I learned something this past year.

When John and I sat down for our end-of-year celebration dinner, we reviewed the progress we’d made on our 2018 family goals. We had 16, and in January I posted them on our refrigerator. We looked at them every single day, and as the months ticked by, we checked off every single one.

In contrast, my four personal focal areas for 2018… languished. I did make progress in each of the areas (thanks in large part to my monthly goals accountability – that’s you, friends!), but the goals themselves weren’t the driving factor. My “focal areas” were a little too vague, a little too general, and they just kind of sat there for twelve months. They mattered to me, but without even a twinge of specificity, they leaned a little too far to the heart versus the SMART side of things.

Anagram Photo

To be fair, it was challenging to formulate goals in a year when we knew we’d be expecting a new baby. And sharing those goals before Y’ALL knew we were expecting a baby? Even harder. So I don’t fault myself for how I set goals last year — but I’m excited to try something new in 2019!

The eight goals I’ve set for myself are far more concrete than is typical for me, and I plan to draw a mini goal from each of them for my monthly goals each month (inspired by Lisa!). Here they are:

1. Finish organizing our family photos, and create our first two albums. I made huge progress in my photo organization last year, and am excited to complete the project! The visual record I’m building will help establish and reinforce our family story, and it will feel SO GOOD to have everything neatly organized, easily accessible, and safely stored.
Some action steps: Make a master list of months still to be culled and sorted in Google Docs. Figure out how many months I need to do each month to finish in a year, then make a schedule.

2. Ride bikes as a family, and complete the MS ride in New Bern. Over the last few years of pregnancy and newborn life, fitness has not been the highest priority for the Thomases. John and I are thrilled to get back on our road bikes and get moving as a family! We’ll celebrate our hard work by completing an MS 100 or 150 fundraising ride in September (100+ miles over two days!).
Some action steps: Take our bikes to the shop for a tune-up. Get another kiddo bike seat and a car rack. Map out a training plan. Register for the race!

3. Rest in the Lord as we carve out weekly Sabbaths. Our weekends fluctuate between restful and overly-full, but even the restful ones feel as though we’re relying on our own strength and not the Lord’s. I’m excited to explore what true rest means and how a more intentional weekly Sabbath will transform our family!
Some action steps: Research and read a book or two about Sabbath. Read what the Bible has to say about Sabbath. Talk with John about our hopes for a family Sabbath. Brainstorm what it will take the other six days of the week to open up the seventh day, and make a plan.

4. Give my best to our church. We welcomed a new pastor halfway through last year, and the energy has been contagious since his arrival. There are some opportunities coming up my skills are uniquely suited for, and I’m excited to dig in and use what I can to draw others closer to a relationship with God!
Some action steps: Choose a meeting time for the creative team. Spearhead my Valentine’s Day idea.

Each of these photos means something special to me! I’ll print out two copies and put one on our refrigerator, and one in my PowerSheets.

5. Move my body throughout the day, every day. You’ve probably heard the dire warnings about the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle (me, too). Thinking about my 91-year-old grandmother and how nimbly she still navigates her world has lit a fire under me to force myself to add more movement to my days. Bang didn’t get to where she is by sitting on a sofa all day, and if I want to end up where she is, neither can I. This is the goal I don’t really want to set but know I need to :)
Some action steps: Outline a series of goals to gradually increase my working time standing. Research best practices for working while standing. Set an alarm to take a mini walk midway through my day. Pick back up with evening walks. Set up a standing desk at home.

6. Connect more deeply in our neighborhood. Last month we got the news that our two closest neighborhood couple friends are searching for new homes (locally, thankfully, but not in our same neighborhood). Truthfully, after making so much progress in this area and being so thankful for these friendships, it feels like a big setback and a bitter pill to swallow. But instead of wallowing, I’m setting this goal to force myself to dig in and create some new bonds.
Some action steps: Plan weekly meal exchange with Katie. Read This is Where You Belong. Schedule out girls’ nights for Q1.

7. Complete our family room. We’ve made solid progress on refreshing our family room and making it work for us, but there’s still a good chunk left to go!
Some action steps: Hang the mirror. Choose a pillow fabric and work with Aunt Nan to make them. Switch out our coffee table. Finalize toy storage. Add new lamps. Incorporate June’s artwork.

8. Kick off The Years of Making Magic. I have been alluding to this project for awhile now and am excited to officially introduce it soon! If you’ve loved my past 60 Before 30 and 101 in 1001 projects, you’ll love this newest incarnation! :)
Some action steps: Share the list and start checking things off! :)

I’ll be back with my January goals post soon, but in the meantime, I’d love to hear what you have planned for 2019. Do you have a word of the year? Have you set goals yet? I’d truly love to hear, so please drop a note in the comments! I can’t wait to cheer you on.

P.S. 2019 PowerSheets are still available – for now! :)

Vision board sources, clockwise from top left: pool, books, cyclist, kiddos, home, ice cream, bird, fabric, quote

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Friends! I’ve missed you! This may be the latest in the month I’ve ever posted a goals post in my many years of doing them, but gosh darn it I’m here! :)

Since going back to work at the end of October, we have essentially had house guests 24/7 as our parents took turns watching Shep during the day. We have also traveled 3 of the 6 weekends between then and now, and John, June, and I all came down with a 24-hour stomach bug this past weekend. Combined with a busy season at work, the holidays, and John starting a new job (!), I’ve felt a bit like I’m just keeping my chin above water. On any free evening I do have, it seems by the time I’ve taken care of my necessary tasks to keep our household running, it’s 10:30 and time to get ready for bed. This is unusual for me, and honestly it’s been frustrating. There’s been no time for reading and no time for writing, and I’ve felt the lack of both.

All this to say – thanks for sticking with me! I am hopeful that I’ll be able to share a few posts before the year is over (I’ve got so many brewing!!), but even if not, I know 2019 will be a fresh start.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves :)

On my calendar this month:
— Dinner out with John for our 2018 review and celebration – one of my favorite nights of the year!
— Christmas in Connecticut, complete with a Polar Express train ride with matching cousin jams!!
— A low-key New Year’s Eve dinner and board game night with neighborhood friends

What I’m loving right now:
— We’re trying the Crew + Co Advent cards for the first time this year, based on the beloved Jesus Storybook Bible. I think June is still a bit young for the practice, but I’m enjoying it :)
— Listen, if you enjoy the government/action/conspiracy genre (only my favorite genre of them all), you MUST watch Bodyguard on Netflix. It’s six episodes and you will be on the edge of your seat the whole time. SO SO SO GOOD.
— You all know and love my friend Nancy (she of How We Do It fame), so I wanted to make sure you knew about her new blog! I’m as eager as you to learn from her, and can’t wait to see what she has coming down the pike.

What I read in November:
— Still plugging away at The Coddling of the American Mind (see above). If you’d like more recommendations in the meantime, I’ve rounded up my favorite fiction and non-fiction picks for your perusal!

Revisiting my goals for November:
Write one thank you note per day (Only got through about 15 notes, but it was a great practice!)
Organize our loft (Uhhh no. Moving this to my yearly goals because it clearly needs a more expansive plan.)
Do lots of Christmas shopping, taking advantage of Black Friday sales (Oh yes.)
Share gift guides for ladies, gents, parents, and kiddos (Wish I could have gotten more of these together earlier, but they take hours to research and write! Would you still be interested in seeing the last two, even though Black Friday is over?)
Order Christmas cards and Christmas newsletter (Christmas cards ordered and received – they look so good!!)
Work on Shep’s baby book and update June’s
Take down June’s pelmet and replace with curtains, creating a reading corner

December goals:
— Set our 2019 budget
— Finalize and print our yearly newsletter and send out our Christmas cards with love
— Work on Shep’s baby book and update June’s
— Share the story of Shep’s birth
— Send out invites for June’s birthday and order supplies
— Love on our trash and recycling guys, our neighborhood friends, and June’s teachers

Friends, I’d love to hear: do you do anything special for the folks who help make your life run smoothly, like the ones I listed above? I’m always looking for good ideas, though peanut butter balls are perennially a must.

P.S. On the subject of goals: I’m sharing bits of my PowerSheets prep work on Instagram this week, and it has been fun! Would love to have you join me!

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My Mom has been staying with us for the past week and a half as I’ve transitioned back to work, which has been absolutely wonderful! (SO THANKFUL!) We are doing our best to soak up time with her, which means my time for blogging, reading, and goal progressing has been a bit more limited than usual, as you’ll see below. No complaints here, though — just a few more items than I expected rolling over to November!

P.S. I love using PowerSheets to track my professional goals (and sometimes personal ones, too). The new collection went on sale last week and it is awesome! The one year goal planners will likely sell out before the new year, so scoot over and get yours soon if you’d like one for 2019!

On my calendar this month:
— A fun regional alumni event for our alma mater
— Voting!
— Date night to Hamilton!!!
— Thanksgiving x four (Thanksgiving-themed Articles Club, early Thanksgiving with the Thomases in Virginia, Thanksgiving Day with the Terhunes, and Thanksgiving weekend with my family – whew!)

What I’m loving right now:
— As someone who loves travel, interior design, and entrepreneurial endeavors, the Netflix series Stay Here gets two thumbs up from our house! The episodes are only half an hour and so fun.
— My Allbirds (I have the Tree Skippers in navy) are in heavy rotation right now – comfortable enough to wear all day and good looking with lots of outfits!
— I haven’t added a subscription to my Feedly in over a year, so the fact that a new-to-me blog — The Fashion Magpie — has recently earned a spot is worth a mention. Jen describes her blog as a “literary fashion journal,” and despite the fact that most of the fashion she posts is wildly outside of my budget, we appear to have SO much in common. I think you might like!

What I read in October:
— The Coddling of the American Mind: I am only a few chapters into this book but it has me nodding along like my head’s going to fall off. We might need to have a longer conversation about it once I’m finished.

Revisiting my goals for October:
Prepare well for returning to work
Frame new family photos for Shep and June’s rooms
Host a pumpkin painting workshop, with proceeds going to Hurricane Florence relief (We raised over $1,500 and had such a fun night!)
Watch Won’t You Be My Neighbor? on Amazon (Beautiful!)
Order supplies and finish Halloween costumes (Yes, I made those wings, and yes, I am proud of them! :))
Take down June’s pelmet and replace with curtains, creating a reading corner
Order our Christmas cards (using newborn photos!)
Work on Shep’s baby book and update June’s
Clean out our coat closet and donate anything we no longer need
Organize June’s art supplies

November goals:
— Write one thank you note per day (a campaign we’re doing along with our church family!)
— Organize our loft (the one spot in our house that just WON’T be solved)
— Do lots of Christmas shopping, taking advantage of Black Friday sales
— Share gift guides for ladies, gents, parents, and kiddos
— Order Christmas cards and Christmas newsletter
— Work on Shep’s baby book and update June’s
— Take down June’s pelmet and replace with curtains, creating a reading corner

So many things to discuss, but I’d love to hear: have you seen Won’t You Be My Neighbor? What did you think? What stuck with you? I keep thinking about how he said we should tell our children, “today was special just because you were in it” every night, and I was also struck by how sloooooow he moved and spoke and responded to questions — in a good way.

Gosh, I don’t even really know what to tell you about this month! Perhaps the most exciting thing to say is… IT’S THE MONTH MY SISTER MOVES TO NORTH CAROLINA! Yes! I never in a million years thought I’d get to type that sentence, but here we are. Kate’s husband starts a new job near Charlotte tomorrow, and the rest of the crew will be here, in their new home, before the end of the month. This will be the closest we’ve lived to immediate family since we moved South, and to say we are excited and grateful is an understatement.

Though that is by far the most exciting thing happening in October, it’s certainly not the only one. Between travels, visitors, events, and my return to work (for the biggest CWM week of the year, no less!), there’s a lot going on. I’m here for all of it :)

Exploring after Hurricane Florence

On my calendar this month:
— The NC State Fair (biscuits, goat showmanship, and giant slide, here we come!)
— The sixth annual pumpkins and soup party
— The third anniversary of Articles Club!!
— A trip to Asheville with my younger sister
— Our dear college friend’s wedding in New Hampshire – our first time flying as a family of four!

What I’m loving right now:
— I have made several batches of these power balls since Shep arrived – so delicious, especially with some of the chocolate chips subbed in for cinnamon chips!
— How big of a nerd are you if you watched the Jeopardy! All Star Games live draft? Asking for a friend :) But really, it was so fun — counting down until February!!
— This article was a great reminder of what matters most. I thought the part on beauty was particularly interesting.

What I read in September:
— Sacred Marriage: The first half of this book seemed a little more focused on troubled or difficult marriages, but I appreciated the reminder of the importance of sacrifice and service toward our spouses!
— The Book of Essie: Blew through this one in two days because I couldn’t put it down.

Revisiting my goals for September:
Start every day on my knees in a short prayer, offering my day to God (Did not do this perfectly, but the goal served its purpose and it was so good. I felt it on the days I did it and on the days I did not.)
Sort and price all clothes for my favorite consignment sale
Make an itinerary and reservations for our upcoming trip to Asheville
Bake apple cider scones for June’s teachers on the first day of fall (Sweet girl!)
Cull and edit all 2018 iPhone photos (Done!! The progress is slow but so gratifying!)
Experiment with listing a few things on Poshmark (Done! I even sold something, ha! You can shop the rest here, if you’d like!)
Do something to welcome our new neighbors (We introduced ourselves to them, so I’m counting that as a win :))

October goals:
— Prepare well for returning to work
— Frame new family photos for Shep and June’s rooms
— Host a pumpkin painting workshop, with proceeds going to Hurricane Florence relief (if you’re local and would like to come, register here!)
— Watch Won’t You Be My Neighbor? on Amazon
— Order supplies and finish Halloween costumes
— Take down June’s pelmet and replace with curtains, creating a reading corner
— Order our Christmas cards (using newborn photos!)
— Work on Shep’s baby book and update June’s
— Clean out our coat closet and donate anything we no longer need
— Organize June’s art supplies (they are a HOT MESS right now)

Question for you all: I know this might seem early, but I’m curious whether you’d like to see gift guides on the blog in November? If so, what categories/price points/recipients/etc. would be most helpful for you? Let me know what you think!

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