Happy Monday! I had a busy, but fun-filled week last week. How was yours?
My family was in town visiting, so I spent lots of time with them. It was a nice week for sure and I’m thankful they live close enough where visits like that are possible.
It’s time for my monthly goal check-in for the month of July. I didn’t end up posting my goals around the house like I had mentioned last month, but I think I did a little better this month nonetheless. For next year, I think I’m going to go about my goals differently. I thinking about create new goals for each specific month, so I can be more specific to what is going on in that particular month. I still have a while to figure that out, but I’m already thinking of ways to do it differently so that I’m being more intentional. Or maybe I still have yearly goals, but then break them down more specifically into monthly ones too? Anyway, here’s how July went.
Marriage
1. 1 date night each month {can be at home dates but must be 1 date out each quarter}
2. Enjoy 1 weekend away or attend 1 marriage conference
3. Read 1-2 marriage books
Mothering
4. 1 play date and/or date night with Savannah each month
5. Attend dotMom or some other motherhood conference
Personal
6. Read 9 books this year {ongoing}
7. Work to get 7 hours of sleep each night {ongoing}
8. Finish my year-long devotional book {ongoing}
Blogging
9. Plan blog posts 2 weeks out
10. Submit 4 guest posts to blogs I enjoy {ongoing – submitted one and it was published on Friday}
11. Read 1-2 books on blogging {completed 1 book}
Financial
12. Fully-fund our emergency fund {ongoing}
13. Save up to purchase some extra insurance this summer {ongoing}
14. Buy a new computer {working on #12 and #13 first and then we’ll move on to this one}
– Kev and I enjoyed a nice anniversary date night last month. We were blessed with a gift card for a restaurant and then we went to a local dessert cafe for dessert afterwards. It was a great night and we are thankful for sweet friends who will watch our kids free of charge!
– While I didn’t finish any marriage books this month, I was excited to start reading Sheet Music yesterday.
– We didn’t have a formal play date with anyone this past month, but I’m marking it off anyway. We got together with some families this month and our kids got to play together, so I’m going to count it.
– I’ve been going to bed a little later than I’d like, but I’ve still been able to manage to get 7 hours of sleep on most nights. It’s been helpful having Kev here this summer and he’s so gracious to let me sleep in a little later when he knows I have stayed up later blogging.
– At the end of June, I submitted my first official guest post to a blog I follow and it was posted on Friday of this past week! I’m still trying to find the time to sit down and write 2 other posts that I have brewing in my head. Even if they don’t get posted, I’m just excited to practice submitting!
Challenges
– It’s looking like #5 might not happen this year, unless I can find a local motherhood conference before the new baby comes. I still really want to go to dotMom, but I’m not sure it’s great I travel to Nashville a few weeks before my due date.
– This month, I’ve been reading some books and am hoping to get caught up a bit. I went ahead and adjusted my goal to read 9 books {rather than 12} this year and I’m going to try and meet it. I’m still working through The Relationship Principles of Jesus and just started Sheet Music. I’ll pick back up on Life Interrupted once Bible study is over and plan to re-visit 1000 Gifts soon. I really don’t like having my nose in so many books at one time, but it’s just the way it’s worked out and that’s okay.
– Since I’ve got my nose in some other Christian books, it’s been hard to keep up with my year-long devotional book. I’ll do the best I can, but the main thing is just getting into the word.
– We are getting really close to our first emergency fund goal, but it’s taken a lot longer than we anticipated. Kev decided not to work summer school because he was hoping to get his training in for the National Guard, but he told last week that it won’t be happening this summer due to lack of funding. He’s been trying to pick up some extra hours with his part-time job this last month, which should help. We’ll get there eventually!
