My second quarter started a couple of weeks ago, so it’s high time I shared my goals for the second part of my 29 before 30 challenge.

Ok, but before you can peek at my goals for this quarter, please take a second to appreciate the illustration I made! I spend two days in Illustrator for this baby and for once I’m fairly happy with what I created. The illustration is also the reason I’m late with these updates. #scaredtostartbecauseofexpectations #drempelvrees

Now, let’s have a look at my goals for the next three months. I’ve tried being precise, using exact numbers where I could, because this makes actually reaching (or not reaching) easier. If you forgot what my complete 29 before 30 challenge looked like, you can find it here.

1. Ecological footprint: I still don’t feel like I’ve informed myself enough, but it’s also time I start taking action. So in the next three months I want to undertake at least 5 concrete steps to consume less. It might be changing all the light bulbs in my house to LED lamps or finally making the re-usable vegetable bags that have been on my to do list for ages.
2. Lettering: I started with a #100dayalphabet challenge at the beginning of April, but after 20 days I fell of the boat. It’s time to get on again, because I need the daily practise! I also want to digitise five pieces of the 30 Day of Lettering challenge to sharpen my Illustrator skills.
3. Illustration: In the illustration department I’m also going to be ambitious. I need to get over myself and make that damned cat family illustration. I also want to make the “29 before 30 – quarter 3” illustration before the start of the third quarter. 😉 Ah and create some more illustrations, although I’m not sure which topics I want to cover. Any ideas?
4. Travel more: I’m going to visit Warsaw with my boyfriend and afterwards I really want to start planning another trip. It needs to be really low-budget though and I’m dreaming of Marrakesh, not sure we can do this for the real cheap.
5. Garden: In the last year I think I went maybe twice in our garden. It’s a small, wet patch of mud surrounded by a concrete fence. At the moment, it’s completely overgrown (which I secretly like, because birds & bugs love this), but it would also be nice to be able to put, I don’t know, a hammock in there when the weather is nice. So, I’m going to make a plan, figure out which (native, bee loving) plants I need and start making it happen. Ditto for our balcony.
6. Sewing: A couple of years ago (you can barely see it in the archives) I was really into sewing. I still have all the dresses, skirts and tops I made back then, because #quality. It’s been age though since I made something new, so I want to make a new dress from scratch
7. Health: I’ve been doing the 5:2 diet for a while, but took a break for a few weeks. It’s time to get back at it though! I also want to do the 30 Day Shred and start doing yoga regularly. Anndd work on my self-esteem/hermit issues. Or at least start figuring out how I’m going to work on these.
8. House: I started with a make-over of our entryway, which needs to be finished.  The hardest part is stripping the front door and painting it. Other than that it’s putting up decoration, which sometimes takes ages with us.
9. Random: Finding a good breakfast spot in Ghent and finally making a video (of at least 3 minutes) are also on my list this quarter. Along with the usual “keeping up with reading, watching new series and seeing new movies”.
10. Side-hustle: This is going to take a big chunk of my time, because I’m trying to set up a full time hustle. It’s scaring the shit out of me + makes me feel very lost, because this was not The Plan. So I’m going to design a collection for Studio Maddy and make a basic branding for that blog. I intend to release the first collection by the end of the quarter. This is also why I feel I need to be really ambitious with the lettering and illustration goals, because keeping the pressure on makes me more productive.

There you have it, my ambitious planning for this second quarter of my 29 before 30 challenge. I’m all good hopes and optimism at the moment, so we’ll see how this goes. Did you make some ambitious plans lately?