May Goals

It feels like so long ago I shared my April goals, yet I can't believe it's May already. I love May though. It's my favourite month of the year, and not just because it's my birthday month. Ok, partly because it's my birthday month. We were spoiled in April with amazing weather, but usually it's May where we finally have super warm days and can feel that summer is just around the corner. Mother's Day is also in May, so now my family has double the reason to celebrate me (not narcissistic at all over here!). And there's finally a long weekend again. So ya, I love you May!

Let's take a look at how I did in April before we get into May goals.

APRIL GOALS REVISITED 

1. Work out every single day: DONE. I'll talk about this more in another post, but I'm happy to report that I've now "worked out" for 28 consecutive days. Anything from strength training, to long walks, running or just relaxation yoga. The goal is to get moving every single day.

2. Wake up at 7 every single day: I can confidently say this happened zero times. Haha!

3. Do one load of laundry every single day: I should have kept track. I don't remember. I know it wasn't every day, but I feel like I was on top of the laundry more than I usually am.

4. Watch one show or movie with my husband every second night: SUCCESS! Maybe not every second night, but we finished off season 5 of The Walking Dead, a few episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and we watched 4 movies so I'm thinking we did pretty good.

5. Clean up the kitchen every evening: I still struggle with this. I did better than I normally do, but some nights I seriously just couldn't be bothered. I found listening to an audiobook or propping up my laptop so I could watch a show on Netflix while doing the dishes and tidying up made the experience much more enjoyable though!


So where does that leave me for May? Well, since I'm trying to build better habits in my daily life, I want to continue working on the above. I'm not ready to take a complete rest day from working out because I'm afraid I'll fall off the wagon again. I've been incorporating a lot of yoga this past month, and I'd like to keep that up. As for getting up early in the morning...I'm not sure if I will ever be able to make this happen, but it's still something I'm going to try for. But I'm also not beating myself up over not making it happen right now.

As for more specific goals, here they are:

MAY GOALS

1. Continue with my workout streak, but include a daily yoga practice.

I've discovered some neat yoga accounts on youtube and there are a lot of 30 day challenges out there. I'm going to do one from start to finish for 30 days (I haven't started yet though). I can either include it as my workout for the day, or as an addition to my daily workout.

2. Give my blog a makeover.

I've been wanting to purchase a new design for my blog for over a year now, and I have my eye on a few on etsy. It's not even the money, I'm just putting it off. But it's time for a refresh! Happy birthday to me!

3. Create blog categories and an About Me page.

I'm embarrassed to even make mention to the fact that I don't have an About Me page. Totally taboo, I know. But I think it's the hardest thing ever to write. I have a partially written one in drafts, but I cringe every time I read it over. Why is that? I talk about myself all the time on here!! It shouldn't be that hard to do.

4. Finish Sully's room.

The current bedroom Sully is in, needs a lot of work. It was painted a horrible colour, the closet needs to be redone and the light fixture switched out. So, we are in the process of painting the spare room next to his and will move him into that room when it's done. The closest also needs to be rebuilt. And then I need to find new curtains and decorate his room. He deserves a finished room, and I feel guilty that it's taken us a year to finally get started on this.


And that's it. Of course, I'll continue working on past goals, such as keeping on top of the laundry and tidying the kitchen every night, but if I listed every single thing I want to work on in my life, this post would never end.

May feels like such a busy month - I have 3 runs coming up, another fun group workout with the Blog Squad, my birthday, Mother's Day, and then Jim's folks arrive for the whole month of June! So if I can continue with my workout streak and new yoga challenge, I'll be happy with that!


Did you make monthly goals for May?

What's something you hope to achieve this month?

April Goals + Some Real Talk

I'm not going to lie, I feel like I'm falling behind in keeping up with my monthly goals. Or not even falling behind, but more that I start out the month well, then have a couple of bad days or a week, and then I can't get back on track. And some days my life feels like it's go-go-go and all I've accomplished is one thing on my list of many. And then of course I can't help but wonder how other people seem to manage it all. They work full time, raise kids, keep a clean house, exercise regularly, eat well, read books, watch their favourite TV shows and a few movies. They meal-plan, grocery shop with a list, write, read and comment on blogs, keep social media updated. It's not that I'm feeling sorry for myself or seeing other people's lives through rose-coloured glasses, it's that I truly know people out there who seem to accomplish "it all". Or maybe that's the key word right there: seem.

I've been trying to look at my daily life from a birds eye view to gain some perspective. I don't really want to give up one thing for another (like reading instead of watching a show, or blogging instead of watching a movie with my husband), but I know sometimes something has to give. But I'm confident that I should be able to find a better balance. And ultimately, I'm quite sure this comes down to being better organized. Gee, how fitting is that, considering my word for 2016 is 'organize'? Very.

I think my main problem is going to bed too late, and it's the one thing this month, heck, this year even, that I really need to work on. I like to think that I get a lot of things done in the evening, but truthfully, once Sully is in bed, I don't. Sure, that's when I often blog, but it's also the time I do a lot of  puttering from one thing to the next instead of fully doing one or two real things. Things that would at least make my evenings feel more accomplished. I'm also quite fortunate that I have a child that doesn't wake up at the butt crack of dawn. Of course, this works great for my night owl ways, but I can't help but think that I need to be starting my day before he gets up. Even if it's just half an hour to get myself dressed and ready for the day ahead.

Easier said than done. I know. The other weekend, I woke up around 7:30, and even though Sully and Jim were still sleeping and I knew I could easily will myself to fall back asleep, I actually got up and went downstairs, made a pot of coffee and finished off my current read. Two whole hours I had to myself and it was glorious. I told myself not to forget that feeling of getting quiet time to myself so that hopefully it would motivate me for future early wake-ups. But a morning person is not built over night, and this is obviously something I'm going to have to work really hard on if I want to achieve it.

Anyway, my monthly goals have all pretty much been the same..."workout/run/meal plan/read", and those are still things I will continue to work on/do every month, but I don't feel the need to rewrite them out for this post. My workouts have decreased this past month, as has my running. Reading has been great, and I even finally started my online book club! You can read more about it here and it's not too late to join! First post is on April 20, so as long as you read the book by then, you are good to go! Meal planning hasn't been consistent, but I haven't thrown in the towel completely yet. I'm a work in progress, guys!

So thank you for bearing with me, and if you skipped ahead to this part, I don't blame you! Here are my more specific goals for April:


APRIL GOALS

1. Work out every single day.

This could mean anything from a body pump class, to a quick online yoga class, to a long walk outside with my kid. I am going to talk about this more in another post, but long story short, I was recently inspired by Kristin's post, and I need to force myself to move every single day. It is much too easy for me to let one day, then two, then a whole week go by with literally no workouts and even very few walks done.

2. Wake up at 7 every single day. 

I am not a morning person, and I'm pretty sure everyone knows it. But, it's not that I can't get up early, it's just that I don't particularly like it. But sometimes we have to do things we don't like in order to change our habits or develop new ones. I usually let myself sleep until Sully wakes me up, which can range anywhere from 6:45am to 8:45am, but for the most part, he sleeps till after 7am. Even if I just use that time in the morning at first to read my current book or a few blogs, that would still be quiet time for me. If my husband can get up early, then I should be able to too.

3. Do one load of laundry every single day.

Between clothes, workout clothes, towels, sheets, and rags, laundry never ends. I might not need to do a load every single day, but if there is laundry there, then I should put in a load. There is nothing worse than having to do 3-4 loads in one afternoon trying to play catch-up! And it would be nice to not always have overflowing laundry baskets.

4. Watch one show or movie with my husband every second night. 

I know, this seems like an odd one, but Jim and I have a lot of shows we love watching together and I'm constantly making him wait to watch something with me because I'm either blogging, reading or doing something else. It's something we enjoy doing together and it's important to spend time together, even if it is in front of the TV.  I'm sure most of you can agree that watching a good show with someone else who also enjoys it makes the experience all that much better!

5. Clean up the kitchen every evening.

Another thing I've gotten lazy with. Once dinner is over and Sully is in bed, sometimes the last thing I want to do is clean up the kitchen. I know it doesn't take long, and the reward is totally worth it, so I just need to make it a daily habit. I love starting off the day with a clean kitchen as it makes breakfast time way less stressful.

And that's it. Well these and my other ongoing goals that I continue to work at. I know what needs to be done, I just need to stop making excuses and do these things. But I do believe that the more I do these things, and if I can get myself to regularly do them, then they will become a habit and part of my daily routine. Sounds so easy, doesn't it?


How often do you do laundry? Do you keep on top of it or have a designated laundry day?

Do you struggle with balancing all of your hobbies?

Did you make any goals for April?

March Goals

Whoa! I feel like I blinked and February was over. And we even had an extra day in the month this year!

I knew February would fly by - it always does so I kept that in mind for when I made my goals for the month. What I didn't plan on though, was getting sick for almost two weeks last month. Two weeks! That's half the month. I'm not sure what hit me, but I had one of the worst colds I've had in years and I just couldn't shake it. Usually I recover really quickly when I come down with someone, but not this time. And when I'm sick, or feeling under the weather, I lose control in almost all areas of my life.

Regular workouts? Didn't happen. Meal planning? Lots of pinning of recipes, but little making of them. I didn't even get to bed at a decent time most nights, which you think would be an easy one to accomplish when you aren't feeling well! My daily steps also suffered, but that's not surprising considering how little we left the house in those two weeks.

Anyway! I'm glad to finally say that that brutal cold and lack of energy I was feeling is behind me and I feel back to my normal self. So I'm not going to dwell on last month and feel badly about the things I didn't accomplish, instead, I'm moving forward and I'm going to use March as a refresher month to get my life back on track!


MARCH GOALS

1. Be in bed, lights out by 11p.m., every single night.

While I had more success with this last month than I expected, I still had some really late nights and I only have myself to blame for them. But it's not easy to ditch your night-owl ways, so I'm sticking with this same goal for March. And amazingly, when I do get to bed, with the lights out by 11p.m., I actually feel really good in the morning! So even this still relatively late bedtime is working better for me than midnight and beyond (obviously).

2. Walk 10,000 steps a day and strength train (BodyPump) 3x per week.

I basically took half of February off from working out, but I've already been back at it for a solid week. I've been participating in step challenges with my fitbit and I really need to step up my game. I'm usually a really competitive person, but for some reason, getting my steps in isn't bringing out that side of me. Although I wish it were! I feel so great when I go to BodyPump that I'm committed to getting to a class 3x a week, even if that means I have to go in the evenings.

3. Run 3-4x per week.

I talked about it in this post, but I need to step up my running game. I was working at building up my running strength by following a 5k training plan in efforts to focus on getting stronger as a runner both mentally and physically. I took many months off of running and I should stop expecting my body to be able to just jump back into running a 5k comfortably. My goal is to feel ready and confident for my first 10k of the year, which is at the end of May.

4. Read 3 books

I've been doing really well at making reading a priority, and my goal is just to continue with that. I have a few book club commitments to read for this month so my focus will be on getting through those books.

5. Start an online book club on the blog.

I keep saying I'm going to do this, but then I give an excuse as to why it hasn't happened yet. Honestly, I'm nervous to officially put it out there and then not have it received well. But it's something I really want to do, and since I read anyway, it's not a total loss if no one participates.

6. Meal plan once a week (on Saturday/Sunday), and grocery shop only once a week.

Like I said above, February was a bad month in the meal planning department. Many meals were made last minute, I went to the grocery store more than once a week and a lot of nights were "fend for yourself" nights which are fun once in awhile, but we had too many of them. I really just have to commit to taking the 30-60 minutes to sit down and pick out my meals for the week, because if I don't do it on the weekend, it doesn't end up happening.

And that's my plan for getting back on track (keeping in mind my word for 2016 was organize!) and I'm hopeful that March is going to be a better month! I know these goals are repeats, but they are things that I'm trying to make into habits and habits are definitely not made overnight. So I'm not giving up yet!

Do you make mini-goals for the month? Did you make goals for March? 

I'd love to hear about them! 

February Goals

I'm so glad January is over with. Not that anything particular bad happened in January, it's just my least favourite month of the year. Christmas and the holidays are over, it's a long month with no holidays (I don't count New Years Day because that's lumped in with Christmas holidays), and it's usually one of the coldest and dreariest months for me to get through. I hit a rough slump for a few days near the end of the month; I was exhausted for no reason and really struggled to motivate myself to do anything other than keep my toddler fed and entertained. Thankfully, February is off to a brighter start!

I haven't thought to hard about what I want to accomplish in terms of goals for this month. Looking back at my January goals, there are a few that I didn't complete to their fullest extent so I might just carry some of them over so I can continue to work on them.

Here's a quick look at what I wanted to achieve in January:

1. Drink a cup of tea every night. 

This did not happen. I had a strong start, but more often than not, I just completely forgot. The nights I did have tea though, I really enjoyed it. I think I need to set reminders for myself to really make this a habit.

2. Walk 10,000 steps a day.

I had some great days and some not so great days, in terms of steps taken. Definitely something I have to work at.

3. Go snowshoeing.

This is 100% my most successful goal from last month! I got out snowshoeing twice, once with my good friend Carol who was visiting me for the night, and another time with Ange and Jen as part of the Alberta Adventure Girls weekend retreat. We snowshoed for 10km UP A MOUNTAIN. (This was also my best day of steps taken - 22,331!)

4. Meal plan every Sunday night.

Actually, I was pretty successful with this! I started out strong, picking my meals on Saturday night, and then getting groceries on Sunday. It was so nice to not have to think about what to make every night. After my weekend in the mountains, I let the meal planning slip a bit since I wasn't organized come that Monday morning. This past week I didn't meal plan either (my mom has been visiting, and then Jim and I went to BC for three days), and I'm really noticing how much I miss being organized in the meal department. I'm feeling stressed at not having any idea on what to have for dinner, and I really miss having leftovers for lunch.

5. Read 3 books.

Done! I thought I could sneak in a fourth one, but my current read is taking me much longer to get through than I thought it would.

6. Be in bed, lights out, by midnight.

Oh dear. The month started out with really, really late bedtimes. But then, about mid month, I think these late nights finally started catching up with me because I was actually starting to feel exhausted by mid-afternoon with no perking up after Sully went to bed. So I think that was a good thing since I have been better at getting into bed around 11/1130pm, which is a huge improvement for me.


FEBRUARY GOALS

Even with the leap year, this is a quick month. And it's also the month that Sully turns two, so I know this month will busy and just fly by. With that in mind, I'm keeping my goals for February simple and borrowing from last month to continue with making better habits in my daily life.

1. Be in bed, lights out, by 11pm every single night. 

Sully is waking up earlier and earlier every morning and not going back to sleep like he used to be known to do. It's not fair to either of us for me to be so tired in the morning. Baby steps with this one as I'm pretty sure morning people aren't made over night!

2. Walk 10,000 steps a day and strength train (body pump) 3x a week.

I've recently returned to the gym and reignited my love for body pump. It's my favourite class ever and I love how strong it makes me feel. I need to schedule time for myself to do this class 3x per week. (On top of continuing to get in my 10,000 steps per day).

3. Read 3 books. 

I read a lot, but sometimes even I need to make time to read over doing something else (like mindlessly scrolling through social media, or going upstairs to bed half an hour earlier so that I can get some time with my book).

4. Continue with weekly meal planning.

Meal planning equals less stress and chaos, less money spent on groceries and more healthful foods consumed by myself and my family.

And that's it for this month! I know, it's not very exciting, but I believe that in order to continue to work on my personal growth and well-being, while also keeping in mind my WORD for 2016, these goals are the building blocks for achieving the best me that I can be. And Rome wasn't built in a night, right? (Or something like that...)


Do you make monthly goals for yourself?

What's one thing you are hoping to accomplish this month? 

Do you find it takes you longer than a month to create new habits?