One reason I love to write these monthly goal posts is because they are the best to look back on! (Much like blogging in general, actually!) I love marking where I was at a certain point in time, and being able to see how much has – or has not – changed. With a few years of monthly goals under my belt, I can now even look back to see how a particular month has changed over time. So neat!

I feel good right now. I feel good about June. It’s my last extra-busy month at work before a string of really fun personal travel in July, August, and September, so it feels a bit like there’s light at the end of the tunnel. I’m ready to dig in and get some things done! (Like our loft – ahem.)

What I read in May:
— The Little Way of Ruthie Leming (His writing was not my favorite, but I found the story very engaging.)
— Grace, Not Perfection (I breezed through this in a day and a half after hearing so many good things. I don’t think it’s the message I need most right now (I probably err on the side of giving myself too much grace, haha!), but if you love Emily, you will love this book!)
— Books I’m reading throughout the year: The Power of a Praying Wife and The Lifegiving Home

Revisiting my goals for May:
Add to my gratitude list every day this month (I batted about 50% on this, and it made a difference!)
Go camping with the Rays (postponed to June!)
Take the first step in a birthday project I am working on for John
Try a new workout video at least three times (didn’t get to this, but see below!)
Purposefully plan for Memorial Day, since we’ll be staying local (it was very low-key, but fun!)
Try Bill Hybels’ prayer journaling practice from Too Busy Not to Pray
Finish a complete organization sweep and purge of our loft (not finished, but progress was made)
Print our summer fun list and post it on the fridge
Buy new patio furniture for our backyard
String up lights in our backyard

June goals:
— Try Heather’s 15-minute Mom + Baby workout at least four times (thanks to Victoria for the recommendation!)
— Go camping with the Rays!
— Finish a complete organization sweep and purge of our loft
— Film June in June, Volume Two
— Clear out my backlog of gifts and cards to send (Between graduations, weddings, and showers, May had me underwater!)

Keeping it simple this month so that we can focus on our summer fun list! As a reminder, here are my 2017 guideposts. If you’ve posted your goals somewhere, I’d love to see – or just drop them in the comments!

Since y’all seemed to like my post sharing a month of meals in January, I thought I’d pop back in with a spring edition! I’m not surprised that post was popular, as I’m always looking for new tried-and-true recipes myself. Hopefully you’ll find a few recipes in today’s post that look promising enough to add to your own rotation! A few things:

— You’ll note that since April was a much busier month than January for us, many of our meals were, ahem, simpler. Grace and a side of vegetables was and is the name of the game.
— I’ve marked with an asterisk any recipe we were making for the first time.

Photo from Pinch of Yum

Week 1:
Saturday, April 1: out
Sunday, April 2: chicken piccata and sauteed asparagus
Monday, April 3: meatball subs and sauteed broccoli
Tuesday, April 4: chicken tikka masala, rice, and naan
Wednesday, April 5: sweet potato burritos with avocado salsa
Thursday, April 6: buffalo chicken pizza and salad (Publix dough, frozen buffalo chicken, chopped red onion, shredded cheese, and Whole Foods 365 blue cheese sauce)
Friday, April 7: potstickers (family recipe)

Week 2:
Saturday, April 8: vegetarian black bean enchiladas
Sunday, April 9: hot dogs and sauteed broccoli
Monday, April 10: lemon parmesan pasta with grilled chicken
Tuesday, April 11: peanut noodles with carrots, zucchini, and mushrooms (from Pretty Delicious)
Wednesday, April 12: chana masala, rice, and naan
Thursday, April 13: grilled sweet potato tacos (loose interpretation)
Friday, April 14: out

Week 3:
Saturday, April 15: out
Sunday, April 16 (Easter!): ham, mashed potatoes, green beans with shallots, salad, and rolls
Monday, April 17: ham sandwiches and salad
Tuesday, April 18: Articles Club night – I brought guacamole from this recipe and Mexican corn
Wednesday, April 19: three pepper pizza and salad (Publix dough, jarred sauce, Monterey Jack cheese, and chopped up red bell pepper, poblano pepper, pepperoncinis, and red onion)
Thursday, April 20: cobb salad
Friday, April 21: bratwurst, pasta salad, green salad, and baked beans

Week 4:
Saturday, April 22: out
Sunday, April 23: chicken tikka masala
Monday, April 24: traveling
Tuesday, April 25: traveling
Wednesday, April 26: traveling
Thursday, April 27: traveling
Friday, April 28: turkey and ricotta meatballs* on crusty bread with sauteed green beans

Week 5:
Saturday, April 29: lemon parmesan pasta with grilled chicken
Sunday, April 30: corn and zucchini chowder*

I’d love to hear if you have a favorite recipe for the spring or summer!

It’s hard to believe, but this year’s summer fun list is even longer than last year’s! Every age with June has been sweet, but I’ve heard from many people that 15-24 months is an exceptionally fun stretch, and I believe it – we just can’t get enough of our girl!! I fully intend to check off every one of these things together before September 22, and I’m ridiculously excited about the thought.

Off to print and hang this list on our fridge! Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend, friends!

— dine under the lights at Vin Rouge
— take June to splash at Fews Ford
— decorate June’s bike and walk in our town’s Fourth of July parade
— spearhead a street potluck
— invite friends over for a cookout in our backyard
— take June to a splash pad
— make berry cobbler
— go to a Bulls game
— road trip to Maine
— roast s’mores in our fire pit
— jump off the wharf at the Island
— outdoor movie at Koka Booth or the Art Museum
— picnic at a Back Porch Music concert
— spend a day at the beach
— film our second June in June movie
— ice cream at Maple View
— road trip to Michigan
— pick blueberries
— have a classic cookout with hot dogs, grilled corn, pasta salad, potato salad, and more :)
— lemonade at the Honeysuckle Tea House
— camp with friends
— check out the books, flowers, and potstickers at Brewery Bhavana
— make pavlova
— try a canoe ride
— celebrate Cow Appreciation Day

What’s on your summer fun list?

First, I just have to acknowledge the semi-ridiculousness of me writing this post. I am a well-known and thoroughly-documented introvert, it takes me forever to make friends, and up until last year, I could count the number of neighbors I knew well on zero fingers. But, I’m almost up to needing two hands for my hyper-local crew, so it seems I may have turned a corner! Let’s file this post under “if I can do it, anyone can do it” :)

Here, my seven best tips for making friends in your neighborhood.

Still my two best friends in my neighborhood :)

1. Make it matter to you. Like pretty much all goals, the only way something will be prioritized in your life is if it matters to you. Before June was born, it would have been nice to have friends close by, but I didn’t really NEED them. Since having her, neighborhood friends have become much more of a necessity. Emergencies are what pop to mind first, or a contact to give our babysitter, but there’s another reason that’s even more important to me.

I NEED to know who these people are if I’m going to feel comfortable letting our kids play outside unsupervised as they get older (a huge priority for me). I need to know their names, what matters to them, what kind of people they are, what the insides of their homes look like… I need to be friends with them, and I need to trust them. A childhood with freedom to roam matters to me, and so that’s why I was finally able to push past my discomfort and take action on making friends. If it really matters to you, you will, too.

2. Wave. That first tip was more existential, but this one is very concrete: wave. Wave to everyone. All the time. Whether you know them or not. If you want your neighborhood to be a friendlier place, let the community start with you. I recently watched a TED talk about public speaking and confidence, and there was one line that stuck with me: “fake it till you become it.” If you do something habitually, it will become a part of who you are. If you act friendly, even if you aren’t an extrovert, it will eventually become more comfortable. Small steps matter.

3. Send welcoming signals with your home. If you have a garage, it is possible to go about your business without ever breathing your neighborhood’s air, let alone interacting with another human. Appearances matter. A house with a closed garage door looks closed-off, with little way of knowing if anyone is home. We’ve taken to leaving our garage door open when we’re around as a signal that we’re available for socialization, quick questions, or sugar cup borrowing :)

A screen door is another way to make your house appear more welcoming to interaction, as again, it’s a symbol to neighbors that you’re home, and it also allows you to easily hear if something’s going on outside! (So then you can go join!) Screen doors were a huge marker of my New England summers growing up, and I am desperate to have one (especially as kids get older – much easier to have them playing outside by themselves if you can hear what they’re doing from inside!). With Southern summers and the prevalence of air conditioning down here, however, a screen door is not practical for much of the year… boo.

4. Go outside when other people are outside. Again: obvious, right? But I’m a bit embarrassed to say that when we first moved in, I pretty much did the opposite. Hiding in your house might help you avoid awkward conversations, but it will not help you make friends. So get your butt outside, in the proximity of other people, and let the extroverts strike up a conversation with you, as I can assure you they will :)

And if you live in a neighbhorhood where no one is outside? Be the one to change the environment! Putter around in your front yard “pruning” things, sit on your porch, go for a walk every evening – find any excuse to be where people can see you, so they start to recognize you as a generally friendly-looking person and associate you with a particular house.

5. Be the invitation. After a few months of casual interactions with some of my neighbors, I was ready to go a little deeper. Instead of waiting for someone else to invite me over, I did it on my terms! I invited all of the ladies on my street that I had even once interacted with to a Favorite Things party, and I heavily encouraged them to invite their friends. It was a huge success as a kick starter to closer relationships and a broader social circle.

6. Start a hyper-local Facebook group. I haven’t personally tried this one, but I’m considering it. It’s something John and Sherry recommended on their podcast recently, and I think it’s smart! My neighborhood has a Facebook group with about 1,000 members, and it’s great for certain things (selling patio furniture, chatting about macro issues or upcoming events). But a hyper-local group (say, just for the 15 houses on our “L” that ends in a cul-de-sac), lets you get to know people on a more intimate basis, extend BBQ invitations, and let your hair down in a way you might not in a larger, more impersonal group (John talked about sharing funny memes about neighborhood deer in his).

7. Have a kid or get a dog. Kidding. Kind of :) The truth is that even with all of these tips, we didn’t really make friends in our neighborhood until we had our daughter. Kids and dogs are just great connectors, and they will make your job of making friends a whole lot easier. But, you know, they require a few other things of you, so make sure you’re prepared before committing :)

I would LOVE to hear: have you found it difficult or easy to make friends in your neighborhood? If so, how did it happen? Is it a priority for you, or do you fill your friend need elsewhere? Tell me, tell me!

P.S. Cultivate What Matters is celebrating and teaching on friendship all this week. So much good stuff! Sign up for the series, and check out the Fruitful Friendship guide. I contributed to it, so you know it’s good :)