Monthly Goals

I love the idea of setting goals each month, but I've never been super great at actually achieving them. I'm going to try and take it a little easy on myself this year, and only set three goals each month. One will be a blog goal and two will be goals that relate to one of my 2016 resolutions. I'm cautiously optimistic that tying my monthly goals to my resolutions will make me more inclined to work on them. And hopefully by the end of this year I won't be writing a post and how (once again) I sucked at keeping my new year's resolutions. 

January Goals

1. Try out at least three new recipes. 

(One using the veggie spiralizer I got for Christmas.)

2. Completely organize and de-clutter at least one 

of the following rooms: office, laundry room, 

rec room, master bedroom, spare bedroom. 

3. Blog at least 10 times. 

Pretty straightforward and hopefully pretty achievable. I'd like to get more than one room cleaned and organized but at the same time I want to be thorough so I think I'll aim for one a month to start, I'd also like to blog at least three times a week, but I also don't want to be posting just to post. Plus, I think I'll be more motivated next month if I achieve all my goals this month. I'll try to gradually make them a little more work, but this is as tough as it's going to get for now.

Wish me luck!

xo,

Sara

Hello 2016! (My Resolutions)

While I was getting ready to write this entry, I decided to look back and see if I had blogged about my new year's resolutions last year. I did. And they were great. No, really. Completely in line with what I had planned for this year, but written much better. Yay last-year me! ;-)

But at the same time, it's not really a "yay" moment. Because if those were my resolutions last year, why are they my resolutions again this year? Apparently it's because I suck at keeping my new year's resolutions.

I thought about calling them something different. About doing a whole post on the difference between resolutions and goals. And then making goals instead of resolutions because maybe resolutions are just too much pressure. But that's a little ridiculous.

So, here are my resolutions for 2015. I mean 2016!

1) Be healthier

• I want to eat better. I need to cook more meals at home, and I need to try to use healthier ingredients.
• I want to drink more water. And not just drink more water, but less diet coke (sob) and less energy drinks. 
• I want to move more. One ringette game a week does not do it. When the time comes I want to be able to chase my kids and play games with them without feeling like I'm going to pass out. 

2) Be organized

• I want to do planning. I want to have meal plans and I want to have a plan for this space. At work I am a super planner, everything figured out down to the last detail, but at home I'm pretty much completely disorganized.
• I want to keep my house clean & organized. If company were to show up unexpectedly I would be mortified. We're not dirty people or anything, but things are cluttered and things rarely go back where they belong when we're done with them. (True confession time, we basically live out of laundry baskets instead of putting our clean clothes in our drawers. So bad.)

3) Be disconnected

• I want to step away from my phone more. I want to step away from the TV more. I want to step away from social media more. (That last one might seem odd considering I'm also wanting to blog more, but I waste so much time being unproductive when I'm online. I could spend half the amount of time and still get posts done and leave comments.) 
• I want to read more, and I want to "wife" more. I want to spend quality time with my husband. I want to play games, I want to chat, I want to go for walks.

I guess my 2016 resolutions aren't exactly the same as my 2015 resolutions, but they're definitely close. Here's hoping I do a better job with them this year!

Do you make resolutions? Do you stick to them or do you find yourself making the same ones every year? (Or is that just me?)

Happy New Year!

xo,

Sara

2015 Reading Challenge

 

I absolutely love to read. I've been a reader as long as I can remember. When I was in elementary school I loved my mom's old Nancy Drew books and the Baby-Sitter's Club. In junior high and high school I read pretty much whatever I could get my hands on. When I was in university I didn't read as much as I would have liked, but over the past couple years I've turned back into an avid reader.

 

Lately I've been stuck in a bit of a rut when it comes to reading. There's so much fantastic YA dystopian fiction that I want to read every series I hear about. I feel like I need to branch out though, I can't keep reading the same type of book over and over again. A couple of my staff mentioned the 2015 Reading Challenge that PopSugar posted. Since they both decided to give it a try I figured I would too.

 

There's one category for each week of the year, but I'm not going to do them in order. I'm a little behind since it's January 15th and I haven't finished a book yet this year, but I think I can catch up.

 

Here are the categories in case you're interested:

 

1. a book with more than 500 pages
2. a romance
3. a book that became a movie
4. a book published this year
5. a book with a number in the title
6. a book written by someone under 30
7. a book with nonhuman characters
8. a funny book
9. a book by a female author
10. a mystery or thriller
11. a book with a one-word title
12. a book of short stories
13. a book set in a different country
14. a nonfiction book
15. a popular author's first book
16. a book from your favorite author that you haven't read yet
17. a book a friend recommended
18. a Pulitzer-prize winning book
19. a book based on a true story
20. a book at the bottom of your to read list
21. a book your mom or dad loves
22. a book that scares you
23. a book more than 100 years old
24. a book based entirely on its cover
25. a book you were supposed to read in school but didn't
26. a memoir
27. a book you can finish in a day
28. a book with antonyms in the title
29. a book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit
30. a book that came out the year you were born
31. a book with bad reviews
32. a trilogy (the first)
33. a trilogy (the second)
34. a trilogy (the third)
35. a book from your childhood
36. a book with a love triangle
37. a book set in the future
38. a book set in high school
39. a book with a color in the title
40. a book that made/makes you cry
41. a book with magic
42. a graphic novel
43. a book by an author you've never read before
44. a book you own but have never read
45. a book that takes place in your hometown
46. a book that was originally written in another language
47. a book set during Christmas (or similar holiday)
48. a book written by an author with your same initials
49. a play
50. a banned book
51. a book based on OR turned into a tv show
52. a book you started but never finished    

 

I'm currently reading "Midnight Crossroad" by Charlaine Harris. I picked it up from the library because I enjoyed her Sookie Stackhouse series, but I'm struggling to get into it. I'm hoping that trying to get the next book checked off my reading challenge list will keep me motivated to get through it.

 

Are you doing any reading challenges? If you're not enjoying a book do you keep reading until the end, or do you start a different book?

More (My 2015 Resolutions)

This year I am going to keep all of my New Year's resolutions.

Okay, so maybe that's a tad bit unrealistic.

But I am going to share them here. And I am going to post updates periodically. And I am going to do my best to do as many of them as possible.

And, because I couldn't figure out how to organize them, here they are in alphabetical order.

Blog more.
Considering I haven't blogged in five months, I figure this one should be easy. We'll see though! I just need to remember that this is my space, and my blog isn't going to be the same as anyone else's.

Cook more.
We eat out way too often. And we eat way too many frozen pizzas and other prepared, packaged foods. This year I want to cook whole-some, healthy meals. (And some not so healthy meals too.) Instead of just spending all my time pinning delicious looking recipes on Pinterest I want to actually take them time to make some of those delicious looking recipes.

Do more.
I love reading, and I love snuggling with J and Daisy on the couch watching TV, but I don't want that to be all we do. I want to try new things and go new places. I want to learn to crochet and I want to go see concerts and I want to go for walks at the park.

Move more.
I need to get off my butt. I want to not be winded walking up a flight of stairs. I want to take Daisy for a run, not have to hold her back when she wants to go faster. I want to feel better in my clothes and in my skin.

Pray more.
I'm really great and praying to ask God for things, but I forget to say thank you and to praise Him even when things aren't going exactly the way I want them too. I need to start spending more time in the Word too.

Wife more.
Okay, so that's not really a thing. But I want to be a better wife to my husband. I want to do more things with him and for him. I want our time together to be quality time, and I want to do the things that he likes to do. I want to put down my phone and talk to him more often. And it's sad that I have to make that a resolution. But I do, and it's one of the most important resolutions on this list.

Happy New Year!

July Goals

I just realized I never got around to posting my July goals! I've had this post half-done sitting as a draft for almost two weeks. Ooops!

July Goals 2014

1. Take my lunch to work at least three times a week. I managed to handle twice a week last month, so we're going to try for three this month. This is something I really need to do for my waistline and my wallet.

2. Try out four new recipes. I love barbecue season because J does all the barbecuing which means I don't have to do as much of the cooking. It makes me a bit lazy though, and it's not really fair to him, so hopefully if I'm thinking about trying new recipes I'll be more inclined to cook more dinners myself.

3. Try out a new (non-chain) restaurant/or eat from a food truck. This is probably going to be one of my goals every month. I really want to experience more of what Halifax has to offer in this area.

4. Take Daisy to the park. It's been so hot and humid that we haven't wanted to take Daisy too far or for any really long walks but we should be taking advantage of the fact that it's cooler in the evenings and staying light well after 8pm.

Daisy loves going to the park!

5. Set a house hold budget. J and I have talked about doing this a number of times, but we never seem to sit down and actually do it. I really think we need to though. We make enough money to easily cover our bills but most months we're struggling to pay everything because we've spent so much money on random things.

6. Save some money. Self-explanatory. And one that will show up every month.

7. Blog at least four times a week. This is another one that I think you'll find on my list every month. I want to  make blogging a habit and I think this is the best way to do that. I think if I made my goal to blog every day I'd either get discouraged or post a lot of crap. (Not that I post a lot of deep stuff as it is, but quality is somewhat important to me.)

Since July is the 7th month I'm going to go with 7 goals for this month. :-)

Do you set monthly goals? Do you find it helpful or do you get discouraged when you don't complete all your goals?

June Goals; Recap

I think I actually did a little better with my goals this month!

1. Take my lunch to work at least twice a week. DONE! I actually managed to do two days a week of bagged lunches. Well, I didn't the week we were on vacation but we had three picnic lunches while we were off, so I'm going to count that too.

2. Try out at least two new recipes. NOT DONE. This wasn't a good month for cooking. I'm just going to leave it at that and try again in July.

3. Bake something. DONE! I baked two cakes this month. I baked a lemon cake with blueberry frosting and blueberry filling and I baked a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. Neither of them were from scratch, but it's a start.

4. Get some new pictures of J and I that aren't selfies. DONE! Done, but not as many pictures as I had hoped for. I took lots of pictures of other people, but didn't get them to take a lot of shots of us.  

5. Go on two dates with J.  DONE! I couldn't decide if this was done or not done to be honest. We went to two movies while we were on vacation, we also spent a couple days together just the two of us. Neither of those were exactly what I had in mind, but my goal was really to spend one-on-one quality time with J so I'm going to go ahead and say this one was done too.

6. Try out a new (non-chain!) restaurant. DONE! (Technically.) J and I tried out a new pub when we spent the day in Lunenburg when we were on vacation. It's not exactly what I meant when I made it one of my goals though, I wanted to try some where downtown. Halifax is becoming a bit of a foodie town, and there are tons of neat restaurants.

7. Take Daisy to the park at least four times. NOT DONE. We only took Daisy to the park twice this month, both times while we were on vacation. Hopefully the weather will be better in July, and hopefully work will slow down for both of us.

8. Watch at least one movie in the theatre and one at home. DONE. We actually saw two movies in the theatre. We saw Chef and X-Men and I really enjoyed both of them. They were both very good, but in very different ways. And we watched 21 Jump Street on Netflix. I didn't know if I would enjoy it or not, but I definitely laughed out loud a couple times. I think we might try to see 22 Jump Street before it's out of the theatre.

9. Save some money! NOT DONE. So very not done. Even staying home we spent a lot while we were on vacation. We didn't break the bank, but we definitely didn't set anything aside either.

10. Blog at least four times a week. NOT DONE. But super close. One week I only blogged three times, but every other week I blogged more than four. I didn't get any new bloglovin' followers either, and that was sort of a side goal. I know it's not all about followers but it would still be nice to see that number increase.

I'm still working on fine-tuning my goals for July, they'll probably be up on Wednesday.

Have a great week!

May Recap & June Goals

I'm a few days late posting my goals again this month, but I think it's because I did a horrible job completing last month's goals.

My May goals were:

1. Taking my lunch to work more. This didn't happen. I did get a couple Subway gift cards for my birthday that I used for lunches, so I didn't spend as much money on food at work this month, but that's not what my goal was.

2. Exercise more. This really didn't happen, I don't think I exercised at all this month!

3. Read one non-fiction book. This one actually happened! I finished reading Barbie & Ruth, the story of Ruth Handler, the creator of Barbie. And I enjoyed it. I was so into Barbie when I was little that it was neat to see where she came from.

I think I'm going to try and make my goals for June a little more specific. Hopefully that helps!

June Goals 2014

1. Take my lunch to work at least twice a week. Hopefully by setting a specific number of days I'll be more successful. I'll try twice a week this month and then three times a month in July.

2. Try out at least two new recipes. I want to start getting more confident in the kitchen, and I'd like to have a larger rotation of supper ideas. I get a little lazy in the summer too, pretty much every night it's like, "Hmmm, what can I get J to barbeque tonight?" and then I just buy a bag of salad to go with it.

3. Bake something. It's been months since I've done any baking! I actually enjoy baking, I just don't enjoy thr mess I make in the kitchen. J loves fresh baked cookies and muffins though so it would be nice to surprise him with a special treat.

4. Get some new pictures of J and I that aren't selfies. This one is totally cheating because I know this is going to happen. Our mother's day gift to J's mom was a family portrait session when his sister is home from Florida. We're using the photographer J and I always use (Tammy) so I know we'll get a couple shots of just J and I. Plus, at least one of our vacation days will be spent with J's sister and her boyfriend doing touristy things and I definitely plan on taking advantage of the fact that it's not just us out and about.

J's long arms are perfect for capturing selfies

5. Go on two dates with J. Even though we're married I think it's important that we still "date." We spend lots of time together, but most of it is spent in front of the TV. Hopefully this one will be easy since we're going on vacation soon.

6. Try out a new (non-chain!) restaurant. Halifax is full of neat little restaurants. Last Saturday night we tried out Brooklyn Warehouse and the entire meal we both kept saying how nice it was to be at a restaurant that wasn't Boston Pizza or Montana's. The food was amazing, and so was the atmosphere. (I really wish I had taken some pictures!) I want us to do that more often, either just the two of us or with friends.

7. Take Daisy to the park at least four times. I'm really hoping this will be an easy one since we're going to be on vacation for a week this month, but it depends on the weather too. Daisy loves adventures though, and with the long hours J has been working she's been being a bit neglected.

8. Watch at least one movie in the theatre and one at home. J loves movies, but I have a really short attention span so we tend not to watch too many. There are a few I want to see though so I'm going to try and take some time this month to do something he really enjoys doing.



A rare occurence, J & I at the movies

9. Save some money! I don't actually think this is going to happen this month with our upcoming vacation and J's birthday, but I want to at least be a little more conscious of my spending. Hopefully next month we can actually start trying to save.

10. Blog at least four times a week. I had to stick a blogging goal on the list! I want to make sure I don't abandon this blog like I've done with so many others. (I'm also hoping to hit 20 followers on Bloglovin this month so feel free to follow me!)

I think that's good! Hopefully June goes better than May did in terms of completing my goals. Do you set monthly goals? How did you do last month? What one thing do you really want to accomplish this month?

Setting Goals

I've been to a few blogs recently where they've picked and posted their goals for the month. I think that it's a great idea, and it's one that I've decided to copy. (The Life of Bon was definitely one of them, but I know I saw it somewhere else too.) I know we're already a week into May, but I think it's still reasonable to set some goals for the rest of the month.

Goals for May

1. Take my lunch to work more.  I very rarely take my lunch. I work in a grocery store plus there are several restaurants within walking distance. But eating out gets expensive, and it's harder to control what you're eating when you don't make it yourself. I'd like to take my lunch a minimum of 3 times a week this month.

2. Exercise more. I've been doing better with what I'm eating. More fruits & veg and less fast food, now I just need to start moving more. My goal is a minimum of 2 half hour sessions on the treadmill weekly. (I know that doesn't seem like much, but I'm hoping to increase it gradually.)

3. Read one non-fiction book. I read the same type of book over and over. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, but I don't want to get caught in a rut. Plus, I'm doing a summer book challenge and one of the categories is biography, autobiography or memoir. This way I can get that one crossed off.

I think three is a good number to start with. :-)

Do you set monthly goals? Do you find you stick to them?

Have a great day!