Three months ago, I made some goals for the year, and I divided them into quarters by season. It seems to be a pretty good system, because I actually stuck with nearly all the goals! Not to mention, it was very relieving to know that there were things I didn’t have to worry about because they weren’t on the docket as a goal until the fall or spring.
I thought it would be good to check in on the goals I had for the summer (today), and to share the goals I have for the next three months (tomorrow). So, without further adieu:
summer goals {june, july, august}
1. have fun! (especially with Jesse). I think we did a pretty good job having fun this summer, especially since we never left southern California. We went on vacation to Palm Springs, to Newport Beach with my family, and to Sea World with my mom, aunt, and sweet cousins. We had a Bavarian Birthday Bash for Jesse’s 25th, saw Transformers and went to Hooley’s after, went swimming at the Sipan home, and spent a day at the Del Mar Fair. We went to the OB Street Fair and Hodad’s, to Little Italy Farmer’s Market, and visited a garage sale. We walked a lot - at Lake Murray, Balboa Park, and in our neighborhood. I tried out a couple ballet classes, and Jesse got to work a bit on his Mustang. We went to a concert in the park in El Cajon, went camping with our Bible study group, and got to connect with out of town friends who came to visit us. Considering that we both worked full-time and only took a week of vacation, I think that’s pretty good!
2. do Perspectives study. We still have about four weeks left, but this goal is well on its way to completion. For awhile I got behind on the reading, I’m ashamed to admit, but I’m back on track and have plans to go back and do all the reading I missed.
3. get Faith Passed Down blog developed and running. This is a goal I haven’t really worked on at all. I posted yesterday for the first time all summer, and I’m hoping fall will be a little more friendly to this endeavor.
4. declutter our house, especially the office. There’s still more to be done, but we did get rid of a lot of stuff (actually, most of it is still in a corner of the office, but it’s designated to be “gone” someday). It’s kind of hard at this point because there are things we’ll get rid of if/when we move back to an apartment, but in the meantime, it seems kind of silly to get rid of them when we have the space for them!
5. photos: scan, wedding photos, scrapbook, photo books we posted our wedding photos on facebook, I worked on our wedding scrapbook, and I made a collage of some photos for free from Walgreens that’s hanging in our living room now. Not too much other progress in this department.
6. health and fitness Lots of progress here, although you wouldn’t know it based on the cookies I ate for lunch today! I feel like I’ve gone a long way with curbing my sweet tooth. I’ve been walking a lot – the past two weeks, I’ve walked at least 30 minutes every day, most of the time at 6:30 am. I have been doing a lot of reading and recipe compiling as well… still don’t think we quite have a “rhythm” for our healthy eating, but we made a lot of progress this summer.
7. financial planning and budget Lots of progress here, too. We changed our life insurance to one that is cheaper and covers Jesse while he’s flying, and met with our great financial planner several times. We went a little spend-crazy this past month, so I think we might try out cash envelopes for awhile to get back on track. Another area I’ve been researching/exploring is spending our money on the right things – fair trade and all that.
8. goal with Jesse. This is going to sound cryptic, but Jesse and I have an issue that we’ve been facing throughout our marriage – no problems between us or anything, just something we had to deal with together. It has been a source of stress and lots of prayer, and I’m happy to report that it is 100% all taken care of! I wish I could share more, but it’s something we’re going to keep private, but it is such a relief. If I wouldn’t have accomplished any of the other goals here, but would have done this one, it would have been enough! But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. {Romans 8:25} We are thankful that our time of “patient waiting” for this to be resolved is finally over!
9. hospitality I sorted through some thoughts on hospitality and entertaining, resolved to stop reading party planning blogs because they make me too crazy and stressed, and had people over several times. We got some entertaining “stuff” – glass water dispensers, made-from-recyclables partyware, and cream and sugar holders. We also got to do some overnight hospitality when our Polish friend Mateusz stayed here for a few different weeks. This goal is officially done, I think. We’ve both worked hard to get comfortable with hospitality and entertaining, and while I can’t say we’re perfect at it, I think we’re done putting lots of effort into it for awhile, and can just enjoy having people over!
10. appearance I had a few random goals in this category… trying out different hairstyles, etc. but mostly resolved they weren’t very significant. Some things I did do: stayed out of the sun without having to use sunscreen for most of the summer, started the oil cleansing method (like it so far!), and ordered some new clothes (fair trade, of course!)
11. connecting I had a few goals in this area, like getting a birthday/holiday list put together of friends and family, that I didn’t do. However, we did get a chance to connect with friends like the Petersons, Brubakers, Risches, and LeAnna, and we also got to connect in sweet ways with both of our immediate families, and with my aunt and cousins.
Tomorrow I’ll share my goals for fall!
