Hey July!

So, it's July. As of today we are officially half way through 2014. Dear Summer, please slow down!

We have some fun things planned for this month, so I'm excited and hoping that this month goes by just a little less quickly than the last. But, before we get to July let's look back on those June goals. 

Overall, I would say June was a pretty good month. I loved loved loved celebrating our 1st anniversary and have really enjoyed get settled in our home. Somewhere along the way it stopped being the "new house" and started being "home." It makes my heart so happy knowing how many memories we will make in this place and how we will continue to make it ours.   

1. Spend more time with God: Abide Journal 

This one gets a big check! It's an 8 week long journal so there are still 4 weeks to go, but so far I'm right on track. There is so much that I'm loving about this study. I love that each chapter is a week long,  so there is lots of time to really dig deep into the theme of the week. The videos that go along with the weeks are also so great. I can't wait to continue this into July.

2. Take care of myself: Exercise & walk after dinner

Eh, I guess this one gets a super small check. We haven't been walking after dinner, but I've done an okay job getting up and going walking. Going to expand on this one and get a little more specific for July.

3. Be intentional with my husband: TV free dinners

Big check! We've had many TV free dinners in spite of the World Cup. Apparently my husband is a big soccer fan now. Never saw that one coming, but I digress. I really love the chance to sit down at the table and talk about our days. I love that it's becoming routine to sit down at the table and dinners in front of the TV only happen on rare occasions.  

4. Go on an adventure: Anniversary trip

Completed and it was awesome! Can't wait to share all about it tomorrow!

5. Be intentional with others: Spend time with friends

I love that I made this a goal last month, and I love even more that I was able to accomplish it. One of the best things about have a home is being able to host friends and family. I so very much want our home to be a place where people we love come, hang out, and feel comfortable. Not only did we get to have one of my best friends over this past month, but I also got to catch up with a few friends who live out of town who I haven't talk to in way too long! This month our families are hosting a house warming party for us, so I can't wait to open our doors to even more of our friends. 

1. Spend more time with God: Abide Journal and Studying the Names of God

4 more weeks! There is also another bible study that Nicole and Rachel are hosting that I'm seriously thinking about joining in on. 

2. Take care of myself: Exercise Routine

Routine. I work best with routines and schedules. This month my goals is routine with moderation. I am trying to learn that it's okay not to work out everyday. So, the goal this month is to work out 3-5 times a week for at least 30 minutes. The inner crazy athlete is screaming at me that that's not enough, but the much healthier rational side of me is insisting that it's just fine. Routine with moderation.

3. Be intentional w/ others: Stop Saying Sorry
Well, kinda. Have y'all seen this video? It really hit home and even more so when the husband mentioned the other night that I say "I'm sorry" too much. I'm starting to realized I say "I'm sorry" for all the wrong reasons and when I need to say it it's so much harder to say. So, July is my month of not saying sorry when I don't need to and saying sorry when it needs to be said. 

4. Go on an adventure: Beach Trip(s)
Adventures for this month include lots of sun, sand, and ocean water. We'll be on Hilton Head Island and at Holden Beach. I. Can't. Wait. 

Here's to a happy July everyone!!

June Goals

It's been a while since I've done a "goals" post, and I've kinda missed it. 

The reason I quit doing them is pretty pathetic, and I'm almost too embarrassed to share it. Picmonkey quit working because they deemed my computer "ancient." So, I couldn't make my Goals header. I got sad and quit since I couldn't find another photo editing site I liked. Yup, super pathetic. 

Ribbet ended up saving the day. I've always used them to create photo collages and had no idea they could do so much more than that! I'm happy again and back to posting about goals :)

1. Spend more time with God: Abide Journal 

I just ordered the Abide 8 week journal from Naptime Diaries. Obviously I won't finish it in June, but my goal is to keep up with it. I'm really excited about this and even more excited to see how God uses it. Hopefully, it will come early next week so I can't get started.

2. Take care of myself: Exercise & walk after dinner

Since getting married I haven't gotten into a good work out routine. It's been pretty sporadic and I'm not a fan. I do so much better with schedules and routines. I also know I feel so much better about myself when I'm working out regularly. My goal for June is to get into a healthy routine and make more time for exercise. Also, James and I went walking after dinner this past week and really enjoyed it. It's good quality time and a great evening activity. 

3. Be intentional with my husband: TV free dinners

We've already started doing a pretty job with this since moving into the house. We're sitting at the table and turning the TV and phones off. I really love being able to talk without the TV as a distraction. I would love to keep this going and have it become part of the nightly routine.

4. Go on an adventure: Anniversary trip

At the end of this month we'll celebrate our 1st anniversary!? Part of me can't believe it's already been a year and the other part of me totally can. We're busy planning an anniversary trip to Nashville. It's one of James' favorite cities and I've never been, so I'm excited for him to show me around. It will be a good chance to get away and celebrate being married a whole year :)

5. Be intentional with others: Spend time with friends

Lately, I haven't done a great job of keeping up with my girlfriends. This month I want to be more intentional about spending time with my friends either on the phone if they are far away or in person. 

Here's to June goals!

February Goals

Some how January felt long and short at the same time. Does that even make sense? To be honest, I'm really not sad to see January go. It wasn't a great month. It was snowy, cold, and I had to sleep in an office building. I'm very ready for a new month and a positive start.

Only picture we got in the snow.
Please excuse the no makeup and lack of shower. The office building provided warmth and food, but no showers.

Part of me really didn't want to do a recap of how I did with my January Goals. It didn't go well and I hate admitting when I fail. However, in an effort to be transparent and use this as a learning experience and not a failure I'll go ahead and share.

Here's a look at January's Goals:

1. Love my husband: Date my husband
This wasn't really specific enough. I did plan one surprise date for James and I in January. We had an inoor picnic in the living room, so I'm counting this as a completed goal. However, this is one of those on-going, always working towards being better at goals.

2. Be intentional with others: Put my phone away at dinner
I would say I did pretty good with this one. I made an effort at dinner each night to put my phone away and not look at it. There is a lot of room for improvement in the phone area though.

3. Go on Adventures: Plan our adventure for the month
The adventure of the month was a trip to Savannah for a wedding. It was fun a fun trip. It's nice to get away sometimes even if just for the weekend.

4. Time with God & Love my Husband: Read through Wife After God 
This is the goal I'm most disappointed about not completing. I started off the month well, then got a few days behind, then a few more, and then I just gave up. I could tell you a million different excuses for why I didn't stick with it, but the truth is I just didn't make it a priority.

5. Organize: Get caught up on work notes 
You see, the crazy thing about goals is that when you set them you have to actively work towards them. I seem to have set this goals and just hoped it would achieve itself. Shockingly, that doesn't work. Seriously though this is a goal I thought about a lot and just kept putting off. I need to get better about setting a daily goal in order to actually achieve the overall goal.

1. Be intentional with my husband: Turn the TV off during dinner at least 2x/week

I'm going to keep up with the January goal of putting my phone down during meal time, but I'm going to add turning the TV off. The husband and I have gotten into a bad habit of watching TV while we eat. I've said that when we get in a house we'll start eating at the table, but why wait to start then. 

2. Take care of myself: Bar Method!

For my birthday I got a gift card to my beloved Bar Method. I may or may not have cried when I opened it up. This month I'm getting back into an exercise routine and kicking it with a month of Bar Method. Words can't even describe. I'm so excited.  

3. Go on Adventures: Enjoy Valentine's Day Adventure

We have awesome Valentine's Day plans and I can't wait. We are going back to where we had our rehearsal dinner and having a special Valentine's Dinner. The goal is to go have fun and just enjoy our first married Valentine's Day. I'm feeling pretty confident about this goal :)

4. Time with God & Love my Husband: Read through Wife After God 

Let's try this again. After reading all the blogger reviews about this book I'm even more excited through this devotional. In order to accomplish this goal my day isn't going to get started until I read the devotional each day.   

5. Organize: Get caught up on work notes

Going to give one another go too. In order to work toward this goal, I'm going to set a smaller daily goal and write at least 5 notes every work day. Bonus points if I write some notes on the weekend. 

Happy February!

January Goals

If you missed my goals for 2014 you can check them out here.

1. Love my husband: Date my husband
When James and I were dating I would plan surprises all the time. I would give him little gifts for no reason and take him out on surprise date nights just because. Now that we're married I've stopped doing a lot of those things. This month I want to get back into the mindset of continuing to date my husband. 

2. Be intentional with others: Put my phone away at dinner
This is almost embarrassing to admit, but I'm pretty bad about not ignoring my phone during dinner. I won't take calls, but if I get a text message or an email chances are pretty good I'll look. Dear self, it can wait! This is one of those goals that isn't just going to last one month. My phone will remain untouched during mealtime and everything can be dealt with after dinner. Family and friends: please hold off all emergencies until after dinner. K? Thanks.

3. Go on Adventures: Plan our adventure for the month
We're going to a wedding in Savannah this weekend. Rather than just going down and coming right back we're making a weekend out of it with friends. Self-admittedly I'm pretty snobby when it comes to Savannah {Charleston has my heart}, but I'm actually really excited to get away for the weekend for some fun.  

4. Time with God & Love my Husband: Read through Wife After God
Devotionals help give me direction in my daily quiet time. This is a book I've been wanting to dive into for a while, and this is the month I do it! I'm looking forward to seeing what God reveals to me about my marriage through this book.

5. Organize: Get caught up on work notes
I'm so behind on my notes for work. I'm constantly thinking about it and have had a few sleepless nights worrying about everything I need to do. This month I stop worrying about what I have to do and actually do something about it.

Okay, I'm officially over all this "goal" talk until the end of the month!

Making Things Happen in 2014

I've told y'all before that I'm a huge fan of setting goals. Big, small, long-term, short-term doesn't matter I love them. 

Random fact: I'm not good at working out unless I have a goal of working toward something specific like a race, but that's a post for another day. 

The husband and I were at church yesterday when the pastor talked about how important it is to set goals and/or resolutions; "having a personal vision is a catalyst for wise decisions." I love that. If Andy Stanley agrees with me about goal setting I think I'll stick to it :)

For the past week or so I've been working through Lara Casey's 5 part series on goal setting for 2014. I'm not being dramatic when I say this stuff is game changing! I've learned so much about myself and so much about where I want to go. I've had to get honest with myself about somethings I didn't want to and open myself up to making some changes. 

I won't bore you will all of the details of all my steps. However, I will share some of the big things, not only to have somewhere to refer back to for myself, but also to maybe encourage y'all to create your own goals for 2014.  

My favorite step was creating a 2014 inspirational board on Pinterest. An excuse to spend hours on pinterest finding quotes and images I like? Sign me up! These are a few of my favorite images:

Now there are a bunch of steps from here, but you can just take me word for that. Let's just get to the good stuff:

1. Spend more time with God: This is pretty self-explanatory. More time with God daily, more time in prayer, and more time with God as a couple. I know, for me, life just works better when I make God a part of it.

2. Love and respect my husband: Truth: over the past 6 months I haven't always been a great wife. I've been selfish, stubborn, and even mean. There are many ways I can work on being a more loving and respectful wife. and I want to challenge myself to really work on this.

3. Take care of myself: Emotionally, physically, and spiritually. This looks like a good year to start working on being less negative and more positive. 

4. Be intentional with others: I want to work on being present when I'm with people I love.

5. Organize my life: I feel better when things are organized. I have organizational work to do in lots of areas.

I know I know these aren't SMART goals. They may be Attainable and Relevant, but they are also super broad and they aren't measured. The monthly goals I make will relate back to these larger goals and will be Specific, Measurable, and Time-bound. I've already got some ideas in mind for monthly goals and I can't wait to get started!

James and I also created 2014 marriage goals. We have some big goals for 2014 and hopefully our smaller monthly goals will help us get there. 

And finally, my word(s) for year:

I didn't realize how much I let fear dictate how I live until recently. So often I don't do things or don't put myself out there because I'm afraid. Afraid of failing, afraid of making a mistakes, and afraid of judgement. What do I get with allowing fear to control me? Absolutely nothing but regret!

 In the spirit of transparency: I also struggle with trusting God. I like control {just ask the husband :}. Problem with that? I want God to live my life for God and in order to do that one of us needs to give up control {hint: that would be me!}. 

This year I want to constantly remind myself to trust God without fear.

Whew! That was a lot of words. If you're still reading along major props to you! 

Here's to making things happen in 2014!

December Goals Revisited

I posted some goals earlier this month and just wanted to revisit what we accomplished. December was so good to us. Not only was it so special to celebrate our first married Christmas together, but it was also really good family time. A lot of the month was spent traveling between North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, and it was completely worth it to spend time with both our families. I'm sure things will change in the years to come and new traditions will be made, but I'd say our first married Christmas was a huge success. 

I'm currently working through Lara Casey's 2014 Goal Setting. I'm excited to see where that will take me. I'm sure there will be post on it soon.

1. Address, stamp, and send our first Christmas cards

 We did it! I made the cards myself using picmonkey and zazzle. Being the perfectionist that I am, there were some things I would have changed, but overall they turned out really well. I'm already thinking of ideas for next years Christmas card!

2. Decorate our apartment for our first married Christmas

 Done! I wasn't sure what it would be like decorating an apartment, but it was so much fun. After a few initial disagreements about whose way was the "right" way {in other words: I'm stubborn and don't like change} we got everything worked out. I've loved coming home every night to Christmas tree smells and decorations everywhere. I'm so not looking forward to taking everything down :( Nothing wrong with having Christmas decorations up all year long. Right?

3. Set our marriage goals for 2013: yup, setting a goal to set goals

 This deserves half a cross out. We're planning on sitting down and writing these either tomorrow or on our 5 hour drive home on Wednesday. Either way these will be made, and I will be sharing.

4. Go look at Christmas lights while listening to Christmas music and drinking hot chocolate

We did this a few times. Nothing makes my heart happy like Christmas lights especially obnoxious ones. If we're getting really specific, we ended up drinking apple cider instead of hot chocolate, but it still counts.

5.  Remember what this season is really about and read through She Reads Truth's Emmanuel

Unfortunately, I didn't keep up with this like I hoped I would. I'm not even going to attempt any lame excuses because the truth is I just dropped the ball completely. Doing better with keep up with devotional is definitely a goal for the 2014 both personally and as a couple.

Wishing you all a very very happy New Year! 

December Goals

In September I made a Fall to-do list. You can check out how we did with it here.
For December I decided to make goals. I like goals; I always have. I think it has something to do with being an athlete and making a list of goals every season. Goals just sit better with me than resolutions, and I think it's more fun to achieve goals that to just cross things off a to-do list {although I do love a good to-do list}.

1. Address, stamp, and send our first Christmas cards

2. Decorate our apartment for our first married Christmas

3. Set our marriage goals for 2013: yup, setting a goal to set goals :)

4. Go look at Christmas lights while listening to Christmas music and drinking hot chocolate

5.  Remember what this season is really about: read through She Reads Truth's Emmanuel

Are you a to-do list maker or a goal setter? Do you make a list of goals or to-do lists each month?

Here's to the greatest month of the year!