2019 GOALS

2018, just wasn't my blogging year and that is okay, but I'm back and hoping that 2019 will be a good year of blogging (among many other things)!

I used to blog my yearly/monthly goals, but decided not to do so last year. I missed it and the feeling accountability that blogging my goals brought, so I am hoping to do that again this year. 

Matthew and I made some family goals as well as personal goals at the beginning of December and I am excited for a new year and to start working towards those goals! I'll share my 2019 goals below.

1. Organize and print pictures. What I really want to do it organize our pictures first, then create yearly photo books. I created one for 2016, our first year of marriage, but then totally forgot after that.

Action steps: Schedule some time to organize photos on Google Drive.

2. Read the Bible from start to finish. I have never tried this, but I am excited for this goal. Our church is actually doing this and there is a workbook to go along with the study, so I am thrilled to be doing this with others.

Action steps: Set a reminder on my Bible app on my phone so that I do not miss a daily reading. 

3. Read 12 books this year. I am hoping to break it down to one book a month. I miss reading! I am going to use the Hoopla app to listen to some books and actually read some.

Action steps: Plan ahead and find 12 books (or more) that I am interested in. 

4. Punctuality. One of our family goals is to work on punctuality this year. I am also making it a personal goal because I want to really work on this and discipline myself. I want to be on time (or early) to events/places and be prepared. If I am running late then I am usually frazzled and frustrated. 

Action steps: Set alarms on my phone, schedule and prepare ahead of time so I am not throwing things in the car at the last minute when I should have left 10 minutes earlier. 

5. Meal prep and meal plan. I feel like this is one goal I can always improve in and with each season of life I know meal prepping and planning will change. My best friend shared a new way to meal plan with me a couple of months ago and I loved it. I am almost finished with it and I am excited to share with you all soon.

Action steps: Finish up and finalize new meal planner I am creating.

6. Healthier lifestyle. Can you really have yearly goals without a fitness/healthy lifestyle goal? ;) One of family goals is to be more disciplined in 2019. Disciplined in a lot of things (faith, finances, food, fitness, etc.) We don't want to join a gym or run 12 races this year, but we want to eat out less, eat healthier and live a more active lifestyle. 

Action steps: Do something active for at least 30 minutes a day (walk/run on the treadmill, take Reagan on a walk, etc.) 

Here is to a happy and healthy 2019! 

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2019 GOALS

AUGUST | GOALS

It's that time again, time for monthly goals! I was kinda sad to see July go to be honest, the end of our "wedding month" as I like to call it, and the end of summer schedules for almost everyone since school starts back around the beginning of August. Although I am getting a little more excited each day for fall...which is weird for me, since I would love for it to be summer 95% of the year lol. I think it's because I know that we will still have warm weather until late September/early October.

Here are my July goals:

1. Celebrate 365 days of sweet, sweet marriage with my handsome HUSBAND!

You can read all about how we celebrated 1 year of marriage in Cookeville/at home here!

2. Have 1 year anniversary pictures made. 

We did! I have only shared two on here, but the rest are coming tomorrow!

3. Do a 6 months update on being in our home.

Definitely didn't do this one, but working on it still!

4. Get a treadmill workout nailed down!

We are enjoying our treadmill and loving the fact that we don't have to run/walk in the heat and humidity!

5. Try 3 new recipes & share.

We tried three new ones, but I only shared one so far! No-Churn Vanilla Ice Cream.

6. Create a Christmas binder.

DONE! So glad I made one and I plan on sharing it soon! You can never be too prepared lol.

7. DO VIDEO TOUR.

Nope. Too busy and then we started more painting this past weekend. Maybe this month??

1. Do video tour

I still definitely want to do this one so we can look back on it one day and see all the changes. Pictures are great but and actual video would be fun to do!

2. Do a 6 month update on being in our home.

I still want to do this one too!

3. Go through our guest bedroom closets and pull out all of the totes and decorations and organize it all. 

We moved in our home back in January so we just put all holiday decorations in guest bedroom closets. Well next month I'll be decorating for fall and then Christmas will follow shortly after that so I need to go through and organize all of that so it's not a big mess when it does come time to decorate!

4. Finish painting the whole downstairs of our home.

We are getting somewhat close to this and I would LOVE to finish the downstairs this month! So far we have the first coat on the kitchen, dining room, and the study, which I love, but we need to get the second coat on those and do the hallway, powder room, entryway, and living room!

5. Start Christmas shopping.

Not for everyone, but if I see a good deal on something I want to grab it!

6. Go to the pool a few more times this month!

I have used our neighborhood pool a good bit this summer, and LOVE it being less than two minutes from our house. I know they will more than likely close it after Labor Day Weekend so I need to take advantage of it this month!

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AUGUST | GOALS

JULY | GOALS

I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that this year is half way over. I know everyone always says this, but how is it already July?!

I am holding on to every single second of summer that I can! 

Picture from our honeymoon. I can't wait until we are back on the beach...4 more months!

Here are my June goals...

1. Continue painting. Nope. Didn't even attempt this one again. My uncle is going to paint the rest of the house for us and I'm not even upset about this one!

2. Try 3 new meals.

Loaded Baked Potato Dip

Creamy Ranch Chicken

Taco Bake - This one was 110% husband approved! I actually made this two weeks in a row lol.

Cheddar Bacon Ranch Pinwheels

3. Keep nails manicured. I did somewhat better on this one this month. In fact, I just painted them again last night!

4. Take advantage of our neighborhood pool!  I am checking this one off too. I've been down there a few times and we have gone night swimming with our best friends, Ethan and Rachel, quite a bit this summer!

5. Video Tour. I am hoping to do that this month lol.

6. Get ready for my girls trip and nail down all the details. We had the best trip! You can read all about Day 1 & 2!

1. Celebrate 365 days of sweet, sweet marriage with my handsome HUSBAND!

I can't even believe we are fixing to celebrate 1 whole year of marriage. 

2. Have 1 year anniversary pictures made. 

I am so excited about this! I bought my dress last night and can't wait to have these made.

3. Do a 6 months update on being in our home.

Crazy to think we've been in our house almost 6 months. We love our home and our neighborhood! We have changed a lot of things around our house and there is still a lot to do but we are taking it one day at a time.

4. Get a treadmill workout nailed down!

Matthew has been waking up and walking on the treadmill every morning this week so I might start walking on it as soon as I get home in the evenings.

5. Try 3 new recipes & share.

6. Create a Christmas binder.

I can kinda go on and mark this one off lol since I've been working on it for the past week or so, but I still have some printables I need to make/print off for my binder. I am determined to stay organized and ahead of Christmas this year, so I can really enjoy every minute of it and not be stressed out. I would say I did pretty good last year on this considering that our Christmas cards delivered before Halloween, ha! So I am hoping to keep it up again this year!

7. DO VIDEO TOUR.

Maybe one day this month I'll get to it lol.

8. Meet our new neighbors.

A family just moved across the street from us about 2 weeks ago and we need to get over there and meet them. I can't believe we haven't done that yet. Before we even closed on our house our sweet neighbors came over and introduced themselves and brought us cookies. It was a small gesture but made sure a huge impact on us, and reassured us about the neighborhood we were moving in to (not that we really needed it lol).

9. Go through drawers/closet and get rid of things we don't wear anymore.

We are taking off on Monday and Tuesday for our anniversary. At first we had planned on going on a small weekend trip somewhere, but then we realized we haven't had a full weekend at home with zero plans in over a month so we decided to just stay home. Staycation it is! We plan on doing things in our city (I do believe a couples massage is being scheduled!) and getting a lot of things done around the house. I am so excited I could cry. 

10. Have my sisters over to spend the night.

My sister Mady has spent the night, but my two youngest sisters haven't and they are begging to, and I really want them to! I am hoping to plan a night at the end of this month for them to stay over before school starts back. So exciting!

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JULY | GOALS

MAY | GOALS

I still don't know how it's already May...or almost the middle of May. Beyond crazy to me!

Here are my April goals:

1.) Work on my office. Didn't even touch it! So a big fat no on this one. 

2.) Host our group of friends from Cookeville for the weekend. We did and we had the best time with everyone! You can read all about that weekend here. I love having our friends over and can't wait for our next dinner party!

3.) Yard Sale prep. Nope. We are hoping to get to that this Saturday morning!

4.) Become more active. I'm marking this one off halfway, because we have been attempting to become more active, I'm hoping this month we can get in a routine of walking every night after dinner! Our Fitbits have motivated us to walk more throughout the day to get our steps in lol.

5.) Find healthier meals to incorporate into our meal roundup. I wouldn't say that we have been eating really unhealthy, but we've been watching our portions and trying to eat more grilled meats! I've been taking salads for lunch and eating a lot of fruit.

6.) Keep my nails manicured. I didn't do too hot on this one either. We've been so busy I haven't really had time to sit down long enough to paint my nails and let them dry. 

I was able to cross off 3 out of 6 on my April goals. Not terrible, but I'm hoping to cross more off in May!

1. Work on my office. I am determined this will happen this month!! It will also help with goal #2! At least get it cleaned out and organized. Decorating it and getting to how I have

2. Yard sale prep. After we moved in we just kind put the rest of our totes in the 3rd guest bedroom which will serve as my office. I need to clean my office and make a pile of things we don't need anymore! I also need to go through other rooms and purge!

3. Create a 'House to-do list'. Matthew and I have an idea of what all we want done to the house and have talked about it multiple times, but we want to write it all down and then start getting estimates so we can know what to save for, and see what we can do ourselves. I'm really excited about this!

4. Video Tour. I really want to record a video tour of our house. Just as it is right now. I wish I would have done this before we moved in, but things moved so quickly! I want to always remember what it looked like before we start doing some changes and upgrades. I'm a sucker for before and after pictures so having a video will be even better. 

5. Landscaping. We have decided on holding off on planting much this year, but I want to tear out some bushes that we have. They are large and in charge....aaaand gotta go! I also want to find two planters to put on each side of our front door and plant something pretty in them. My dad just got us some peony bulbs and two small hostess plants to plant this year and I'm so excited about them. I've even had a dream about them the other night lol. 

6. Print pictures. This is goal will be one that will be done over time, but we at least want to get started on it. The only wedding pictures we have printed are the ones of us with our grandmothers, and we gave those to them as Christmas presents. So we want to get some wedding pictures printed, put in frames, and hung up! 

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MAY | GOALS

APRIL | GOALS

I really enjoy writing out my monthly goals each month and I love checking them off even more! I think I did pretty decent on my March goals. I accomplished a good bit and what I didn't get to I'm hoping to work on this month.

Here are my March goals:

1. Celebrate Matthew's birthday!!!! I think we can check this one off! We ended the week celebrating his birthday and on into the weekend. It was a great time with friends and family, and I just loved celebrating him! I posted all about his birthday celebrations here.

2. Get outside more. I'm going to mark this one off, too! We have gone on a few walks and have had some patio dinners. I foresee many patio dinners this summer :)

3. Do a deep spring cleaning. I really wanted to designate a whole day to deep cleaning and purging, but our schedules just didn't allow that in March, but I did deep clean and purge in spurts. March is smack dab in the middle of Matthew's busy season and with him working almost every Saturday morning that has given me plenty of time to get some deep cleaning in. It's crazy how much I enjoy a quiet Saturday morning getting to clean our house lol. 

4. Keep on meal planning & share how I do it. Yesss. I had been putting this off for too long, but I finally shared it and you can read all about that here!

6. Finish our coffee bar. Didn't even think about our coffee bar...oops!

7. Drink more water. A big fat YES on this one! I am so proud of not only myself, but my husband on this one too!!!!! I have replaced that can of coke at dinner for water each night and so has he. We both drink anywhere from 6-8 cups of water a day, and to be honest, that's probably a conservative number. This might be normal or average for others but for us this is new :)

8. Create a cleaning schedule, and stick to it! I created a cleaning schedule and I have been sticking to it pretty well! It has helped a lot and so far I am loving it. Hopefully I'll get around to sharing it soon.

1.) Work on my office.

One of our empty guest bedrooms is going to serve as my office. Our plans are to have a twin bed or day bed in there so we can still have an extra place for people to sleep if needed, but my desk and craft/calligraphy supplies will also be housed in there as well. I am go excited to decorate and organize that room! Right now it is holding the rest of our unpacked boxes, it's not that many, but it's definitely not organized like I want it to be. I have repinned a ton of ideas on Pinterest over the years and you can see all my ideas below.
Follow Shelby 's board GIRL CAVE on Pinterest.        

2.) Host our group of friends from Cookeville for the weekend.
That is THIS weekend and I am just so excited I can't stand it. If everyone is able to come we should have 7 friends coming and staying with us!! It will definitely be a full house, but we are thrilled!

3.) Yard Sale prep.
Our neighbor told us about the neighborhood yard sale that our neighborhood hosts every year and we are pumped to go through our stuff and sell anything we don't use or need anymore! I am also anxious to walk around and check out the yard sale myself! ;)

4.) Become more active.

We found a crazy good deal on Fitbits a little bit ago, and decided to finally join the Fitbit club, so I am hoping that will motivate us to become more active. Now that it's actually starting to warm up I'm hoping to get in a routine of walking and maybe we can find some tennis courts near our house to play on. Matthew loves tennis and played all through high school, I on the other hand am awful, so I think it would be fun to at least try to play together. If anything get some tennis lessons in from Matthew lol.

5.) Find healthier meals to incorporate into our meal roundup. 
Hoping grilling season will help out with this! Since we are trying to cut out as much sodium as possible we have been using Mrs. Dash's seasonings and I checked out their website the other day and they have a ton of recipes on there! I'm excited to comb through them and pick out a few good ones for us to try. I really want to clean up our diet. I came across this picture on Pinterest and I love it.

On their website they explain it even more. I love it!

6.) Keep my nails manicured.

This should have been a goal for 2016, but I didn't think about it when I was making those out. In an effort to keep from annoying my husband to no end I am trying very hard to break my habit of picking at my nails. Matthew hates the sound of me picking at my nails, and I hate the way they look. So I have been keeping them painted and that has really helped! For the most part I stopped picking at them back in February, and I have been taking care of them. It takes a little bit and I can't really do anything after I paint them until they are completely dry and that aggravates me, but I'm working on it! Now that it's spring I've been breaking out my spring nail polish and it makes me so excited for warmer weather! 

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APRIL | GOALS

MARCH | GOALS

February went by so quickly, even with the extra day, but I'm not complaining! Get me to warmer weather months!!!! You can see my February goals here.

March is always exciting month, warmer weather (usually), spring activities, aaaand it's Matthew's birthday month!!!!! I love birthdays and I love celebrating my man!

1. Unpack ALL boxes at our house. We didn't get every box unpacked but they are in designated areas, and most importantly, they are out of sight! We did get a lot unpacked though!

2. Organize everything. The kitchen and our bedroom is organized, so I'll take it!

3. Meal plan, meal plan, meal plan. YESSS! I feel like this is one we really did well on. Of course, there were a couple of nights where we ditched the meal plan for pizza or switched meals around because of something that came up.

4. Date Night. We got two date nights in on this past month- woo hoo!

5. Read one book. Negative. Didn't even touch any of my books.

6. Celebrate Valentine's Day. We had the best Valentine's Day weekend together. A delicious dinner date on Friday night and breakfast in bed on Sunday morning. Such a sweet weekend!

7. Decide on a house project with Matthew. We've been doing little things here and there, and over time, it's starting to come together! A big project we decided on- new appliances! We found a ridiculously good deal and just couldn't pass it up. The dishwasher and microwave delivered this past Saturday and the oven and refrigerator will deliver this Saturday!

1. Celebrate Matthew's birthday!!!! 

I've been searching for ideas for the past week and even bought a small gift for him last night. I have an idea on what I'm going to get him, and I'm so excited!

2. Get outside more.

Now that the weather is warming up some (fingers crossed it stays warm) I want to spend as much time outside as possible. I hate being cooped up during the winter months. Our neighborhood has sidewalks which is perfect for walking and maybe even some bike rides. This past weekend it was almost 70 and I think everyone in our neighborhood was out walking/jogging/bike riding. So fun!! I'm hoping with the time fixing to change we'll be able to get outside after dinner for a few walks during the week, too!

3. Do a deep spring cleaning.

We cleaned our house from top to bottom the day after we got the keys last month, but I need to do another one! This time I want to clean our windows, I think that's the reason I want to do another deep clean lol. When we first cleaned it was just too cold to clean them but now that it's warming up I need to clean them ASAP.

4. Keep on meal planning & share how I do it.

I have just recently gotten to the point where I enjoy meal planning. It used to be a chore I didn't care for, mostly because it wasn't an organized process. I would just get to the store and try to search meals on my phone and then forget certain ingredients and try to make do with what I did have at home. Big mistake! I actually enjoy meal planning now and I have noticed that it takes a lot of stress off while I'm in the kitchen.

6. Finish our coffee bar.

I found the cutest creamer and sugar set at Home Goods this past weekend. Now I just need a few more things and our coffee bar will be complete!

7. Drink more water. 

I feel like if I drink anymore water than I will float away, but I've gotten in a nasty habit of having a can of coke with my dinner each night. So I want to replace that coke with another glass of water. I also feel like I could drink even more water during the day at work.

8. Create a cleaning schedule, and stick to it!

Since we've been in the house I've had a tentative cleaning schedule, but I want to make one that works for us. It's all about routine for me.

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MARCH | GOALS

FEBRUARY | GOALS

Yesterday I shared my 2016 goals and today I'm sharing my February goals!

January was a BUSY month for us. We spent most free time packing up our apartment, I got into a small wreck, Matthew was out of town for two weeks for work, I FINALLY finished up one of my biggest projects at work (it started back in November and ends in late January), and we finally moved into our new home! Here's to hoping February isn't as crazy!!

1. Unpack ALL boxes at our house. 

This will take a good bit of time I'm sure, but I'm hoping to put a big dent in it this weekend. I'm REALLY wanting to have everything completely unpacked by 2/12 that way we don't have to do anything Valentine's Day weekend!

2. Organize everything.

As much as I want everything unpacked I want everything organized. I really can't function unless everything is organized and in it's place. If the kitchen counters have a ton of stuff on it and everything is EVERYWHERE I can't focus on fixing dinner or what needs to be done because of the huge mess staring at me. Think I'm joking? I literally MESSED up an omelet last night while fixing dinner. Who messes up an omelet?! Me, with a messy kitchen.

3. Meal plan, meal plan, meal plan.

This is vital for us if we 1. want to save money and 2. don't want to eat out every single night. We were doing SO good with meal planning at the beginning of January and then towards the end when everything got crazy our meal planning was out the window! Surprisingly this week hasn't been too bad, but I really want to put time into our meal planning and plan good dinners for us!

4. Date Night.

One of my yearly goals is to go on a date at least once a month if not more than one. I think we'll be able to do that this month, easily! 

5. Read one book.

This one might be a little tough this month since I'll probably be spending all my free time unpacking lol but I want to try and read a little. I got a lot of good books for Christmas that I'm really excited to read.

6. Celebrate Valentine's Day.

We usually don't go all out for Valentine's Day, but we still like to celebrate it. Our tradition is to go out to dinner and then to a movie, but since Valentine's Day falls on a Sunday this year I think we have decided to change it up. Instead of going out we plan on staying in and celebrating, more on that later!

7. Decide on a house project with Matthew.

Although I think we've already decided on the kitchen counters we still need to fully commit to it! We'll probably start the project next month once we are completely settled.

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FEBRUARY | GOALS

2016 | GOALS

I've been meaning on posting my 2016 goals but keep forgetting! I love the "fresh start" the new year brings each year, but I also know that you don't need a new year or a Monday to start something. You just need a new day and a positive attitude! January is my least favorite month of the year. Here in Tennessee it is always SO gloomy and for the most part really cold. There isn't really any big holidays and the first week or so is spent trying to fall back into a routine from the holidays. Let's just say I'm usually never sad to see it go. Welcoming February is always a fun thought, just another month closer to warmer weather!

So here they are! I made them on a small 5x7 print so that I can print a couple of them off and keep one in the front of my planner and one hanging up at the house to see and keep me on track!

Most of them are self explanatory but I'll expand on them a little more.

1. Buy a house.

   - We can go on and mark this off, but when I was thinking about my goals at the end of the year this was definitely one of them.

2. Build intentional relationships with our church family. 

-  We are so incredibly lucky to have our group at church. They are probably 15+ young married couples in our class and I want to get to know them all and really connect with them. Our class does a lot of activities together and I want us to attend and participate in as many as we can!

3. Save money.

   - It can be hard saving money when you have all these house projects running around in our minds, but we know, and want to save money. We have an emergency account in case something small were to happen (ex. an appliance go out, a car deductible, a small doctor bill) but we also want a "6 months of expenses" in a savings account in case something were to ever happen, it's good to have that as back up. 

4. Celebrate a whole year of sweet marriage.

  - July 18th :) Still can't believe we've been married a little over 6 months. 

5. Memorize more scripture.

  - I have read different ways to do this. Some said putting a note card on the bathroom mirror works best for them because they see it while they are getting ready for the day and ready for bed. I've also read that putting a note card with a verse on it on your dashboard to read every time your are stopped at a red light is a good idea. Any thoughts? Do y'all have any certain ways to help you memorize scripture?

6. Eat dinner at home for a whole month. 

  - We don't eat out as much as we did in college, but we still tend to eat out quite a bit on the weekends. I am hoping to have a month this year where we only eat dinners at home. (I would LOVE to go a whole month without eating out at all but that's sometimes hard for Matthew since he goes out to eat with clients for lunch. Maybe one month we will get brave and not eat out the whole month...we'll see about that one lol.) I'm hoping that eating every dinner at home for a whole month will help us see just how much we spend on eating out and maybe will work us up to not eating out for a whole month! I also think it would be fun to plan a whole month of dinners every single night!

7. Love my husband and respect him wholeheartedly.

  - I strive to respect Matthew in his leadership over our home at all times, but just like everyone else, I am human and don't respect him as much as I should. I want to really work on that and make sure I am respecting him at all times. The more that I respect Matthew and his role in our home/marriage the more that we will be able to serve The Lord and others together. I want our home to be a place where we both feel relaxed and comfortable. For us to be able to do that, I have to absolutely stop with the nagging. I really need to validate the way he does things and let him know that I respect him as a person and as a leader. The most important earthly relationship I will ever have will be with my husband. God first, husband second. I want to start our marriage with that attitude and always, always keep that. And in order to do that I need to invest time into him and our marriage daily, and place his needs above mine. I want to plan date nights this year. At least one a month if not more. I want to take turns each month planning our date nights, so it's not just a thing I do. We get so caught up in life and the day-to-day events, so I want us to both be excited and looking forward to our date nights. 

8. Cultivate a healthier lifestyle.

  - I feel like this is on everyone's list of goals, but it's an important goal to have! I'm not setting a certain amount of weight to loose this year or putting myself on a strict diet. I just want to be conscious of everything I'm eating. If I ate an unhealthy lunch then I should probably try and eat a healthy dinner. I want to eat more fruits and vegetables and try healthier options. I want to automatically grab an apple or bowl of grapes for my afternoon snack than a bowl of potato chips or candy bar. In order to do that, I need to buy healthier options at the grocery store. If I don't have unhealthy foods in our pantry then I won't be tempted to eat those things!

9. Work on home projects.

  - We have a growing list of projects that we want to do to our house, and I think it grows everyday! Some projects are big and will cost a pretty penny and some are small and won't cost much at all. I want to pick a project each month to work on. It doesn't have to be all big projects. One month our project might be organizing our pantry and the next month it might be taking down wallpaper and painting. We're just excited and thankful to make this house our home!

10. Travel to new places.

  - I love traveling and seeing new places, and I'm hoping to add some new places to my list of places I have been this year!

11. Cook/bake more.

  - I am really starting to love being in the kitchen. I love trying new recipes and finding things we love to eat. Once we get settled into our house I want to make some freezer meals to have on hand. 

12. Simplify.

  - I just want to simplify everything! I want to get rid of clutter and not have things just laying around the house. I want everything organized and in it's place so when we need something we won't spend 30 minutes searching for it. I loved Emily Ley's Simplicity Challenge, and I would love to do it every few months. I would also love to do my own Simplicity Challenge at some point this year, one that is completely centered around our lives and ways to help us simplify!

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2016 | GOALS

GOALS | NOVEMBER

I almost forgot about my November goals. I still can't believe I am making November goals already!! November and December will be busy months with the holidays. I hope that we are able to relax a little and enjoy our time together and with our families!

Here are October's goals:

- Clean out our closet and get our fall clothes out!

A big ole CHECK!

-Organize our kitchen cabinets

Another big ole CHECK

-Finish dining room chairs

Another big ole CHECK (seriously, it felt so good finishing these!)

-Get our mums from Cookeville and take pictures of all our fall decorations to blog about!

We missed our usual mums in Cookeville, but still got some beautiful mums from my BIL's wedding! 

-Finish Wedding posts...hope y'all aren't tired of them yet ;)

Completely failed on this one.

-Go on a weekend trip (I'M SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS!)

We had the best weekend in Gatlinburg! Bears, puppies, good food, and quality time with my husband...could not have asked for a better trip!

-Try some new recipes

We have tried some new recipes! Every recipe that we try that I get from Pinterest I pin it to a new board called, "Pinned it, did it" with my honest review. That way I can go back and find it if I want to make it again! 

-Check some things off of our Fall Bucket List!

We have checked off quite a few things, but have a few more to do!

1.  Host Friendsgiving. It is this Saturday and I am working on centerpieces + making sure we have everything else ready to go. I am so excited, and the weather is looking to be cool, but sunny with no rain...perfect!!!

2.  Create a cleaning schedule and stick to it! I feel with the time change we have literally gone to bed right after we eat dinner. And with that happening our apartment has suffered during the week and we are left with a lot of cleaning on the weekend, which is the exact opposite of what we want to do during our free time. So as we are adjusting to the time change I am hoping we'll get back on track. 

3.  Plan a couple of fun/cheap Christmas date ideas! This will be our first married Christmas together and I want to enjoy every second of this fun time of the year together, and maybe start some of our own traditions! 

4.  Try some new recipes. I have really enjoyed my time in the kitchen since we've been married. I love trying new recipes and using all of our new appliances! So I want to try even more new recipes.

5.  Share with y'all how we meal plan. The way we meal plan might not work for everyone, but if I can help another newlywed wife out I'll do it! I remember searching the internet before we got married to find THE best way to meal plan for us. I wanted to start off our marriage eating at home, to save money and to use our new appliances we had been gifted! I read many blog posts and eventually ended up pulling a little bit from all over to create the way we have been using. The first couple of weeks were kinda bumpy on our meal planning as we were still unpacking my stuff and settling into our routine, but we eventually got into a routine that we really like! 

6.  Finish Christmas shopping. I would love to have all of our Christmas shopping finished by the end of this month, but I don't know if that will happen. So we have given ourselves a deadline of December 12th, to have at least everything ordered! 

7.  Decorate for Christmas! And last but not least, decorate our apartment for Christmas! The Saturday after Thanksgiving we are going to put on comfy, cozy clothes and spend the day decorating for Christmas and watching Christmas movies. This is one of my FAVORITE days of the year and I am so excited to spend it with my Matthew! Also, Matthew has requested that there be sausage balls that morning, so I'll be making sausage balls for breakfast! :)

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GOALS | NOVEMBER

September Goals

This is the first time in months that I have made some monthly goals and I am so pumped to have some written down and on here. Having monthly goals helps me feel like I have at least part of my life in order lol. I usually make about 5+ lists a day and feel SO accomplished when marking something off. Whether it be a personal to do list or a to do list for work, I love crossing the next thing off.

I know I sound like a broken record, but it's SEPTEMBER. Time if flyin' by, and I kind of want it to slow down. I feel like it was just June and Matthew and I were freaking out over the fact that "next month we are going to be husband and wife" and that we only have to scroll to the next month on our calendars on our phones to see our wedding month. I'm excited though. Excited for the upcoming holidays that we get to celebrate together, for some cooler weather, and for all the memories that we will make, Lord willing! So now for some September goals.

1. Continue working on our apartment. We have worked and worked and worked some more on our little place and it is finally starting to look like people live there. Stuff is starting to go up on the walls, boxes have been unpacked, things have been organized, the drawers in our dresser and chest of drawers are now full, accent pieces are finding their places, and we can now see our dining room floor. There are still a few little things that needs to be done, but we are taking them on one project at a time and that is perfectly fine with me. I love working on things together and spending our nights together, it really is the best. Some projects we have that we want to do this month are:

          - Putting up a shelf over the washer and dryer in laundry room (more storage!)

          - Style our accent tables

          - Plate wall (y'all I am SO excited about this I can't even stand it)

          - Decorate the wall behind our couch

          - Decorate the wall behind our bed

          - Decorate wall in the hallway

We got a couple of Lowe's gift cards for our wedding so we decided to purchase this bad boy and put it in our laundry room. It has helped SO much! We plan on putting this in our garage one day (fingers crossed we have a garage lol)

2. No social media after we get into bed. I have had this bad habit since I got a smart phone about 3 years ago. Every night when I get in bed I will get on my phone and scroll through social media apps until I make myself put it up and go to sleep. It's embarrassing how much we both do this. A lot of the times we'll show each other something on our phone or watch goofy YouTube videos together, but I want to really work on this. What did couples do before social media and smart phones? I'm sometimes jealous of how it was back then for them. It's so easy for an hour or so to pass while I am scrolling away on Pinterest looking up new things. I would probably get so much more sleep if I cut back on this!

3. Do at least one chore a day. Matthew and I have tossed around the idea of a cleaning schedule but I did that with my apartment in Cookeville and it's actually kind of hard to stick to once life gets in the way. So I think we'll try this. One chore a day, and laundry everyday (or as needed)

4. All of the major cleaning and big loads of laundry finished by Thursday night. Again, I'm not sure how all of this is going to work, but we are going to try. I know we are not going to feel like any cleaning on Friday nights and most Saturdays we have errands to run or somewhere to be. Now of course we will pick up and do minor things Friday-Sunday but we would love to have most of the bigger things done by Thursday night. Also, I can't go to bed on Sunday night if the apartment is messy. I just can't do it lol and I love waking up to a clean apartment on Monday mornings. It just starts the week off better.

5. Show my support through actions. I want to always support Matthew and not just verbally or through texts. I want to show Matthew my support through tangible things. Notes, cards, small gifts, random acts of kindness around the apartment. I want to be nothing but an encouragement.

6. Go on a date! Of course now that we are married we eat almost every dinner together and we stop here and there to grab dinner or lunch on Sundays after church together, (which I am absolutely LOVING!) but I want to go on a real date with my husband. One we actually plan and not just go grab dinner on a whim kind of date lol. It also helps that we have some free movie tickets just sitting there waiting on us ;) Once we are settled we would love to have a date night once a month and take turns planning it. Once we get our budget set and see what we have to work with will determine if it will be a monthly thing, but I think we can find some free/cheap things to do each month!

I am excited for a new month and all of our upcoming activities we have planned! September is going to be full of bridal showers, bachelor and bachelorette parties, and bridal luncheons for my brother-in-law and futute sister-in-law, AND our best friends!! Our best friend is getting married the first weekend in October and then Matthew's twin brother is getting married two weeks after that. This fall is going to be BUSY but SO MUCH FUN!

Happy September, friends!

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September Goals

{May Goals}

May is one of my favorite months of the year! It's the month Matthew and I started dating, it's the beginning of summer and warmer days after a l-o-n-g cold winter and everything is just better in the sun, and we get a paid day off (thank the Lord)   I didn't do so well on my April goals other than drink more water! So we'll move right on to my May goals!   -PACK, PACK, PACK and PACK some more. I have literally packed nothing so far, I did however put my winter clothes up and bring out my summer clothes this past weekend. I have been buying things for my new apt and in both corners of my living room right now is big ole boxes. There is also a corner in Matthew's bedroom stacked high of things for my new apt.   -Celebrate FOUR years with Matthew I honestly can't believe we have been dating almost 4 years but then again it feels like I have known him all my life. I could talk all day about how I have the most thoughtful boyfriend in the world, but y'all still just wouldn't get it. I am SO excited to celebrate our anniversary in a few weeks, I have been planning out a few little things so hopefully they will work out.   -Eat healthier, drink even more water I feel like this is always on my list of goals and I always fail at it but I am determined to start eating better and not to eat out as much. Getting a new apt and being able to cook at the same place every night should help with this!   -Finish getting everything for my new apt. Matthew made a list on Wunderlist for me, it included everything I needed for my new apt. We have been able to mark off A LOT so far and got everything for reasonable prices!! I am SO excited to move into my new apt in a few days and get everything settled and organized!   -Start meal planning For the whole week and actually follow it! Matthew and I will "meal plan" right now and then when it comes down to it we decide it would just be easier to grab something because it's Tech night and we can get that discount and eat it on the way to an intramural game or wherever we have to go that night. I REALLY want to start using my new crock pot I received at Christmas...I just took it out of the box. Plus if we cook dinner then we will have leftovers and I won't be stopping by Burger King on my lunch break 2+ times a week.   and because I don't like posts without pictures...this was last week at Matthew's last intramural softball game! They won the championship!! :)

       What are your May goals? 

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{May Goals}