2020 mid-year goals review, part two
Back with part two of my mid-year goals review! Part one is here.
Goal no. 5: Build our family culture
Progress I’ve made: This was one of my less-clear goals at the start, but I’m really happy with how it’s shaping up. Books are usually my first foray into a goal, and so far I’ve read and pondered The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry and The Secrets of Happy Families. On our last date before quarantine, John and I brainstormed the beginnings of a family mission statement (this podcast episode informed our discussion). Also this year: we added more storage boxes to facilitate celebration throughout the year, we each camped out in the backyard with June, we’ve had more backyard s’mores nights, we experimented with morning and evening routine charts (and decided we’ll revisit them in the future), and we added more diverse faces to our family library.
What I hope to accomplish in the next six months: This is going to sound SO extra to some, but I’d love to begin building a set of “family by-laws” – a living document that sets out what’s important to us, our mission statement, core values, traditions, behaviors, etc. I think this will be helpful for us as we live into it now, and also hopefully a treasure for our kiddos to look at when they’re older!
Goal no. 6: Complete our family Advent calendar as a route to analog hours
Progress I’ve made: Um, almost none?? You thought I was doing pretty well until now, ha! Truly, this has been a MUCH more complicated project than I expected. I have about zero sewing skills and I don’t own a sewing machine… and the instructions are all for machine sewing. I DO have a sister and a friend who both have a machine and have some skills, and I’m hopeful that once restrictions lift I might be able to wrangle one or both of them into a few side-by-side marathon sewing sessions. Thus far, all I have done is open the box :)
What I hope to accomplish in the next few months: I would love to have at least one sewing session with my sister. I’d also love to complete the backdrop portion of the kit so we can use it this Advent!
Goal no. 7: Complete three family photo albums
Progress I’ve made: Carrying over momentum from last year, I culled, sorted, and edited my 2019 iPhone photos, and sent some early loose photos to be digitized. And then (drumroll, please…), I designed and printed our first family album!! Each album will cover five years – this one is for 2005 – 2009. I chose Artifact Uprising, and have a few thoughts to share! Post coming soon.
What I hope to accomplish in the next few months: Two more albums – one for 2010-2014 and one for 2015-2019! I also REALLY want to get my photo organizing guide up for you all!
Goal no. 8: Streamline meal planning
Progress I’ve made: I’ve been moving and shaking on this goal, and it’s been so gratifying! After deciding to use a binder as my organization system, I cleaned out my existing recipe binder, printed and filed all our favorite online recipes, and reorganized my Pinterest boards (now I have printed recipes here and recipes to try here). I also added a non-recipe cheat sheet to the binder, a dry erase board to track what’s in our freezer, and designed a custom Publix shopping list to make grocery shopping even more of a pleasure ;) Together, we had fun with a virtual recipe exchange right here on EFM! I have absolutely LOVED using my binder for the last few months – much more here!
What I hope to accomplish in the next few months: The meal planning potluck Kristin and I had in the works this spring was indefinitely postponed due to COVID; I’m really hopeful we’ll be able to host it at some point this year. I’d also love to share more recipes and meal plans here on the blog and consolidate our favorite cookbook recipes in the binder.
Friends, please commiserate with me: have any of your 2020 goals been a total failure so far? If so, you’re not alone :)
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I had a goal to welcome others into our home that’s gone from moving along swimmingly (we had overnight guests in January, February, and March) to being the absolute LAST goal I want to make progress on! Our housewarming party was postponed too.
I also had a goal to go on adventures and explore our new city, but that’s also been put on the back burner.
Ahh yes, that hosting goal is definitely hard to twist into a new form… maybe doing small projects to get your home even more “guest ready”? :)
You are not the only who has had goals fail so far! I had gotten into a really good workout routine in 2019 using Classpass, and had a goal to continue it and try more studios. Now, I really lack the motivation to get up in the morning to work out at home, and most of the studios I wanted to try are closed.
On the flip side, quarantine has been great for completing my reading goals this year. I had planned to read 13 books this year (which for me is unheard of), and I’m on track to hit it and possibly exceed it!
Love this, Sara! I’m on track for a few more books this year than last year, too!
YES, yes, yes! My photo organization goal is pretty much the only one thriving, ha! :) I ordered my first photo album and it arrived this week and I am so glad I have that as living proof of my progress to motivate myself to keep going. One of my key goals of the year is making my new city an ideal home — I moved last summer and the second half of the year was a bit of white-knuckling navigating a new job, new apartment, a city where I didn’t know too many people, etc. While I have made my apartment more of an ideal home, the city, not so much since we are all stuck at home! Still hopeful for progress in the second half of the year, though :)
My photo organization buddy!! So happy we’re able to celebrate this milestone together! :)
You are most certainly not alone Em – I thought that our home and family goals would’ve had a lot more time dedicated to them during lockdown yet life, home, and homeschool took priority!! Slowly finding our groove in this “new normal” x
I’m grateful every day I don’t have “actual” homeschool needs to attend to! Would just be a whole other level of complication I’m not sure how I would handle. Hats off to you, friend!
COVID threw nearly all my goals out the window as they majorly revolved around being in my own home with my husband. We’ve unfortunately been apart as he lives in Japan and I can’t travel back there as a foreign national right now! The mid-year refresh was a Godsend as I finally felt able to recenter my goals to be where I am physically and emotionally.
After reading your goals in the beginning of the year, I also bought the same advent calendar kit! I had been looking for one that reminded me of my aunt’s that I was fond of in childhood and this looked nearly identical. I also had zero sewing skills and was extremely intimidated by the huge project, but it ended up being the perfect distraction for me during parts of COVID. I was most afraid to mess it all p because of the cost, but have learned that these stitches are rather impermanent and can be undone or fixed, which was a huge lesson in not only sewing but life, too. I’ve learned a lot of new skills (still haven’t mastered the sewing machine though!) and am plugging away bit by bit on this project. Cheering you on in this huge project and hoping that you get excited at the new skills you’ll learn once you start!