By the time August rolls around, all I want to do is go to the beach, eat peaches, and relax. Which is not a particularly conducive environment for setting goals, if you think of goals only in the traditional sense of workmanlike drudgery you have to check off. Happily, I don’t. My goals are about living a more marvelous life, and while sometimes that involves hard and tedious things, sometimes it just involves eating peaches. The most beautiful sunflowers at Buttonwood Farm! Revisiting my goals for July: Pick blueberries at our favorite local farm Checking this one off because while we didn’t go to our local farm (it was closed all three times we tried!), I did visit another one with my work ladies. Plan and co-host a sweet summer co-ed baby shower for Natalie + Joe! Done! See here! Eat in and eat healthy. We borrowed a friend’s spiralizer, and liked it so much I think we’re going to buy our own! Write eight blog posts. Wrote nine! Success! August goals: — Frame and hang our two new pieces from Framed & Matted — Finally paint the tray I primed about a year ago (this is my inspiration) — Make progress on goal no. 37 (maybe the weeding out part) — Post an updated house tour here after our tour appears on Southern Weddings — For my most ambitious goal: do some sort of exercise every single day this month, whether a walk around the neighborhood, a run, a bike ride, or something else. Yikes! If you’ve posted your goals somewhere, I’d love to see – or just drop them in the comments!

Holy moly, what a month! We celebrated John’s birthday, Natalie and Joe’s wedding, and then, to cap it off, our nephew was born earlier this week!! I had to chuckle when I looked back at my July goals, because I said I was “keeping things simple to hopefully have a 100% success rate.” I clocked in at 80%, which I suppose is not so bad, but I feel like I actually got even more done last month than my list implies, so I’m pleased! July goal recap: Install a rain barrel. (It recently occurred to me we could buy one for less on Craiglist… have started the search.) Finish taking house photos and post tour. (Photos are finished! Tour should go up next week!) Finalize and print last third of household maintenance doc. Clean out our “art storage room” – hang everything we like and organize/donate/sell/get rid of the rest. Pick blueberries. (We tried several times, but farms were always closed or picked out!) Celebrate John’s birthday! Among other things, we went to Bida Manda in Raleigh, and it was delicious! August goals: — Sort pile in small bedroom. (When we moved to NC we didn’t know how long we’d be here. Once it became clear we had moved for the long haul, I began sorting through my childhood bedroom on trips home, deciding what to keep and what to toss. The unsorted pile finally got small enough that it could be packed into several suitcases and boxes, which were trucked down by my parents and deposited rather unceremoniously in our spare bedroom last month. Now I need to make keep/sell/donate/toss piles and take action on them.) — Plant a few hardy bananas against our backyard fence. — Make a trip to the Ballard Designs outlet and possibly buy a

Welcome to a brand new month, friends! August is here, and it is going to be marvelous! Blueberry picking at Buckwheat Farm! July was full and wonderful, capped off by our week long trip to Northern Michigan. Last month we also managed to organize the loft, which serves as a crafting and storage space for my shop. It had been a hot mess since moving day, but no more! Pictures to come soon! We also hung several pieces of art downstairs and have plans for several more. My bike is in the shop for its tune-up as we speak, and last night (squeaking in under the wire!) I submitted my life insurance application. We decided to postpone a rain barrel for the moment — for some reason I was under the impression that we could get one from our town for $10, but it’s actually $85 :( August is shaping up to be quite busy — it’s traditionally one of the most hectic at work for me, and we’ll also be in New England for ten days. Therefore, my main goal this month is to spend the free time I DO have wisely, and then enjoy each minute to the full! Especially looking forward to lots of family time, boat rides, long walks, and lungfuls of the pine salt air that sings “Maine” to me. A few additional goals: — Read To Kill a Mockingbird for no. 13 (my favorite book of all time — worth reading over and over!) — Start the retirement series for Marvelous Money (whoo!) — Host an adventure dinner party for no. 41 (WHOO!!) — Help lead a service at the Island for no. 50 — Refinish our dining room table — Hang our gallery wall! — Hang our master bedroom curtains You can see