February 2020 goals
Working on things that really matter to me — with thought and care — is one of my most favorite things, and I’m grateful every day for another chance to live a more abundant life than I did the day before. Let’s see what February has in store!
P.S. You miiiiight be able to tell how excited I am about my 2020 goals by how much progress I made last month :)
P.P.S. Are you reading this and thinking, how is this girl so jazzed up about her goals?! I want that for you, too! Thinking it’s “too late” to pick a few things to work on this year is pretty much the silliest idea ever. As long as you’re still alive, it’s not too late! If you want to start but don’t know where to start, I think the undated PowerSheets might be perfect for you.
On my calendar this month:
— John and June are going to a Love Bug dance at our church! She has talked about it every day since we mentioned it: “Daddy and I are going! Just Daddy and I! We are going to dance!” Break my heart.
— Making valentines with June (here’s last year’s!)
— A Valentine’s tea with friends at the Carolina Inn. Thinking I will wear this shirt which I already own and some sort of skirt.
— My birthday! It falls on a Friday, so I’m taking the day off and June and I are going to have a fun girl day :)
What I’m loving right now:
— A new ethical clothing shop opened near me and on my first visit I picked up a pair of gold and mother of pearl heart earrings by 31 Bits. I can’t find them on either site, but I’ll try to share a photo soon! V. cute!
— Two other recent purchases: this dress (especially excited to wear it for Easter and our April Florida family vacation!) and this sweatshirt. Sizing is weird: I ordered a medium in the sweatshirt so it would be oversized, and I ordered an XS tall in the dress to make sure it was long enough. It was the right call for both! (I have never ordered anything in tall before, ha!)
— If your high school econ class left something to be desired, this podcast episode is for you: a bunch of different economists answering the question “what’s the most useful idea in economics?”
What I read in January:
— Long Bright River: A thriller with heart. The writing was beautiful and it kept me up too late many nights. Extra-fun because the author is my literary agent brother-in-law’s client!
— The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: I’ve got thoughts. This was really good and really practical, and I plan to work through it all more in an upcoming blog post.
— Ashlords: Our good friend’s newest novel! If you love YA fantasy, pick it up!
My reading list for 2020, if you’d like to follow along!
Revisiting my January goals:Commission a gate for our front porch (Yes! Will be built in about two weeks!)Open the Advent calendar box (Yes! And now I’m even more scared, ha!) Brainstorm needed zones for the loft (Yes! More progress than I expected here — we installed a storage system, culled a few items, and moved furniture around.)Clean out my existing recipe binder (Yes! Also had a meal planning lunch with a friend and brainstormed many more possible action steps for the rest of the year!)Cull 2019 iPhone photos (DONEEEEEEEEEEE!)Brainstorm “forest school” location possibilities near us (If you’re local, here are some good suggestions.)Buy a stationary bike?? (Yes! And I’ve ridden almost every night so far. More to come here!)Do something fun with two of my focal friends (Yes! A downtown shopping date, a Bachelor hang, and a weekday lunch :))Conduct an initial search for a downstairs desk (Decided to repurpose a piece we already had and it’s in place and organized! Currently debating paint options.)Write our sweet girl a note on her fourth birthday Order our 2019 photos from Social Print Studio
February goals:
— Clean out favorite recipes Pinterest board and print all winners
— Outfit sand/gravel table and get it ready for play
— Assemble friend dossiers and brainstorm ideas for get-togethers
— Organize the craft table in the loft
— Brainstorm a family mission statement on our date night
— Decide on 2020 camping dates/locations
— Go on our monthly forest school/family hike
— Decide on MS race and register
— Paint downstairs desk
— Plan major details (date, location, guest list) for meal planning potluck
— Decide on my quarterly date with June
As a reminder, many of the goals above are drawn from my 2020 goals!
I would love to hear: are you working on any goals this year? This month? What’s something you’re working toward that has you really excited? Share below, if you’d like!
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A few things I’m particularly looking forward to this month: mailing Valentine’s out to our families, hosting a girly Valentine’s Day brunch to celebrate love/each other/friendship, hosting a friend for a long weekend, becoming an aunt again (highlight of my life, pretty much!), going on lots of longer walks since it’ll be so warm this week, and continuing to cook our way through our new fave cookbook – we have been loving a renewed excitement in cooking at home together + treat it like a fun date night in almost every evening! I’m also loving your goal excitement; it’s contagious! Happy birthday month to you, friend!!
What an exciting month for you, friend!! Can’t wait to hear about your new niece-y! :)
This is my first year using PowerSheets and it’s making me so excited to make progress on my goals! This month, I’m focusing on searching for volunteer opportunities in our new city, welcoming visitors into our home, and registering for Duolingo so I can work on my French! I’m also looking forward to continuing our “pizza and the Peanuts Valentines Day special” with my husband and going to an art festival.
Sarah, that makes me so happy!! I don’t know what kind of volunteer opportunities you’re looking for, but something I wish we had done before having kiddos was volunteer as ushers at a local theater. You can usually see the shows for free, all while helping to spread the arts! :)
Hi, Sarah! I just wanted to pop in the comments here and say that I, too, am working on my french using Duolingo! Cheering you on, and if you need a buddy over there, let me know! :)
Emily! You CRUSHED January! Would love to know more about how you’re going to do your friend dossiers if you’d be willing to post about them; my cultivated life evaluation put friendship at the top of my priority list this year so I could use your inspiration!
So much love to you and your family! Thank you for sharing with us!
Natalie xx
I plan to, Natalie! Thanks, friend!!
As you can imagine, knowing my love for Valentine’s Day/Galentine’s Day/afternoon tea, I am basically heartbroken that I’m a no for that celebration :( (It’s our parents-visiting-overlap day and my mother-in-law’s birthday, so good reasons, but still!) I am going to beg KNW to make it an annual tradition so I can come next year!
Our shopping (and cheesecake :)) date was a highlight of my January! xoxoxo
Love you, friend! That’s the best reason to miss!
Love this and reading about your February goals! It is my third year with Powersheets and I feel like each year I get more focused, and therefore more excited! I am happy to report I crushed January because of it as well! :) I am most excited about cultivating creativity, loving my people well, and on the more practical end of things, I am also working on culling photos/organizing and eventually ordering photo books! This month, I am especially excited to go for a walk in downtown Philadelphia to take photos and loving especially well on two of my grandmothers.
This comment makes me so happy, Abigail!! Your photo walk sounds delightful!
Em, as always I love your goal posts! But my honest question is: how do you design your vision board? In Photoshop or via Pic Collage?! It looks so beautiful!
Thank you so much, Kathryn! I make mine in Adobe Illustrator, but Canva is a great free program!
Wow you killed it in January Emily! Great work! I’ve got a few of my January goals to roll over into February. Like ordering our 2019 photo album (it’s so hard to narrow down the photos!). I’m really looking forward to this month and all that I can acomplish.
Hi Emily,
Love your monthly goal updates. You’ve had great posts so far in 2020 – given me lots to think about. I reserved The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry at my local library. I’m curious, do you usually purchase or borrow books? If you buy them, what do you do when you finish? I’m trying to cull my books and magazines. I usually end up donating to the free bookshelf at work or to one of the little libraries in my neighborhood. Do you or other readers have other ideas?
Thank you so much, Clara – so kind! Typically, I purchase non-fiction and borrow fiction from the library. At work, we have a monthly allowance for a book that teaches us something, so that really helps! :) I find I love to refer back to my non-fiction books, underline them, and lend them to friends, whereas most fiction I only read once. And I like having books in our house – within reason, of course!!
How do your cull your 2019 IPhone photos?? I have so many pictures on my phone and I just need to get them off. I would love to hear how you organize your pictures. :)
Yes! My number one question from readers :) I’ve been going through my phone photos one month at a time, backing them up, editing them, sorting them on my external hard drive, and then deleting them off my phone. Tedious, but so worth it to me! I have a more detailed post in the works!