diy mama

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

goals

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November Goals

november goalsHappy November! I know, it’s been November for a couple days, we’ve even changed the clocks already to fall back, but I’m just getting around to my November goals. This weekend was a whirlwind, literally, with the crazy weather we had here in IL.
We were able to Trick or Treat at a few houses, then came back to share chili with some friends. We also got the house childproofed (more on that later)! We took it easy though, knowing the next few months ahead are pretty crazy with travel, by playing a few board games and watching some new movies.
IMG_6960Let’s see how I did for my October goals. I did fairly well with accomplishing my October goals, in my opinion! This was a huge month for our family. Sophie had her first Birthday, complete with awesome Sprinkle & Confetti party, she started walking, we had a vacation where we went to Medieval Times and watched our 90 year old Grandma fly a plane! I really focused on being present and putting my family first in regards to managing my time. If there was a choice between cleaning up the kitchen, writing a post or just playing chase with Soph and Jeffrey, I chose my family every time. I’m pretty sure the kitchen was never fully clean the entire month of October, but I’m ok with that.

I took Soph to every Babies Love Books but one, because she was still snoozing (you never wake a sleeping baby!) I found a couple people that volunteered to watch Sophie but I’d still like to have an emergency sitter on hand. We also did TERRIBLE at family walks. We took once/week which was 90% due to the cold weather, rain or it being dark by the time Jeffrey got home. I swam 2-3 times/week, read Eleanor & Park (not as good as Fangirl in my opinion) and did not do laundry on the weekends! My biggest disappointment of goal achieving this month was finishing Blog Life, but I worked on it a lot and it’s freaking huge (which is a good thing!) I did, however, make three new pinnable images and revamped 20 Date Ideas and Nail Polish Organization!
pinnable-imagesNow for the good stuff! My November goals are going to be more manageable since there are a lot of things already planned for this month.

Family

  • Continue Babies Love Books (even if it’s raining or snowing)
  • Teach Sophie 2 sign language signs
  • 1 night/week ‘couch dates’

Life

  •  1 Project Life spread
  • Swim 2 times/week & swim lesson
  • Meal plan every week & 1 freezer meal/week

Blog

  • Photos for TOP SECRET project coming in January
  • Blog Life
  • 2 pinnable images and revamp 1 post
  • Reach 1,000 followers on Pinterest

What are your goals for this month? Will you be taking it a bit easy on yourself knowing the madness that is to come, paired with cold/rainy weather and possible sickness? I encourage you to make at least 3 goals for this month that can be measured. It really does help me to stay focused on what I want to accomplish, helping my mind stay on track. I’ll leave you with the best photo taken this month:

leaves

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October Goals

octoberHappy October 1st! I’m doing another round of Monthly Goals to help me stay on task for the month of October. First, let’s see how I did on my first month of goal planning in September. I achieved all three goals under family! With the occasional later bedtime while traveling or the weekend, we’ve got Soph on a more regular bedtime routine! Jeffrey and I went to see Mike Birbiglia and Soph and I went to every Babies Loves Books except the Monday she was visiting her Grandparents. My Life goals were not as successful! I did not complete ANY of them! We stopped Whole 30 a week early just because. There really was no reason. We are going to continue to eat those foods with an occasional treat until we reach our goals. We both lost a lot (24 lb for me) but still have a ways to go. I can’t figure out how to get my darn Lumo Lift to stay on my body, so until I get that figured out, it sits on my desk. I didn’t even attempt Me Before You because I read reviews on how terribly sad it was and couldn’t put myself through that! I got half way through Daring Greatly and am really enjoying that book! I did nothing with Project Life or my closet building plans. I saw that it was going to cost $890 for new wood hangers and decided the closet reno will have to be for another time. I did pretty terrible on my Blog goals as well. I still have not completed Blog Life and I only revamped one old post. I did, however, repin like a mad woman. I also got asked by Anna to be a co-host for a big Pinning Party this Saturday for Boogie Wipes! I’m OK with the things I didn’t get accomplished because I got a lot of non-goal items accomplished!

Family

  • To be present this month. There is a ridiculous amount going on this month and I want to be sure to be present for my family rather than going through the motions and checking events off my to-do list.
  • Continue Babies Love Books every Monday
  • Take a family walk 3 times/week
  • Find a date-night sitter for Soph

Life

  • Swim 2 times/week
  • Read Eleanor & Park
  • No laundry on the weekends

Blog

  • Complete Blog Life (for realz)
  • Revamp 2 old posts
  • Make 2 new pins for 2 top re-pinned pins

guitarPS. is this not the cutest? What are your goals for October? How’d September turn out for you? I fear October, November and December are going to be tough to accomplish all my goals but I’m up for trying!

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September Goals

SeptemberHappy September! I know, it’s been September for a few days but I’m writing this on the 1st so we’ll just pretend we’re on the same page. I saw a post from my bloggy friend, NJ, today about having S.M.A.R.T goals every month and posting them for added accountability. I haven’t made monthly goals for myself in a while and I’ve noticed myself not getting things accomplished that I’d planned. By having my S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely) goals written out on my blog every month, I’ll have a much better chance of accomplishing my goals.

smart-goalsSince school is starting up for the rest of the world and people are getting more organized on schedules, I thought it would be a great time to start up with my goals. I’ll be splitting my goals up into three categories: Family, Life and Blog (necessarily in that order). The next month I’ll go over what I learned from the previous month and how I measured up on completing my goals.

Family

  • Take Soph to ‘Babies Love Books’ every Monday
  • Go out on a date one night with Jeffrey
  • Get Soph on a 8:30 bedtime routine

jeffrey-sophieLife

SC-POETSOCIETYBlog

blog-notes

I’m pumped about having a written set of goals to help keep me focused for this month. I’m sure I’ll get other things done but I’m confident that these are all S.M.A.R.T goals that will work out for me this month. Do you set monthly goals for yourself? Want to join in and be accountability pals for our monthly goals? I’d love to be Goal Buddies!

*Affiliate link for Melissa Culbertson’s Blog Clarity Courses. I highly recommend all of Melissa’s courses (I’ve taken them all) and especially loved Pinning Perfect.

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Morning Routine

I would love to wake up every morning with the first thought being ‘Let’s Do This!’ Sometimes it is, but other times I think, ‘Please, just 5 more minutes.’ All year (only a few months, but that’s ok) I’ve been working on how to have a more positive day from the start. I’ve learned what routines work for me to ensure a more productive day throughout. These may not work for you but perhaps a couple of them could be worked into your schedule to make for a better morning…which always leads to a better day!

morning routine

1. Shower. This seems like a silly thing to put up here. For some people it’s an obvious, ‘Must shower before I do anything’ and others it’s, ‘Why shower? I’m just going to get spit up on in 10 minutes’. The latter was my outlook for a while after I had our baby! Now, I look at it as ‘I deserve this time!’ Here are the things I use. Obviously I don’t use all of this every day, but I like the variety to take the kind of shower that I’m looking for (relaxing/pampering or exfoliating/rejuvenating.)

Shower

Shower by shelly-bergman featuring Margarita body cleansers

2. Accessorize. I got in the routine of wearing yoga pants, stretchy shirt and ponytails. I realized it was making me less productive during the day and I never felt pretty. I now put on at least ONE accessory. It’s usually in the form of studs and mascara but I’ve been getting better at wearing jeans for most of the week and throwing on a scarf. My baby loves the different textures of the scarfs and it gives her something, other than my hair, to hold on to! BTW, do you see that unicorn ring?! It’s over $300 (!!!) but freaking awesome! 😉 Those red glasses down there are what I wear to feel bloggy, as mentioned here.

Accessorize

3. Food. Any kind of food if it’s a struggle for you. I am on the 4 Hour Body right now and my breakfasts consist of scrambled egg whites mixed with black beans and salsa. Every. Day. BUT it stays with me for longer so I’m not hungry or snacky before lunch. It’s crucial for me to have my breakfast within 1 hour of waking up so I’m not hangry. I love our breakfast because we make a bunch on Sunday, which lasts us every morning, so we don’t have the excuse to not have breakfast. You don’t have to eat what we do but if you’re the type to skip breakfast because of time, find some fast and healthy breakfasts you can make ahead of time! There are TONS on Pinterest. Oatmeal or hard boiled eggs are always a great make-ahead meals.

15 min meals

4. Plan. I use this planner every day. I plan meals on the weekends so I know what foods to get out to thaw or put in the crock pot. I use it to remember to send Birthday cards. I use it to keep a cleaning schedule. I even use it to remember to do my #100happydays, workout and meditate (things that most people don’t need a reminder to get done.) My mind gets extremely anxious if I don’t have lists and plans. I get too many things to remember pushing and shoving around in my head which lends to being forgetful. I can’t imagine not having a planner if I had an older child or more than one!! There’s a LOT to keep track of once they’re going to school and in extra curricular activities! I look at my planner the night before to write down anything I want to get done the next day and I look at it every morning to remind myself of my goals. I always have 3 things I plan to accomplish and I love crossing them off. If there’s something that doesn’t get done I move it to the following day- no big deal. I also have a blog planner but that’s a whole separate topic. 😉

plan

5. Do something for you. Before everything gets crazy and you spend your day taking care of everyone else. I’ve mentioned this before but I completely agree with it! I look at one chapter (2 pages) of Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. Each chapter has a positive stress-relieving attribute that I focus on throughout the day. Some people like listening to pod casts on religious, political or scientific topics to have something to think about throughout the day. Some people meditate to clear their head of the non-sense to have an opened mind through out the day. Having that routine THING that helps you focus on yourself will help you better help you at your job and helping others.

chakra meditation

You already do at least one of these in your morning routine, don’t you? Perhaps you do completely different things and they work awesome for your lifestyle! These are the steps that I take in order for me to have a productive day. I’ve watched a lot of YouTube and read a lot of blogs regarding morning routines when I was in a funk about getting motivated and staying motivated throughout the day. For me, since I don’t have to rush to work or get my kids off to school, this works for me. I also wake up at 5a M,W,F and 8a on T,TH to make sure I’m getting enough rest but also having enough time to do everything I want in my day. The days I wake up at 5a I go with friends to the gym to do a ‘couch to 5k’ workout so I’m back to the house and ready to be on baby duty by 6:30a. This just started, which is why I didn’t add it to my 5 main steps that I do to get motivated for the day, but it always seems to jump start me for the day! What steps do you already do? What have you added to your routine that totally rocks for you?! I wanna hear them!

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How Do You Stick With Your NYR?

This year I wanted to do something a little different in the way of my New Years Resolution. Every year I have something that’s measurable and what I believe to be do-able! Every year I only complete maybe one of my goals.  They’re also always very similar (weight loss, new language, read ___ books, some kind of charity.) I usually accomplish the weight loss goal but gain it all back before the end of the year, I read a lot but never keep track of what I read and always wait til December to do our Charity so it always ends up being the same one. THIS YEAR, I said, THINGS WILL BE DIFFERENT! It’s been two months and I’ve already been terrible at keeping track of my goals! Here they are and here’s how I will NOW start to keep on track with them:

C.A.R.E. (yes I made a short acronym for them to help me keep track of them-step one.)

CARE

Compassionate- I’ve been reading ‘Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff’ because I’m notorious for doing exactly that…ALL OF THE TIME! The thing that has stood out to me most is compassion. ‘It involves the willingness to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, to take the focus off yourself and to imagine what it’s like to be in someone else’s predicament, and simultaneously, to feel love for that person.’-Richard Carlson

Active-My ultimate goal is to lose 40 lbs. I’ve lost 36lbs since giving birth but I still have a long way to go. By being active for at least 20 mins/day (beyond baby wrangling and cleaning) I hope to not only burn some cals but to release some tension. I’m always happier when I exercise!

Relaxed-Breath in. Thank you. Breath out. I love you. This is my mantra for relaxing. I’ve not yet been successful at meditating but it does help when I stop and breathe and say these words. I also do my nails or color a coloring book to calm down when I notice myself getting snippy or my mind overflowing.

Encouraging- I have so many wonderful people in my life that are SO AWESOME and need to be told. I think sometimes people just need to be told how great they are because they’re not seeing it in themselves. I’m often quite honest when I think someone can’t achieve their goals and I’ll make an ‘eh’ face when I NEED to be encouraging them! There is no reason to be anything but encouraging to the ones I love.

4goals_edited-1Shelly

Photo Credits: Shelly Bergman, Unsplash

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