diy mama

lifestyle blog sharing diy, family, travel, organization & disney tips

goals

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April Goals

April_featureApril means ‘play outside every time it’s sunny’ and so we will. Last month I talked about staying busy to help the winter pass more quickly but I think we were too active. March flew by so fast I can hardly remember what happened.

Before getting into my April goals, let’s see how I did on my March goals. We did not meet our goal of 40 days of no spending but spent pennies compared to our normal spending. I have to admit, it didn’t even bother me to not be able to impulsively buy. We were great about putting our wants on a list for later purchasing and the only extras we spent were on entertainment. I wasn’t able to do the full #40bagsin40days straight through but the amount of decluttering and organizing I did makes me proud.
We also did not make our monthly ‘date in a box’ (which reminds me to make one for April)! We were a week short of the Whole30 but have been great at keeping a Whole30 regime during the week and being more lenient on the weekends. I did not swim twice per week but I either ran or swam three times per week!

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I’m also happy to say that I had my first sponsored post and even happier to say it was a Disney product! My social media goal of increasing each by 50 followers was pretty good. I raised Pinterest by 203, Twitter by 147 and Facebook by 18 (womp womp). I’ve never worried about my social media numbers until I monetized last month. I have been studying and asking fellow bloggers all month and Facebook seems impossible. Some companies require a certain number of followers before they work with you so I’ll continue to work on all three. I read Paper Towns and Wonder this past month, both of which I really enjoyed.

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April Goals:

Family

  • More patience towards Sophie
  • Date night with Jeffrey
  • Play outside everyday (weather permitting)

Life

  • Swim or run 3x/week for the 5k on April 25
  • Organize all video to date
  • Meal plan every week

Blog

  • Do a sponsored post
  • Re-work drafted posts in que
  • Every Sunday schedule week of Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest posts

I’ve made my April goals pretty simple because we have some secret behind-the-scenes stuff that we’re working on that I will share with you in time! My big goal for this month is to be present and be happy with my present. That’s true success. What about you? did you make any goals for this month??

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March Goals

(This post contains affiliate links. Although, I did not receive any of the below products for free, I will be compensated a small percentage if you purchase through my links.)

March_featureHello and happy almost-spring! March is always exciting because it means that the snow will start melting soon (although we just got 10 inches dumped on us yesterday, so it may take a while.) We’re not letting the snow slow us down though! We took Soph swimming at the pool yesterday and went sledding today. Keeping busy helps make the winter go by faster!

Before digging into my March goals, let’s see how I did on my February goals. We’ve been really enjoying ourselves at Montessori this past month.

Sophie is a joy to watch interacting with the other kids and improving on her work every week. We went on a family Valentine’s date to Applebee’s because it was an hour wait everywhere (at 2pm!) We made it up by going to Red Lobster the next day. I was sure to give Jeffrey more time to spend on studying and writing throughout the month. I am still reading the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and have added the #40bagsin40days challenge. I have done terrible at finishing the jewelry nook in the closet! I haven’t made the effort to figure out our paint color in there and therefore haven’t been able to finish the project, but I HAVE been having a lot of fun. I made sure to stay very focused on Sophie and making sure I was present for her and Jeffrey and it has made my month very fun! I read The 100 Year Old Man (of which I gave a 3/5). I also learned a lot from Lisa on our chat about Light Room and have been doing all of the posts’ photography editing there. I’ve done fairly well on the 5 post/day commenting. Some days I’ll skip but do more the next day. I’ve also been using co-schedule and tailwind to schedule posts and pins ahead of time. I haven’t seen a great difference in numbers yet but it’s only been a month.

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I honestly can hardly remember February. It flew by. We were able to see Second City when they came to town, which was hilarious! We also went on a party bus downtown Indy and I had a girl’s night out to see 50 Shades. Our neighborhood girl’s night was awesome because we played Cards of Humanity while watching Downton Abbey. I’ve also been having a ton of fun planning our Disney vacation and getting our home decluttered and organized.

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March Goals:

Family

  • Continue with our 40 Day Spending Freeze
  • Start with Monthly Date Night in a Box
  • Take Sophie to a show or museum

Life

  • Catch up and complete #40bagsin40days
  • Complete Whole30
  • Swim twice per week

Blog

I have a lot of behind-the-scenes secrets that I’ve been working on that I WILL be able to share with you in due time. For now, I want to know about your goals. What do you do to stay on track? Do you have accountability partners? A goal planner? A really organized brain? Let’s talk about this!

PS: Shameless plug guys. I’m on Facebook. I need more followers. I’ve gotten a lot of good tips from high rollers but could use any tips you’ve found helpful! Oh and don’t forget to follow me. I follow back!

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30 is the New 30

Hello loves! Today marks my 30th Birthday celebration here on planet Earth. I’ve never been one to be worried about getting older or telling my age. I don’t see age as a bad thing, in fact, I see it as a way to show how wise and experienced you are!

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I don’t have any special plans to celebrate my Birthday since we’re on Whole60 and most of my friends and family live a couple hours away. I am very excited to spend time with my family, inside, with a fire and look forward to the big Birthday celebration that will happen in September (Disney World)! For my blog life celebration, I wanted to share with you 30 things that I have learned over the past few decades. Some of these nuggets of wisdom are profound, some are silly, but they are all very meaningful in my life.

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  1. Invest in people that invest in you.
  2. Don’t compare your weakness to another’s strength.
  3. Always use SPF.
  4. Don’t cut your own bangs.
  5. If something isn’t working, don’t give up, just try something else.
  6. Some people can’t breastfeed, and that’s ok.
  7. If you feel sad, it’s possible that you’re just bored.
  8. It doesn’t hurt to ask.
  9. If you want to be better at something, you have to practice.
  10. Finding a great stylist, masseuse and nail tech in the same town is near impossible.
  11. If there’s something you like, just do it/wear it/sing it/read it/make it!
  12. Coloring books are the poor person’s therapy.
  13. Germs are good.
  14. NASA is awesome.
  15. The Beatles are the best choice for any mood.
  16. There is no ‘too old’ or ‘too young’ for Disney World. Ever.
  17. Photography is an invaluable skill.
  18. ‘Making someone’s day’ makes my day.
  19. Never move if there is a sleeping child on you.
  20. Tell people you love them, every chance you get.
  21. A BigMac and Gatorade will cure any hangover.
  22. Say what you’re thinking.
  23. Don’t be afraid of power tools.
  24. Do be afraid of spiders. They’re the worst.
  25. Nothing is more calming than the sound of the ocean.
  26. Buy yourself flowers.
  27. Living in all four season’s is awesome, except the 80% of the time when it’s too cold or too hot.
  28. There’s no such thing as too many Christmas decorations or nail polish
  29. Volunteer. It makes your heart happy.
  30. Puppies are so worth it.

What’s the biggest nugget of wisdom that you’ve learned from your past? Am I right about the spiders? Ew.

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January Goals

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Happy New Year everybody!! I hope you all had fun celebrating 2014 yesterday and are excited for the year to come! I am proud to announce, that we all made it through the holiday season fairly unscathed. Yes, we were all sick, multiple times, but nothing some Momma Robertson Chicken Noodle Soup couldn’t handle.

Let’s see how I did on my December goals!
I’m quite proud actually to have met most of my goals. In the ‘Family’ category we were unable to go sledding or build a snow man, as there is no snow here in IL, but we did all get snow pants, boots, gloves, warm coats and two sleds for when the snow starts falling! We were so successful in transitioning Sophie to her big girl bed! I am so proud of how quickly she adjusted to her new room (only a few nights of sleeping on the floor next to the door!) With the sicknesses we ensued, there was LOTS of movie watching and snuggling. We even had a fire one night! I rocked it out in the Life category. I finished the stockings and made the sweetest Christmas cards as well as making lots of hand made gifts for friends and family. I also filled the freezer (which is now a problem since we want to go back on Whole30.) The Blog category was not as successful. I don’t feel the Giveaway brought much attention to my blog compared to all the planning, posting and money I spent on it. I guess my blog’s just not ready for Giveaways and I’m ok with that! I did ZERO Blog Life sessions but we did announce our super secret Page Turners project starting TODAY!

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I’m doing things a bit different this year for my New Years Resolution. I’m using one word to focus on rather than having specific goals to accomplish. I will still do my monthly goals but for 2015 there will be no dire goals that will weigh me down. The word I’m choosing for 2015 is:

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Learn how to use our camera better. Learn calligraphy. Learn photo and video editing programs. Learn how to balance blogging/house keeping/parenting/friendships/loved ones more successfully. Learn to use meditation to stay calm. Learn from my mistakes. I’d call myself a life-long-learner. I enjoy school. I would be interested in getting a degree in horticulture or design just for the fun of it. For this year though, I’m going to just learn all that I can.

My January goals to get 2015 started off:

Family

  • Find a babysitter for Sophie
  • Celebrate my 30th Birthday with sushi
  • Complete Sophie’s 1st year books

Life

  • Do another Whole30
  • Do a house tour on video
  • Make my 2015 planner

Blog

  • Schedule posts 2 months out
  • Read Eat, Pray, Love for Page Turners
  • Organize my Pinterest boards

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What are your goals for this month? Do you have a OLW for this year? I’d love to know so I can help you stay accountable! PS. Is my sweatshirt not the best?! It was comfy but glam for my New Years eve at home with my family!

 

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December Goals

december1Happy December everyone! It’s the last month of 2014 and instead of rushing around trying to meet all your goals, accomplish all your deadlines and make this ‘the best holiday season ever’, I say to relax. Take a minute and look back on your year to see all that you have accomplished!

Let’s see how I did on my November goals. I took Soph to every Baby Loves Books (that she was in town and we weren’t sick) as well as did a couch date once per week with Jeffrey (usually in the form of a Red Box movie.) We also got down two new signs with Sophie (more and hi.) For my ‘life’ goals, I got two Project Life spreads done! I also swam at least twice/week, for the three weeks I wasn’t sick, and did a meal plan every Sunday for the upcoming week. My ‘blog’ goals were the toughest to accomplish (as always) because I always put these goals last. I reached 1k followers on Pinterest (YAY), shot the photos for my TOP SECRET project coming up next month and did a couple Blog Life sessions. I did not revamp any old posts or do any new pinnable images, but I’m ok with that.

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Now for the fun part, my upcoming goals! My goals for December are going to be light hearted to leave lots of time and love for my family. We already have lots of holiday events planned for this month: Meeting Santa, Company Christmas party, Christmas shopping trip, neighborhood Christmas party, decorating our home, Christmas light scouting and traveling to our family’s for Christmas.

Family

  • Go sledding & build a snow man
  • Transition Sophie to big bed
  • Lots of snuggling

Life

  • Make advent calendar, stockings & Christmas cards
  • Make Christmas gifts for friends and family
  • ‘Fill the Freezer’

 Blog

  • Have a successful Favorite Things Giveaway on the 3rd!
  • 3 Blog Life Sessions
  • Announce TOP SECRET project

stantaWhat are your goals for this holiday season? Are you going to try to jam it full of as many fun activities as possible or are you going to relax by the fire? I’m hoping to do a little of both (plus hot chocolate.) I’d love to hear what goals you have planned for this month or if you’re thinking of a resolution for 2015!

 

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