Hello September! I'm happy to see you but its still bittersweet because I love summer so darn much. (Fall wouldn't be so bad if it didn't foreshadow the impending coldness of winter.) Anyways, beginning today, I want to start a trend where I share with you my goals for the month . And also give you an update on how I did with my goals from the previous month. I'm not a naturally organized person. So keeping myself accountable this way helps a lot. Speaking of organized, one of my friends bought me an Emily Ley Simplified Planner...(its an academic version so it runs August 2015-July 2016) With this planner, I've been able to merge my life all in one place: work, preschool, sports, dinner planning! It's a game changer!
photo courtesy of emilyley.com
At the beginning of August, I wrote down five goals for myself in the planner:
1. Write Notes. I am trying to get back in the habit of expressing my gratitude and love for people. Not through an email. Not through text. But through a handwritten note. I can think of a few people in my life (Sadie and Sarah T) who are really good at this. I want to get better. I pray about these loved ones. I call them up. But I want to write them love notes. My goal is one note- once a week. That's not too lofty. How did I do this month? I wrote three. That's three more notes to loved ones that otherwise, wouldn't have received anything. But still room to improve :)
2. Catch up on the blog. Yes! I did! I can't tell you what a difference it has been to go to bed earlier and wake up earlier. I do my morning devotion, have my coffee and work on either my personal, or work blog (I manage www.carlvargasteamblog.com as well) Or I work on www.leighandkayphotography.com stuff. The morning time is my time. My creative outlet. Catching up on the blog and getting to invest in it a few times a week has been a very healthy thing for me.
3. Back to School Shop. Yep! We did this too. Thankfully Briggs can wear 95% of the clothes he wore last year. He is about the same weight, just taller. So we just needed a few pairs of pants for school. However, Kerigan didn't have too much. So we found some great deals for her on pants + shoes (mostly Old Navy). Also, here's a tip for mom's with toddler girls: Don't pack away baby dresses! I still have her wearing 3-6+ month dresses, then we put a pair of leggings on her...and its a whole new outfit. She's been living in baby dresses at preschool :)
4. Walk/Run 3 x week. I love to run. I'm not great. But I enjoy the quiet, the time outside and the feeling of accomplishment after. But I'm really bad at carving out time to do this. I didn't have a consistent routine this month for walking or running. But I did fit it in when I could. I need to get better though. Any tips for moms with littles? Do you do it after they go to bed at night?
5. Continue morning devotions. Yes! And then some. I mentioned last Friday how I've caught the morning devotional bug. In addition to Savor I've been following along with #shereadstruth and their study on the book of Daniel. Its truly changing my life. Someone in the community mentioned "The book of Daniel is not really about Daniel at all." That had a profound impact on me. Just replace Daniel with Krista. "The book of Krista is not really about Krista at all." Isn't that kind of a relief? Its not about us? Everything points to the Cross. So thankful for my time and study with the Lord this month.
photo courtesy of our friend, Kendra :)
So for September, this is what I'm striving to accomplish:
1. Stay sane. In July, our finished basement flooded. So after waiting on insurance, we are finally getting everything back together this month. We will have contractors in and out a lot. On top of that, we're finally having our kitchen cabinets painted! (my dream is a white kitchen) So during that time, we will probably have to be out of the house. When you have two littles, anything out of the routine can be stressful. So pray for my sanity! (I'll be sure to post before and after pics of our home's makeovers this month)
2. Play outside. After a long work day, I'm always wanting to keep the kids inside in order to prepare dinner and get them to wind down for the evening. But its September! Our last month of guaranteed warmish weather. I want to keep the kids outside as long as possible this month.
3. Meal Plan & Shop. I'm getting better of having an idea of our meals for the week (thanks to the Emily Ley planner). But I need to get better about getting all ingredients at the beginning of the week. I don't want to stress every afternoon about what's for dinner. So here's to a more organized month of dinner planning.
4. Time with Ryan. Isn't it so easy to slip into mom and dad role and stay there? My husband deserves way more from me than what I often give him. I'm so in love with him and I want to invest time in us this month.
5. Celebrate thirty. I turn thirty this month. I'm not mourning about a new decade at all. I feel blessed to have been able to experience a fantastic and colorful thirty years. Sometimes my soul feels like I should actually be way older than thirty. And then there's times where I feel like I should still be 22-right out of college. I'll admit, the milestone birthday of 25 was a tough number for me. There were a lot of growing pains those years...thank the Lord for His greater plans. But 30, I'm ready. (I actually like who I am way better at 30ish than the 25 year-old version of myself) I'm looking forward to celebrating with my loves this month.
Here's to September, the beginning of so much new :)
Hey! I've been working on fitting running/working out in since around January. I have a couple things that work for me BUT I will say, sometimes it's just a huge battle to squeeze it in. Sometimes it feels like universe is plotting against me to be able to just get a 30 minute run in! :) BUT here's what works for me. I stay home, so I can go during the day and drop my kids at the Y childcare and run inside or outside on a trail that is close by. BUT my kids don't love childcare there and in the fall/winter/spring it's filled with illnesses, also but the time we get there, it usually ends up being our only plans for the day which limits us from meeting up with friends! So although it's a guaranteed workout, it's not always my favorite choice. I usually end up there one-two times a week though. My neighbor and I also very recently started meeting up for a quick run before she goes into work-- so 5:30-6 AM. It's early, but it's done for the day and then I have a good 30 mins- an hour before my kids get up to drink coffee, read the bible, read blogs etc. I hope to do this more through the fall and early winter. Another option is running with my kids. I have a double BOB jogger that I use maybe once a month when I know it's the only way I'm going to run. Like on the weekends when hubby is busy but I want to work out. My very LAST choice in these summer months is running after hubby gets home from work. I really really don't like that and only did it when I was training for a half marathon and knew that would be the only way possible to fit in all my runs for the week. But I'm always so tired by that time and I also just want to sit down with my family and eat dinner and then hang with them the rest of the night so it's a big stretch to fit it in there. ANYWAY all this to say--- it's HARD to fit it in if you don't do it early morning BUT it's obviously so worth it. I always feel stronger and more at peace for the day! Sorry this was so long! Good luck mama! You already seem so great at balancing so many things, just keep working at what works best for you to fit in! :)
ReplyDeleteEmily, THANK YOU! This is so helpful. I think it is going to come down to morning runs. I was working out in the mornings in the early spring. I loved waking up before the rest of the world, but the getting ready took forever. I think I'm going to try it back up again. I honestly think I can make it work :)
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