May Goals

Anyone else over the moon that we turned the calendar over to May?  May is going to be jam packed with fun, friends, and family for us.  Can I tell you a secret?  I am half part scared, half part so excited!  I feel like we've been readying our house for summer entertaining month by month.  Now that the weather is here, I just want people over in our house. All.The.Time.  

But, that terrifies me, because being a hostess does not come naturally to me.  It's my marriage goal honestly.  (Well, one of many.) 

Rich grew up with folks at his house all the time and his mom knocks it out of the park in terms of loving having people over and cooking for them.  She feels lonely when people are NOT there.  Me?  We grew up with very little in terms of house guests.  I want our home to be one filled with friends, food, and laughter but it exhausts me sometimes and I find myself having to take a few extra days to get my energy back.  I need to plan it, every ounce of it. 

But I'm getting better. And Better.  And Better.

So here's to May!  May you be the month that I get exceedingly better at entertaining and that I am writing all summer long about the laughter and footsteps that shape our home's best memories.   

April Goals Review: 

 1. Plant our vegetable garden:  Mostly a fail this month due to some scheduling issues and other yard priorities.  But I did plant our herb garden and so far, (knock on wood), it is thriving off our porch.  We even ate out of our herb garden this weekend.

2. Cut back my caffeine: Working on this and I've come a long way (with a long way to go!)  The ratio of caffeine free to caffeine in our house has inversed itself.  Anyone have any good tricks here on getting rid of it forever?

3. Read 3 books:  Fail, unless you can count finish up Judges and Wild and Free.  I did not make this a real priority and if I am being honest I am not sure how committed to this goal I was from the start.

May Goals:

1.  Drink 64 oz of water at work each day:  I did this with ease in my last job as we prepared for our wedding.  I felt so much better, fuller, and my skin was glowing.  The way my current job was, it actually made it hard these last few months to have easy access to water, but with our office location changing, I feel like I can really prioritize water drinking and remember all the benefits of doing so. 

2. Host a Girls Party: Truth be told, this is already on the books and I am so excited.  I've made some great friends here and we haven't really carved outside of Bible Study girls time. 

3.  Learn to Coupon:   We recently paid off all our debt (what what!) but that means we are back in the great habit of putting more money aside.  I'd love to utilize the many ways you can save money through Krazy Coupon Lady, Ibotta, and Ebates.

April Goals

Did you know only 4% of American's write their goals down? What a shame!  Writing my goals down has been so great for holding myself accountable and since I am in the business of goal setting (#dayjob), I have really loved to see how writing mine down has really grown me both professionally and personally.  So, without much delay, here is a quick review of the March goals I had:

March Goals:
1. Have one new friend over for dinner: So when I set this goal, I remember thinking this was a total jump in faith!  I am a wreck having house guests because I stress over whether they are having a good time or not. But my secret desire is that I LOVE having people over, its just our dogs are crazy and sometimes make me crazy when folks are over since they act terribly when we have guests.  What is so incredibly awesome, is that not only did we have one new friend over, we had our entire life group over.  It was awesome.  A major highlight of the month.  It was so nice to have folks in our first home, to eat around our table, and to share a bit of life with friends. 

2. Try to start running a bit again: This new spring weather has been so great for this little goal of mine.  It is so wonderful to take a short run after work.  The difference for me this goal this year is I am not running for distance or time. I am just running.  To enjoy nature. To clear my head.  And it is awesome. Try this my friends, just run to run. If its a mile one day, great.  If its 3 miles, way to go.  Whatever it is, it is that day, and it is all about progress not perfection.  

3.  Replace the awful curtains in the sun room of our house
Oh no, I failed.  But I can't full beat myself up over this. We are going to have Rich's mom hand make the curtains for this room because they are such odd shaped windows and so many of them!  She hasn't had a chance to come visit yet, so once she does we can get moving on this project.  We did take most of the curtains down in this room except the ones we need for security, so in some ways, I did accomplish my goal of taking these bad boys down. Ironically it has become our favorite room in the house. 

4.  Yardwork, yardwork, yardwork.
A few weekends of good weather has really advanced this goal.  We've been researching and talking with landscapers about our #notsograss grass.  We cleared the front, Rich is re=bricking the trim and I put down more mulch in one day than I have in my life.  We have a vision for our yard (and a fire pit to boot!) but need a few more weekends of good weather and for us to be here to be able to make a ton of progress. 

Since I am feeling pretty confident with how I did in March, I am (eek) really pushing myself with these April goals this month.

April Goals:

1. Plant our vegetable garden:  I've got a great vision for what  I want to do with our garden.  One large part of our garden I want to make an area for cutting flowers so we can keep fresh flowers in the house all summer.  What we really need is a long weekend of good weather to get all this done.  I am hoping and planning that April will bring that chance. (weather permitting I am looking towards the mid and end of the month to get this done)
2. Cut back my caffeine: Oh gosh I know what you are thinking, this goal again?But it's true.  I need to do it and it's holding me prisoner!  I'm making some small strides as of the end of March and I am recommitted to getting healthy.  Stay tuned. 

3. Read 3 books:  I am trying to find more time in my week to read and usually sunny weather and our new porch provides a great reason to make a few trips to the library.  When I am reading I am usually reading three books at once, so its not a huge stretch to see me meeting this goal if I commit to finding the time.  

March Goals

You know you got off to a bad start on your goals this year when you missed an entire month but it's all about #PROGRESSnotPERFECTION so I'm just going to roll with it and chalk February up to starting a new job and getting settled in.  And what a great February it was!

SO, for fun, let's review the goals I set oh, two months ago in January:


January Goals Reviewed
1.  Meet people!  The last two months we've been doing SO well with this goal!  Between our neighborhood, our jobs, our church, and life group we are finally meeting folks here and really starting to make social connections.  We are hosting a potluck dinner at our house on Sunday a mere 2 months after moving, so I'd say we are progressing really nicely with this! I'm freakishly proud of us.  
2. Find a church.  We are really loving the church and community we've found.  Also, it cannot help but be noted we can WALK to church.  Getting fitbit steps in and celebrating the name of Jesus at the same time-no excuse not to get out of bed Sunday! :)
3. Begin working on training the dogs.  Eh, kind of.  I'm working on teaching Ellie to leave it and drop it again so we can hopefully help with the coming and going excitement she has when we get home and leave.  I'd really love to take her to some obedience classes.
4.  Limit Caffeine intake. Fail.  Hard and fast fail.  I have no good excuses other than I'm all about that #caffeine.

March Goals:
1. Have one new friend over for dinner
2. Try to start running a bit again
3.  Replace the awful curtains in the sun room of our house
4.  Yardwork, yardwork, yardwork.  

January Goals

Even though I am late on this post, I DO still have goals for January that I have been working on, but boy they are not glamorous.

My word for the year is ENGAGE, and that is truly one of the biggest drivers of my January goals.

1.  Meet people!  I am not going to make the same mistake I made in South Carolina and haphazardly make connections and meet folks in my new city.  Essentially I want to dive right into this new life here and start making connections and planting seeds of friendship and relationship.

2. Find a church.  This may take a bit longer to finalize, but I'd like to use the Sunday's in January to explore different churches.

3. Begin working on training the dogs.  This has to happen.  We have a nice house now and I'd like to have nice things in it that don't get carried around in a retriever mouth.

4.  Limit Caffeine intake. This will be a big year goal, but I need to start somewhere in cutting back on caffeine!

December Goals

November Goals Revisited:

Pick out paint colors for our new house: DONE!! To be revealed soon!  But I am so so so excited for what we put together! 

Order and address our Christmas Cards: DONE!!  (Also, this was my goal for all of 2015...so I basically nailed this!)  Thanks to a few really clutch additions to my calligraphy arsenal : These pens made the dream come true!  I also bought some black envelopes rather than use the ones that Vista print sent us with our cards this year. 

Make a New Dish for Thanksgiving:  DONE!! Given that we have never really done roasted veggies in this way, I am going to consider our Thanksgiving addition to mean that this goal was accomplished.  



December Goals: 

Purge our Stuff!  I am reading the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and it is making me re-evaluate our junk in the trunk.  With our move on the horizon, there is no need to be transporting stuff we haven't touched since we moved in April.

Make Room for Advent:  Since our Christmas is looking a bit different, I decided this was the perfect chance to really make room for celebrating the meaning of Christmas!  My small group ended the year with a great speaker about making room for advent and little ways we can use this season to grow and deepen in our faith.  The devotion the church gave out is a great way to make this room daily.

Bake Cookies: Pretty self explanatory on this one!  It's Christmas!  Time to indulge in homemade cookies!

 I can't get over how well done the decorations are at church this year!  I hope I can get a picture of the outside with the Woody van and a Christmas tree on top!  It absolutely put me in the spirit this past "First Wednesday".

November Goals

 It's November which means a few great things: an extra hour of sleep (and me showing up an entire hour early for church on Sunday...it happened folks, for real!), holiday season is here, family, food, my birthday-eek, and Thanksgiving! It also means its time for me to check back in with my October goals and set some new targets for November: 


 October Goals Revisited:

1.  Take a Hike: CHECK!  Thanks to our first annual friends fall fest, I was able to check this item off the list. Our cabin was nestled on the very top of a wooded mountain and the owners of the cabin had cut down really great hiking areas for us to explore.  Though the weather was a bit hairy that day, we did find a good hour to hike up and down the area.  You can read all about this amazing fall fun here and think about how create your own friends gathering of your own with these tips here: 

2.  Throw things away/donate things we don't need: CHECK!  So, maybe this goal was accomplished more November 1 than October, but yesterday I did a great purge of my closet, toiletries, and winter clothes as we get ready for our move.  It felt so good to throw away a great amount of crap that I won't have to move later. 

3.  Do something scary: It's Halloween!  I can't say we did anything scary this month but I do feel like we rose to the occasion on our first married Halloween.  From attending the Pumpkin Walk on Daniel Island to handing out candy at the end of our drive way, we may not have done anything scary but we got the most out of this awesome holiday which was my ultimate goal anyways.    On Halloween we visited Kia Country in Charleston for a "Bark and Boo" benefitting the Charleston Animal Society where we have volunteered previously.  Though we weren't big winners in the costume contest, I think my "pack" certainly won my award for cutest safari group.  What do you think:

November Goals:

Pick out paint colors for our new house:  Rich and I are determined to paint a few rooms in our new house in Virginia.  We've been going back and forth on a number of great color palettes but I can't make up my mind quite yet. 

Order and address our Christmas Cards: I am crazy for holiday cards and with us moving in early December I am not playing around with waiting till the last moment for those babies.  My year long goal to address our cards with calligraphy still remains high on my list, so I know I need the extra time to accomplish that task successfully.

Make a New Dish for Thanksgiving:  I am keeping my holiday goals small this year given we are moving during the season but that doesn't stop me from wanting to learn to make a new holiday dish.  I have a few ideas floating in my head so we will see what I come up with for the holidays back in North Carolina.  While we are talking Thanksgiving, I scored these cute placemats (sorry honey, I couldn't resist) at Target on Sunday:

 Source: Target

 

October Goals: Better Late Than Never!

A historical flood, buying our first home, and general life travels has got me considerably behind on updating and setting my October goals.  So if I may, here it goes, one week late.   But first, a recap of my September goals:

September Goals Revisted:

1. Book our trip to Virginia: DONE! Not only was this booked, we were able to complete our visit to Virginia and come back under contract on our first home.  Now, when I set this goal, I had no way of knowing we would be buying this house and traveling back to SC all under the struggle of a historical flooding event and a possible hurricane, so I can emphatically pronounce this goal achieved! 

2. Enjoy our porch:  DONE! We had the rainiest September and an ugly start to fall, but I was pleased with how often we were able to eat in our porch or just enjoy our porch.  Thankfully our new house has a back deck, so I don't have to fear as much losing this slice of backyard heaven, but we absolutely made the most of our fall nights on our current porch.     

 

3. Find more hairstyles: DONE!  I played with my hair all month and ended the month dying it...so I can say I achived this goal pretty well for the month.


4. Find quiet time: WORK IN PROGRESS:  I did the best I could.  I will continue to work on this-this may be a lifetime goal really, not just a monthly goal.  We also had one of the busiest months I can remember, so the fact that I can say I did this even to the smallest degree I shall count a success.

October Goals:

1.  Take a Hike:  We are headed to the mountains with a friends-giving of sorts (9 friends, in the mountains, from three states, this is a win for friendship everywhere y'all)  I want to "take a hike" in the mountains and see first hand the beauty of fall. 

2.  Throw things away/donate things we don't need:  We will have moved twice within the last year and even though I felt like we threw so much away and donated a ton to GoodWill, we still have so much stuff.  Our new house doesn't have as much storage so if it doesn't fit in our current house, no chance it is going to fit in the new digs.  It's time to minimize so I can maximize my happiness!  Things are just things.

3.  Do something scary: It's Halloween!  I want to do something scary.  Maybe its a Haunted House, a corn maze, or trying to tackle our wedding photos in an album.  I want to do something that scares me.  And no, taking the dogs out at night during snake season is not on the table as an option.

September Goals

Ahh September, the official end of summer and the beginning of pumpkin spiced season.  The bikini wearing, dress sporting, sun tanning getting side of me is crying but I am trying to embrace all the lovely things that fall inevitably will bring (football season and brown boots come to mind immediately).  We have a number of fun trips planned for the next few months, so as I wave goodbye to beach weekends, I am going to try my best to welcome to the fall fun at the same time.  

That brings me to my goals.  I shall begin successfully recapping my FAIL August goals but let me first admit I am giving myself major grace on some of these.  On August 1 I was certainty not anticipated getting news we would be moving so I did not factor 1) house 2) job search into this equation.  There, I said it, GRACE.  


1.  Begin my Christmas Shopping Major fail. I didn't even think about this goal once our month got crazy.  On the plus side to this goal is my family has given R and I a "pass" this holiday season since we are moving at Christmas and I anticipate R and I won't be going too crazy on each other.  The reality is, we are just praying we get to put up some semblance of Christmas decorations this year during our move.  So, needless to say, Christmas goals are on  major hold.  

2. Get to the gym 3 days a week:  Crushed this one and thank the Lord!  It's amazing what gym sessions can do to the psyche.  I was proud of myself for going to the gym when I really did not want to this month.  Goal continued for sure for September. GOAL SUCCESS!

3.  Find a small group at church.Next Wednesday I am meeting for the small group orientation evening to get settled into a small group.  GOAL SUCCESS!

4. Practice my calligraphy: Fail.  Along with anything else superfluous, calligraphy got pushed to the side this month.  My goal is to address our Christmas cards with calligraphy...so stay tuned.  I better practice.

September Goals:

1.  Book our trip to Virginia:  We have to find a place to live.  We need to visit.  This requires planning.  Lord help us.  
2. Enjoy our porch: Rich and I did such a fun job making our porch homey.  I want to enjoy time on it before the weather gets nasty and we lose our porch.   

3.  Find more hairstyles I am a self confessed pony tail wearer so I'd really like to find some more versatile ways to style my hair.  I think this is why Youtube was invented.


4.  Find quiet time.  In continuation of my spiritual goals, I'd like to carve more time to reflect, read, and feed my spirit!


There we have it.  Simple, to the point, and practical.  I am taking it easy on myself  and giving myself some GRACE this month.  Maybe that is my word for the back half of 2015.....

July Goals Recap and August Goals

 

July is over? Ju-lying! July marked my first month of actually writing down my monthly goals and posting it in places I often looked, primarily my office desk and in my purse.   It was time to practice what a preach: that a goal without a plan is just a wish, so without further ado, a quick recap of my triumphs (and colossal failures) of the month of July.


1. Read at least one book:  Well, I this one I nailed.  I actually read TWO books in the month of July, but I fully admit one was a re-read of an old favorite.  A close friend kindly sent me a copy of No One is Cuter Than You by Melanie Shankle and I could not recommend it more.  In fact, I've already had a few girlfriends read it since my recommendation.  I loved it so much I ran out and bought the other two in the series and I am quickly making my way through The Antelope in the Living Room as Rich and I navigate our way through our first few months married.  Quite simply, this blogger turned author makes me smile until my checks hurt.  My second literary conquest was Something Borrowed by Wake Forest graduate Emily Giffin.  This book falls under the category of I may have read it before and loved it so much I had to re-read it.  It makes for an amazing beach read, which so happened to be how I tore through it one Sunday afternoon on Sullivan's Island by myself. 

2. Meal Plan 4 Dinners a Week:  This goal felt like a stretch at the time but with new dishes and cookbooks and a renewed since of motivation to cook, we were able to eat 4 new dishes a week.  We discovered a few new delicious family favorites, namely Tex Mex Pitas, and a couple of fails on my part (pineapple BBQ crockpot chicken comes to mind).  Probably the most exciting revelation to come from this goal was my ability to effectively only have to go to the grocer story once a week with careful Sunday planning and a new found love of our slow-cooker on Sundays.  Per my husbands request and my agreement, this goal will roll right into August. 

3. Turn my phone off from 6-8pm: It was a goal for a reason and quite simply, I am still failing at this one.  I was mostly motivated to spend time with Rich during these hours at home without the distraction of technology but unfortunately this is an area of growth for me. 

4. Dog walks once each day:  Sorry puppies, mommy failed at this one too, at your expense.  On the upside, there are absolutely been an increase in canine exercise in our house.    There is no excuse for us to not able to give these doggies more week day walks, so this goal may have been a bit of a reach in terms of the frequency of walks, but I do think we have increased their outside time.  I am looking forward to this trend increase as the temperature decreases.  Hello Fall, I have two doggie girls who are eagerly waiting your timely arrival.  

1.  Begin my Christmas Shopping This year we have twice as many folks on our shopping list. The last few years I have put it off too long and it has been a real budget crunch in those late months with some December birthday's sneaking in there as well.  also, I am constantly running across things that would be perfect presents for folks in my life.  The real challenge here will be keeping it a surprise for 5 months because I usually can't hold a gift back once I have bought it for someone, as evidence by every gift I've ever bought my husband. 

2. Get to the gym 3 days a week:  The reality is post wedding exercise is a real challenge.  During the months leading up to the wedding I was hitting the gym or a class 6 or  7 days a week.  Rightfully so, I was burned out.  I've slacked.  I've eaten.  But, the truth is, I love working out and feeling good, so I think 3 days is a happy medium between the extremes of my last few months.  Plus, we give our gym a nice hefty membership fee, so I'd like to feel as though it is warranted. 

3.  Find a small group at church.  I am really enjoying the new church I have been trying out and have desperately been trying to join a small group once life settled down.  August brings the start of a new small groups for the church and I really aspire to find one that can be a good addition to my week. 

4. Practice my calligraphy: I've dropped the ball in practicing my calligraphy and I'd really like to improve so I can start using it.  This will be the month I break out my calligraphy pens and try some more.


So, that's it folks!  I'll leave you with my precious baby girl laying by the door with her tennis ball placed conveniently next to the door this morning before I left for work, in a photo I am calling "A Girl with a Dream."